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. Second, the tall vertical walls and “L” shape make it about as far from aerodynamic as they come. Do NOT phone in the guyline portion of set-up (regardless of the weather) or you’ll risk damaging the tent. Finally, the material of this shelter is noticeably higher quality than many Ozark Trail tents, but the 68D polyester is still not as thick as we’d like. No Ozark Trail tent is perfect, but as far as full-size family camping tents go, this is the one to beat.
For cons, there’s only 1 door in the entire 10-person tent, there’s almost no ventilation at all when it’s raining, and it also leaks within just 15 minutes of light rain. The tent is with huge mesh ozark trail instant cabin windows around, plus all the ceiling is mesh (see the picture below), so ventilation is not an issue in this tent. But if it is raining you will have to keep panels on the doors and windows.
For pros, the Ozark Trail 10-Person Cabin Tent is very, very inexpensive, and is by far my least expensive tent for the size. The 14 steel stakes that came with the tent are just your standard tent stakes, nothing impressive. The mesh doesn’t exactly feel soft and silky, and I’m pretty sure it’s not no-see-um mesh, though it’ll keep the bigger bugs out. There was quite a bit of this sort of inconsistent mesh in some places, so not very well put together. I also found a bunch of loose threads on the floor when I first got into the tent, and excess material on some parts. Also, I noticed that some water was already seeping through the blue fabric at the bottom of the tent, and the fabric is pretty much soaked.
I have both the Coleman 4-Person Instant Tent and the 4-Person Pop Up Tent, and in this blog post, I’ll go through all the differences between these tents. While the Coleman Instant Tent takes double the time to set up and pack away as compared to the Coleman Pop Up Tent, it has more pros…. Ozark Trail is basically Walmart’s house brand, or private brand, and I think the reason Walmart and Coleman are able to keep their prices low is because all these tents are made in either China or Bangladesh.
The picture below shows the tent without the fly so you can get some idea about its poles structure. The pictures above also show how you can completely close the windows and the doors, for privacy and for protection from elements. Note that you have 10 windows in total and they can be closed as you wish.
To set up the Ozark Trail 10-Person Tent, first slide the 3 fiberglass poles through the roof pole sleeves. I have read many reviews about how happy people are with this cabin having no leaks or wind gust problems. BUT for myself, I am disappointed to have been so thrilled to order this tent with good intentions and ending in a return back to the store. I didn’t think I had a large enough space in my backyard to pitch this tent (14×13.5) I barely squeezed it in my yard.
This tent is a little heavy because of the steel poles pre-attached to the tent, so I recommend having a partner to help pop up and lock in the poles. If you need more options please check my list with the best 12-person tents, and also check in the category Cabin Tents. The name Ozark Trail 12-Person 3-Room Instant Cabin Tent with Screen Room is descriptive enough and it describes the best features of this tent. So this is a pleasant tent, designed for warm weather and summer camping. This is how it should be used and in this case you should have a great experience with this tent. This is all steel construction, so the weight mentioned above should not be a surprise.
I don’t think this Ozark Trail 10-Person Tent will do very well against strong winds. The Ozark Trail 10-Person Tent also comes with a room divider, so you can split the tent into 2 rooms, and each “room” can fit 2 queen-sized camping mattresses. Because it’s ridiculously inexpensive, the quality, design and weather protection isn’t the best, though ozark trail canopy tent I think it’ll work decently in summer (without rain, of course). All these windows are pretty small, which limits ventilation on a hot day. And on top of that, all these windows need to be closed on a rainy day. However, my Ozark Trail Tent’s fabric started getting pretty soaked after just that 15 minutes of mostly light to moderate rain.
With that being said, Ozark Trail does a good job of seam-sealing their tents from the factory in most cases, and with a little help, these budget-shelters can keep you dry when unexpected rain hits. Take time to treat the entire tent with a DWR coating like Nikwax (not just the rainfly) and never leave the house without a tent repair kit in case disaster strikes. Second, Ozark Trail tents are affordable because they use very basic materials.
You have to add the fly as well, so it is best to have somebody to help you. This is why I have added it to my list of best instant camping tents. The 3 roof poles are made of fiberglass, which are a bit more flexible.