The 6 BEST Large Family Tents (I Bought & Tested Them All!)

Here are the best large family tents I’ve ever tested:

1. Eureka Copper Canyon LX 12

2. The North Face Wawona 6

3. Gazelle T8 Hub Tent

4. Core Equipment Instant Cabin 9

5. Core Equipment Straight Wall Cabin 10

6. Columbia Mammoth Creek 10

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.

Here’s a quick summary of all the large family 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 Family Camping Tents

1. Eureka Copper Canyon LX 12 (Overall Best Large Family Tent)

Key Info (for my 6P model)

• Peak height: 84 inches

• Base area: 93.4 square feet

• Set up timing (1P): 14 mins

• Weight: 22.4 pounds

• Packed size: 29 x 13 x 9 inches

Pros and Cons

Summary

When it comes to extra large 12-person family tents, I noticed that not many brands sell them. Eureka is one of them, along with Coleman, Core Equipment, and Ozark Trail.

I’m choosing to recommend the Eureka Copper Canyon LX 12 amongst the rest because it’s easily the best quality 12-person tent I’ve ever seen.

Compared to the 3 other budget brands, my Eureka has a lifetime warranty, higher quality materials (like thicker fiberglass poles and tent fabrics), and much better seam taping and waterproofing.

On the other hand, both Coleman and Core have only a 1-year warranty, while Ozark Trail’s is only 6 months. Their fiberglass poles are also much thinner, the materials are cheaper, and waterproofing isn’t as good, with hardly any taped seams.

And that’s not all. I really loved the high peak height of the LX 6, coming in at a full 7 feet, and this is the same peak height in the LX 12.

It has one of the highest peak heights of all the large family tents here, second only to the Core (further down at recommendation #5). Check out all their peak heights here:

Large Family Tent	Peak Height
Core Straight Wall Cabin 10	90 inches
Eureka Copper Canyon LX 12	84 inches
Columbia Mammoth Creek 10	80 inches
Gazelle T8 Hub Tent	77.5 inches
The North Face Wawona 6	77 inches
Core Instant Cabin 9	75.5 inches

On top of that, I could even stand up at the very corner of the Eureka, because it had a lowest height of a whopping 66 inches. (I’m only 5’3!) So basically, I could walk around everywhere inside the tent.

This is thanks to the near vertical walls of the tent, which gave my Eureka a huge cabin shape.

But of course, this huge cabin shape and vertical side walls tend to catch wind a lot more easily. I found that my Eureka was prone to blowing away in moderate to strong winds, especially when not staked down and guyed out.

Overall, I found that this Eureka Copper Canyon LX 12 was perfect for camping in lighter, fairer weather. (Light rain and light wind is perfectly fine!) I had so much space and so much tent, it was an amazing experience.

What if you’re camping in heavy rains and strong winds though? Well, that’s where my next recommendation comes in, with The North Face Wawona 6.

2. The North Face Wawona 6 (Best Weather Protection)

Key Info

• Peak height: 77 inches

• Base area: 75.7 square feet

• Vestibule area: 51.0 square feet

• Set up timing (1P): 20 minutes

• Weight: 19.4 pounds

• Packed size: 26 x 16 x 10 inches

Pros and Cons

Summary

What is a 6-person tent doing in this review of the ‘best large family tents’? This is not large at all!

Hang on, let me explain.

Yes, The North Face Wawona 6 is only a 6-person tent, but its overall square footage is humongous. It has a base area of 75.7 square feet and a vestibule area of 51.0 square feet, bringing the total square footage to 126.7 square feet.

