Coleman Evanston 6 Person Domed Tent ReviewThe Coleman Evanston 6 person tent is an awesome tent. It is the only tent that I can stand in the center of and literally stand as I change clothes or put on my shoes, whatever. But the reason I love it is because I can put this full sized Intex Air Mattress inside of it and sleep comfortably just like I was at home. Minus the Air Conditioning of course. Speaking of Air Conditioning. The Tent has a hood and under the hood is a mosquito netting type material that will allow the air to circulate on a dry day. But if it is raining it has the hood. The hood allows you to still open the windows on either side and let the air flow inside of the tent. There are two poles that separate the canvas of the tent from the windows to allow air flow. In any case I would probably keep the hood intact cause it provides shade from the sunlight during the morning hours and I like to sleep in as long as possible. But you can take the hood off and sleep under the stars and while the tent with the hood removed won’t keep the elements out, it will keep out all the bugs and mosquitos.
But the main reason I went with the Coleman Evanston 6 is because of the design. I tried out a quick set up tent from Sports Authority before it went out of business and that tent did not even survive the first camping trip. Because the quick set up features were flimsy and didn’t fit right and we caught a little wind and it broke apart that plastic pieces that were supposed to make the tent easy to set up.
Prior to that we used another tent by Ozark Trail. Its a good tent but during the tax day storm of 2016 in east Texas we caught the first part of the storm and at first there were high winds. We had a canopy half way over our tent to provide for shade. Well at about 3 AM it started raining and because of the design of the tent it allowed water to settle on top of the tent and began to leak inside of the tent and thats what wine me up. So from there I tried to move the canopy so that it was totally covering the surface of the tent but it was raining and totally dark, doing so I lost two of the stakes that were holding it down.
At about 5 AM I woke up again because of high winds only to find that the canopy had blown away about 50 yards. I had to chase it down and at this time it was pouring rain and the rain was settling on top of the tent and coming in the tent. It was the least of my concerns at the time as I was outside wrestling with the canopy trying to break it down and thats when I called the camping trip to an end.
So instead of enjoying a nice thunderstorm which helps me sleep by the way I was instead breaking everything down including the tent and every other thing that we had brought and packed it up and drove back home. Needless to say their was a torrential down pour and I was completely soaked.
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But thats where this tent is different and thats why I chose this tent. First of all, there is no place because of the design that can trap water on top of the tent if it is set up properly. Instead of the 3 poles that cross the top you have two. That way the only place water can travel is downward as opposed to the Ozark Trail Tent with had 3 poles and provided a place on the top where water could collect.
Second, the hood is what protects you from the rain or snow, however it can be removed to provide maximum airflow if needed on a night where you are not anticipating rain. Additionally the bottom of the tent is pretty heavy duty and it wraps upwards about 6 or 8 inches from the floor before their is a seem to keep any standing water that is on the ground out of your tent. I would compare the tent floor to the thickness of a tarp.
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But one of the most awesome features about this tent is that it has a little porch area in front that is covered by the hood and a mosquito net, so not only can it serve you like a little patio area, but it can keep you dry during a thunderstorm and the mosquito netting helps to keep all the critters and mosquitos away.
The tent is pretty easy to set up. I can set it up myself but it is easier with two people. It also has a few pockets on the inside where you can keep your flashlights and other gear. But most importantly you can put a full sized air mattress in it and have enough room on either side to get up and put your shoes on with out waking up the wife because you have to pee.
Oh an I also forgot to mention that the Evanston 6 came with a can of Kiwi water repellant to spray on the seems of the ten to help keep the water out.
