I Bought & Tested the 4 BEST Hinged Door Tents! (2024)

This page contains affiliate links, and that means that I may earn a commission if you buy something, at no extra cost to you. You can find my full disclosure policy here.

For this review, I bought and tested these 4 BEST hinged door tents (from largest to smallest):

1. Coleman WeatherMaster 10-Person Tent;
2. Coleman Instant 10-Person Dark Room Tent;
3. Coleman Montana 8-Person Tent; and
4. Coleman Elite Sundome 6-Person Tent.

Here’s a summary of all the tents with hinged doors that I recommend (after buying and testing, of course):

If you enjoyed the video, please consider subscribing to my YouTube channel right here:

All the tents with hinged doors that I bought and tested:

Tent with Hinged Door	Full Review	Check Price
Coleman WeatherMaster 10	Read Review	Amazon, Coleman
Coleman Instant 10	Read Review	Amazon, Coleman
Coleman Montana 8	Read Review	Amazon, Coleman
Coleman Elite Sundome 6	Read Review	Amazon, Coleman

I spent about $1,000 buying these 4 tents with hinged doors (yes, I actually buy all my tents with my own savings!), and a good couple of months testing, filming, editing and putting together this blog post and the YouTube video above.

And without further ado, let’s get into the recommendations.

1. Coleman WeatherMaster 10-Person Tent (Best Overall Pick)

Key Info

• Peak Height: 80.5 inches
• Longest Length: 16 feet 8 inches
• Longest Width: 9 feet 1 inch
• Base Area: 143.6 square feet
• Materials: Polyethylene (Flooring), 68D Polyester (Tent), 75D Polyester Taffeta (Rainfly), Steel (Tent body poles), Fiberglass (Hinged door poles)
• Packed size: 31 by 18 by 12 inches
• Weight: 30.6 pounds
• Storage: 4 pockets, 1 lantern loop
• Total number of doors: 2
• Number of hinged doors: 1
• Ventilation: 6 windows, ceiling mesh
• Other Features: Angled windows (2), Room divider (1), E-port (1)
• Set Up Timing: 10 minutes (2 people), 19 minutes (1 person)
• Take Down Timing: 8.5 minutes (2 people), 16 minutes (1 person)

Pros and Cons

Summary

I’ve had my Coleman WeatherMaster 10-Person Tent for a few years now, and it’s easily one of my favorite Coleman tents.

The hinged door of this tent is on the front length for easy access into the tent, and here’s what it looks like:

On the other hand, the door at the back length of this tent is just your regular door that needs to be zipped open and shut.

I love the WeatherMaster 10-Person Tent because it has the biggest base area of all the tents on this list, coming in at a whopping 143.6 square feet.

Tent with Hinged Door	Base Area
Coleman WeatherMaster 10	143.6 square feet
Coleman Instant 10	135.7 square feet
Coleman Elite Sundome 6	110.0 square feet
Coleman Montana 8	103.5 square feet

In fact, I could fit 10 single sleeping pads or sleeping bags into this WeatherMaster tent, here’s what it looks like, and I even had a little bit of space leftover for camping gear.

Also, the WeatherMaster 10-Person Tent has the highest peak height of all the tents on this list, coming in at 80.5 inches, while the rest of the tents had 6-7 inches less in peak height.

Tent with Hinged Door	Peak Height
Coleman WeatherMaster 10	80.5 inches
Coleman Elite Sundome 6	74.5 inches
Coleman Montana 8	74.0 inches
Coleman Instant 10	73.5 inches

In fact, the WeatherMaster 10-Person Tent is the only tent that I had to stretch out my arm and stand on tiptoes at the same time, before I could reach the top of the tent. (But then again, I guess I’m not very tall, that’s why.)

The WeatherMaster also has 2 of these huge angled windows that can be kept open in even moderate to heavy rain, so there’s some ventilation when it’s raining. This tent is one of my best Coleman tents when it comes to rainy day ventilation.

The poles of the WeatherMaster are made of higher quality and sturdier steel, unlike most other Coleman tents that have fiberglass poles instead.

