The 7 Best Instant Tents (I Bought & Tested Them All!)

For this review, I bought and tested these 7 best instant tents:

1. Gazelle T4 Hub

2. Caddis Rapid 6

3. Coleman Instant 4

4. Core Equipment Instant 9

5. Outdoor Products Instant 10

6. Coleman Dark Room Instant 10

7. Ozark Trail Dark Rest Instant 6

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.

Best Instant Tents – Quick Summary

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

I spent almost $2,000 buying all 7 of these tents (yes, I actually buy all my tents with my own savings), and I also spent about 2 months testing all these tents out.

If you prefer to watch my YouTube video instead of reading this blog post, I’ll embed it here for you when it’s ready to be published (TBA, it’s still in the works!):

Otherwise, let’s get into the more detailed recommendations in the rest of this post.

1. Gazelle T4 Hub Tent (Overall Best Instant Tent)

Key Info

• Set up timing: 5 minutes

• Pack away timing: 6 minutes

• Peak height: 77.5 inches

• Base area: 61.0 square feet

• Packed size: 68 x 13 x 10 inches

• Weight: 34.0lbs

Pros and Cons

Summary

The Gazelle T4 Hub Tent is my top instant camping tent not just because it has the best overall score, but also because it scored really well in almost every single test I threw at it. Here’s a neat table showing you all the test scores of each tent:

Notice how the Gazelle has almost every single test in green? Also, it has one of the top scores when it comes to the ‘ease of use’ test, and the top score for the ‘spaciousness’ test, which are 2 of the most important things when it comes to instant tents.

Let me explain why.

Unlike all the other instant tents in this review, the Gazelle has a removable flooring. So, when packing away the Gazelle, the air comes out super easily, making it easy to compress and stuff it back into the carry bag.

The removable flooring also made the Gazelle the easiest tent to clean.

It took me just 1 minute to strip out the entire floor completely, and then I could just lay it flat on the ground to hose or wipe off any dirt.

Also, I found that my Gazelle could pop open in less than 2 minutes (this doesn’t include staking and guying it out though). By far, the easiest instant tent to use.

When it comes to spaciousness, the Gazelle tops again, because it has the highest peak height of all the other instant tents in this review, and it’s the only instant tent that has completely vertical walls.

My Gazelle T4 is also probably my only 4-person tent to have 2 doors, a whopping 6 windows, 6 humongous storage pockets, and even a mesh gear loft on top of that.

It’s also made out of the thickest and highest quality materials I’ve seen in a camping tent. The flooring is 300D polyester, while the tent body and rainfly is 210D polyester. That’s way thicker than even the likes of The North Face and REI Co-Op.

However, this tent has 2 main cons.

First, the packed size is gigantic. It’s the only tent I’ve seen so far that has a packed size that’s taller than me. Check out what it looks like when I’m standing beside it:

And second, the Gazelle T4 is also my most expensive instant camping tent. I recommend checking out the prices because you might get lucky and snag a deal on it, but if it’s not on sale and it’s not in your budget, then I think my Runner-Up Instant Tent would be the better pick for you.

Check out the Gazelle T4:

Pro-Tip: If you’re looking for one of the best 8-person instant tents, I’ll save you to time and let you know that this Gazelle comes in a T8 version as well:

2. Caddis Rapid 6 (Runner-Up Instant Tent)

Key Info

• Set up timing: 9.5 minutes

• Pack away timing: 7.5 minutes

• Peak height: 77 inches

• Base area: 95.1 square feet

• Packed size: 50 x 15 x 9.5 inches
• Weight: 25.0lbs

Pros and Cons

Summary

The Caddis Rapid 6 has a fantastic overall score as well, second only to the Gazelle, and that’s why it’s my runner-up pick.

One big reason why you might consider the Caddis over the Gazelle is its less expensive price. It’s about 25% cheaper than the Gazelle, but the materials are very high quality as well.

Instant Tent	Flooring	Tent Body	Tent Poles
Gazelle T4	300D Polyester	210D Polyester	Fiberglass
Caddis 6	210D Polyester	190D Polyester	Steel

The flooring and the tent body are only very slightly less thick than the Gazelle, and the pre-attached poles are thicker and beefier steel, compared to the Gazelle’s fiberglass poles.

It even has micro mesh to keep out the smallest of bugs, compared to the Gazelle, which only has regular mosquito netting.

On top of that, I think the Caddis Rapid might also be very slightly better in rain than the Gazelle.

