If you’re using a larger canopy, such as the Ozark Grand Gazebo, you can easily assemble it by following the color-coding of each component, such as each leg pole being red, the eaves pink, the ridge blue and so on. Ozark Trail canopy tents can come with a variety of different wall panel configurations, including all netting, all sunscreen and any combination of the two. Common features include one wall with a zipper to allow passage once all walls have been lowered and secured in place, a screen for movie projection and hanging storage shelves. The Ozark Trail canopy is lightweight and easy to set up or take down, making it a popular choice for day trips, picnics and even overnight camping.
In other words, one partner—or one partner’s gear—is always going to get a dose of weather when they head out. Underneath the fly, the Mineral King 3 has a full mesh dome with a waterproof, tape-seamed bathtub-style polyester floor. The overall feeling inside the tent is airy and comfortable. The tent doors are nearly wall-sized, and after you unzip them, you simply stuff them into pockets, rather than having to roll and toggle-tie the fabric. Another two hanging pockets plus loops for a ceiling hammock provide simple yet effective interior storage.
Both Base Camp tents have two doors and lots of mesh in the main tent body. But unlike the Mineral King 3 and the Tungsten 4, the mesh on each Base Camp tent starts high on the walls—more than 4 feet from the ground. This design is a big plus for people who regularly camp in crowded campgrounds and don’t like to get naked in front of strangers. 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.
We also appreciated the shepherd’s hook stakes that come with the tent. Most of the tents we tested came with basic L-shaped stakes, which tended to spin around in the soil and slip a line. The shepherd’s hook design, in contrast, held lines secure. It is also important to consider the way in which the tent poles attach to the tent. Many of our picks use grommet attachments, which are more secure and simple to repair than key attachments if anything should break. A senior staff writer at Wirecutter, Kit Dillon has written about everything from backpacks and cooking gear to luggage and road-tripping.
Ft. of shade coverage which we find to be quite significant. You’ll be able to comfortably fit up to 4 chairs underneath the 64 sq. The benefit of the slanted legs is that these tents are more stable laterally which can increase the stability of the frame and make it less prone to toppling, an important benefit if on a windy beach. Although we always recommend using anchors such as weighted sand bag or stakes with guy lines attached to the top corners. Our sister site Alloutdoor.com recently reviewed a hiking backpack sold by Ozark Trail that had an overall stellar performance and it triggered a question among our staff. Is Walmart’s Ozark Trail brand a true sleeper, putting out products that deserve much more attention among outdoorsmen?
It’s also enough room to put a standard table, some picnic chairs, and a cooler or two. There doesn’t seem to be any information on the thickness level of the polyester, but this Ozark Trail Canopy model does have a 50+ UV protection rating. This is very important for gazebos, considering their principal purpose is to shield from the sun. In terms of being waterproof, we think it’s more so water repellent. It’s not super heavy because of the soft top, and that also seems to be a main reason for why its price is so reasonable.
It’s easy to put up and you must make sure to always use the tie-downs. You never know when the wind will pick it up and blow it away. Lighter weight than most but wanted it easier to carry and load in the camper.
Also using a ground cover under the tent (seems obvious to me) will help prevent water from coming in from the underside of the tent. Trust me, it’s worth the money when you are soaking wet a long distance from your car. Again, I AM a soldier with nearly 30 years experience in putting tents together.
The main bodies of our other picks are structured with two main poles with added support from smaller brow poles. The Base Camp, by contrast, has four full-size aluminum struts woven throughout it, somewhat like a basket, plus an additional brow pole that frames the front entrance and supports the larger of the two vestibules. The Base Camp also offers more privacy compared with our other picks—with or without the rain fly. After researching 30 six-person tents and testing 15 side by side on a total of five trips, we chose the Kelty Wireless 6 as the best entry-level camping tent for most families.
If the Mineral King 3 is out of stock, or if you’d like a slightly larger tent, we recommend the Marmot Tungsten 4. The Tungsten 4 shares many of the Mineral King 3’s best features, and provides 10 square feet of additional living space as well as excellent weather protection—as long as you set it up properly. Like our top pick, the Tungsten 4 is a sturdy, two-door dome-style tent that can be deployed in about 5 minutes. It uses high-quality ozark trail wagon materials such as aluminum poles, breathable mesh, and water-resistant polyester fabric, and it comes with a full fly and a footprint. The Tungsten 4’s larger size accounts for the higher price tag (about $40 more), but campers who would like that extra room may find the expense worthwhile. The Kelty Wireless 6 is a spacious tent that is easy to pitch, and it offers solid weather protection and durability for a reasonable price.