The 5 Best Family Cabin Tents (Bought & Tested!)

I bought and tested 5 of the best family cabin tents, and here’s the full list of them:

1. Gazelle T8 Hub Tent

2. Eureka Copper Canyon LX 12

3. Core Straight Wall Cabin 10

4. Ozark Trail Family Cabin 10

5. Coleman Dark Room Instant Cabin 10

To quality as a ‘family cabin tent’, I deliberately chose only cabin tents that are at least of an 8-person stated capacity. Nothing smaller.

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Here’s a quick summary of all the family cabin tents that I recommend (after buying and testing each one thoroughly, of course!):

And now, let’s get into the more detailed recommendations.

RELATED: Best Cabin Tents

1. Gazelle T8 Hub Tent (Best Instant Cabin Tent)

Gazelle T8 Key Info

• Peak height: 78 inches

• Base area: 110 square feet

• Set up timing (1P): 10 minutes

• Weight: 56lbs.

• Packed length: 68 inches

Pros and Cons

Summary

If you’re looking for an instant tent that has a cabin shape and comes in a family size, the absolute best pick for you is the Gazelle T8 Hub Tent.

There are so many reasons why the Gazelle is such an amazing instant family cabin tent.

First, it sets up extremely quickly, thanks to all the pre-attached tent poles and pre-attached pole clips.

The Gazelle T4 took me just 5 minutes to set up, and I estimate that the T8 will take about 10 minutes instead. Check out how long the T8 takes to set up, compared to the other tents in this review:

Family Cabin Tent	Set Up Timing (1P)
Gazelle T8 Hub Tent	10 minutes
Coleman Instant Cabin 10	16 minutes
Ozark Trail Family Cabin 10	20 minutes
Core Straight Wall Cabin 10	22 minutes
Eureka Copper Canyon LX 12	25 minutes

And if you don’t need to stake down, guy out, or set up the rainfly, the setup timing will be just about 2 minutes for both the T4 and the T8. It doesn’t get any better than that.

Second, unlike every other family cabin tent in this review, the Gazelle has completely vertical walls, with zero slant of the walls at all. Check out what the side walls look like, it’s completely vertical from the ground to the top:

On the other hand, all the other family cabin tents in this review have slightly slanted walls. Check out my #2 recommendation, notice the slight slant in the walls?

The greater the slant of the side walls, the less livable space you would have inside your family cabin tent.

And third, the Gazelle has the highest quality materials of every one of the family cabin tents in this review. The thickness of its polyester for the entire tent ranges from 210D (tent body) to 300D (tent floor), while every other tent in this review ranges from just 68D to 75D.

However, there are 2 main cons that every instant tent tends to have.

The peak height of instant tents tend to be lower than regular tents. The Gazelle T8 is (sadly) not too much different. It comes in at just 78 inches, while every other good cabin tent in this review has a peak height of at least 7 feet (84 inches).

And also, instant tents tend to have a bigger packed size, and the Gazelle is the biggest I’ve seen so far, looming over me at a whopping 68 inches.

If you’re fine with these 2 (relatively minor) cons, then the Gazelle T8 Hub Tent is really a fantastic pick as an instant cabin tent. (Trust me, I’ve tested over 7 different instant tents, and the Gazelle came in as the clear winner.)

One last pro-tip for you, the Gazelle T4 Plus Hub Tent is also the best screen room tent I’ve ever seen. It’s just the Gazelle T4, plus a screen room (others may call this a screened porch), if that’s something you’re interested in, instead of the Gazelle T8 above.

2. Eureka Copper Canyon LX 12 (Best Extra-Large Family Cabin Tent)

Key Info

• Peak height: 84 inches

• Base area: 168 square feet

• Set up timing (1P): 25 minutes

• Weight: 38.8lbs.

• Packed size: 28 x 10 inches

Pros and Cons

Summary

Not many tent manufacturers sell extra large 12-person family cabin tents, here are the rare few:

• Eureka!

• Coleman

• Core Equipment

• Ozark Trail

Which one is the best?

Well, you might have guessed it by now, and that’s Eureka. And I’m choosing to recommend Eureka’s Copper Canyon LX 12 amongst the rest because it’s easily the best quality 12-person family cabin tent I’ve ever seen.

How so? Let me explain.