It had the same amount of leaking as the Gazelle, which is only a few drops of water, but that’s only because the rainfly at the front of the Caddis was really short.

Pro-Tip: If you get a tarp to shield the front, this Caddis Rapid makes for a very solid instant tent in heavy rain.

And that’s because the other 3 sides of the tent have really long rainfly lengths, longer than any other instant tent in this review, and there was no leaking at all on these sides.

The rainfly also completely protected my windows from the rain. So, I could leave these 3 huge windows open in the heavy rain, making for fantastic rainy-day ventilation.

This is much better than the Gazelle, which had completely soaked windows, from top to bottom.

Another advantage the Caddis has over the Gazelle is its power port. There’s one at the bottom of the tent, with a tight Velcro seal, so no bugs will get into the tent.

And like the Gazelle, I really liked that my Caddis Rapid was able to lay flat on the ground, which makes wiping off the dirt and drying it up much easier, making for an easy cleaning experience. Sadly though, the flooring isn’t removable like the Gazelle’s.

The most annoying part about the Caddis Rapid is the door. It was a lot snaggier than I expected it to be, the storm flap from the outside would usually get in the way of the zipper track, and I had to use 2 hands to work the zipper.

Once you overlook this part of the tent though, the Caddis Rapid 6 is one heck of a solid instant camping tent, especially for its relatively reasonable price point.

Check out the Caddis Rapid 6:

3. Core Equipment Instant Cabin 9 (Best Large Instant Tent)

Key Info

• Set up timing: 12 minutes

• Pack away timing: 9 minutes

• Peak height: 75.5 inches

• Base area: 118.1 square feet

• Packed size: 46 x 13 x 12 inches

• Weight: 30.0lbs

Pros and Cons

Summary

If the Gazelle T4 and the Caddis Rapid 6 are too small for you, you can consider these 3 bigger instant tents that I reviewed:

• Core Equipment Instant Cabin 9 (Top Pick for Large Groups)

• Outdoor Products Instant 10 (Runner-Up for Large Groups)

• Coleman Dark Room Instant 10

And the Core Instant 9 is the top pick of the three tents, for four main reasons.

First, the Core instant tent is the least expensive of the three tents. I paid slightly over $200 for the Core, while the other 2 tents cost me more than $300 a piece.

And yet, I found the instant mechanism to still be high quality, better than the Coleman’s, and almost on par with the Outdoor Products’. The poles are made of sturdy steel, and there are a whopping 3 hubs at the top of the tent to hold the tent body up.

Second, the Core tent packs away the most easily of the three tents, thanks to the much bigger carry bag. I was actually quite frustrated while trying to pack away the other 2 tents, because each had a smaller carry bag.

Third, the Core has the best hot day ventilation of all 3 tents, because it has big windows on every wall of the tent.

And fourth, the Core also has the best rainy day ventilation, because of its 2 huge vents. And these vents can be opened and shut from the inside of the tent, which is really rare for a family tent.

However, there are a couple of minor cons to take note of.

I found that my Core cabin tent couldn’t fit more than 2 queen beds. I was a little disappointed when I was trying to fit my 6-person family into the tent on 3 queen beds. But with just 2 queens, you get a lot of leftover floor space for camping gear storage.

And also, the Core’s room divider is ridiculously transparent, which made the divider kind of useless in the end.

But to me, these 2 cons are relatively minor, and I still love the Core 9-Person Instant Cabin Tent for its great price point and relatively high quality construction.

Check out the Core Instant 9:

4. Outdoor Products Instant Cabin 10 (Runner-Up Large Instant Tent)

Key Info

• Set up timing: 12 minutes

• Pack away timing: 10.5 minutes

• Peak height: 77.5 inches

• Base area: 135.8 square feet

• Packed size: 50 x 17 x 12 inches

• Weight: 32.8lbs

Pros and Cons

Summary

If you don’t really like the Core, you can consider the ‘Runner-Up Instant Tent for Large Groups’ instead, which is the Outdoor Products 10-Person Instant Cabin Tent.

It has a bigger base area (135.8 square feet) than the Core (118.1 square feet), and it fits 4 queen beds instead (but with no floor space left), while the Core only fits 2 queens.

This is definitely one roomy tent.

It also has a much better room divider (much less transparent, to better create separate rooms), an extra door, and 3 more lantern loops than the Core.

But here’s a huge bonus tip for you, so pay attention to this.

