Unfortunately, the lack of storage options continues to the exterior of the Sundome 6. Unlike most other camping tents, such as Kelty’s popular Discovery 6 model and its full-length rainfly, the Coleman’s partial design does not create any vestibule space. Typically, covered tent vestibules are a great place to store items like shoes, camp chairs, or anything else you’d like to keep out of the elements, but not so with the Sundome.
We reached out to Coleman for more information and their advisor told us that their tents “don’t stop water but will stop UV”. So if you’re looking for a tent guaranteed to keep you dry, the sundome 4 man model might not be the best choice. Festivals aren’t the safest campgrounds for your tent, so a low-cost, reliable model might be a good investment.
Coleman chose not to use grommets like the rest of the tent world and instead attached a pin on every corner that slides inside the pole. Though not ideal, it is fairly easy to get used to doing. Packing the tent back up into the bag isn’t very hard either. There is a removable extension on the bottom that we assume helps keep the bag small for shipping but, once removed, allows a little more breathing room.
For ourselves, we did what we should have done all along – Spent the money on a quality tent that will last us many years of camping (We bought the REI Base Camp 6). I have used this tent in the wind, rain, snow, and sun without any problems. Now even with those cons I’ve mentioned this is still a worthy tent and I am pleased with my purchase and the tent’s performance so far. If one of my poles breaks I could spend $36 dollars on some aluminum poles and still only have a hundred dollars invested and even at that price this tent’s still a bargain. Even though Coleman uses an inverted seam to sew the tent body to the tub floor I still went around all four sides with seam sealer before I took it out on its first camp.
A few features on the tent had somewhat questionable build quality, such as plastic clips and less than elegant zippers. The Coleman® 4-Person Sundome® Dark Room™ Dome Camping Tent blocks 90% of sunlight (vs. a comparable Coleman tent) so you can put the kids to bed early or sleep in past sunrise. It also reduces heat inside the tent for more comfortable rest at any time. With a double-wall design and generous use of mesh on two sides and the ceiling, the Coleman Sundome 6 offers very good ventilation. Adding to the breezy feel is its partial rainfly, which when guyed out allows for a significant amount of airflow on warm summer nights.
However, we did find a couple of things that piqued our interest. One thing we also found particularly interesting about this tent is the number of versions available. First off, the price on the 2 is hard to beat.
Please also note that the shipping rates for many items we sell are weight-based. The weight of any such item can be found on its detail page. To reflect the policies of the shipping companies we use, all weights will be rounded up to the next full pound. When coleman screen tent you place an order, we will estimate shipping and delivery dates for you based on the availability of your items and the shipping options you choose. Depending on the shipping provider you choose, shipping date estimates may appear on the shipping quotes page.
I’m not a fiberglass hater, but these are a little on the thin side. I can see it being easy to form cracks and break, although in over a year of use I haven’t done either as of yet. I still carry materials to make a repair though, just in case.