The rainfly only extends about halfway down on all sides, leaving the lower portion of the tent body exposed, and you won’t find any sealed seams to help keep water out. While the tarp-like material on the bathtub floor didn’t allow water to soak through, the rest of the tent’s construction was a major let-down. We experienced one moderately rainy night in the Sundome and awoke to find a number of puddles on the inside of the tent floor. Furthermore, the walls had soaked through and wetted out.
The Sundome is a well though out tent with some very nice features, but it also a few shortcomings. After seeing how it performed over a few days and nights, these are my conclusions. In addition to the various capacities, Coleman also makes the unique and rather intriguing Dark Room Sundome. Built using the same structure coleman ice chest as the standard model (it’s only offered in 4P and 6P sizes), the design utilizes a special fabric on the tent body and rainfly that blocks a claimed 90% of light. For one, it has serious potential appeal among late sleepers or parents that are hoping to enjoy an uninterrupted cup of coffee in the morning.
This freestanding tent is in my opinion designed for car camping. It weighs around 22 lbs in the bag so it’s not a tent I would want to have to carry for a long period coleman screen tent of time. What differentiates the Elite Model from the regular Sundome is the Elite is a little larger and comes with an LED lighting system and hinged door.
It does provide a little support but not nearly enough, especially with the small 8.5mm poles. It should have 4 structural guy out loops about half way up the rainfly, 1 loop on each pole. Of course if I were to replace the fiberglass poles with aluminum poles this would strengthen the structure considerably. This is a great option for first-time campers and budget-wise campers as myself.
We will need to bring some extra blankets along from now on. James has been escaping to the outdoors for as long as he can remember. coleman sundome This first started in family camping trips but soon turned into adventure camps and hiking through the Scottish Hebrides.