The Best Large Instant Tents (Bought & Tested!)

Here are the best large instant tents that I’ve bought and tested:

  1. Gazelle T8 Hub Tent

  2. Caddis Rapid 6

  3. Core Equipment Instant Cabin 9

  4. Bushnell Shield Instant Cabin 12

Best Large Instant Tents (Featured Image)
That’s me setting up my Core Instant Cabin 9, with an emoji covering my awkward mug.

Best Large Instant Tent – Quick Summary

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Here’s a quick summary of everything you need to know about these large instant tents:

Instant Tent Recommendation Check Price
Gazelle T4
BEST OVERALL

Gazelle T8 Hub Tent

  • Also: Best screen room tent
  • Set up (1P): 10 mins
  • Pack away (1P): 10 mins
  • Peak height: 78in
  • Base area: 110 sq. ft
  • Weight: 56lbs.
  • Packed length: 68in
RUNNER-UP

Caddis Rapid 6

  • Setup (1P): 9.5 mins
  • Pack away (1P): 7.5 mins
  • Peak height: 77in
  • Base area: 95.1 sq. ft
  • Weight: 25lbs.
  • Packed size: 50 x 15 x 9.5in
Core Instant 9
BEST BUDGET PICK

Core Instant Cabin 9

  • Setup (1P): 12 mins
  • Pack away (1P): 9 mins
  • Peak height: 75.5in
  • Base area: 118.1 sq. ft
  • Packed size: 46 x 13 x 12in
  • Weight: 30lbs.

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

RELATED: Best Instant Cabin Tents

1. Gazelle T8 Hub Tent (Best Overall Large Instant Tent)

Best Instant Tent
Gazelle T8 Hub Tent
  • Peak height: 78 inches

  • Base area: 110 square feet

  • Set up timing (1P): 10 minutes

  • Weight: 56 pounds

  • Packed length: 68 inches

Key Info:

  • Set up timing (1P): 9-10 minutes

  • Pack away timing (1P): 9-10 minutes

  • Peak height: 78 inches

  • Base area: 110 square feet

  • Weight: 56 pounds

  • Packed length: 68 inches

Pros and Cons

Superb materials

Highest quality instant tent design

The most stable instant tent (no elbow joints)

Completely vertical walls

Comes in a screen room version

Removable tent floor

Huge packed size

Summary

When it comes to the best large instant tents, my first thought was immediately the Gazelle T8 Hub Tent. I have the T4 camping tent version (not the overlanding), and I love it for so many reasons.

The author in her Gazelle T4 Hub Tent (product image)
Me in my Gazelle T4!

First, my Gazelle is made of superb quality materials, ranging from 210D to 300D polyester. Check out how it compares to all the other large instant tents in this review:

Instant TentFlooringTent Body
Gazelle T8 Hub Tent300D Polyester210D Polyester
Caddis Rapid 6210D Polyester190D Polyester
Bushnell Instant 12240D Polyester150D Polyester
Core Instant 9Polyethylene68D Polyester
The tent floor and tent body materials of each large instant tent.

It’s easily the highest quality instant tent here, even 3 times as thick as some of the other instant tents.

Second, not only are the materials high quality, but the instant tent design and mechanism is extremely high quality too.

All the other instant tents in this review (so, Caddis, Core, and Bushnell) use a combination of hubs and elbow joints to prop the tent up. I’ll show you pictures here:

An elbow joint of the Coleman Instant Tent 4.
This is an elbow joint on my Coleman Instant Cabin 4.

The hubs are located only at the very top of the camping tent, and the joints are used to connect the roof poles and the leg poles of each tent.

The center hub of the Core Instant Cabin 9
And this is the center hub of the Core Instant 9.

To allow for the instant setup motion, these elbow joints are able to rotate and bend, but this also makes it extremely vulnerable to buckling in the strong wind.

The author folding the Caddis Rapid 6
This is a picture of me folding up the 4 poles of the Caddis Rapid 6. I’m using one hand to hold down the elbow joint, and the other hand to fold in the pole. The pole is able to fold only because of the joint.

However, the Gazelle features no elbow joints at all. Instead, it has many hubs all around the entire tent (1 on each wall, and 2 at the top of the tent). These do not buckle as easily in the strong wind.

What the top hub of the Gazelle T4 Hub Tent looks like
The top hub of the Gazelle.

So, even when I was trying to shake the tent as much as possible, I noticed that it held firm and was the most stable of all my instant tents. This is the third reason why I love my Gazelle so much.

Fourth, each of the walls having 1 hub pulled the walls outward, and this gave my Gazelle completely vertical side walls.

Check out this picture here, notice that there’s no slant of the wall at all? This gives me way more livable space on the inside than a tent with slanted walls.

