Coleman Instant Tent?
- Thread starter rwmagee90
- Start date
SWITAWI
Doesn't Get Out Enough
Also of note on the Amazon description for the rainfly... It says the rainfly creates a 'spacious vestibule outside' that is 'perfect for stowing shoes and other gear'. Um, how do I put this?... It doesn't. I'm sure that's the description that Coleman provided to Amazon, but even the picture on the storage pouch clearly shows a rainfly that just comes down over the top edges of the windows.
:tent:
On the subject of that big freaking bag... If you lay it flat on the floor it will measure the full 72"x22" listed in its specs. I had a friend who is 6'2" and approx 230-ish pounds who was able to stand completely inside the bag and zip it closed, much to the amusement of his wife who took pictures before she tried to knock him over...
:sport_box
:tent:
On the subject of that big freaking bag... If you lay it flat on the floor it will measure the full 72"x22" listed in its specs. I had a friend who is 6'2" and approx 230-ish pounds who was able to stand completely inside the bag and zip it closed, much to the amusement of his wife who took pictures before she tried to knock him over...
:sport_box
SWITAWI
Doesn't Get Out Enough
Spent two nights on the PINS. Instant Tent held up well to the constant 20-25mph winds (+30 gusts at night). Even though I forgot the rainfly (after all that hoopla, lol), it wouldn't have made much difference with the spray coming sideways off the water after dark. About halfway through the night water just began to bead up and trickle down the inside of the two windward walls. The sound of the spray on the side of the tent was like listening to a yard sprinkler at times. Obviously in those conditions I think a lower, more rounded-profile tent with a full-coverage rainfly would have been a definite improvement.
chicken corners
Adventurer
Nice picture, thanks for the report. I need to get out and use my Instant tent.
I really enjoy my Coleman 4-man version. I know it's not going to be ideal in extreme weather, but that isn't what I bought it for.
I wanted something that was:
Quick and easy to setup and tear down - check
Near vertical side walls with standing room (sorta) for dressing and whatnot - check
No more fiberglass poles and overly flexible structure (gusty winds blow many of these little dome tents down onto my face at night)- check
No mesh top (my previous tents were always full of sand in the desert - the wind whips sand up the sides, under the fly an into everything) - check
I replaced the pins immediately with those large nail-like pins from WalMart. These are great for hard ground.
If I camp somewhere muddy or with soft ground, I'll get the angled pins like we used in the Marines.
If it looks like we're going to get dumped on, I'll throw a tarp over and stake that down too. It doesn't seem like it'd be much more work than putting up a fly.
Anyway, I think it's a great piece of gear for what it is.
I wanted something that was:
Quick and easy to setup and tear down - check
Near vertical side walls with standing room (sorta) for dressing and whatnot - check
No more fiberglass poles and overly flexible structure (gusty winds blow many of these little dome tents down onto my face at night)- check
No mesh top (my previous tents were always full of sand in the desert - the wind whips sand up the sides, under the fly an into everything) - check
I replaced the pins immediately with those large nail-like pins from WalMart. These are great for hard ground.
If I camp somewhere muddy or with soft ground, I'll get the angled pins like we used in the Marines.
If it looks like we're going to get dumped on, I'll throw a tarp over and stake that down too. It doesn't seem like it'd be much more work than putting up a fly.
Anyway, I think it's a great piece of gear for what it is.
SWITAWI
Doesn't Get Out Enough
And that's pretty much what it comes down to, isn't it? :beer:
Hi all, first post for me to the site but I've lurked around a bit scoping out different "adventure areas" near us - I decided to jump in on this thread as I just purchased the Coleman Instant Tent 6 for an upcoming excursion and possibly a longer road trip next Spring. I love the design and look of the tent and it IS a great value for the convenience, space and speed at which it goes up (literally a minute and a half for me to do it by myself). However, I will point out as others have that there is not a rain-fly that comes with it and the accessory one someone recently posted from Amazon.com does NOT have a vestibule of any kind.