I noticed that both the Core and Outdoor Products have the exact same instant setup mechanism. (Perhaps that’s why both these tents have the exact same setup timing of 12 minutes each.)

The poles are identical, the 3 hubs at the top are identical, and they even came with the exact same product tags. (Hmm. This is just my guess, but maybe they got shipped out from the same factory.)

Pro Tip: So, that brings me back to why the Core Instant Cabin Tent 9 is a slightly better pick, mainly because it’s significantly cheaper, for almost exactly the same quality.

Check out the Outdoor Products 10:

5. Coleman Dark Room Instant Cabin 10 (Best Blackout Instant Tent)

Key Info

• Set up timing: 15 minutes

• Pack away timing: 11 minutes

• Peak height: 73.5 inches

• Base area: 135.7 square feet

• Packed size: 50 x 17 x 12 inches

• Weight: 32.0lbs

Pros and Cons

Summary

The last of my ‘instant tents for large groups’ is the Coleman 10-Person Instant Cabin Tent, and it’s really not a great instant tent, for these few reasons.

First, the instant tent mechanism is not great, with only 1 single hub at the top of the tent. In contrast, the other 2 large instant tents both had 3 hubs each.

And second, because the Coleman has only 1 hub, this led it to have extremely slanted side walls.

So, this tent felt really droopy. Notice how the tent body kind of caves inwards, and eats into your livable space?

Also, it’s a rather floppy tent, and tends to not be stable in the wind, because of the single hub.

However, the Coleman 10’s saving grace is that it did top all the other tents in the Features test, and that’s mainly because of the phenomenal blackout fabric.

Coleman does a really good job when it comes to their blackout/dark room tents.

Here’s what the Coleman 10 looks like in the day. Apart from the little bit of light seeping in through the gap between the roof and the rainfly, and also from the bathtub flooring at the bottom of the tent, I think this is really great for sleeping in.

And if you’re the type that doesn’t like a single spot of light when you’re sleeping at night, this tent is literally pitch black at night.

If you absolutely need an instant tent that has blackout fabric, then this is the best for you.

I also loved the hinged front door of the Coleman Instant 10, it works just like a regular door at home.

And on top of that, there are large windows on every wall, making for fantastic hot day ventilation.

My recommendation? Buy this Coleman 10-Person Instant Cabin Tent only for fair weather camping trips in the summer. This instant cabin tent is the perfect pick for that, especially with its dark room technology and super large windows.

Check out the Coleman Dark Room Instant 10:

6. Coleman Instant Cabin 4/6 (Best Budget Instant Tent)

Key Info (for the 4P)

• Set up timing: 4.5 minutes

• Pack away timing: 5 minutes

• Peak height: 61 inches

• Base area: 55.4 square feet

• Packed size: 40 x 11 x 8 inches

• Weight: 20.0lbs (includes rainfly & all stakes)

Pros and Cons

Summary

If the Gazelle and Caddis Rapid are out of your budget, and you don’t need a humongous family tent (which rules out the Core and Outdoor Products as well), then the smaller Coleman Instant Cabin Tents actually come in handy here.

For myself, I bought the 4-person Coleman Instant Cabin Tent, and I paid slightly over $100 for it. That’s a really inexpensive price point.

Like the Coleman 10, this Coleman 4 also has a single hub. But since it’s a much smaller tent, it doesn’t suffer from the same issues as the 10-person (no droopy fabric, no ridiculously slanted walls, etc.).

In fact, the Coleman Instant 4 is basically a no-frills budget instant tent, which makes it the quickest tent to set up and tear down.

But of course, being no-frills comes with its cons as well.

I found the door to the Coleman 4 really tiny, there’s no power port in this tent, it doesn’t have windows on every wall of the tent (like most other instant tents do), and this is also the only instant tent that doesn’t have ceiling mesh.

And on top of that, the rainfly isn’t included in your purchase, so that’s a small additional cost.

Pro Tip: Personally, I’d get the 6-person Coleman Instant Cabin Tent, instead of the 4-person that I tested for this review.

And that’s because there’s no standing room in the 4-person. The peak height is only 61 inches. On the other hand, the 6-person has 11 inches more in peak height, coming in at 72 inches.

Also, the 6-person Coleman tent has windows on every wall of the tent, which means better ventilation and also helps to remove some of the cons of the 4-person.