What the side walls of the Gazelle T4 Hub Tent looks like
The side walls of the Gazelle.

In contrast, all the other instant tents in this review have a little bit of a slant in their walls. I actually measured the angle of all the instant tents that I have, and here’s a table summarizing my findings:

Instant TentWall Angle
Gazelle T8 Hub Tent0 degrees
Core Instant Cabin 915 degrees
Caddis Rapid 617 degrees
The angle of the side walls of the large instant tents I tested.

The larger the angle, the more the slant in the walls, and the less livable space in the tent.

What one of the side walls of the Caddis Rapid 6 looks like.
The more slanted walls of the Caddis.

Fifth, I love that the Gazelle comes in a screen room version and it’s easily the best screen room tent I’ve ever seen so far. (And yes, I’ve tested other screen room tents from Coleman, and they’re nowhere as good as the Gazelle.)

Best Screen Room Tent
Gazelle T4 Plus Extra Large 4 to 8 Person Portable Pop Up Outdoor Shelter Camping Hub Tent with Rain Fly & Extended Screened in Sun Room, Orange
  • Large main entrance, 1 D-shaped door, 5 windows
  • 110 square feet of floor space, including a screened-in second room
  • Weight: 56 pounds
  • Waterproof 210 denier Oxford weave polyester
  • UV50+ rating
  • Pops up in as little as 90 seconds
  • Detachable floors,
  • Storage: 2 gear lofts, 5 gear pockets, 6 wall mounted pockets

The screen room version is called the Gazelle T4 Plus Hub Tent, which is basically just the Gazelle T4, plus an extra screen room. It sets up just as quickly as the Gazelle T8, in about 9 to 10 minutes.

And sixth, I love the removable tent floor of the Gazelle. The flooring is connected to the tent body via Velcro, I could strip out the entire floor in just 1 minute, and the Gazelle is the only instant cabin tent in this review that has this feature.

Detaching the removable floor of the Gazelle T4 Hub Tent from the Velcro
Me removing the floor from the tent.

I personally like this feature because it made cleaning the tent floor more manageable, it made packing the tent up easier too, and I could run a power cord through the floor.

However, one con to the Gazelle is its massive packed length. My Gazelle T4 has a packed length of about 68 inches, which I think is about the same packed length of the T8. Look at how insanely long it is compared to me:

The author standing beside the packed up Gazelle T4 Hub Tent
Me standing beside the packed up Gazelle.

This is a car camping tent, but because of the massive packed size, it won’t fit into smaller cars. I highly recommend checking the dimensions of your car before buying this for your car camping trip.

Overall, if you’re able to fit this tent into your car though, I would highly recommend the Gazelle T8 Hub Tent. It’s easily one of the best instant tents I’ve ever used, and I love it. I hope you do too.

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

The author in her Caddis Rapid 6 (product image)
Me in my Caddis Rapid 6.

Key Info:

  • Set up timing (1P): 9.5 minutes

  • Pack away timing (1P): 7.5 minutes

  • Peak height: 77 inches

  • Base area: 95.1 square feet

  • Weight: 25.0 pounds

  • Packed size: 50 x 15 x 9.5 inches

Pros and Cons

Less expensive than Gazelle

Thick and high quality materials

Easy to lay flat and clean

Longest rainfly length

Takes a little longer to set up

Doesn’t come in a bigger size

Summary

Admittedly, the Gazelle T8 Hub Tent above (my #1 recommendation) is a little on the pricier side. So, if you’re looking for an instant camping tent that’s a bit more affordable, my runner-up pick is the Caddis Rapid 6.

It’s less expensive than the Gazelle T8, and here’s how much I paid for mine:

As you can see, I paid the same price for both my 6-person Caddis Rapid and 4-person Gazelle instant cabin tent. So, on a per capacity basis, the Caddis is roughly about 50% cheaper than the Gazelle.

The author unboxing the Caddis Rapid 6.
Me unboxing the Caddis Rapid.

Of course, I bought both these tents a couple years ago, so I highly recommend checking out the current market price before making your decision:

At the same time, even though the Caddis is less expensive, its materials are also extremely high quality. It comes with 210D polyester flooring, and 190D polyester tent body.

The flooring of the Caddis Rapid 6.
The 210D polyester flooring of the Caddis Rapid 6.

And it beats the Gazelle in 2 ways when it comes to the materials:

  1. The Caddis has steel pre-attached poles, while Gazelle has only fiberglass poles.

  2. The Caddis has micro mesh, while Gazelle’s is just regular mosquito netting.

The center hub of the Caddis Rapid 6.
The top hub of the Caddis, with all the steel poles connected to it.

I also really liked that I could fold the Caddis Rapid in half neatly, and lay it on the ground flat. This made wiping off the dirt on the flooring as easy as the Gazelle too.