Here’s what you get when you buy the Eureka Copper Canyon LX 12:

• A lifetime warranty

• 75D polyester tent body

• 75D polyester tent floor

• 0.75 inch-thick fiberglass roof poles

• 0.75 inch-thick steel wall poles

• Taped seams

Now, here’s what you get when you buy any of the other 3 more budget-friendly brands:

• 6-months (Ozark) to 1-year (Core and Coleman) limited warranty

• 68D polyester tent body

• Polyethylene tent floor

• 0.5 inch-thick fiberglass roof poles

• 0.75 inch-thick steel wall poles

• Inverted seams (these are not taped)

Basically, Eureka’s warranty is much longer, the tent fabrics are higher quality, the fiberglass tent poles are thicker and beefier, and the weather protection is much better. And that’s why I’d go for Eureka’s Copper Canyon LX 12 over the others.

But of course, budget-friendly tent brands have their place in this review too, and I’ll go through each of the 3 main budget brands (Core, Coleman, Ozark Trail) next.

Just one word of caution here though – since this Eureka Copper Canyon is a 12-person tent, and it’s not instant (unlike the Gazelle above), it’ll take about 25-30 minutes to set up, if you do it yourself.

My advice is to get someone to help you out, and that’ll cut your setup timing down by half.

3. Core Straight Wall Cabin 10 (Best Budget Family Cabin Tent)

Key Info

• Peak height: 90 inches

• Base area: 135.8 square feet

• Set up timing (1P): 22 minutes

• Weight: 30.5lbs.

• Packed size: 29 x 16 x 12 inches

Pros and Cons

Summary

Now, out of the 3 budget-friendly tent brands that I mentioned above (that’s Core, Coleman, and Ozark Trail), I think Core Equipment does the absolute best budget-friendly family cabin tents.

I’ve tested family cabin tents from all 3 brands, Core stands out in terms of its livability, and I’m going to be recommending the Core Straight Wall Cabin 10.

This tent has the highest peak height I’ve ever seen in a family cabin tent, towering over me at a whopping 90 inches. It is the tallest family cabin tent in this review, hands down.

In fact, the peak height is so tall that I had to grab a chair to reach the gear loft at the top. I couldn’t reach the top! Even jumping around in the tent, I couldn’t reach the peak height at all.

The lowest height at the corners of this Core tent still came in at a whopping 65 inches, so I could stand up everywhere in this tent.

Overall, there was so much livable space, especially for someone who isn’t tall like me (I’m only 5’3, btw), thanks to the insanely tall walls of this tent.

I also liked how this tent’s really affordable, and I paid just $200 for this a few years ago. The price hasn’t increased much since, and you can check it out the best price here at Amazon.

This pricing is more affordable than Coleman’s 10-Person Instant Tent (I paid about $300), and it’s not that much more expensive than Ozark Trail’s (I paid slightly over $100 I think).

But of course, since this is a budget tent, not all its seams come taped, and I found some leaking in my tent after 1 hour of heavy rain.

Luckily, this is a pretty easy fix with some Gear Aid sealant (this is the sealant that I use for my polyester tents), and this Core Straight Wall Cabin 10 should hold up pretty well under heavy rain once that’s done.

4. Ozark Trail Family Cabin 10

Key Info

• Peak height: 88 inches

• Base area: 136.4 square feet

• Set up timing (1P): 20 minutes

• Weight: 30lbs.

• Packed size: 29 x 18 x 13 inches

Pros and Cons

Summary

The biggest thing I liked about this Ozark Trail Family Cabin 10 is the price tag; it’s the least expensive tent in this review, and I paid just slightly over $100 for it over at Walmart.

However, here are a few things to take note when you buy this Ozark Trail tent:

• This Ozark Trail 10-person tent has only 1 door, and the door is super snaggy. All the other family cabin tents in this review have at least 2 doors each.

• It leaks within just 15 minutes of light rain. (The other family cabin tents in this review can take around 1 hour of heavy rain.)

• The tent fabric was slightly sticky out of the box.

• I found the most amount of loose threads and inconsistent mesh in this tent, compared to all the other cabin tents in this review.

That’s typically my experience with buying Ozark Trail tents. The price is great, but the features and quality are lower than average.

Basically, you get what you pay for.

But overall, I did like how inexpensive this Ozark Trail Family Cabin 10 was, and I found it to be a perfectly functional tent in strictly fair weather, with no rain or wind at all.

Otherwise, you’re better off with any of my other family camping tent recommendations instead (#1 to #3 above).