Check out the Coleman Instant 4/6:

7. Ozark Trail Dark Rest Instant 6 (Best Instant Tent to AVOID)

Key Info

• Set up timing: 6.5 minutes

• Pack away timing: 6.5 minutes

• Peak height: 65.5 inches

• Base area: 84.9 square feet

• Packed size: 44 x 11 x 9.5 inches

• Weight: 17.8lbs

Pros and Cons

Summary

The Ozark Trail Dark Rest Instant 6 is another blackout tent I tested for this review.

I really liked that it’s very affordable, it sets up and packs away pretty easily, the timings are decent (see above), and it could be laid flat on the ground for easy cleaning as well.

But otherwise, there’s nothing great about it, and it was the tent that I didn’t like the most, for 4 main reasons.

The first reason is the very low peak height, I have never seen another 6-person instant cabin tent that is so short.

Also, because of the humongous slope in the walls, it feels more like a dome tent rather than a cabin tent.

The second reason is that it’s definitely not great in rain, one of my un-sealed seams got drenched after just 15 minutes of light rain.

Third, ventilation isn’t the best because the windows are pretty small, and not all walls in the tent have windows.

And the fourth reason, is that the shelf life of this tent is kind of short. After less than 2 years in storage, my dark rest fabric started peeling off, and every time I touched the tent, my fingers became a huge sticky mess, and I found it really gross.

On the other hand, I’ve had some of my Coleman blackout tents for more than 4 years, and it never became a sticky mess.

Pro Tip #1: So, that’s why if you want a blackout instant tent, go for the Coleman Instant Tent instead of the Ozark Trail.

Pro Tip #2: And if you’re looking for a budget tent, Coleman tends to be better quality too, so that’s why I recommended that (above, #6) instead of this Ozark Trail 6-Person Instant Cabin Tent.

Check out the Ozark Trail Dark Room Instant 6:

Bonus: Teton Sports Vista Quick Tent 1/2 (Best Solo Instant Tent)

Now, if all these tents are too big for you, and you’d like to camp solo an in instant tent, I’d go with the Teton Sports Vista Quick Tent.

Key Info (for the 1P)

• Set up timing: 2.75 minutes

• Pack away timing: 2.5 minutes

• Peak height: 33 inches

• Inner base area: 20.0 square feet

• Vestibule area: 3.3 square feet

• Packed size: 28 x 9 x 5 inches

• Weight: 5.0lbs

Key Info (for the 2P)

• Set up timing: 3.5 minutes

• Pack away timing: 3 minutes

• Peak height: 40 inches

• Internal tent area: 35.7 square feet

• Outer vestibule area: 8.6 square feet

• Packed size: 33 x 8 x 8 inches

• Weight: 7.0lbs

Summary

I didn’t want to include the Vista in this review, because I included it instead in my Best Pop Up Tents review. These pop up tents are tents that literally pop open, but they’re much smaller, coming in at between 1- to 4-person capacities. (This means that pop up tents fit no more than 1-2 pax.)

And spoiler alert – I actually rated my Teton Vista as the Best Pop Up Tent in that other review.

On the other hand, the instant tents in this review are much bigger, ranging from 4- to even 12-person capacities.

However, I felt that the Vista has a instant setup mechanism more similar to that of an instant tent, rather than a pop up tent.

All you have to do is lay it on the ground first, and then push down on the top hub (pictured below), which will pop up all the pre attached poles.

Basically, somewhat the same process as all the other tents above.

I’d recommend this Teton Pop Up Tent only if you’re intending to go on a solo camping adventure, and you really need a portable instant tent/pop up tent.

Otherwise, I’d go with the Gazelle T4 or the Caddis Rapid 6 instead. They’re more of a luxury when car camping and exploring the great outdoors.

Check out the Teton Vista:

To recap, here are all the instant tents I recommend:

1. Best Overall Instant Tent: Gazelle T4 Hub Tent

2. Runner-Up Instant Tent: Caddis Rapid 6

3. Best Big Instant Tent: Core Instant Cabin 9

4. Runner-Up Big Instant Tent: Outdoor Products Instant 10

5. Best Blackout Tent: Coleman Dark Room Instant Cabin 10
6. Best Budget Pick: Coleman Instant Cabin 6
7. Best Tent to AVOID: Ozark Trail Dark Rest Instant Cabin 6

8. Best Solo Instant/Pop Up Tent: Teton Sports Vista Quick Tent 1/2

What to Look for in an Instant Tent

To find out which of the above tents is the best instant tent possible, I conducted many different tests on all the tents, and I’ll give you all my quantitative results here.

