Coleman Skydome 4-Person Camping Tent with LED Lights

Why it's worth it

The Coleman Skydome uses pre-attached poles that feed through a continuous sleeve, so one person can have it standing in minutes. It's heavy and basic, but the tub floor and taped rainfly seams do the job in real weather.

The pitch is the whole point. Coleman rates it at five minutes, and while owners note the first attempt runs longer — one reports half an hour fighting the rainfly — the second and third times go quickly. The poles stay attached, the corners and brow sleeve are color-coded red so you can't orient the fly backwards, and there's no bag of loose parts to sort. If you're setting up at dusk with tired kids, that's worth a lot.

For a budget tent, the weather protection is more serious than you'd expect. Coleman's WeatherTec setup uses a tub-style floor with welded corners and inverted seams, plus taped seams on both the fly and body. Owners describe sitting through storms that soaked neighboring campers and staying dry inside. It's rated to handle winds around 35 mph, and owner accounts of desert gusts and 25 mph wind back that up.

From our review of 5 camping tents, by Liam Johnson, Lead Product Reviewer

What we like

• +The pitch is the whole point
• +For a budget tent, the weather protection is more serious than you'd expect
• +Nearly vertical walls give it roughly 20 percent more headroom than Coleman's older domes, which translates to actually being…
• +Call it a 4-person tent if you want, but plan for two adults plus gear, or two adults and a small child

What to know

• –At roughly 11 pounds it's a car-camping tent, full stop
• –The rainfly is the weak link in the setup process
• –The LED light is dim, and there's only one window, in the door