Over the last few years of using my WeatherMaster Tent, none of my steel poles have broken, while some of my other Coleman tents’ fiberglass poles have snapped into 2.

As for the negatives, I think there honestly aren’t that many of them. The biggest one I can think of is that Coleman could have made the carry bag a bit bigger for a slightly easier pack up, right now the carry bag is kind of small and there’s just so much stuff to pack away.

But hey, that means there’s tons of features for this tent, so that’s somewhat a good thing, right?

Overall, even though there are so many cool features, the Coleman WeatherMaster 10 isn’t even the most expensive tent on this list. In fact, I found it very reasonably priced for everything that I got.

This WeatherMaster 10-Person Tent has worked really well for me over the past few years, and I got insane value for money out of it, for sure.

More info on the WeatherMaster 10:

2. Coleman 10-Person Instant Tent (Best for Hot Days)

Key Info

• Peak Height: 73.5 inches
• Length: 13 feet 11 inches
• Width: 9 feet 9 inches
• Base Area: 135.7 square feet
• Material: Polyethylene (Flooring), Polyester (Tent and Rainfly), Steel (Tent body poles), Fiberglass (Hinged door poles)
• Packed size: 50 by 17 by 12 inches
• Weight: 32.0 pounds
• Storage: 2 pockets, 1 lantern loop
• Total number of doors: 2
• Number of hinged doors: 1
• Ventilation: 7 windows, ceiling mesh
• Other Features: Instant set up, Room divider (1), E-port (1), Dark room technology
• Set Up Timing: 7.5 minutes (2 people), 16 minutes (1 person)
• Take Down Timing: 5 minutes (2 people), 10 minutes (1 person)

Pros and Cons

Summary

Next, in second place, we have the Coleman tent that’s Best for Hot Days, which is the Coleman 10-Person Instant Dark Room Tent. This tent has a boat-load of cool features as well.

It has, of course, your super user-friendly hinged door on the left width of the tent.

And on the right width of the tent, you get another door, but this is just a regular door that needs to be zipped open and closed.

Take note: If you buy the smaller 4, 6, or 8-Person versions of this Coleman instant tent, they won’t come with the hinged door, if I’m not wrong. So, you have to get this 10-person version if you want the hinged door.

Aside from the hinged door, the instant mechanism of this tent makes it pretty easy to set up. I’m only 5’3″ (160cm tall), and I was able to set up this entire tent on my own in just 16 minutes, which is anywhere between 30% to 90% less time than any other similarly sized 10-person tents with a conventional set up.

On top of that, the dark room technology is phenomenal. Not only is it a lot darker inside the tent during the day, it’s also a lot cooler as well, so it’s great for sleeping in.

When you wake up, you can open all the windows and doors, and get plenty of ventilation through all these massive mesh panels, so it doesn’t feel too stuffy in the tent during the day.

And when you take the rainfly off as well, you get so much ventilation everywhere.

And last but not least, the quality of the materials used to make this tent is pretty good. The fabric is 150D polyester, which is double the thickness of regular Coleman tents, and the poles are made of alloy steel.

However, I wouldn’t recommend using this tent if you’re expecting tons of rain and wind. The rainfly of this tent is pretty small, so there’s not a lot of rain protection.

If you’re expecting moderate to heavy rain, I recommend at least sealing this inverted seam between the flooring and the tent fabric.

Also, there isn’t much ventilation when it’s raining. There are no vents in this tent, and also no windows that can be opened.

Overall, I feel that this Coleman 10-Person Instant Tent is perfect for summer use, with the awesome dark room feature and plenty of ventilation. I highly recommend this if you’re expecting high temperatures and hot weather.

Since that’s the weather that I usually camp in, I really, really enjoyed using this tent.