Quantitative results = more objective testing, so I hope you enjoy these!

Before reading about how I tested my instant tents though, you may want to read up on what an instant tent is first.

RELATED: What is an Instant Tent?

I. Ease of Use

I looked at 3 different things under this ‘ease of use’ test. First, the ease of set up, second the ease of pack away, and third, the ease of cleaning.

Ease of Setup

Here’s how long each instant camping tent took me to set up by myself, so basically 1-person timings, and these timings include staking and guying out the tents:

Instant Tent	Set Up Timing (1P)
Coleman Instant Cabin 4	4.5 minutes
Gazelle T4 Hub Tent	5 minutes
Ozark Instant Cabin 6	6.5 minutes
Caddis Rapid 6	9.5 minutes
Core Instant Cabin 9	12 minutes
Outdoor Products Instant 10	12 minutes
Coleman Instant Cabin 10	15 minutes

How Do Instant Tents Work?

Most of the instant tents here have the same instant setup process:

• Step 1 – Unfold the instant tent flat on the ground.

• Step 2 – Pull each of the 4 elbow joints up.

• Step 3 – Extend each pole into place, until the locking button of each pole pops out. Go ahead and do this for all the 4 poles around the tent.

• Step 4 – Secure the rainfly, stake down, and guy out the entire tent.

You also may have heard of another easy-up tent – the fast pitch tent. Find out how this fast pitch tent compares to an instant tent here:

RELATED: Fast Pitch Tent V.S. Instant Tent

Ease of Pack Away

Here’s how long each instant cabin tent took me to tear down and pack away back into their carry bags:

Instant Tent	Pack Away Timing (1P)
Coleman Instant Cabin 4	5 minutes
Gazelle T4 Hub Tent	6 minutes
Ozark Instant Cabin 6	6.5 minutes
Caddis Rapid 6	7.5 minutes
Core Instant Cabin 9	9 minutes
Outdoor Products Instant 10	10.5 minutes
Coleman Instant Cabin 10	11 minutes

The larger 10-person instant tents were frustrating to pack away (and I was rushing to get the timing down as much as possible), while the smaller 4- to 6-person tents were much more manageable, and I could pack them away really easily.

Ease of Cleaning

As for the ease of cleaning, this was one thing that really bugged me when it came to instant tents. (Naturally, there will be both pros and cons to instant tents, I have to tell you about both, right?)

Related: Pros and Cons of Instant Tents

Not all instant tents can be folded flat on the ground, I had to deal with a gigantic mess of tent fabric and poles all stuck together, which made cleaning up the tent a little more difficult.

On the other hand, if the instant tent is able to fold flat on the ground, this makes wiping off the dirt and drying it up much easier.

These easier to clean tents are the Gazelle T4, the Caddis Rapid 6, and the Ozark Instant 6.

II. Spaciousness, Capacity, Sizing

For spaciousness, I looked at three things. First, the peak height inside each of these instant tents, second, how vertical the side walls are, and third, the base area inside the camping tent.

Peak Height

Starting with the first point, which is the peak height inside each tent, here are all the details that you’ll need:

Instant Tent	Peak Height (in)
Gazelle T4 Hub Tent	77.5
Outdoor Products Instant 10	77.5
Caddis Rapid 6	77
Core Instant Cabin 9	75.5
Coleman Instant Cabin 10	73.5
Ozark Instant Cabin 6	65.5
Coleman Instant Cabin 4	61

When it comes to the peak height in each tent, it seems like the capacity of each tent, so whether it’s a 4-person or 10-person tent, doesn’t really matter all that much.

The Gazelle was really impressive here, even though it’s only a four-person tent, it’s the same as the Outdoor Products 10-person tent, and it’s taller than the rest of the tents here.

Side Walls

Onto the second point, which is how vertical the side walls are, here’s what I noticed.

The Gazelle came in first, and it has completely vertical walls. So, this means that this tent is at an angle of 0 degrees, and therefore the most spacious interior.

All the other instant tents here have side walls that aren’t quite as vertical, and let’s take the Caddis Rapid as an example.

I measured the angle that the walls are slanting at, and came up with this table of data:

Instant Tent	Side Walls (Angle)
Gazelle T4 Hub Tent	0°
Core Instant Cabin 9	15°
Outdoor Products Instant 10	16°
Caddis Rapid 6	17°
Coleman Instant Cabin 4	20°
Ozark Instant Cabin 6	30°
Coleman Instant Cabin 10	35°

The bigger the angle here, the less vertical the side walls are, and the less livable space you would have inside the tent, which is not a good thing.

