The Ozark Trail 10-Person Instant Cabin Tent is the perfect tent to take with you on your next outdoor adventure. This tent sets up in under two minutes with the innovative instant frame design for easy and fun camping. This 10-Person tent requires no assembly because the poles are pre-attached to the tent. The two-room, cabin style tent has panoramic views with windows on all sides and room to stand up with a huge 78-inch center height. It comfortably fits two queen airbeds or up to 10 campers in sleeping bags on the floor.
Kelty added what they call Quick Corners to aid in solo setup. These are essentially pockets on all four corners that make the poles stand erect without needing to hold them. While this seems strange, having only one color to look for versus two is a great simplification that we hope other brands copy. There are a few other tents that scored respectability in this category. If you’ve ever been intrigued by vehicle rooftop tents and think you’re ready to take the plunge, check out the Thule Approach M. This softshell tent attaches to the top of your vehicle via a mounting track. Once you get past the initial installation, setup is a breeze (illustrated in our video below).
It has everything you need for three-season camping, with the bonus of being light enough to double as an occasional backpacking tent. Although it’s designed to accommodate three people—hence the “3” in its name—we found that at 42.5 square feet, the tent is more comfortable for two, plus gear and maybe a medium-size dog. A notable contender for value in the 4-person tents goes to the Marmot Limestone 4, which performed well yet still falls slightly lower on the price spectrum. But hands down, the best bang for your buck is the REI Co-op Skyward 4. This tent is the perfect mix of space, height, quality, and ease of use.
With 87 square feet of interior space, plus 28 square feet of vestibule space, the polyester tent fits four adults comfortably, or two adults with two or three children, with plenty of room to store gear and muddy boots. (As its name indicates, it’s meant to house six people, but we wouldn’t recommend that.) The Wireless 6 has two large doors and a full rain fly. A classic polyester dome tent, the Mineral King 3 uses two high-quality pre-bent aluminum ozark trail shower tent poles, which maximize head and shoulder space, making this tent feel less cramped than other dome tents we tested. Two large doors provide easy entry and exit, and a vestibule—that’s camping speak for “mudroom”—outside each door adds significant sheltered storage. The Mineral King 3 has a full rain fly, which you can roll up halfway or completely remove for epic stargazing. It also comes with a groundsheet (aka footprint) to protect the tent floor.
Zippered doors can enclose the vestibule fully, so it serves as a separate room for the tent, or you can leave one or both open, so the vestibule can act like a porch or mudroom. The main tent body has a giant front door that’s oriented to make entry and exit easy for all the tent’s occupants at night, and a smaller back window that doubles as a second door. Our only quibble with the Mineral King 3 is that it comes with only six stakes. (Our runner-up pick comes with eight.) Six is enough to secure the tent and fly but not to fully secure the tent’s extra lines in very windy conditions. This shouldn’t be an issue in most situations, but if you’re headed into a particularly windy place or simply want some backup, we suggest picking up four extra tent stakes at your local outdoor shop or online.
A full rain cover, two vestibules, and an extra-sturdy pole structure make this the best choice for couples who want to get outside in any weather. It’s pricey, though, and unless the other couples’ tents we recommend, it doesn’t include a footprint. This dome-style tent has nearly vertical walls, high ceilings, and a single vestibule the size of an actual mudroom. It’s also straightforward to set up, and it is made with sturdy, light materials.
And you can unzip the front door, remove it, and neatly stash it into one of the tent’s internal pockets—a useful feature if you’re feeling sociable. Some campers might find the Wawona 6’s footprint unwieldy in smaller campsites, or they might simply prefer a tent with a more straightforward design. If you want a six-person tent made with high-quality materials but a traditional profile, we recommend the similarly priced Big Agnes Spicer Peak 6, or Nemo’s Aurora Highrise 6. MSR’s Habitude 6 is also a good tent, but it costs about $200 more.
You can also get a nice cross breeze going by leaving the vestibules open. On sunny days and clear nights, take off the fly and enjoy the sky through the tent’s clear mesh canopy. Some testers, though, thought the tent was stuffy when the fly was fully closed and the sun was out. It’s natural to focus on the quality of a tent’s rain fly—you need that piece ozark trail instant cabin to work when the skies open up. But according to our experts, the durability of the floor of your tent is actually more important. If the tent you buy doesn’t come with a footprint (two of our recommended tents, the Mountain Hardwear Mineral King 3 and the Marmot Tungsten 4, do), we recommend purchasing a companion footprint, if one is available.