That's kind of lame of Coleman and I'd just accept that it's part of the price point but, when I was researching the rain-fly issue further, I learned that the Australian models come with them stock. The exact same tent except with this awesome rain-fly and stake-out overhang. Check this out from the Australian Coleman site: http://www.colemanaustralia.com.au/gear/tents-and-shelters/instant-up/instant-up-tent-6p.aspx#
I wrote the company a note because I'm stumped as to why you'd include it in one outdoor-heavy market and not another. We'll see where that gets me, but as for now here's our 6-person airing out in preparation for some Memorial Day use:
![photo[3].JPG](https://expeditionportal.com/forum/data/attachments/65/65688-72350ab7342679579bb3989fb2ee1f25.jpg "photo[3].JPG")
That's kind of lame of Coleman and I'd just accept that it's part of the price point but, when I was researching the rain-fly issue further, I learned that the Australian models come with them stock. The exact same tent except with this awesome rain-fly and stake-out overhang. Check this out from the Australian Coleman site: http://www.colemanaustralia.com.au/gear/tents-and-shelters/instant-up/instant-up-tent-6p.aspx#
I wrote the company a note because I'm stumped as to why you'd include it in one outdoor-heavy market and not another. We'll see where that gets me, but as for now here's our 6-person airing out in preparation for some Memorial Day use:
SWITAWI
Doesn't Get Out Enough
Time for an update...
Finally got to really make use of the fly. It shrugged off morning moisture just fine and there was a distinct lack of condensate inside the top of the tent. However it was not so reflective that it lessened the heat inside during the day and the tent was very warm, more likely due to the dark blue sides as anything else. A shaded area or popup awning would be a better alternative to this fly for keeping the tent cooler inside during a hot sunny day, though the popup idea seems ironically redundant, lol. I have seen some other color Instant Tents with green or orange where mine is blue. Maybe those are cooler in the sun. I do like the way the fly just clips to the Instant Tent's exo-legs (or whatever you want to call them), just like the tent body does. But notice from my first picture that the fly covers the tent's tie-down points so I guess once the fly is clipped on you're supposed to use it for staking down, and not in addition to the tent's stake lines... Of course I had already staked the the tent down before I fitted the fly, so whatever. Ease of setup is still definitely this tent's forte but I'll still say it would be worth a few $$ more to upgrade some of the quality aspects of the tent and include a full-coverage fly like the Aussie-market one.
I'm starting to see some corrosion on the inner leg supports. I guess they were still damp or there was some water in the bottom of the legs when the tent was last collapsed and packed away after a PINS trip. Nothing major, but I figure shooting some dry-lube down the legs will help out. Down the road I'm thinking the Instant Tent will get replaced with a Eureka Equinox 6 (Eureka Equinox 6 Tent - Camping Tents) which looks similar in form and function to the Instant Tent, but it is even bigger, six-sided, and setup is more involved of course. Still, it has a serious-coverage rainfly, has stood up to pretty heavy winds in owner reviews, and some report having theirs for 10yrs or more. Obviously it costs 2.5-3 times more than the Instant Tent 6.
Finally got to really make use of the fly. It shrugged off morning moisture just fine and there was a distinct lack of condensate inside the top of the tent. However it was not so reflective that it lessened the heat inside during the day and the tent was very warm, more likely due to the dark blue sides as anything else. A shaded area or popup awning would be a better alternative to this fly for keeping the tent cooler inside during a hot sunny day, though the popup idea seems ironically redundant, lol. I have seen some other color Instant Tents with green or orange where mine is blue. Maybe those are cooler in the sun. I do like the way the fly just clips to the Instant Tent's exo-legs (or whatever you want to call them), just like the tent body does. But notice from my first picture that the fly covers the tent's tie-down points so I guess once the fly is clipped on you're supposed to use it for staking down, and not in addition to the tent's stake lines... Of course I had already staked the the tent down before I fitted the fly, so whatever. Ease of setup is still definitely this tent's forte but I'll still say it would be worth a few $$ more to upgrade some of the quality aspects of the tent and include a full-coverage fly like the Aussie-market one.