Base Area

Here are my personal measurements of the length, width, and the total area of each camping tent, and I’ve arranged them from biggest to smallest:

Instant Tent	Length (ft)	Width (ft)	Area (sq. ft.)
Outdoor Products Instant 10	13.6	10.0	135.8
Coleman Instant Cabin 10	13.9	9.8	135.7
Core Instant Cabin 9	13.5	8.8	118.1
Caddis Rapid 6	9.8	9.8	95.1
Ozark Instant Cabin 6	9.8	8.7	84.9
Gazelle T4 Hub Tent	7.8	7.8	61.0
Coleman Instant Cabin 4	7.9	7.0	55.4

Single Pad and Queen Bed Sizing

And of course, here are the single pad and queen bed sizing in each camping tent as well, just in case you need that too:

Instant Tent	Single Pads	Queen Beds
Outdoor Products Instant 10	10	4
Coleman Instant Cabin 10	10	4
Core Instant Cabin 9	9	2
Caddis Rapid 6	6	<2
Ozark Instant Cabin 6	6	<2
Gazelle T4 Hub Tent	4	1
Coleman Instant Cabin 4	4	1

Capacity

All the instant cabin tents here are family tents for family camping trips (ranging from 4- to 10-person capacities). This can fit between 2-3 pax (for the smallest Gazelle T4), all the way up to 7-8 pax (for the largest 10-person tent).

Also, for example, a 6-person instant cabin tent will usually be able to fit 6 people, but with hardly any floor space leftover. So, don’t pack your instant tent to the brim.

III. Features

For features, there are 5 different things that I’m gonna look at here.

The first is the doors of each tent, the second is the storage options, the third is whether there’s a power port, fourth, whether there’s a room divider, and fifth, the blackout features.

All of these features make for a great camping trip. The more features, the better.

Doors

Let’s start with the doors of each tent, and here’s a quick table of info:

Instant Tent	Number	Zipping	Stowing
Outdoor Products Instant 10	3	Slight snags	Toggles
Coleman Instant Cabin 10	2	Hinged	Toggles
Core Instant Cabin 9	2	Slight snags	Toggles
Gazelle T4 Hub Tent	2	No snags	Tie-downs
Coleman Instant Cabin 4	1	No snags	Toggles
Caddis Rapid 6	1	Very snaggy	Pockets
Ozark Instant Cabin 6	1	Very snaggy	Toggles

And here’s how I rated each tent:

• The more doors, the better.

• The less snaggy, the better. (Coleman’s hinged door is the best.)

• Pockets are the most useful for stowing away, followed by toggles, and then tie-downs.

Storage & Power Port

Moving onto the storage options in each tent, here’s another quick table for you to check out:

Instant Tent	Pockets	Gear Lofts	Loops	Port
Gazelle T4 Hub Tent	6	1	0	0
Caddis Rapid 6	6	1	1	1
Ozark Instant Cabin 6	6	1	1	1
Coleman Instant Cabin 4	2	0	1	0
Outdoor Products Instant 10	2	0	4	1
Core Instant Cabin 9	2	0	1	1
Coleman Instant Cabin 10	2	0	1	1

I looked at the number of storage pockets, whether there is a gear loft, the number of loops that you can hang stuff like lanterns on, and also which tents have power ports (in case you need it for electrical cord access).

The more storage for camping gear, the better.

Room Divider

Only my 3 biggest tents (Outdoor Products 10, Coleman Dark Room 10, Core Equipment 9) had room dividers. The rest of the tents are much smaller and didn’t have dividers.

Out of these 3 though, only the Outdoor Products’ divider is worth checking out. It’s completely full length, and also not very see-through. The other 2 were super see-through.

Blackout Feature

And for the blackout feature, only the Coleman 10 and Ozark Trail had them. And as you might have gathered from my recommendations above, only the Coleman 10 is worth checking out.

IV. Weather Resistance

For weather protection, I’m gonna look at not just rain protection, but also wind protection.

One question I get a lot is this.

Are Instant Tents Waterproof?

Instant tents tend not to be waterproof, because they have very short rainflies, which don’t cover much of the tent body. This means that any seams on the tent body not covered by the rainfly will be prone to leaking in the rain.

That’s the sad truth about instant tents’ waterproofing and weather resistance.

