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Coleman 4-Person Cabin Tent with Instant Setup Review

Fast to set up and cheap, this is a great pick for backyard camping or camping trips in decent weather.





Quick Review: The Coleman 4-Person Cabin Tent with Instant Setup is best used for backyard camping or shorter camping trips in decent weather. Living up to the name, it sets up very quickly and easily.


Pros: The setup is extremely easy. It’s a bargain.


Cons: Not a ton of headroom. The quality is in line with what you’d expect from a cheaper tent. There’s no rain fly included.


Price: $159.99


Occupancy: 4 person


Floor dimensions: 7’ x 8’


Center height: 4’ 11”


Review


It’s refreshing to see a product like the Coleman 4-Person Cabin Tent with Instant Setup with such clear strengths and weaknesses. This tent sets up extremely quickly. It’s quite cheap. It won’t be the most weatherproof or durable.


Setup


When folded and stowed in its bag, the tent is fairly small, making it easy to store. Coleman advertises the setup as being a less than 60-second process. While it may take you more than a minute the first time, we found that setup time to be right on target.


You take the tent out of the bag, unfold it, and pull up on the center support. The tent just pops up, then you stake it down, and attach the guylines if you’d like. Check out our video below for a look at the setup process:



Inside


With 56 square feet, the inside is big enough for a queen air mattress or two twins. Headroom is limited to 4’ 11’’, but this is a fairly small, cheap tent that’s expected.


There are three windows and vents in the ceiling. We were disappointed to see there’s no way to secure the windows when they’re open. They dangle down into the tent, further eating away at space.


Weatherproofing and durability


The tent is made from 150D polyester and you can see the seam seals all the way around. We haven’t had a chance to test it in the rain yet, but we’d expect it to hold up well initially and potentially not be the most durable tent over the years since the zippers and mesh don’t appear to be high quality. The floor also isn’t as thick as higher-quality tents.


The fulcrum points of the frame have soft mesh covers to help you avoid finger pinches, but we did notice the mesh gets pinched in the joints quite a bit and it might not hold up over time.


Also, note that this tent does not come with a rain fly.


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Bottom Line


The Coleman 4-Person Cabin Tent with Instant Setup is a one-trick pony. But it does that one trick of assembling quickly very, very well. There are some cheap touches, especially in the construction quality, but this is a cheap tent. While this isn’t a tent you would want take out in inclement weather, it’s a perfect option for backyard camping or shorter camping trips in decent weather.


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