Coleman - Swagger Ultimate Darkroom 3P Tent

I have the swagger 3 tent. I wish I had the darkroom version. It goes up fairly easily. Tbh it takes me a little longer because I use a shade cloth groundsheet. It works great on warm nights without the fly and as tents go it’s roomy and easy to use. Plenty of room inside for storage if you carry a lot of gear. My only criticism is that I think for solo camping it’s actually a little bit too big. Could do with being just a little shorter and narrower. I use the swagger for summer camping in South Australia, and have a helinox cot I use with it. Partly for air flow and partly for comfort. For winter camping I use a swag. Have a think about why you want a tent versus a swag. I use the tent because the swag is too damned warm for summer, and the tent takes a little less room up in the car (I have the kings swag and sit it on an oztrail stretcher so it’s off the ground.) I use a cot with the tent and stretcher because it’s just a little easier getting in and out of.

I had a 6 person Ozark that withstood 60 mph straight line winds one year and a freaking tornado another. (We headed to town for the actual tornado. Got back to camp & there were tents down and lawn chairs in trees, but our chairs were under the picnic table where I had stashed them & our tent was fine, even dry inside.) Always use all the stakes, lol. Had great luck with that Ozark. I recently downsized to a 3 person Coleman Hooligan. I love it.

If you are car camping get a 2 or 3 person tent. That way when they start to get older than can camp with a friend. I got a cheap 3 person Coleman as a kid. Then used with with a friend. Plenty of room for 2 people and gear spread out.

Honestly, people recommending $300+ tents for simple car camping are nuts with money to burn. Used a 12 year old, $60 coleman this year in the rain, was fine

A lot of people in these subs are either unlucky or spoiled. I just gave my 3-person, $60 Coleman tent I bought roughly 12 years ago to my sister to use, as I needed to upgrade to a 4-person now that I've got a toddler. It rained when we went out this year, and it didn't didn't leak. I waterproof sprayed it about 10 years ago, so I doubt that even did anything other than permanently stain it a bit as I can still where I went over the seams with the spray lol People preaching "you get what you pay for" have to say that to justify spending $800 on a tent when their doing the same kinda camping I'm doing (car camping) with less space than me lol

I got one of the Coleman tents with dark room technology 2 years ago and when I tell you it’s so worth the investment! Stays cool/dark enough to sleep in once the sun comes up if you want to.

You’ll definitely want a canopy, I’ve always had my dark room tent partially under one to help protect from the sun even more. You can probably place a pickup order for a canopy at a Walmart in Indio.

Coleman dark room. Blocks a good amount of light and heat, durable, simple, decently cheap, tall enough to stand. Cons - it's pretty big at 9x7 and it's kind of hard to set up solo.

Buy Coleman with the Dark Room tech, or a brand with similar like Logos. Don’t buy the cheap shit people are telling about. They will get insanely hot and keeping out the sun is the only way they are useful.

Coleman makes their “dark room” tents which keep the tent darker inside and allegedly keep the tent cooler in the hot sun. Ive never taken our 6 man out in hot sun, but i can confirm that it is much darker inside then in comparable tents. Generally speaking for car camping coleman is what i recommend. They’re cheap, they work fine. Will they survive hurricanes? No. Will they last if you camp every weekend? No. But our groups have used coleman tents for years without issue.

Love my coleman dark room tents!

I've never had a CORE tent, but Coleman and Kelty have both worked well in the past for car camping. The Coleman "instant cabin" would probably be an easier setup, but not much easier, and at cost of some sturdiness. Coleman Dark Room and Kelty Daydreamer are also neat; they're designed to black out sunlight, so the material is a bit heavier... and yeah, you can sleep in past dawn much more easily.