Do regular tents have better rain and weather resistance than instant tents? How do these regular tents compare against instant tents? Find out here:

RELATED: Instant Tent V.S. Regular Tent

Heavy Rain Test

In fact, check out my rain test results. I put each of these tents through a 1-hour heavy rain test, and none of them were able to stay completely dry.

Instant Tent	Heavy Rain	Leaking Seams?	Leaking Fabric?
Gazelle T4 Hub Tent	Failed	Yes	No
Caddis Rapid 6	Failed	Yes	No
Outdoor Products Instant 10	Failed	Yes	No
Core Instant Cabin 9	Failed	Yes	Yes
Coleman Instant Cabin 4	Failed	Yes	Yes
Coleman Instant Cabin 10	Failed	Yes	Yes
Ozark Instant Cabin 6	Failed	Yes	Yes

So, all of the tents here had leaking seams, some not so bad, while others were really bad.

Another difference I noticed is whether the fabric around the tent leaked as well. The first three tents had fabric that was still dry all around the tent after the 1-hour heavy rain test, while my Core, Coleman and Ozark tents had leaking fabric.

Light Rain Test

Now, if you don’t expect any heavy rain during your camping trip, and there’s only a little bit of light rain, well the good news is that most of these tents did pretty well in the light rain, and only the Ozark starts leaking after just 15 minutes.

Instant Tent	Light Rain	Duration
Gazelle T4 Hub Tent	Passed	10-15 hours
Caddis Rapid 6	Passed	10-15 hours
Outdoor Products Instant 10	Passed	5-6 hours
Core Instant Cabin 9	Passed	1-2 hours
Coleman Instant Cabin 4	Passed	1-2 hours
Coleman Instant Cabin 10	Passed	1-2 hours
Ozark Instant Cabin 6	Failed	15 minutes

Wind Protection

If you need strong wind protection, instant tents should not be your first pick. (Not even these best instant tents.)

The weakest point of any instant tent is usually the elbow joints, which are these joints at the top corners of the tent.

These are meant to bend easily, which is what makes for the easy setup and easy pack away, but that also means that they will bend and buckle more easily in the wind.

And most of my instant tents are usually made with elbow joints.

The only instant tent that doesn’t have these elbow joints is the Gazelle. The instant mechanism is made of hubs instead, which have a lot more tension, and I found that these require much stronger wind to cave in. But still, even the Gazelle won’t be as good as a regular tent in wind.

V. Ventilation

For ventilation, I looked at the number and size of the windows in each tent, the amount of ceiling mesh, the number of vents, and also, which of these can be kept open in the heavy rain.

Windows

Starting with the mesh windows, I noticed that the size of the windows are quite different from tent to tent, so what I did to give you the best possible results here, was to measure the length and the width of every single window, in every single tent, and here’s a table summarizing my findings:

Instant Tent	Windows	Ventilation (sq. in.)	Ventilation / Capacity (sq. in.)
Gazelle T4 Hub Tent	8	4,373	1,093
Core Instant Cabin 9	7	9,081	1,009
Caddis Rapid 6	4	5,995	999
Coleman Instant Cabin 4	4	3,968	992
Coleman Instant Cabin 10	7	9,452	945
Outdoor Products Instant 10	7	5,896	590
Ozark Instant Cabin 6	3	1,974	329

Mesh Ceiling

As for the ceiling mesh, only the Coleman Instant 4 didn’t have a mesh ceiling. The rest of the instant tents here had ceiling mesh, which is great for stargazing.

Vents

Now, when it comes to rainy day ventilation, here are the number of windows and vents that I could leave open in the heavy rain:

Instant Tent	Windows	Vents
Caddis Rapid 6	3	0
Core Instant Cabin 9	0	2
Outdoor Products Instant 10	0	1
Ozark Instant Cabin 6	0	1
Gazelle T4 Hub Tent	0	0
Coleman Instant Cabin 4	0	0
Coleman Instant Cabin 10	0	0

As you can see, most instant tents have very little ventilation on rainy days, which is why I wouldn’t recommend any of these tents for inclement weather.

VI. Quality and Durability

For quality, I’m gonna focus on the tent materials, and the quality of the instant mechanism. These are what I think are the most important features when it comes to instant tents.

