I’ll spare you the glorious details, but picture the pie eating contest scene from Stand By Me and that’ll give you a pretty good idea. Due to the outbreak, the camp closed and we went home the next day. Trailspace’s community of gear reviewers has field-tested and rated the top three-season tents. 5) This style dome does have the sleeves (2) which you must walk back and slowly feed the dome poles through during set up. Two windows and one ground vent allow for cool air to flow in and hot air to flow out.
However, with its full-length rainfly (on the sides of the tent) and seam-sealed construction, the Meramac 6 is superior in the weatherproofing department. Furthermore, we like that the Meramac features two doors as opposed to the Sundome’s one, making entry and exit easier should you need to get up in the middle of the night. And finally, the materials used throughout the Alps Mountaineering Meramac 6 are noticeably better.
With two people there is enough room to set up a queen size inflatable mattress, and still have room for extra gear you may want to store in the tent with you. There is a mesh gear pocket to store things like you wallet and phone in to keep them off the ground. You’ll also find a zippered opening near the door to run an electrical cord through so you can run a fan, or C-PAP machine in my case.
If there are four people in the tent, there will be absolutely zero space for anything else. Sure, there may be better tents out there in this size, but they come at a harder to pay price as well. However, if you are just doing the occasional holiday or one weekend a month type of camping, then the Sundome will serve you well. A family of four will fit in this tent, but it is going to be tight with only 63 sq ft of floor space and no vestibule.
It handles rain very well in my opinion and winds of up to 20mph. It also comes with a fantastic vestibule with a door that can be propped up to form an awning. The sheltered living space in this tent is the advantage it has over the coleman ice chest. This tent can be put up fast and easily thanks to the simple three-pole design.
One thing we also found particularly interesting about this tent is the number of versions available. So I am a solo car camper, so for me size and weight is not an issue, that’s why I decided on the Coleman Sundome 4. I thought about getting the 6-person tent so I could stand inside, but was worried it might be a bit tough to set up alone so I decided on the 4-person.
To gauge livability, we brought along two adults, a portable crib, and a dog, and found that the Sundome 6 provided more than enough room for summertime adventures. We were able to move around comfortably, the sleeping space easily accommodated the aforementioned crib and a double-wide, 52-inch mat, and the generous amount of mesh made for an airy feel overall. In practice, we almost always recommend sizing up your tent, and we think the Sundome 6 work bests with groups of three to four people. Coleman also offers the Sundome 4, which we think is ideal for two campers and a dog.