More info on the Coleman Instant 10:

3. Coleman Montana 8-Person Tent (Best Budget Pick)

Key Info

• Peak height: 74 inches
• Length: 15 feet 4 inches
• Width: 6 feet 9 inches
• Base Area: 103.5 square feet
• Porch dimensions: 103 by 32 inches
• Material: Polyethylene (flooring), 68D polyester (tent body and rainfly), fiberglass (poles)
• Packed size: 26 by 15 by 12 inches
• Weight: 23.4 pounds
• Storage: 2 pockets, 1 lantern loop
• Total number of doors: 1
• Number of hinged doors: 1
• Ventilation: 3 windows, ceiling mesh
• Other Features: 1 e-port
• Set Up Timing: 11 minutes (2 people), 22 minutes (1 person)
• Take Down Timing: 7.5 minutes (2 people), 14.5 minutes (1 person)

Pros and Cons

Summary

In third place, we have the Best Budget Pick, which is the Coleman Montana 8-Person Tent. This Montana 8 is the least expensive tent on this list.

And of course, the front door of this Montana Tent is hinged, making it incredibly easy for you to get in and out of the tent.

Take note: If I’m not wrong, I think the 6-Person Montana Tent doesn’t have this hinged door. So, if you want the Montana, get this 8-Person version instead.

On top of just the hinged door, the Montana Tent comes with this awesome front porch area, which measures about 103 inches in length, and about 32 inches in width.

I really like that it provides quite a bit of shading from the hot sun, and it kept my flip flops cool instead of superheating it. It is my only Coleman tent to come with a porch.

However, bear in mind these few cons of the Montana Tent.

First, this Montana Tent has only 1 door on the front length of the tent. It is hinged, but I expected at least 2 doors for such a big tent.

And this Montana Tent is the only tent on this list to come with just 1 door. The rest of the tents on this list have 2 doors each.

And second, ventilation in this Montana Tent isn’t the best. There are only 3 windows in this tent, on 3 of the walls. And these windows aren’t very large at all.

And this fourth wall here doesn’t have any windows and is just one entire block of fabric.

But if you take the rainfly off, there’s a decent amount of ceiling mesh for ventilation though.

Overall, I found the Coleman Montana Tent to be a great budget pick. I paid slightly over $100, but definitely much less than $200 for this tent, and found it to be pretty good value for money.

Of course, don’t expect top-of-the-line quality and tons of amazing features. This is just a simple, budget family camping tent, but a pretty good one at that.

More info on the Montana 8:

4. Coleman Elite Sundome 6-Person Tent (Coolest Features)

Key Info

• Peak height: 74.5 inches
• Length: 11 feet 7 inches
• Width: 9 feet 6 inches
• Base Area: 110.0 square feet
• Material: Polyethylene (flooring), 68D polyester (tent body), 75D polyester taffeta (rainfly), fiberglass (poles)
• Packed size: 30 by 13.5 by 10 inches
• Weight: 21.4 pounds
• Storage: 2 pockets
• Total number of doors: 2
• Number of hinged doors: 1
• Ventilation: 2 windows, 2 mesh wall vents
• Other Features: E-port (1), pre-attached lighting (1), auto-rolling windows (2), hinged door (1), room divider (1)
• Set Up Timing: 16 minutes (1 person)
• Take Down Timing: 12 minutes (1 person)

Pros and Cons

Summary

In fourth place, we have one of the most feature-rich Coleman tents, which is the Coleman Elite Sundome 6-Person Tent.

When you buy an Elite Sundome tent instead of the regular Sundome tent, there’s a ton of super cool features that you’ll get. To start off, the regular Sundome tent has just 1 door, while the Elite Sundome Tent comes with 2 doors for lots of cross ventilation.

And of course, one of the doors in the Elite Sundome Tent will be this awesome hinged door.

The Elite Sundome also has 2 extra feet in length, which gives you an extra ~17.5 square feet compared to the regular Sundome.

Coleman Tent	Base Area
Coleman Elite Sundome 6	110.0 square feet
Coleman Sundome 6	92.6 square feet

In fact, the Elite Sundome’s base area is so big that I could fit not 6, but 7 regular sleeping pads inside the tent, and here’s what 7 pads looks like.