Materials

I looked at the material of the flooring, tent body, rainfly, and tent poles:

Instant Tent	Flooring	Body/Fly	Poles
Gazelle T4 Hub Tent	300D Polyester	210D Polyester	Fiberglass
Caddis Rapid 6	210D Polyester	190D Polyester	Steel
Coleman Instant Cabin 4	Polyethylene	150D Polyester	Steel
Coleman Instant Cabin 10	Polyethylene	150D Polyester	Steel
Core Instant Cabin 9	Polyethylene	68D Polyester	Steel
Outdoor Products Instant 10	Polyethylene	68D Polyester	Steel
Ozark Instant Cabin 6	Polyethylene	68D Polyester	Steel

The higher the denier-rating, the thicker and more durable the tent will be. For example, 210-300D polyester are durable materials. Polyethylene is a budget-quality material, which isn’t that great and won’t be found in higher-end brands.

As for the material of the tent poles, steel tent poles is generally stronger than fiberglass poles. None of these tents came with aluminum poles.

As for tent stakes, most of these instant tents came with your standard shepherd-hook steel tent stakes. Nothing to write home about.

Instant Tent Mechanism

Here’s where instant tents differ from traditional tents.

• Traditional tents have no pre-attached poles.

• All instant tents have pre-attached poles.

And the number one factor affecting this is the number of hubs that each tent has.

Typically, smaller instant tents, like those between 4 to 6-persons, have only 1 hub at the top of the tent. Larger instant tents, like the 9 and 10-person tents, usually have about 3 hubs.

Instant Tent	Number of Hubs
Gazelle T4 Hub Tent	5
Outdoor Products Instant 10	3
Core Instant Cabin 9	3
Caddis Rapid 6	1
Ozark Instant Cabin 6	1
Coleman Instant Cabin 4	1
Coleman Instant Cabin 10	1

There are a couple of outliers here, one really good and one really bad.

The good outlier is the Gazelle, and it has a whopping 5 hubs all around the entire tent, 4 on the 4 walls, and the last hub is the top hub.

Because of the insane number of hubs, the Gazelle beats the other tents because first, it’s the most sturdy tent when I tried to shake it as much as I could, and second, this gives the Gazelle completely vertical side walls and much more livable space.

The bad outlier is the Coleman Instant 10. Even though it’s a huge tent, it has only 1 single hub.

So, this tent felt really droopy, the tent body caves inwards, and ate into my livable space. Also, it’s a rather floppy tent, and tends to not be stable in the wind.

VII. Portability

And finally, here’s the weight and packed sizes of all the tents in this review:

Instant Tent	Weight (lbs.)	Packed Size (in)
Ozark Instant Cabin 6	17.8	44 x 11 x 9.5
Coleman Instant Cabin 4	20.0	40 x 11 x 8
Caddis Rapid 6	25.0	50 x 15 x 9.5
Core Instant Cabin 9	30.0	46 x 13 x 12
Coleman Instant Cabin 10	32.0	50 x 17 x 12
Outdoor Products Instant 10	32.8	50 x 17 x 12
Gazelle T4 Hub Tent	34.0	68 x 13 x 10

From the weight and humongous packed sizes, these are all strictly car-camping tents for car camping trips. Not for backpacking trips.

Overall Results

Based on all 7 tests above, here’s how I rated each instant tent for each individual test:

The overall rating is in the last column on the right, and the weightage of each test is in the second row from the top.

Why You Can Trust Me

Unlike almost every tent review (especially these “Best” Instant Tents reviews) that you find on the internet, I actually own, used and thoroughly tested all of these instant camping tents.

In fact, for just this review alone, I spent a total of $1,800 buying every single one of the 7 tents you saw here.

Conclusion – Best Instant Tents

If you’re looking for the best instant tents to go on camping trips in, here’s the best quick summary I’ve got for you:

• Best Overall Instant Tent: Gazelle T4 Hub Tent

• Runner-Up Instant Tent: Caddis Rapid 6

• Best Big Instant Tent: Core Instant Cabin 9

• Runner-Up Big Instant Tent: Outdoor Products Instant 10

• Best Blackout Tent: Coleman Dark Room Instant Cabin 10
• Best Budget Pick: Coleman Instant Cabin 6
• Best Tent to AVOID: Ozark Trail Dark Rest Instant Cabin 6

• Best Solo Instant/Pop Up Tent: Teton Sports Vista Quick Tent 1/2

Looking for the Best Pop Up Tent instead?

Need a smaller than 4-person instant camping tent? Want to go with 1-person or 2-person pop up tents instead?

Then, check out my complete review of the 7 best pop up tents right here, for a great camping experience. Again, I bought and tested every single pop up tent in there. I hope you like it.