5. Coleman Instant Cabin Dark Room 10

Key Info

• Peak height: 73.5 inches

• Base area: 135.7 square feet

• Set up timing (1P): 16 minutes

• Weight: 30lbs.

• Packed size: 50 x 17 x 12 inches

Pros and Cons

Summary

The Coleman Instant Cabin Dark Room 10 is one heck of a feature-rich tent. There were 2 main features that I absolutely loved in this tent.

The first is the blackout feature, or what Coleman calls its ‘dark room technology‘. This is what the Coleman 10 looks like in the middle of the day (2PM when the sun is beating down the most):

Notice that there’s only a little bit of light seeping in through the gap between the roof and the rain fly, and also from the bathtub flooring at the bottom of the tent?

It’s perfect for sleeping in, really. Much better than any other regular non-blackout tent.

And this tent is also completely pitch black at night. So, there may be camping lights outside at the campsite, but they won’t stream into the tent at all.

The second feature is the hinged door. If you hate unzipping and zipping doors up, this is a wonderful, user-friendly feature to have.

The hinged door works just like a regular door at home. All I had to do was to grab the door handle, pull the door open, step into the tent, and the hinged door would automatically close behind me. Cool, right?

However, with all the great features in this tent, it’s simply not a great family cabin tent. Here’s why.

The biggest thing this tent lacks is livable space.

It has the lowest peak height I’ve ever seen in a 10-person tent, coming in at just 73.5 inches. It’s the shortest tent in this review!

Also, its side walls are extremely slanted. I measured it and found that it slanted at a 35-degree angle. That really eats into your livable space in the tent.

In fact, I’ve bought and tested over 10 different cabin tents, and this is the cabin tent with the most slanted walls.

And last but not least, this huge 10-person instant cabin tent has only one single hub at the top of the tent. So, the tent body felt droopy throughout the entire tent, eating again into my livable space in the inner tent.

If you love the features of this tent, sure, this Coleman Instant Cabin Dark Room 10 can be a great tent for you. But otherwise, as a spacious family cabin tent, this just doesn’t cut it.

Here’s a quick summary of all the best family cabin tents that I tested and recommend:

1. Gazelle T8 Hub Tent: Best Instant Family Cabin Tent

2. Eureka Copper Canyon LX 12: Best Extra-Large Family Cabin Tent

3. Core Straight Wall Cabin 10: Best Budget Family Cabin Tent

4. Ozark Trail Family Cabin 10: This is an alright pick if you’re on a very tight budget.

5. Coleman Dark Room Instant Cabin 10: This is an alright pick if you’re into blackout tents and hinged doors.

Remember, not all cabin tents are fantastically great, and I’d strongly recommend the first 3 (Gazelle, Eureka, Core) instead of the last 2 other cabin tents (Ozark Trail and Coleman tents).

Best Canvas Cabin Tent

I’ve tested most of the regular polyester cabin tents in the market, but there’s one type of family cabin tent I haven’t yet tested, and that’s a canvas cabin tent.

Here are some pros and cons of canvas tents:

Kodiak Canvas is one of the most popular brands for canvas cabin tents. I’ve listed their smallest and largest cabin tents for you to check out here:

• Smallest: 10 x 10 ft. Cabin Lodge Tent

• Largest: 26 x 8 ft. Grand Cabin Canvas Camping Tent

Here are a few things to keep in mind when picking one of the best cabin tents for you and your family:

• Tent capacity

• Brand of tent

• Instant vs. regular tents

• Features

• Weather protection

Tent Capacity

Cabin tents can come in all sizes. These range from 4-person cabin tents all the way up to 12-person cabin tents. Most reputable brands don’t offer larger cabin tents than a 12P.

Take note that in this post, I figure that since we’re talking specifically about ‘family’ cabin tents, I’ve included only 8-person cabin tents and up.

An 8-person cabin tent will be able to fit a big family of 6 with relative comfort, or a smaller family of 4 with loads of leftover space.

If you’re looking for a smaller 6-person cabin tent to fit your smaller family of 3-4, I’ve also got you covered. Just click on the link above in this paragraph.

Or, if you want to see a complete compilation of all the absolute best cabin-style tents I’ve tested, check out this link here.

Brand of Tent

The brand of the family cabin tent you end up getting will depend on what your budget is.

High-end tent brands like REI Co-Op, The North Face, Big Agnes, etc. tend to not have cabin tents in 8-person capacities and up.