The author cleaning the Caddis Rapid 6.
Me cleaning the tent as it’s flat on the ground.

The Caddis also has a much longer rain fly length than the Gazelle, on 3 sides of the tent (the 2 sides, and the back wall).

The author's heavy rain test of the Caddis Rapid 6.
My bro helping me with the heavy rain test.

This longer rain fly was able to completely protect my windows from the heavy rain outside. I could leave almost all my windows in the Caddis open in the heavy rain, and this made for fantastic rainy day ventilation.

The windows of the Caddis Rapid 6 in heavy rain
The rainfly completely protected the open windows from the rain. Notice water running off the rainfly, and the windows are not wet at all.

What about the Gazelle though? Well, the rainfly didn’t cover any of the windows at all, so all the windows were drenched.

2 of the windows of the Gazelle T4 Hub Tent in the heavy rain
The Gazelle’s windows totally drenched in heavy rain.

Two things to note about the Caddis’ long rainfly though. First, the front of the Caddis has a short rainfly length (why they didn’t make it a bit longer, I have no idea), so I’d recommend getting an extra tarp to shield this, if you’re camping in the heavy rain.

What the rainfly looks like at the front of the Caddis Rapid 6.
The front of the Caddis in heavy rain. Notice the much shorter rainfly length.

And second, because the rainfly is quite long at the other sides, this took me a minute or two of extra setup time, fumbling with the long rainfly.

The author setting up the rainfly of the Caddis Rapid 6.
Me setting up the rainfly.

Sadly, the Caddis doesn’t come in a larger than 6-person size, which is a pity, because I’d love to try out an 8-person or even 10-person instant cabin tent from them.

A 6-person instant tent doesn’t fit more than 6 sleeping pads, or 2 queen beds, so it’s not exactly a huge instant tent.

2 queen beds in the Caddis Rapid 6.
What 2 queen beds look like inside the Caddis Rapid 6. The Alps Mountaineering Airbed is on the left (blue), and the Etekcity Camping Mattress is on the right (brown). I’m on the Etekcity.

Overall though, I really liked the Caddis Rapid 6 as a great instant camping tent, and I think it’s a wonderful alternative if the Gazelle T8 is not within your budget.

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

The author in her Core Equipment Instant Cabin 9 (product image)
Me outside my Core Instant 9.

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: 30.0 pounds

Pros and Cons

Very reasonable price

Fits a whopping 9 single pads

Decent quality instant tent mechanism

Great bang for your buck

Lower quality materials

Summary

If both the Gazelle T8 Hub Tent and Caddis Rapid 6 are out of your budget, fret not! I still have a wonderful recommendation instant camping tent for you, and that’s the Core Equipment Instant Cabin 9.

I paid less for the Core Instant Cabin 9 (just slightly over $200 a couple years ago) than I did for both the Gazelle T8 and Caddis Rapid 6. (But of course, the price I paid may differ from the retail price now, so click on this link to Amazon to find out the current price.)

The author unboxing the Core Instant Cabin 9.
My bro helping me with the unboxing.

And the Core Instant 9 is not just cheaper, but it’s much larger too, and fits a whopping 9 single pads inside the tent. In contrast, the Gazelle and Caddis fit just 8 and 6 pads respectively.

9 single sleeping pads in the Core Instant Cabin 9.
This is what 9 pads looks like inside the Core Instant 9. There are 3 single pads and 3 double pads in this picture.

Alternatively, I could fit just 2 queen beds (so a family of 4), with plenty of leftover floor space for a ton of camping gear, or maybe a couple extra twin beds (for a family of 6).

This is what 2 queen beds looks like inside the Core Instant Cabin 9.
What 2 queen beds look like in the Core.

I couldn’t fit 3 queen beds in though, if that’s what you were wondering.

The width of the Core Instant Cabin 9 is too short to fit 2 queen beds side by side.
The width of the Core is too short to fit 2 queen beds side by side.

And even though I paid so much less for the Core, I still found the instant mechanism to still be decently high quality for a budget camping tent.

The Core Instant Cabin 9 without its rainfly.
You can see at least 2 of the top hubs in this picture. The last hub is on the other end so it’s harder to see from here.

The tent poles are made of thick steel, and there are 3 hubs at the top of the tent to hold the tent body up. The center height is decent, and the side walls aren’t too slanted.

One of the hubs of the Core Instant Cabin 9.
One of the hubs of the Core. You can also see the thickness of each steel pole inscribed on the hub.

In contrast, many of my other budget-friendly instant tents from Coleman and Ozark Trail tend to have less hubs, leading to lower center heights, and more slanted and floppy walls.