I'm starting to see some corrosion on the inner leg supports. I guess they were still damp or there was some water in the bottom of the legs when the tent was last collapsed and packed away after a PINS trip. Nothing major, but I figure shooting some dry-lube down the legs will help out. Down the road I'm thinking the Instant Tent will get replaced with a Eureka Equinox 6 (Eureka Equinox 6 Tent - Camping Tents) which looks similar in form and function to the Instant Tent, but it is even bigger, six-sided, and setup is more involved of course. Still, it has a serious-coverage rainfly, has stood up to pretty heavy winds in owner reviews, and some report having theirs for 10yrs or more. Obviously it costs 2.5-3 times more than the Instant Tent 6.
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That's the accurate description for the Coleman-Australia full rainfly that is offered with their 2013 version of the Instant Setup 4 person tent. The Australian version measures, (243cm x 243cm), 8ft x 8ft, so it's not interchangeable with the U.S.A. version, (coincidence?.....I think not).
SWITAWI
Doesn't Get Out Enough
Updated Instant Tent rainfly coming to U.S. market?..
As posted over on the FJ Forum...
Based on this I was able to find the page on the Coleman Australia parts website for their 4/6/8-Person 'Instant Up' tents. Hopefully we Yanks might be seeing something similar to these before long.
And hopefully they won't be a $130/$170/$180 accessory in our market here. I'd rather not pay more for the fly than I did for my tent (on sale, of course).
http://www.colemanaustralia.com.au/Parts
As of this date Coleman USA is not yet listing these full-coverage rainflys among the parts available for Instant Tents - http://www.coleman.com/Parts/1520/cabin
As posted over on the FJ Forum...
bumping this back up.
well I never let it go that the Aussie version of the instant tents got the better rainfly and a few weeks ago emailed their customer service again asking about how to order it as a replacement part. turns out that this reply netted some good news. they responded this time that they will be offering it soon as they get their replacement parts website up, which they are hoping will be by Christmas.
Sweet baby Jesus...
The Aussie parts site is up with the "cool" rain fly listed but they want ~$130 AUD for it which is still $125 USD.
Coleman - Repair Parts: RNRP
Seeing as how the Instant tent 4 person there is almost $300 AUD anyway I'm inclinded to think the price isn't a typo
Also not sure if anyone has checked but the US Coleman site now has a replacement parts site up too
Based on this I was able to find the page on the Coleman Australia parts website for their 4/6/8-Person 'Instant Up' tents. Hopefully we Yanks might be seeing something similar to these before long.
And hopefully they won't be a $130/$170/$180 accessory in our market here. I'd rather not pay more for the fly than I did for my tent (on sale, of course).
http://www.colemanaustralia.com.au/Parts
As of this date Coleman USA is not yet listing these full-coverage rainflys among the parts available for Instant Tents - http://www.coleman.com/Parts/1520/cabin
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LocalmotionSC
Member
Does anyone know what the difference is between the "Coleman Instant 6" and the the "Coleman Instant Cabin 6?"
http://www.coleman.com/product/instant-cabin-6-with-fly/2000016071?contextCategory=11020
http://www.coleman.com/product/instant-cabin-6-with-fly/2000016071?contextCategory=11020
FromRaleigh
Adventurer
If anyone wants something a little smaller, I have the 2 person popup and 4 person popup and have been pleased with them.
I originally bought the 2-person, but when I sleep with a pillow and thick pad it's just a little too short for me (I'm about 6'3") and I spent the night with my feet pressed against the side. The 4 person tent is a lot bigger, just throw it into place and its ready to go.
I originally bought the 2-person, but when I sleep with a pillow and thick pad it's just a little too short for me (I'm about 6'3") and I spent the night with my feet pressed against the side. The 4 person tent is a lot bigger, just throw it into place and its ready to go.
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