Here’s how the Wawona 6 compares to the other large family tents in this review:

Family Tent	Tent Area	Vestibule	Total Area
Eureka LX 12	168 sq. ft	0	168 sq. ft
Columbia 10	138.0 sq. ft	0	138.0 sq. ft
Core Cabin 10	135.8 sq. ft	0	135.8 sq. ft
Wawona 6	75.7 sq. ft	51.0 sq. ft	126.7 sq. ft
Core Instant 9	118.1 sq. ft	0	118.1 sq. ft
Gazelle T8	110 sq. ft	0	110 sq. ft

Not too shabby, right? It has a total base area that’s just slightly smaller than 10-person family tents, and it’s even slightly larger than the 9-person tent in this review. That’s why I felt that it belonged here.

Now, here’s the biggest reason I had to recommend this tent – The North Face Wawona 6 is the best family tent I’ve ever tested in inclement weather.

This was the only large tent that I managed to put through a whopping 3 days of heavy rain. It was so heavy that my entire yard flooded, the bottom of the tent was completely underwater, and it didn’t even leak at all.

All the seams were perfectly taped, I didn’t even have to do any waterproofing prep work myself.

The Wawona is also the only tent in this review that has a vestibule, which is great for storing wet gear. And it’s the biggest and most livable vestibule that I’ve ever tested.

There was so much space in the Wawona’s vestibule that I could fit 2 huge camping chairs, still with lots of leftover space for a huge camping table too.

On top of that, the tallest height in the vestibule came in at about 74 inches, the lowest height came in at about 65 inches, and I could stand up in the entire vestibule.

My Wawona 6 also has the highest quality DAC MX aluminum poles, an aerodynamic shape, plus a whopping 11 guylines. So, I managed to put it through 50 mile-per-hour winds, and it held up fine. Check out the state of the poles after:

They’re just slightly bent, but still completely functional.

One not-so-good point against this tent is that the inner dome tent area is really quite small. I measured it to be about 75.7 square feet, and to be honest, this is the smallest 6-person tent base area I’ve ever seen. The average 6-person inner tent area measures about 85 to 90 square feet.

Nevertheless, you can still fit 4 adults in here pretty comfortably, 2 on each queen bed.

Pro-Tip: And if you need this in a slightly bigger size, the Wawona also comes in an 8-person model, with all the awesome pros that the 6P has. I’ll leave the links to them here too:

3. Gazelle T8 Hub Tent (Best Instant Large Family Tent)

Pros and Cons

Summary

Note: I bought the Gazelle T4 Hub Tent, so all the pictures I’m going to show you are of the T4. I absolutely love it, for many reasons.

First, my T4 has a total setup timing of 5 minutes, so I estimate the T8 timing to be about 10 minutes. This is about half the time of a regular tent in a similar size. Here are the other large family tents and their setup timings:

Large Family Tent	Setup Timings (1P)
Gazelle T8 Hub Tent	10 minutes
Core Instant Cabin 9	12 minutes
Eureka Copper Canyon LX 6	14 minutes
The North Face Wawona 6	20 minutes
Core Straight Wall Cabin 10	22 minutes
Columbia Mammoth Creek 10	28 minutes

And if you don’t need to set up the rainfly or guy out the tent, this tent pops open in just 1 minute and 45 seconds (yes, I timed this!).

Second, both the Gazelle T4 and T8 have entirely removable tent floors, where the floor is connected to the tent body via a super long Velcro strip all around the entire tent.

So, when packing up the tent, I could just undo a part of the floor, so that the air will come out more easily. It usually takes me less than 10 seconds to compress all the air out. With other instant tents though, compressing the air out takes minutes instead.

Third, this being a ‘large family tent’ review, we obviously have to talk about the copious amounts of space that the Gazelle will give you.

Most instant cabin tents I’ve tested have slanted walls, slanting at a degree of between 15° to 35°. The Gazelle T4? A mind-blowing 0°. Just check out what the Gazelle’s side walls look like:

These completely vertical walls gave me a whole ton of livable space inside the tent, I could literally walk around the entire tent from corner to corner.

And fourth, I love the high quality materials that Gazelle used to make this tent, ranging from 210D to 300D polyester, which is even thicker than my Wawona’s.