One exception is the Nemo Wagontop 8, but Nemo has sadly discontinued production of this. The full retail price of this used to be around $800 (if my memory doesn’t fail me).

I included 2 mid-tier tent brands in this review:

• Eureka Copper Canyon LX 12

• Gazelle T8 Hub Tent

Both these tents cost between $500 to $600.

I also included 3 budget-friendly tent brands in this review:

• Core Straight Wall Cabin 10

• Ozark Trail Family Cabin 10

• Coleman Instant Cabin Dark Room 10

These tents cost between $100 to $300.

Regular or Instant Cabin Tent?

Should you buy a regular cabin tent or an instant cabin tent?

That depends on this question – Do you absolutely dislike the setup process?

For some folks, taking 20-30 minutes to set up a non-instant family cabin tent can be a real workout and an ultimate dealbreaker.

In that case, an instant setup or easy setup will really solve your problems.

If you’re thinking of buying an instant cabin tent, I’ve included the Gazelle T8 Hub Tent in this review, because it simply is the best instant tent I’ve ever tested.

This Gazelle T8 takes just 10 minutes to get that set up (this is a 1-person timing), and easily shaves half the time you would have spent setting up your family camping tent.

I know that it’s a little on the pricier side, so here’s another quick alternative: Core Equipment Instant Cabin 9.

This 9-person instant cabin tent set me back only slightly more than $200, which is less than half the price of the Gazelle T8.

Its instant tent mechanism is decently high quality for the relatively low price, better than anything I’ve tested from Coleman and Core, making it a great bang for your buck purchase.

Features

Since you’re here looking for a best cabin tent in a family size, I imagine that one important feature to you might be having a room divider in your tent.

And well, you’re in luck, because 8-person family tents (and up) tend to all come with room dividers, so that you can split your tent into two rooms.

But of course, bear in mind that the more budget-friendly family cabin tents will have lower quality dividers. Check out what the Core room divider looks like:

It’s so translucent, I can practically see the entire other room. This isn’t great when you want privacy for sleeping, for example.

Weather Protection

Before we end off, here’s one very important thing to take note of, on the topic of weather protection.

Word of caution: Family cabin tents have almost-vertical side walls and higher than average peak heights. Their massive profiles catch wind more easily, and are prone to blowing away.

Check out my Eureka Copper Canyon LX 6 blowing away in a light breeze because I forgot to stake it down:

And on top of that, notice that the rainflies of most cabin tents also tend to be shorter than their dome-style-tent counterparts:

Recommendation: As such, I would not recommend these huge, family cabin-style tents if you’re camping in harsh weather conditions (like extremely heavy rains and strong winds).

If this is the weather conditions that you’re camping in, it would be much better to go for a family-sized dome tent instead, like my absolute favorite The North Face Wawona 6:

It survived 3 days of heavy rains, and 50 mile-per-hour strong winds.

But otherwise, in light rains and light winds, these family cabin tents will hold up fine, as long as they’re staked down and guyed out.

I bought all of these best cabin tents that I recommended in this review with my own savings (with the exception of the Kodiak Canvas tent), and they cost me a total of around $1,300.

And in case you were wondering, I do not ‘buy’ these tents, only to return them afterwards.

• I live in Asia, and ship my products into Asia using a U.S. forwarding address. This makes it extremely costly for me to ship the items back to return them, so I don’t. In fact, I’m stuck with a product even though I may not like it.

• And it totally hurts small businesses to do scummy things like buying and returning perfectly functional products, so I would never do that.

And of course, I also usually spend at least a week in each tent that I test, so that’s more than 1 month of testing, just for this review.

Now, if you’re looking for the best cabin tents in a family-size for your next family camping/car camping trip, here’s the best quick summary I’ve got for you:

• Gazelle T8 Hub Tent: Best Instant Family Cabin Tent

• Eureka Copper Canyon LX 12: Best Extra-Large Family Cabin Tent

• Core Straight Wall Cabin 10: Best Budget Family Cabin Tent

• Ozark Trail Family Cabin 10: This is an alright pick if you’re on a very tight budget.

• Coleman Dark Room Instant Cabin 10: This is an alright pick if you’re into blackout tents and hinged doors.

Thank you for making it all the way to the end of this article. Feel free to head over to my YouTube channel to reach out to me if you need any help with these best cabin tents.

Remember, I’m only a YouTube comment away.