First, Ozark Trail uses sealed seams on this tent, but the fabric itself isn’t made for a rainstorm. You’ll want to give the entire tent a thorough Nikwax treatment before taking it on the road. Second, the fabric feels thin, and a few users have reported ripping it during setup, so you’ll need to take your time both setting up and taking down this tent. There’s a lot to love here, but as the Ozark Trail Three Room Instant Cabin is still a budget department store tent, you’ll want to be aware of a few shortcomings. First, although this is an instant tent, the unique layout and integrated awning make setup a little more involved than most.
Yes, we all want a big spacious tent with room for plush sleeping quarters, but we also recommend looking for the little features that can elevate your camping experience. Interior storage is a great example, as all those little mesh pockets help keep things organized and off the floor. Screen rooms, shade awnings, storage vestibules, and privacy dividers are also great examples of livability-added features. These features all work together to make a tent feel more like your home away from home and less like a makeshift shelter in the woods. Large dome tents are also an option, and although they’re a little less flashy, they have some perks of their own.
With room for 12 and nearly seven-foot ceilings, it checks all our boxes for a big family tent, but even as cabin shelters go, this one is special. We’ve also put together a handy buyer’s guide down at the bottom as a resource for shoppers who are new to the Ozark Trail brand, so make sure to check it out. There you’ll find all the info you could ever want on the materials, build quality, and weather-worthiness of these affordable tents. The material of the tent body and rainfly are made of 68D coated polyester fabric. There was no info provided by Ozark Trail on the material of the flooring, but it feels like your regular polyethylene bathtub flooring, and doesn’t seem very thick.
I forgot to measure the height of the bathtub flooring, but I think it’s about 5 inches. It rained for about an hour while I was using this Ozark Trail 10-Person Cabin Tent, with about 20 minutes of moderate rainfall and about 40 minutes of pretty light rain. There’s also 1 lantern loop at the very top of the tent for some lighting at night. I can’t reach this either, but you should be fine if you’re a little taller. The zipper quality is not the best, it’s a little bit noisy, and it always, always snags from the outside because of this green rain cover. The lowest height in the tent, which is at the four corners, is about 65 inches.
Each of the cabin’s three rooms includes its own privacy divider, and each is large enough to fit a queen-sized mattress as well, so it’s a great option for large groups or families. Other perks of the Three Room Instant Cabin include an instant tent design with pre-attached poles for easy set-up and dual ground-level vents designed to work with a tent air conditioner. Layout wise is virtually identical to the Core Instant Cabin we evaluated for our 10 person tent roundup, but delivers those same massive interior dimensions for about $100 less. The 3 roof poles are made of fiberglass, which are a bit more flexible.
It comfortably fits two queen airbeds or up to 10 campers in sleeping bags on the floor. Also included are tent stakes to secure the tent, and a carry bag for easy portability and storage when not in use. Make the most of your next camping adventure with the Ozark Trail 10-Person Instant Cabin Tent. So yes, the Ozark Trail is an absolute steal of a deal if you’re into the bell tent design, but there are a few shortcomings you’ll want to be aware of if you’re considering it.
Note also that the packed size is not so impressive, but again, this is normal for instant camping tents that come with telescopic poles. All in all, you will need a car for the transportation of this tent. But the area is 140 ft² (13 m²) so this is far too small for such a number of users although indeed it should be possible to put 10 sleeping pads on the floor. Note again that the tent is fully floored, so this can work for a group of friends at a summer festival and for other similar activities. But for a family camping, it is best to downgrade this number by half.
This Ozark Trail 10-Person Tent has a packed size of 29 by 18 by 13 inches. For a size comparison, here’s what it looks like beside a Coleman 2-Person Sundome Tent, as well as a 32-ounce Nalgene bottle, and it weighs about 30 pounds for everything. The carry bag seems to be of okay quality, ozark trail canopy tent and it can be made bigger for easier packing up. It wasn’t too difficult to get the tent, poles and all other accessories back into the carry bag. The 6 wall poles are made of steel, I think, but they’re probably not stainless steel, because I found some rust on one of these steel poles.