The Elite Sundome tent also comes with 1 room divider, while the regular Sundome doesn’t have one. The room divider is to be put up in the middle of the tent, and each side of the divider can fit either 3 pads, or 1 queen bed.

The windows in the Elite Sundome have a super cool auto-rolling feature, which rolls your window fabric up as you unzip the entire window, so no more droopy window fabric, and no more fumbling with window latches.

The Elite Sundome also has pre-attached lighting, and comes with a lantern, a power pack, and also a light switch near the hinged door to control the lighting.

However, because of all the extra features in the Elite Sundome, it’s really quite pricey for a 6-person Coleman tent, more than double the price of a regular Sundome.

The pricing of this Elite Sundome Tent is one of the biggest cons of this tent, and this is the reason why I put this tent in fourth place.

Because ultimately, I do want to give you the best bang for your buck. If you really like the features though, then hey, I say go for it. They’re really pretty damn cool.

More info on the Elite Sundome 6:

A tent’s hinged door is basically a door on a tent that works just like a regular door at home.

It swings open and close (pictured above), and comes with a handle on both the outside and the inside (pictured below).

This hinged door is something that has been patented by Coleman, and some (not all) Coleman tents come with this hinged door. In fact, out of the 14 Coleman tents that I have, only 4 came with this hinged door.

Coleman Tent	Hinged Door?
Coleman WeatherMaster 10	Yes
Coleman Instant 10	Yes
Coleman Montana 8	Yes
Coleman Elite Sundome 6	Yes
Coleman Red Canyon 8	No
Coleman Evanston 6	No
Coleman Sundome Dark 6	No
Coleman Sundome 6	No
Coleman Carlsbad 4	No
Coleman Instant 4	No
Coleman Skydome 4	No
Coleman Pop Up 4	No
Coleman Pop Up 2	No
Coleman Sundome 2	No

On the other hand, most tents come with zippered doors instead, where you would need to zip open and shut the door to get in and out of the tent.

If you buy a Coleman tent with the hinged door, you’ll get 2 extra fiberglass poles to set it up. I’ll use the Coleman Elite Sundome Tent to show you how to set this hinged door up.

First up, take note that the hinged door poles have these black tips at each end of the pole.

Of the 2 poles, the shorter pole is for the straight side of the door. First, put the pole together, then insert it through this pole sleeve straight down the door here.

The pole will pop out at the other end of the pole sleeve, and should go straight into this rubber gasket here.

Then, bend the pole a little bit, and insert the other end of the pole into the other gasket at the top.

After that, simply zip up the pole sleeve, like this.

The longer of the 2 poles is for the curved side of the door. First, locate the pole sleeve, which is right here by this zipper, which I have already unzipped.

Then, push one end of the pole through this pole sleeve (pictured above), step into the tent if you need to, and secure that end of the pole into the rubber gasket at the top (pictured below).

Then, put the entire pole together (if you haven’t already done so), and curve the entire pole gently. After that, secure the other end of the pole to the gasket at the bottom.

Then, gently ease the entire pole into the pole sleeve, and zip it up slowly.

Is it difficult to install the hinged door, and how long does it take?

Well, to me, I’ve already gotten used to it, and I’ve done this dozens of times, so it’s pretty easy for me to install it on my own now.

Nowadays, it takes me about 1.5 minutes, or just 90 seconds, to install the entire hinged door on my own. So, it doesn’t actually take very long if you know how to do it.

If you have someone else helping you with the hinged door, I think you could install it in half the time, or at most 1 minute, which is really quick.

1. The hinged door is easy to set up

One of the pros of having a hinged door in your tent is that it doesn’t take much time at all to fix it up, and took me 1 minute to 1.5 minutes, tops (as mentioned in the previous section).

2. The hinged door is very user-friendly

The second and probably the biggest pro, is that it’s incredibly user-friendly!

To use this hinged door, all I had to do was to grab the handle on the door, pretty much like a regular door at home, and use it to pull the hinged door open.

After that, I just step into the tent, and let the door close automatically behind me.

It takes me just 5 seconds, tops, to get in and out of the tent.

