The sundome 4 person tent from Coleman is an excellent tent for beginners thanks to its low-cost and easy setup design. Being so reasonably priced means that the tent is also a good choice for more experienced campers looking for a new tent that won’t break the bank. The 4-person version of the tent is affordable and easy to set up, making it a fantastic option for new campers. The 4-Person Sundome® Dark Room™ Dome Camping Tent blocks 90% of sunlight (vs. a comparable Coleman® tent) so you can put the kids to bed early or sleep in past sunrise. It also reduces heat inside the tent for more comfortable rest at any time. Enjoy superior weather protection thanks to an included rainfly and the tent’s WeatherTec™ system, which uses welded corners and inverted seams to keep water from getting in.
A 4-Person Sundome has 9 by 7 feet, while a 4-Person Skydome has 8 by 7 feet. Then, you’d have to clip all the pole clips onto the poles, and there are 14 of them around the tent. So, all these features don’t exactly speed up the process at all. Even after we figured in the size of the air mattress, we still had plenty of room to store our gear off to the sides plus the little bed for our dog Lily. I ordered it with the free shipping and the total cost was a steal, coming in at just under $70.00 (price may vary). The tent took less than a week to get here and I was more than eager to set it up once it arrived.
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, coleman instant tent 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.
I also don’t use the supplied stakes; I have those good nail spikes with the orange top. Another con in my opinion would be the lack of structural guy outs. There is one guy out loop sewn into the bottom seam of the rainfly on each side for a total of two that are really used to hold the rainfly out over the mesh panel.
For carrying, the included rectangular bag for the Sundome is simple in nature, but the full-length zipper and well-placed handles get the job done. We would have loved to see internal dividers like those found on the REI Kingdom bags, but those likely would have raised the price of the Coleman. However, like the Sundome the mesh windows in this tent mean that without the rain fly on, users lose all sense of privacy. The floor is also best used with a footprint or trap underneath to make sure it isn’t damaged. The fiberglass poles’ sleek design means they are less likely to catch on the sleeve during setup and breakdown, which makes this a frustration-free setup. Because of the basic setup, you also won’t have to struggle with poles or the rainfly in the hot sun for long stretches of time.
Whereas aluminum can be bent back into place when sustaining too much pressure, fiberglass will simply snap and be rendered unusable. A few features on the tent had somewhat questionable build quality, such as plastic clips and less than elegant zippers. At nine pounds, the Coleman Sundome Tent isn’t among the best backpacking tents, but it’s ideal for car camping, which is what I mostly do. It comes in three colors and several sizes ranging from two-person to six-person. I have the four-person model which comfortably fits my queen-sized mattress and leaves plenty of floor space for my gear and my 150-pound dog. First off, the price on the Coleman Sundome 2 is hard to beat.
The Coleman sundome can be set up by one camper – even one without any experience. As always though – we recommend you practice setting the tent up at home before you head out on your trip. It helps you feel more confident in your ability and will speed things up considerably. Even without gear, it’s going to be a fight for floor space. Groups of four or families would definitely be better off investing in a larger model – like the 6 person model. Also, I found that the rainfly pole doesn’t provide enough shading over the door of this Skydome Tent.
Do you have a similar tent and would you like to share your experience with us? But when you pick up the Sundome for ONE THIRD the price of the slightly larger Tetragon 9, you can put up with a lot of little bothers.
Two poles run diagonally between corners to give the body of the tent it’s dome-shape. The Coleman sundome would have been a GREAT option for a trip I recently took. I needed a tent that was going to be comfortable for a weekend car camping trip. My backpacking tent is great, but a little on the small side for casual weekend camping trips. I know the Skydome is supposed to be a quick pitch in under 5 minutes, complete with these pre-attached poles, fast-fitting feet, and pole clips instead of pole sleeves.