The rainfly only extends about halfway down on all sides, leaving the lower portion of the tent body exposed, and you won’t find any sealed seams to help keep water out. While the tarp-like material on the bathtub floor didn’t allow water to soak through, the rest of the tent’s construction was a major let-down. We experienced one moderately rainy night in the Sundome and awoke to find a number of puddles on the inside of the tent floor. Furthermore, the walls had soaked through and wetted out.
Excellent for Scouting, camping, and overnights at the beach. Coleman is a trustworthy name in camping that has been around for many years. Their products are generally reliable and usable by anyone. This tent is right on par with its cost; however, because the poles broke on us right away, the actual value may depend on whether you get a good batch or not.
This 4-Person dome tent also comes with guy-lines to support the fiberglass poles. Unfortunately, there isn’t a hydrostatic head rating for this tent. We reached out to Coleman for more information and their advisor told us that their tents “don’t stop water but will stop UV”.
We will need to bring some extra blankets along from now on. James has been escaping to the outdoors for as long as he can remember. This first started in family camping trips but soon turned into adventure camps and hiking through the Scottish Hebrides.
It does provide a little support but not nearly enough, especially with the small 8.5mm poles. It should have 4 structural guy out loops about half way up the rainfly, 1 loop on each pole. Of course coleman screen tent if I were to replace the fiberglass poles with aluminum poles this would strengthen the structure considerably. This is a great option for first-time campers and budget-wise campers as myself.
The Sundome is a well though out tent with some very nice features, but it also a few shortcomings. After seeing how it performed over a few days and nights, these are my conclusions. In addition to the various capacities, Coleman also makes the unique and rather intriguing Dark Room Sundome. Built using the same structure as the standard model (it’s only offered in 4P and 6P sizes), the design utilizes a special fabric on the tent body and rainfly that blocks a claimed 90% of light. For one, it has serious potential appeal among late sleepers or parents that are hoping to enjoy an uninterrupted cup of coffee in the morning.
The tent would work for four people in an emergency, otherwise the tent is just large enough for the both of us, a small carry-on travel bag to keep our clothes dry, and a queen size air mattress. My one complaint in this area is the flimsy fiberglass tent poles. I’m not a fiberglass hater, but these are a little on the thin side.
This freestanding tent is in my opinion designed for car camping. It weighs around 22 lbs in the bag so it’s not a tent I would want to have to carry for a long period of time. What differentiates the Elite Model from the regular Sundome is the Elite is a little larger and comes with an LED lighting system and hinged door.
I can see it being easy to form cracks and break, although in over a year of use I haven’t done either as of yet. I still carry materials to make a repair though, just in case. I haven’t got caught in a strong storm yet in this tent, but I imagine it will be easy for the wind to blow the coleman ice chest tent in on itself because of the poles. The low wide profile and included guylines hold up well in the wind, and the tent floor has a tub design. As long as you can avoid a tear or puncture, you should stay dry. However, it isn’t the design that is at risk — it is the construction.
Although there is only one doorway on the Sundome, it is quite large and should allow for easy entry and exit for one person at a time. There’s no room divider for the Sundome, nor is there a vestibule. We can certainly live without the former, but the lack of a vestibule means that there’s no mudroom to store your dirty stuff, which can come in particularly handy when the weather gets wet. The pole that holds up the rainfly offers very little protection from the rain outside the tent, really only enough to keep it from getting inside the door. Once the tent was pitched, I did a walk around and noted any prior damage from the previous user.