Our favorite is the “storage locker” which gives you a protected place to store items like muddy shoes outside the tent, but can also be accessed from inside using a second zipper. It’s a great spot to stash your “middle of the night bathroom break” shoes and anything else you don’t want taking up space inside the tent. Oddly enough, Ozark Trail’s most basic, base bones shelter takes the title of most durable. We chose the Ozark Trail Clip & Camp ozark trail canopy tent because unlike larger cabins with plastic hubs and countless poles, this traditional two-pole dome has the fewest number of parts that can potentially fail. Our favorite Ozark Trail tent currently is the Ozark Trail Three Room Instant Cabin. This tent’s combination of floor space, livability, and value make it a home run for large groups or families looking to spread out in style, but this 12-person behemoth won’t be everyone’s first choice.
I wouldn’t recommend putting this 10-person tent up on your own though, because it’s quite difficult to get the roof to prop up by yourself. Sometimes I worry that these fiberglass poles will break, because they’re not that sturdy. The mattresses that I used in the picture above are slightly smaller than queen size, but almost queen-sized, give or take a couple of inches. ozark trail canopy tent These 4 mattresses take up the entire tent, and there’s hardly any space leftover for camping gear. The Ozark Trail Yurt gets high marks for its overall interior space with 169 square feet of floor room and ceilings over 7 feet tall at their peak. That’s plenty of room for two queen mattresses with room left over for some chairs, a cooler, and a camp table.
Each of the cabin’s three rooms includes its own privacy divider, and each is large enough to fit a queen-sized mattress as well, so it’s a great option for large groups or families. Other perks of the Three Room Instant Cabin include an instant tent design with pre-attached poles for easy set-up and dual ground-level vents designed to work with a tent air conditioner. Layout wise is virtually identical to the Core Instant Cabin we evaluated for our 10 person tent roundup, but delivers those same massive interior dimensions for about $100 less. The 3 roof poles are made of fiberglass, which are a bit more flexible.
With that being said, we have yet to see an Ozark Trail tent that’s actually “difficult” to set up, so there’s no reason to limit your search to “instant-only” if you don’t mind putting your own poles together. Ease of setup (how easy it is to pitch and take down a tent) is pretty much always a high mark for Ozark Trail tents. These tents are built for first-time and/or fairweather campers, so Ozark Trail puts a lot of effort into making them easy to use. The one exception to the rule here is for the larger cabin-style tents, especially those with an “instant tent” design that uses pre-attached poles. These shelters tend to be much heavier and bulkier when packed up due to the frame design, so you’ll want to make sure you’ve got room to transport them in your vehicle and store them in your home before buying. Again, Ozark Trail tents are mainly fair weather camping tents (so you won’t be hiking into the backcountry with them) which means weight and packed size aren’t a big priority.
Note also that the packed size is not so impressive, but again, this is normal for instant camping tents that come with telescopic poles. All in all, you will need a car for the transportation of this tent. But the area is 140 ft² (13 m²) so this is far too small for such a number of users although indeed it should be possible to put 10 sleeping pads on the floor. Note again that the tent is fully floored, so this can work for a group of friends at a summer festival and for other similar activities. But for a family camping, it is best to downgrade this number by half.
If you’re looking to save money but still want that cabin tent experience, the Ozark Trail 10-Person Two-Room Cabin is tough to beat. If you’re willing to spend a few extra bucks (emphasis on few), the Ozark Trail 9-Person Cabin with a screen room gives some added livability at a similar price point. Second, Ozark Trail tents are affordable because they use very basic materials. All Ozark Trail poles are either steel alloy or fiberglass, and the fabrics used throughout the tent are typically on the thinner side. Again, not a deal-breaker, but don’t expect these tents to stand up to the same use and abuse as their premium alternatives from brands. It’s a cool tent all around, but our favorite feature has to be the 360-degree views delivered courtesy of this yurt’s giant mesh windows.
First, although it’s a great space to hang in good weather, the yurt’s ventilation struggles to keep up in serious heat. If you plan to use it during summer, you may want to consider taking advantage of its e-port to run a tent air conditioner. Finally, keep in mind that this is a single wall shelter, which means there’s a lot riding on the quality of the tent fabric and seams. Plenty of customers swear by the Ozark Trail Yurt’s waterproofing, but we recommend treating it with an extra DWR treatment and sealing any missing seams before putting it to work. In terms of drawbacks, this is a particularly budget-friendly model from an already budget-focused brand, so you’ll need to be mindful of a few shortcomings to get the most out of this shelter.
First, Ozark Trail uses sealed seams on this tent, but the fabric itself isn’t made for a rainstorm. You’ll want to give the entire tent a thorough Nikwax treatment before taking it on the road. Second, the fabric feels thin, and a few users have reported ripping it during setup, so you’ll need to take your time both setting up and taking down this tent. There’s a lot to love here, but as the Ozark Trail Three Room Instant Cabin is still a budget department store tent, you’ll want to be aware of a few shortcomings. First, although this is an instant tent, the unique layout and integrated awning make setup a little more involved than most.
This screened-in shelter also gets high points for its price, which is always a selling point with an Ozark Trail tent, but this one represents a particularly good value considering all its features. For cons, there’s only 1 door in the entire 10-person tent, there’s almost no ventilation at all when it’s raining, and it also leaks within just 15 minutes of light rain. So the walls are steep and straight and the peak height along the main axes is 78 inches (198 cm). This is also an instant setup tent with the frame preattached to the tent, the declared setup time is 2 minutes only, see the steps shown in the picture below. The easiest models to pitch are pretty much always “instant tent” shelters, which use a system of preattached poles than only need to be unfolded and locked into place.