10-Person Modified Dome Tent with Screen Porch

Here’s the big 10 person we use at Cub Scout/family camp. Has held up through storms, and was necessarily for parental sanity with four of us in a tent for a week. https://www.walmart.com/ip/5180321072?sid=28ef4639-2609-4540-b5a0-2fce6b09f99f Coleman instant cabins have several sizes on Amazon but are sometimes cheaper through Coleman’s actual website. Not super great for high winds. https://a.co/d/2jv0b64 Alps Mountaineering Taurus 4 or 5 person. If you’re in scouting for the long haul at some point someone is going to tell you about Hiker Direct where Alps offers their products to scouting families at a discount. Not everything here is great, but my older child’s scout troop nearly all have their “outfitter” level of tents which are a bit more durable and have held up pretty well even in super high winds and bad storms that have ripped the Coleman instant cabins apart. Again, can’t standup in the four person, but can in the Alps Taurus 5 person. 4 person: https://a.co/d/8ogxWoq On hiker direct I want to say it was around $170. 5 person: https://a.co/d/8rs2kOR

For a week of Cub Scout camp in the summer, something you can stand up in to change is good. We’ve used an ozark trail one for the past three summers and been fine, but that’s with a family of four. I’ll thread that one below so this comment doesn’t get deleted if the link gets flagged. For just one parent one scout, we’ve used the done style 4 person tents from Alps and they’re pretty comfy, but even short adults can’t fully stand in them. At that age, most of our cub scouts don’t mind sleeping just in a sleeping bag on the ground (I’m also cubmaster for our small pack). Some families like to use the Coleman quick cabins. These are heavy and don’t do great in high winds, but if you’re driving right up to the campsite they’re super quick to set up and have good head room. Links incoming

I have a few tents of varying quality, and I still say a cheap Walmart tent is hard to beat for the occasional camping/testing the waters family. If you want easy and have plenty of space in your vehicle when car camping, their 10-person easy-up has gone through it and held up fine for me. Their was slight water pooling in the corners during an intense storm, but I also wasn't using a ground cloth (back yard camping). I love a large vestibule and just saw a standard 10 person with a screened "porch" there for $120. Saves money and packs much smaller than easy up. I mainly like a vestibule to keep water out when I open the sleeping area door during rain. That said, for quality, I love my Wawona 6. Tighter fit for 4, but ideally, you're just using it for sleeping, anyway.

Something to be said for a simple freestanding dome tent. I have 5 tents currently, ranging in size, price, and style. I have no complaints with the Coleman sky dome. I mean… I have complaints about all of them, but still use them all. Even the cheap ozark trail. If you want an expensive brand, I can recommend a couple, too.

I'm surprised you had issues. I've had great experiences for years with Ozark Trail/Walmart tents when you need something cheap and large for family car camping or festivals. Most recently got a "10 person" tent that had three rooms and a large vestibule. It has survived 2 years of being beat up by toddlers with no permanent damage. Good water proofing, good ventilation, only downside is its so large and heavy. It takes up a full Army duffel bag packed to the brim to fit the tent, fly, and poles.

Rather than get something expensive and that's designed only to be used by experts, I'd suggest the Ozark trail l-10 that goes on the outside of an easy up and then using the easy up as covered space. When you're camping with two or three small kids what you want is a lot of space for them to wiggle around inside the tent. What you don't want is a tent where you can't stand up or sit up and have to slide your way in and then sit inside a mummy bag motionless

Do whatever you want :)  We have a family of 6 and bring  like 3 tents the largest of which is a 10 person tent that is ridiculously large inside.  We have like a rotation to children in the tent depending on weather and who got scared and well basically don’t really care what anyone thinks?  We got the 10 person Ozark Trails tent from Walmart and that thing can fit like 3 queen size air mattresses so it’s definitely got whatever room you are looking for lol. 

I have this one which has been great so far. It’s really heavy though. I suppose it doesn’t take up a ton of car space - if they got the6 person version (if there is one) that would probably work out fine. There’s always space under a cot to store stuff also.