This tent is a little heavy because of the steel poles pre-attached to the tent, so I recommend having a partner to help pop up and lock in the poles. If you need more options please check my list with the best 12-person tents, and also check in the category Cabin Tents. The name Ozark Trail 12-Person 3-Room Instant Cabin Tent with Screen Room is descriptive enough and it describes the best features of this tent. So this is a pleasant tent, designed for warm weather and summer camping. This is how it should be used and in this case you should have a great experience with this tent. This is all steel construction, so the weight mentioned above should not be a surprise.
This Ozark Trail 10-Person Dark Rest Instant Cabin Tent features eight large windows for lovely views of the outdoors, as well as 14 tent stakes for stability. The included removable room divider allows you to create two separate living spaces and comfortably fits two queen airbeds or up to 10 campers in sleeping bags on the floor. Keep your things organized with the included hanging organizer and deluxe gear pockets.
First off, dome tents are typically less expensive since they have fewer total parts and less sophisticated frames. Second, dome tents tend to fare better in bad weather because they’re rounded shapes are more aerodynamic. Ozark Trail tents are pretty much all “fair-weather” shelters, but dome tents get the advantage here. With that being said, there are a few things you’ll want to know going into your purchase.
The three-room cabin is definitely one of Ozark Trail’s more expensive models though, so if you’re shopping on a budget, there are plenty of other models worth considering. The Clip & Camp dome is particularly affordable, and also happens to be one of the most dependable models the brand currently makes. Livability describes the overall day-to-day experience of owning and using a tent, and tents that are more comfortable, convenient, and easy to use score the highest in terms of livability. Weight-wise, with its 32.6 lb (14.8 kg) this is not a lightweight tent, but this is a normal weight for such a steel construction. You will see in the comparison table below that it is lighter than some of its competitors. Seasons-wise & climate-wise, I see it best suited for summer camping without much rain and winds.
I have decided to show you this Ozark Trail tent side by side with some of its competitors with the same declared capacity. There is lots of mesh around and on the ceiling, so this will work great if you use the tent in a warm climate. But with so much mesh on the ceiling, I would not use this tent in a cold ozark trail shower tent climate. As for stitching, I found loose threads all over the tent, something like this. The pole structure is very simple, there are only 8 guylines in total, and the stakes aren’t your super high-quality stakes. For ventilation, this Ozark Trail 10-Person Tent has a lot of mesh on the roof of the tent.
I don’t think this Ozark Trail 10-Person Tent will do very well against strong winds. The Ozark Trail 10-Person Tent also comes with a room divider, so you can split the tent into 2 rooms, and each “room” can fit 2 queen-sized camping mattresses. Because it’s ridiculously inexpensive, the quality, design and weather protection isn’t the best, though I think it’ll work decently in summer (without rain, of course). All these windows are pretty small, which limits ventilation on a hot day. And on top of that, all these windows need to be closed on a rainy day. However, my Ozark Trail Tent’s fabric started getting pretty soaked after just that 15 minutes of mostly light to moderate rain.
It has a unique structure with a large screen room across the front of the tent for privacy. This Ozark Trail nine-person tent has a 7′ ceiling height for ample headroom. Setup takes under two minutes ozark trail canopy tent and requires no assembly because the poles are pre-attached to the tent–just unfold and extend. This Ozark Trail Cabin Tent includes a room divider that creates separate living and sleeping spaces.
With that being said, Ozark Trail does a good job of seam-sealing their tents from the factory in most cases, and with a little help, these budget-shelters can keep you dry when unexpected rain hits. Take time to treat the entire tent with a DWR coating like Nikwax (not just the rainfly) and never leave the house without a tent repair kit in case disaster strikes. Second, Ozark Trail tents are affordable because they use very basic materials.