The instant tent mechanism is incredible as well. Most instant tents have between 1-3 center hubs for the instant mechanism, but the Gazelle T4 has a whopping 5 hubs. 4 on the 4 walls of the tent, and the last hub is this top hub.

And if I’m not wrong, I think the Gazelle T8 has 8 hubs, which is amazing. So, it felt much sturdier than all the other instant tents I had.

But one con to take note of is the massive packed size of this tent. The Gazelle T4 has a packed length of about 68 inches, which I think is about the same packed length of the T8.

This may be a car camping tent, but it may not fit into your car, so do double-check the dimensions before buying it. And look, it’s taller than I am:

If you prefer to have a large family tent with screen room instead, the best one I’ve seen so far is also from Gazelle. This is just the T4, plus a screen room.

And unlike other more budget-friendly tents’ screen rooms, the rain protection on the Gazelle is much better.

4. Core Equipment Instant Cabin 9 (Best Budget Instant Large Family Tent)

Key Info

• Peak height: 75.5 inches

• Base area: 118.1 square feet

• Set up timing (1P): 12 minutes

• Weight: 30.0 pounds

• Packed size: 46 x 13 x 12 inches

Pros and Cons

Summary

Now, I know that the Gazelle (recommendation #3 above) is not the most budget-friendly, so what is your best bet if you’d like to buy a large and instant family tent on a budget?

I’ve got just the perfect pick for you, and that’s the Core Equipment Instant Cabin 9.

How do I know this? Well, of course I did some testing with other large instant tents from Coleman and Ozark Trail, and here are some of my test results:

Instant Tent	Peak Height	Side Walls	Hubs
Core 9	75.5 inches	15°	3
Coleman 10	73.5 inches	35°	1
Ozark Trail 6	65.5 inches	30°	1

Essentially, the Core has the highest peak height despite not being the largest tent.

It also has the most vertical walls, and the most number of hubs to hold the tent fabric up, meaning much more livable space.

Now, how does this Core Instant Cabin 9’s setup and pack away timings compare to the other large family tents in this review?

Large Tent	Setup Timing	Pack Away Timing
Gazelle T8	10 minutes	9 minutes
Core Instant 9	12 minutes	9 minutes
TNF Wawona 6	20 minutes	14 minutes
Core Cabin 10	22 minutes	14 minutes
Eureka LX 12	25 minutes	16 minutes
Columbia 10	28 minutes	16 minutes

It’s one of the best, second only to the Gazelle. The carry bag that they gave was nice and roomy, making for a relatively easy pack up too.

But of course, since this is a budget-friendly tent, bear in mind that the rain protection in this tent isn’t that good. After my 1 hour heavy rain test with this tent, there was quite a bit of leaking through this un-taped flooring seam.

To make this camping tent waterproof, you’ve got to seal it yourself.

But overall, this Core Instant Cabin 9 is the best budget large instant tent out there. With some seam taping and waterproof coating, it’ll be pretty bomb-proof too.

5. Core Equipment Straight Wall Cabin 10 (Best Budget Large Family Tent)

Key Info

• Peak height: 90 inches

• Base area: 135.8 square feet

• Set up timing (1P): 22 minutes

• Weight: 30.5 pounds

• Packed size: 29 x 16 x 12 inches

Pros and Cons

Summary

If you’re looking for the best budget large family tent, I’d recommend a cabin tent over dome tents (for their livability).

And in my 4 years of testing, I’ve found that Core Equipment does much better than Coleman and Ozark Trail when it comes to cabin tents, both instant and non-instant cabin tents.

And that’s why I’m recommending the Core Straight Wall Cabin 10 as the best budget large family tent. Bear in mind that this is a non-instant cabin tent, so you’ve got to set up all the poles by yourself.

I really liked this Core tent because it’s actually the least expensive family tent of all the large tents in this review.

On top of that, its peak height comes in at a whopping 90 inches, taller than any other large tent in this review as well.

