This design does a better job shielding the tent from incoming—and sideways—wind and rain. The Tungsten’s two brow poles create an especially effective awning over the tent door, so very little water gets in when someone comes or goes. Our only quibble with the Mineral King 3 is that it comes with only six stakes.
When you buy anything from Walmart it is made cheap so it can sell for cheap. I received my Ozark tent from my grandparents, which I used 9 years ago when we went camping with them. Trust me, it’s worth the money when you are soaking wet a long distance from your car. There was a breeze so I put bricks around the edge, and the rain tarp didn’t cover the whole of the window like it was supposed to, but that was it was a little hard to set up so it was understandable. It worked well that night and I got some rain in but nothing serious. Now a few years later I erected it in the backyard just for fun.
In October 2023, Eureka’s parent company, Johnson Outdoors, announced that it was discontinuing the Eureka brand. The product line, including its tents, should remain available through the end of 2024. The Wawona 6’s side-walls are high and straight, but the structure stays very stable in wind thanks to a final pole that wraps around the front and sides—and thanks to the absence of any acute angles in the poles. We were skeptical about the vestibule’s ability to handle wind, since it’s big and supported by a single pole, but it stood fast in 30 mph oceanside gusts and 15 mph hilltop winds. Coleman makes no dedicated footprints for its tents—the idea being that the polyethylene is tough enough not to need one. (Still, we suggest that you buy a groundsheet.) The tent has two small, internal pockets—fewer than on any of our other picks—and a loop at the ceiling center to hang a small, lightweight light.
Better instructions on how it should be installed would have prevented the splintering, but I would rather have seen the “laundry room” not be an outside protrusion from the back of the tent. Rather it should have been a large pocket on the inside of the tent that requires no pole at all. There is a little cost savings in that design over the one that caused me to ruin my tent when the pole splintered and the appearance of the tent will be enhanced if the little black add-on at the rear is not there.
The easily recognizable logo has been seen by nearly everyone at youth soccer tournaments or beach vacations in recent years. We wanted to do an in-depth review of this popular instant shelter and ultimately give our recommendation as to if this value brand tent is worth the lower price point vs. the higher quality but more expensive competition. The biggest material difference between the Sundome and our other picks is its crunchy, tarp-like polyethylene floor. The other tents in this guide all have bathtub-style tape-seamed polyester floors, which is the standard among high-quality tents. The Sundome’s tarp is clearly a budget material, but for what it was, we found it user-friendly.
The only drawbacks to this tent are that there is a weather protecting flap over the door zipper that is kept in place by an elastic band which causes the flap to pull in toward the zipper and snag occasionally. It comes loose easily enough but over time this has put lots of little holes in that flap. We explore the lightweight beach canopy that’s powered by the wind to see if its worth its hefty price tag. Wirecutter is the product recommendation service from The New York Times.
You set a new low in tents and the damn zippers you put in them. What are they plastic or made out of pewter.And before you guys cop an attitude, I have been camping since I was at least 4 years old and I am now in my mid-50s. One thing we love about Ozark Trail canopy tents are the accessories that can be added to the shelters. These include sidewalls, weight bags, and a host of other great add-ons that can really increase the use and versatility of the canopy tent. Perhaps our two favorites are camping tent additions that connect to the frame of the shelter and leverage the stability of the 10×10 frame to support a camping tent structure. The weight of this Ozark Trail is lighter than most of the same size alternative steel frame canopy tents, coming in right about 29 lbs.
If the Mineral King 3 is out of stock, or if you’d like a slightly larger tent, we recommend the Marmot Tungsten 4. The Tungsten 4 shares many of the Mineral King 3’s best features, and provides 10 square feet of additional living space as well as excellent weather protection—as long as you set it up properly. Like our top pick, the Tungsten 4 is a sturdy, two-door dome-style tent that can be deployed in about 5 minutes. It uses high-quality materials such as aluminum poles, breathable mesh, and water-resistant polyester fabric, and it comes with a full fly and a footprint. The Tungsten 4’s larger size accounts for the higher price tag (about $40 more), but campers who would like that extra room may find the expense worthwhile.
I purchased this tent to take to music festivals and such, because it is like a small house. One day into a 3-day festival, I returned to camp ozark trail backpack to find both of the large poles snapped right in two. Every single one of our camping experiences has been ruined because of the OZARK tent.