Coleman says that the tent doesn’t need one, probably because its floor is a crinkly (though tough) tarp-like polyethylene, not a taped-seam polyester as in our other picks. At $500, this ozark trail chairs modified dome-style tent isn’t cheap, but it represents substantial value. Many tents with similar profiles—such as the Big Agnes Dog House 6—either cost more or require you buy the tent body and attachable vestibule separately. The Wawona doesn’t come with a footprint—few tents this size do—but it’s otherwise all-inclusive, and it is compact considering how much livable space you get. The REI Co-op Screen House Shelter is easy to set up and pleasant to use, providing good protection from bugs, sun, and gentle rain showers.
I loved the size of this screen house but after a few uses, the 4-way hub gable cracked and a couple of the curved roof poles bent a little. Like the REI and L.L.Bean canopy shelters, this Clam tent has a generous fabric skirt at its base that is designed to keep determined insects—and pooling rainwater—out. If we were camping somewhere infested with mosquitoes or no-see-ums and could fit the Clam in our vehicle, we’d prefer it over any of our other picks.
The Screen House is spacious enough for six people, or more around a folding table in an uninterrupted 360-degree panoramic shelter. Decided to use it to go camping with my fiance and we were going to set up before we went. We put it back in the bag and said this is so stupid. I have found it takes two people to put this screenhouse together. I have two of them and the only complaint I have is that when they are up and you sip the doors shut the bottom is two foot off the ground. But for the most part we like it and take both of them camping with every time we go.
The sloping walls make the interior space feel much smaller than the generous footprint might lead you to expect. The mesh doesn’t seem particularly durable, and given the cap-like roof, the shade provided is much more limited than with our top-pick tents. One wall comes fully unzipped and stashes ozark trail canopy into an internal pocket. Like the REI model, the L.L.Bean tent has ample interior pockets, a lantern hook, and a roomy carrying bag, though the bag is of the typical drawstring-sack variety. The Woodlands Screen House uses six lightweight aluminum poles, just like the Screen House Shelter.
This polyester material is less susceptible to UV damage than the nylon that previous versions of this tent incorporated, but it generally has a feel that is not quite as soft. Despite the change in fabric, this REI shelter still weighs just 13 pounds, several pounds less than many others of this type. (We don’t recommend the smaller version of this tent for couples who might actually take it on the road; it was just too flimsy in our tests.) Also note that this tent does not come with its own groundsheet.
The Paramount continued as a limited production model, built in small numbers in a small apportioned area of the old Chicago assembly factory. But, with determined hope, I began to wade through the instructions. Claire Wilcox contributes outdoors coverage to ozark trail chairs Wirecutter. An avid swimmer, surfer, hiker, and camper, she currently lives on the island of Oahu in Hawaii, where she can be found, as much as possible, in water. In terms of flaws, there aren’t much to speak of with the Wawona 6, apart from the price.
A canopy tent is a purchase most regular car campers consider after stocking up on the basics. After all, you can find plenty of smaller and less-expensive items to help you fight bugs, guard against the sun, and shrug off rain. The Clam Quick-Set Escape was by far the toughest canopy tent we tested. It’s made with reinforced polyester and heavyweight no-see-um mesh, and it comes with the strongest stakes we’ve seen on any tent. The Clam also sets up and folds down with remarkable speed—we timed the process at 60 seconds.
There’s shade, and fewer bugs than outside the screenhouse. Will I come home and just find the screenhouse gone, or will I see it blowing around in the street, trailing pipe segments? What about the rain, or the potential for 120-degree heat? For the moment, my dream of an extra room in the back yard has come true. We’ve had this piece of garbage for 2 years now and haven’t been able to use it since we purchased it. We set it up one day, and by the next day or so it was down.