One thing though, if you’re not tall like me (I’m only 5’3), you might find this peak height a little too tall.

I couldn’t reach the top of the tent, so every time I wanted to hang a lantern, or get something in the gear loft, I had to stand up on a chair to reach it.

My bro could reach it perfectly fine though, and he’s about 5’7, so I’d recommend this peak height only if you’re at least his height.

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.

But of course, since this is a budget tent, it suffers from the same issue as the Core Instant tent I recommended before this (my #4 recommendation is also a Core tent) as well. Here it is:

Despite that though, I still find this Core Straight Wall Cabin 10 to be one of the best budget large tents out there. It’s also an incredibly tall tent. You’ve just got to do a little sealing and waterproofing on your own.

I also noticed that Core Equipment has this 9-Person Family Dome Tent, which is actually 25% cheaper than their cabin-shaped counterpart. I’ll just leave a quick link here, in case that’s more your budget.

6. Columbia Mammoth Creek 10 (Best 2-Room Large Family Tent)

Key Info

• Peak height: 80 inches

• Base area: 138.0 square feet

• Set up timing (1P): 28 minutes

• Weight: 34.5 pounds

• Packed size: 30 x 14 x 12 inches

Pros and Cons

Summary

The Columbia Mammoth Creek 10 is easily one of the most feature-rich large family tents in this review.

Here are some of my favorite features.

First, the Columbia has the absolute best room divider of all the large family tents in this review, which creates 2 nice separate rooms. Check out what it looks like:

It comes pre-attached with the tent, it’s completely full-length, with zero gaps at all, it’s almost completely opaque, and hence provides a lot of privacy if you’re looking for a 2-room family tent.

On the other hand, more budget-friendly tents have dividers that just don’t make the cut. Check out what one of my Core tent’s divider looks like:

Notice how you can almost see the entire room through the divider? So, basically, these dividers are kind of ‘pointless’ and there’s hardly any privacy.

Another feature I really liked in the Columbia is the huge T-door on the left of this tent. It’s huge, measuring about 91 by 55 inches, and it just makes the tent feel so palatial.

I also liked that most of the windows are nice and big for summer ventilation, and the Columbia even has 2 pull-out windows that I could leave open in the rain.

And speaking of rain, this was one of my few cabin tents to survive my 1-hour heavy rain test with no leaks at all.

There was one feature that the Columbia was lacking though, and that’s in storage. Weirdly enough, my 10-person Columbia had only 2 pockets and 2 lantern loops, nowhere near enough for a big family.

I also found it time-consuming to set up, because there are just so many poles, pole clips, and guy lines. But that’s just what happens when you have a feature-rich tent, these features take some time to set up.

If you like the features and especially the awesome divider, I think the Columbia Mammoth Creek 10 will be a great camping tent for you.

Otherwise, the rest of the family tents I’ve recommended in this review might be a better pick for you. Here’s a quick summary of all the best large family tents I recommend:

1. Eureka Copper Canyon LX 12: Overall Best Large Family Tent

2. The North Face Wawona 6: Best Weather Protection

3. Gazelle T8 Hub Tent: Best Instant Large Family Tent

4. Core Equipment Instant Cabin 9: Best Budget Instant Family Tent

5. Core Equipment Straight Wall Cabin 10: Best Budget Large Family Tent

6. Columbia Mammoth Creek 10: Best 2-Room Large Family Tent

I included only the larger 8 to 12-person tents in this review, since that’s what you’re looking for.

Family tents do come in 6-person sizes though, and I have a complete list of all the best family-sized tents here that you can check out for your next car camping trip.

What are a few key things to look out for in a large family camping tent?

• Tent sizing

• Tent shape

• Ease of set up

• Room divider

• Budget

• Portability

Tent Sizing

Family camping tents usually have a size of at least a 6-person capacity. (This is the maximum capacity as stated by the tent manufacturer.)

• A 6-person tent will fit a small family of 3 people quite comfortably.

