I bought this tent to use at a week-long star-party, so "practical" and "carry-in" weren't objectives. What WERE objectives were that it had to be big enough for all my gear, had to be relatively reliable and well equipped, and it had to be big enough that I could move around in it with my 6'2" figure without developing a hunch.
Naturally when buying camping gear I ran to Coleman. It's clear that the brand has moved far away from the mostly American-made products to overseas (China) manufacturing, so that was a little disappointing. However it probably worked in my favor since I could get more product for less $$.
Okay, so about the tent...
First off, this is NOT a light tent. If you're actually going to hike this someplace, think again. The specs say it weighs 36 pounds, and you'd better believe it. It also comes in the typical Coleman tent bag (squarish green zipper bag) and the bag is about 4-feet long. Definitely something to consider if you're planning on taking this tent somewhere on foot.
The tent comes in a cardboard box, which is put inside the Coleman green bag, and then that is put inside a box for shipping. My tent arrived without a scratch on anything...except my wallet for the shipping charges. :)
Assembly, I have to say, for a tent this size, is cake. Now like I said above, I'm 6-foot-2, and I was able to put this tent together solo without any trouble at all. In fact, with the exception of the rain fly, a midget with a step-ladder could solo-assemble this tent. (Take a moment and relish that image for a second...)
When you open the actual tent bag, the tent is folded and rolled up around all the other parts and tied with two strips of nylon fabric. I'd recommend ditching these and getting some real straps or rope. The tent poles, stakes, and supplemental poles (for door and awnings) came in good, separate bags with tie wraps. The rain fly, removable room divider, and "door mat" were folded and rolled up as well.
The tent poles seem very durable, well painted and marked, and where the elastic-cord is exposed in the joints, it's actually a small link of chain, so no worries about eventually cutting through the cord with use. There's four U-shaped pole structures for the tent. The sides of the U's are straight and go almost the full height, and the top sections are curved. The curved sections feed into well-marked and reinforced loop-sleeves along the top, then you connect the side poles. Once you have all the pole sections in place, you just raise each one, one at a time, and stick the bottom ends into the friction-cleat at the bottom edge of the tent. As the tent raises, you have to watch that the seams of the tent line up with the poles, and you have to shift things around a little until all the poles fit in place. The side poles actually have push-pin adjustments so you can alter the height an inch or two. The directions say to raise the tent with all the poles in the lowest setting, then raise each to the highest setting to fill out the shape. I missed that step and had all the poles in the full-height position, and didn't run into any problems. The tent DOES fit the frame with only a few inches wiggle-room, so it can seem a little tight until you get it all adjusted.
From roll-out to the point where all four pole sets were raised took me about 10-minutes...and that's with checking everything over twice.
Once you have the poles up you can re-adjust the shape of the tent to get everything spread out good. There's clips that connect the sides of the tent to the poles, and you can go ahead and fill in all the stake points. There's a stake point at every pole point, as well as at the door, screened outside and inside, and a couple other places. Trust me, if you think there should be a stake somewhere, there's already a reinforced loop waiting.
Once you get the tent part up, the rain-fly goes on. I will say that the rain-fly fits TIGHT to the tent, so a little patience is needed. Make sure the "Coleman" logo is on the screened-side of the tent and not the back. The fly is sewn in a way that it fits the shape of the tent, and there's just enough difference that it won't fit otherwise. Once you throw the fly over the tent, each connecting point has an elastic cord connected to a good metal hook which fits into a small hole in each tent pole. I recommend starting at the middle (the center two pole sections) and doing the ends last. There's Velcro straps that further connect the fly to the poles...attach those as you go to keep the fly from moving around as you stretch it. The fly also has attached tie-lines with toggles that you can spread out and stake down. They looked pretty sturdy.
The whole top of this tent is screened (except where poles go over and its reinforced) so the fly is needed unless you're chancing a dry night.
Once you get the fly on, you put in the rods for the door and the awnings. These rods are very thin and each rod is jointed with the typical elastic so you don't lose a piece. One rod goes into the vertical section of the door (what would be the hinge-line) and the other bows from the top to the bottom to frame the door. Coleman did a great job with this part. The poles are held in a sleeve along the door, with a zippered section so you can get the poles in and bend them how they're needed, and the ends of the poles have plastic covers and fit into sturdy rubber sockets on the door. Despite what it looks like at first, it's actually pretty durable once you get it assembled. The door has a protective flap covering the zipper, and a full-length zipper so you can shut the door fully at night. There's also several small Velcro patches, so when you close the door it doesn't hang open.
The awnings (one over the door and one opposite the door on the other side of the tent) are made using the last two flexible poles. Making a bow-shape with the pole, you slip the pole into a sleeve on the rain-fly and then stick the ends of the poles into a grommet point on a strap that is also connected to the main tent poles. It's a bit of a trick to get them in...I had to un-clip the strap on one side from the tent pole, put the awning pole into the grommet with the slack, and then re-clip everything back to the tent pole. The awnings to not stick out very far. I'd say they stick out only an inch or so beyond the profile of the tent. Since the tent does have a slight slope inwards, the awnings really just keep the dew or rain from pouring down on the door and back window.
Okay, enough on assembly. How's the tent? Awesome!
There's lots of windows in this tent, all screened with zippered privacy flaps that have built-in ties to manage them. The bottom of the tent is tarp-like and supposedly waterproof. Although I believe the waterproof part, I'd still HIGHLY recommend putting a separate tarp under this tent as a moisture barrier and to add an extra layer of durable material. I'd also recommend (if you care to bring it) a blanket or cloth-tarp to put inside to protect the tent bottom from your own traffic and gear. The inside room is very roomy and I could easily stand up without bending at all, and walk around the whole inside without problem. There's a built-in mesh pocket, about the size of a sheet of paper, but otherwise not much else. There's a small, semi-circular opening on the back wall near the floor that Coleman calls a "Cool-Air port". I'm not sure the point, actually. It's got a zippered screen flap as well as a zippered privacy flap, so you can open it fully and reach outside. Maybe it does help with air-flow...but I think it's more so you can reach your cooler without leaving the tent! :)
The screened in "porch" area has no bottom. The inside part, facing the actual inside of the tent, is divided by a zippered mesh wall, and a zippered privacy flap. The privacy flap doesn't zip at the bottom, but the mesh part does. The opening for the screened area to the outside is a single vertical zipper. There's stake loops at the bottom of BOTH sides, so you can stake down one side and use the other half of the opening as an actual door flap. There's not much room in the screened area. About enough for a pair of chairs. I could stand up without problem, but not move around much, since there's a bit of a slope. Still, to escape bugs, it's a nice touch. I will say that the rain-fly does NOT cover all of the screened porch area...really just the top and part of the sides. If you store gear out there, know it's exposed to the elements...just not bugs.
Final thoughts:
Taking the tent down and putting it away was as easy as setting it up. Surprisingly everything fit back into the bag...and I didn't take much time neatly rolling it or pushing all the air out, so if you do take your time it will fit with room to spare!
BUY ADDITIONAL STAKES! The tent comes with about 8 cheap plastic stakes that I wouldn't rely on, and about 14 wire-metal-stakes which are fine but can be annoying to put in and take out. Do yourself a favor and spend a couple bucks on more stakes. You can never have too many stakes!
Other than that I can't think of a thing wrong with this tent. It looks gigantic in the specifications and even when setup, but it's actually not that big...so don't worry about showing up with some camper-sized monstrosity! I'd recommend getting a tent-repair kit and some seam-sealer, but that's just prudent with ANY tent.
It's designed to house 6 people, but realistically you could get four people and a dog or two in this without much complaint.
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