Sundome Dark Room

Coleman sundome. Get the one with dark room technology. Not all the mesh is zipped up, but it’s pretty close. Keep the fly on and you’ll be OK

I had a stoic madrone 4 and water came in through the floor. On the other hand, my 8 man darkroom Sundome keeps me totally dry in severe thunderstorms even though the rainfly doesn’t reach the ground. The tent body is also waterproof.

The Sundome is a classic for a reason. Get a darkroom version if you can

They work the same as the non darkroom versions

Try a Coleman Sundome or Skydome from Ollie’s, blackout if you can get it. I’ve bought both to festivals with multiple severe thunderstorms and was much dryer than people who brought much more expensive tents. The bathtub floor will be much better in bad weather than this tent. Sometimes you can get a dud Coleman that leaks in one spot, but that’s only happened to me once. Just set it up and test it in rain before your event. I will say avoid the instant tent, that thing is so bad they sell an aftermarket rainfly to fix it.

If you check out the Sundome on Amazon, I think it’s the most reviewed tent they sell

And IMO, the difficulty of putting it away offsets the ease of setting it up. Gimme a basic Coleman any day.

Coleman tents are generally VERY waterproof. I’ve used one many times in severe thunderstorms. Check out the Amazon reviews for the Sundome.

I didn’t bother to buy it after testing the instant tent in the rain. But my Sundome and Skydome are great in bad weather

Poor design. The Sundome and Skydome don’t leak like that

Go with a darkroom Coleman Sundome or Skydome

Coleman Sundome and Skydome are cheap, easy to set up, and sufficient for all of my car camping needs

I would go with Coleman over CORE. The Sundome and Skydome are both pretty easy set up. I’d recommend a darkroom tent also.

Well, it’s probably not a “tent house” but a 6 or 8 man Coleman darkroom Skydome is a good tent, easy to set up, and durable and waterproof through storms. The Boy Scouts often use Coleman Sundomes because they are so durable.

I use my Darkroom Sundome 6 year round in all kinds of weather. About wore the first one out after 7 years of scout trips. Next one is ready to go when it dies.

HikerDirect member? I generally use a Coleman Sundome 6P Darkroom. It is what my cot fits in and I can stand up. I joke with the other leaders that I camp like a Cub Scout leader. A few times I’ve gotten much better rest due to the Darkroom and ear plugs. Occasionally another adult will share with me, but depends on the location and which troop I’m with that weekend.

Coleman Sundome 6 Dark Room

I mean, it isn’t anything super fancy, but I’ve had it since 2018. First few years were family campouts/Cub scouts 1-2x a year. The last 3 have been an average of 1 weekend a month. I have replaced 4 pole sections after they cracked and have 1 more remaining, then I have a newer one to start using. The current one has also been set up and played in by Cub Scouts a good dozen or so time. The skin is greeting worn, but still waterproof. My daughter’s scout troop has been using 4 person ones exclusively for a few years. A bunch got flattened in a wind storm, but it was like 80mph gusts. Coleman replaced most of them and we repaired the rest. They are not ALPS or REI, but for low cost simple tents, they will last a long time if you treat them properly.

Several of our other adult scout leaders have them. I’m not a fan. Rainfly is a separate purchase. It is fast to set up, but weird. And awkward to take down and dry out. It isn’t worth saving 5 minutes of set up to cause more hassle later, Door is only on one side, which makes it hard to use 2 cots (6 person). I would rather do a Sundome for similar size/ease with more utility.

I have a coleman 6 person dark room tent and my buddy liked it so much he bought an 8 person version of the same tent. There is enough room to stand up and it worked well for me, my wife, and dog. We use a double high queen size air mattress in the tent. However if you are camping 60+ nights a year I would not expect a coleman tent to hold up for very long. We only camp a few times a year and the stake out points for the rain fly have started to tear. I have heard very good things about the REI tents like the wonderland and the Base Camp. I have also heard good things about the North Face Wawona tents. There is a woman on youtube that goes by the handel Camping Guidance who has done detailed reviews on quite a few different tents. I would take a look at some of her videos to see if there is anything that looks like it would fit your use case well.

We bought a Coleman Dark room 6 person tent from Costco about 5-6 years ago and it is still going strong. It’s super easy to put up. My man and I can assemble it in under 5 minutes without any bickering. A single person could probably assemble it if they practiced and weren’t in a rush. I love that we can stand up in the center, it’s dark so we’re not woken up super early in the morning by the sun. It has screens on 2 panels that don’t zip up but when you put the rain cover over it covers the windows so privacy and retaining inside tent temperature isn’t an issue. We’ve camped in the rain with it (put an extra tarp over top) but it didn’t have any leaking on the sides or bottom. It’s was fairly cheap in price as well. Most likely under $100. I’m sure there’s a newer version now but we would definitely look into this same model again once our current one screw the pooch. As for our set up, my man and I like to sleep on 2 separate twin pads against the walls with room in the middle for standing and moving around. We each put our bags at our feet with plenty of spare room. We’re very comfortable in it. But for 3-4 people you’d be nice and cozy. For 3-4 people I’d actually look for an 8+ person tent to make sure there’s enough room.

Got our Coleman Darkroom 6 person tent from Costco about 5-6 years ago. Still going strong and we camp 5-10 times a year. It holds up through rain too. I think it was about $65. Really cheap. We use it for just the 2 of us but 3 people could sleep cozy but comfortable.

I have the 4p and 6p and they definitely block out the light

Love my coleman dark room tents!

Honestly for the durability and price I love my old Coleman sundomes, I have a 2 man and a 4 and they haven’t let me down in over a decade of use.