As for a large family tent, this can range between 8 to 12-person tents.

• An 8-person tent can fit a medium-sized family of 4-5.

• A 10-person tent can fit a larger family of 6-7.

• A 12-person tent can fit a very large family of 8-9.

These are just general guidelines, and you can feel free to have as big a camping tent as you want.

Tent Shape

Another important thing to take note of when buying a large family camping tent is the shape of the tent – do you prefer a cabin tent, or a dome tent?

Here are the pros and cons of cabin tents:

• Much more livable space in the tent, thanks to the almost-vertical side walls.

• Vertical side walls tend to catch more wind and blow away more easily.

• Cabin tents also usually come with smaller rainflies, hence less rain protection.

Now, here are the pros and cons of dome tents:

• Dome tents with longer rainflies tend to do better in rain.

• They also have much more aerodynamic shapes, and shed wind better.

• The walls of dome tents are curved, so there’s much less livable space.

So, here are my tent shape recommendations:

• Go for dome tents if you’re expecting more rain and wind.

• Cabin tents are mainly to be used only in light rain and wind, and generally fairer weather.

Ease of Setup

The ease of setting up your camping tent is also really important.

Because these are large tents, it can be quite back-breaking to set them up. For example, my Columbia Mammoth Creek 10 took me a whopping 28 minutes to set up!

And that’s why I wanted to include instant large camping tents here too, so you can cut down your set up time if that’s important to you. My Core Instant Cabin 9 took me only 12 minutes to set up, less than half the time of the Columbia.

That’s the general gist of it here – Instant tents will cut down your set up timing by about half.

Room Divider

Room dividers are one of the most important features when it comes to large family tents, as this helps to create a separate room in your tent.

Just take note here that these dividers usually only come with the bigger tents, usually an 8-person tent and up.

And here’s what to look for in a good room divider:

• Full-length with no gaps

• Almost completely opaque

• A zip down the middle for easy access into the other room

• Toggles by the side to hold the fabric of the divider up, in case you want to leave it open

Budget

How much do large car camping family tents tend to cost?

Well, a budget-friendly large family tent, like the Core tents I recommended above, cost around $200-$300 each, depending on what size you’ve decided to go with. (Coleman tents will cost about the same as well.)

RELATED: Best Cheap Family-Sized Tents

Mid-range large family tents will run you back about $500, like the Eureka Copper Canyon LX 12 and the Gazelle T8.

And higher-end camping tents tend to cost about $700-$1,000 for an 8-person tent.

I also noticed that the higher-end tent brands don’t typically come in more than an 8-person capacity.

Here are some of the large camping tents that come in 8 to 10-person capacities:

• The North Face Wawona 8

• Nemo Wagontop 8

• Zempire Pronto 10

Portability

Every single large family tent in this review is a car camping tent. These large camping tents are all pretty massive and heavy, and are strictly only for car camping.

Backpacking tents, on the other hand, don’t typically come in bigger than a 4-person capacity. That’s by no means a large family tent.

If you’re wondering, yes, I did buy all 6 of these family camping tents with my own savings, and they cost me a total of around $1,900.

On top of that, I’ve not accepted any of these tents free from manufacturers, and I’ve also not accepted any sponsorship offers at all. I believe in objectively testing each tent and giving you the most accurate results, whether good or bad.

And of course, I also usually spend at least a week in each tent that I test, so that’s about 1.5 months of testing, just for this review.

Now, if you’re looking for the best large family tents to go car camping in, here’s the best quick summary I’ve got for you:

• Eureka Copper Canyon LX 12: Overall Best Large Family Tent

• The North Face Wawona 6: Best Weather Protection

• Gazelle T8 Hub Tent: Best Instant Large Family Tent

• Core Equipment Instant Cabin 9: Best Budget Instant Family Tent

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

• Columbia Mammoth Creek 10: Best 2-Room Large Family Tent

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.