Are Coleman tents any good?

[rlm2007x]

Are Coleman tents any good?  Robert

[WolfBrother]

No experience with Coleman tents.

Experience with a number of other tents thru Scouting.

The tents that were the driest on the inside were the one that had a larger blue tarp over them.

Didn't matter how expensive the tent, it did matter that the tarp was a couple of feet longer and wider.

[Siskiyou]

A blue tarp has saved a number of camping-hunting trips for me.  For  years I used a heavy-duty plastic green tarp.  A family camp-out with Great Grand folk, Grand Parents, Grand Kids, and their Mom, and Dad was saved by blue tarps over the cooking-Eating area, and over my tent when high mountain thunder showers blasted our camp-out for a few hours.  My daughter’s family used a large Coleman dome tent on this outing and it held up very good.

It looks sunny in the attached picture but high winds, and snow were blasting the area within 24-hours.  In this case the tarp was anchor to trees and 20-penny spikes driven in the ground.  The storm was preceded by 40-50 mile hour winds that dropped an old snag not far from camp.




I have a hard time judging the quality of tents now days.  Brand names have become meaningless with many of the tents made in China, and Bangladesh.  I was looking at tents recently at Costco and felt this three-season tent offered a lot.

http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=11203928&search=tent&Sp=S&Mo=22&cm_re=1-_-Top_Left_Nav-_-Top_search&Nr=P_CatalogName:BC&Ns=P_Price|1||P_SignDesc1&N=0&whse=BC&Dx=mode+matchallpartial&Ntk=All&Dr=P_CatalogName:BC&Ne=4000000&D=tent&Ntt=tent&No=7&Ntx=mode+matchallpartial&Nty=1&topnav=&s=1

One of my older tents came from Costco and it has held up very good.  I believe that I have camped over 300 days in it.  It is starting to develop a few pinholes, which I need to seal.  It has been replaced for most uses by the tent pictured but I fell back on it for some cold weather camping.  Because of the outstanding service it has provided I am likely to buy my next tent from Costco.

[victorcharlie]

I read a recent post on one of the backpacking forums....which indicated.......Colman, although heavy for backpacking is known for rugged durability and outstanding customer service.

I grew up on Coleman......to me, it's an old and trusted brand, and for car camping very difficult to beat....IMO

[corbanzo]

Yeah, coleman is no frills gear.  It works, doesnt have much for options or weight, size, or any of that, but it works. 

I have friends with them, I dont prefer them because of the weight factor, but they work.

[dla]

I live where it rains. The only dry Coleman cabin tents I've seen are those with a blue tarp over them. I've owned dome tents and as long as they had a full-coverage rain fly they were dry. You can stand in a cabin tent, you hunch over in a dome. A big dome will deform in the wind and fiberglass poles will break if cold. A Coleman cabin will blow over.

The single best tent I've seen is the Cabela's Alaknak. That is a real tent designed for a long stay in nasty weather. However the small version is $469 and 54lbs. The "cheap" tent I've been looking at is the Cabela's Outback Lodge - the 10'x10' is $229 and 22lbs, not as well thought out as the Alaknak, but still very weather-proof.

[Siskiyou]

Unsecured dome tents not anchored down become balancing balls in a good wind.  Those little wire tie tent pegs are a joke.  I also take advantage of tie loops mid way up my dome tents.  I use parachute cord with a couple of half hitches and run out about six feet of cord and anchor it with a 20-penny spike in the ground.

[tbull55]

I have had two Coleman family size tents and both have leaked like the dickens, thank goodness for air matresses!!

Tbull

[Poopers]

Coleman may have been the go-to brand back in the day but now.. its just chinese garbage. NO quality. Though they will work in perfectly ideal weather.

[rlm2007x]

I ended up buying a couple Eureka Tetragon 5s, which turned out to work okay.  Robert

[bearmgc]

Years ago, I had one, used it often. Always covered it with a tarp as a rain precaution. It was a good tent back then, and the only one I could afford.