On the other hand, zipping a door open and closed to get in and out of the tent will take about 15 seconds (which is 3 times the amount of time), or maybe even more, depending on how snaggy your zippers are.

And from my experience, because most Coleman tents come with this storm flap or rain flap on the outside to cover the zips to prevent leaking, this sometimes gets in the way of the zippers, which can be a bit frustrating if you’re not used to zipping it up.

I mean, of course, you can roll the door fabric up and latch it to the side like this, but that definitely affects your privacy and also lets in a whole lot of bugs.

3. Velcro tabs keep the hinged door closed

Another pro is that each hinged door comes with these Velcro tabs along the door to keep it closed when not in use.

4. The hinged door can be zipped up too

And the last pro is that the hinged door can also be zipped up at night before sleeping, and you can do so even with the fiberglass poles in place, so you don’t have to take them out before zipping the hinged door up.

On the other hand, are there any cons to having a hinged door?

Sadly, yes, there are a couple of cons.

1. The hinged door is smaller than average tent doors

First, bear in mind that the size of the hinged door is usually not very big. That’s because you need fiberglass poles to support the entire door to make it rigid.

As such, the bigger the door, the more tension will be put on the fiberglass poles, and the more likely the poles would be to break. So, I guess I can understand why Coleman made these hinged doors a little smaller than their regular doors.

In fact, across all my tents with hinged doors, the hinged doors all came down to about the same size, which is about 47 inches in length, and 29 inches in width, so honestly not very big, and here’s what it looks like when I stand in front of one of them.

On the other hand, regular doors can be much bigger. For example, my Skydome Tent, even though it’s just a small 4-person tent, it came with a huge door that measures a whopping 4 feet in length, and 39 inches in width, and here’s what it looks like when I stand in front of it as well.

2. The hinged door poles are thin

And the second con is that the fiberglass poles of the hinged door are really quite thin, and are probably going to be one of the thinnest fiberglass poles you’ve ever seen when setting up tents. (And this brings us to the next section.)

At this point, I want to talk a little bit about the lifespan of the hinged door.

Because of how thin the hinged door fiberglass poles are, I highly recommend that you be gentle when fixing it up. So, especially when bending the longer pole for the curved side of the hinged door, do so gently, and don’t bend it more than it needs to be bent.

After maybe about a dozen campouts or so, one of my poles for the curved part of the hinged door on my WeatherMaster Tent cracked a little bit.

But it wasn’t a serious issue, so I just taped it back together using duct tape, and it still works fine.

And also, the black tips at both ends of the pole dropped out, and got stuck inside the rubber gasket, which is kind of funny. I never bothered to fix this up, but it still works fine.

If your entire fiberglass pole snaps into 2 though, I highly recommend just buying a couple of these inexpensive pole repair splints to repair the hinged door pole.

So, overall, even though the hinged door does have its cons, I think the fixes are pretty simple, and I still highly recommend it.

Here’s a quick summary of all the tents with hinged doors that I bought and tested for this review:

1. Best Overall Pick: Coleman WeatherMaster 10-Person Tent
2. Best for Hot Days: Coleman 10-Person Instant Tent
3. Best Budget Pick: Coleman Montana 8-Person Tent
4. Coolest Features: Coleman Elite Sundome 6-Person Tent

Unlike all the other ‘Best Tents with Hinged Doors’ product reviews that you’ll find on the internet, I actually bought, own, used and thoroughly tested all the tents on this list. Yup, every single one.

I’m dedicated to providing the best camping gear reviews not only on this blog, but also at my YouTube channel (@CampingGuidance).

If you want to find out how I tested and analyzed all these Coleman tents in much, much more detail, check out this blog post right here: I Bought & Tested the 14 BEST Coleman Tents!

It features all 4 of these tents with hinged doors, plus 10 other Coleman tents as well.

If you need more help, feel free to shoot me an email (you can find my email in my Contact Me page). Do address it to “Liz”, because that’s how I sieve out spam mail. I’ll be more than happy to help you out!