However, while the instant tent structure and the poles of the Core are high quality, the biggest con with the Core is that the rest of its materials are more budget-quality (when compared to the other instant tents in this review). Here’s a table of info with the Core’s materials:

Core Instant 9Tent Materials
Tent FloorPolyethylene
Tent Body68D Polyester
Tent PolesAlloy Steel
MeshMosquito (not Micro)
ZippersNo Brand
All the materials the Core Instant Cabin 9 is made of.

Essentially, only the poles are relatively high quality steel, the rest of them are not. For example, the floor is polyethylene, which is an inexpensive tarp-like material found only in budget tents.

The polyethylene flooring of the Core Instant Cabin 9.
The polyethylene flooring of the Core.

The budget-quality materials aside, I found that Core did focus on putting quality into the most important parts of an instant tentthe design, the mechanism, and the poles.

A close up of the center hub of the Core Instant Cabin 9
A close-up of the middle center hub.

So, despite the other more budget-friendly materials, I still think the Core Instant Cabin Tent 9 is a great value for money pick as one of the best instant tents.

It’s much better than any other budget instant tents or pop up tents that I’ve tested. (Trust me, I’ve tested over 10 of these tents!)

4. Bushnell Instant Cabin 12 (Best Extra-Large Instant Tent)

Extra-Large Instant Tent
Bushnell Instant Instant Cabin 12-Person Tent
  • Pre-attached poles that lock into place
  • Reflective coating that blocks UV rays
  • 2 A/C ground vents
  • 150 denier fabric walls
  • 240 denier floor
  • Two included room dividers

Key Info:

  • Set up timing: ~16 minutes (estimated)

  • Pack away timing: ~14 minutes (estimated)

  • Peak height: 80 inches

  • Base area: ‎198 square feet

  • Packed size: ‎49.5 x 13.3 x 11.3 inches

  • Weight: 58 pounds

Pros and Cons

Lots of capacity options

High quality materials

Can be split into 3 separate rooms

Comes with an air-conditioning port

12-person size can be unwieldy

Summary

If none of the other best instant tents above have fit your needs because you’re looking for an extra-large instant tent, then you can consider the Bushnell 12-Person Instant Cabin Tent.

I love that this tent comes in many different capacities options:

Not a lot of instant tents come in 12-person capacities, Bushnell and Core are some of the rare few. (Gazelle and Caddis do not have 12-person capacities.)

Between Core and Bushnell, Bushnell is definitely higher quality. Check out the materials used:

Instant TentTent FloorTent Body
Bushnell Instant 12240D Polyester150D Polyester
Core Instant 9Polyethylene68D Polyester
A quick comparison in the materials used in both the Bushnell and Core.

On top of that, Bushnell looks to have higher quality room dividers, and 2 dividers at that. This allows you to split the tent into not 2, but 3 separate rooms.

In contrast, the Core has only 1 room divider, which is super transparent, and doesn’t even feel like it’s splitting my tent into two rooms.

The room divider of the Core Instant Cabin 9.
Me putting up the Core’s room divider. Notice you can see everything behind the divider.

The Bushnell Instant Cabin 12 also comes with an air-conditioning port, and is the only tent in this review to have one.

However, just bear in mind that such large 12-person tents can be a little unwieldy, especially when setting up and packing away. I would highly recommend taking your time and not rushing things, as this can cause instant tents to break and spoil.

Overall, if you need a large 12-person instant tent, the Bushnell Shield Instant Cabin 12 is easily the best pick on the market.

Now, here are my recommendations so far on the best instant tents in a large size, for your upcoming camping trips:

  1. Best Overall Large Instant Tent: Gazelle T8 Hub Tent

  2. Best Screen Room Instant Tent: Gazelle T4 Plus Hub Tent

  3. Runner-Up Large Instant Tent: Caddis Rapid 6

  4. Best Budget Large Instant Tent: Core Instant Cabin 9

  5. Best Extra-Large Instant Tent: Bushnell Instant Cabin 12

Large Tent Capacity

Going with the “large instant tent” theme, I wanted to pick tents that are at least of an 8-person capacity, or more.

  • An 8-person tent will be able to fit 8 single sleeping pads, or 3 queen beds.

  • A 10-person tent will be able to fit 10 single sleeping pads, or 4 queen beds.

  • A 12-person tent will be able to fit 12 single sleeping pads, or 4 queen beds. (I don’t think it will be able to fit 5, unless it’s designed really well.)

10 single sleeping pads in the Coleman Instant Cabin 10
My Coleman 10-Person Instant Cabin Tent with 10 sleeping pads (a mix of 2 single and 4 double sleeping pads).
4 queen beds in the Coleman Instant Cabin 10.
Here’s what having 4 queen-sized camping mattresses would look like inside the Coleman 10 as well.

I know that the Caddis Rapid is only of a 6-person capacity, but it’s too good an instant tent to not mention it here. Nevertheless, that fits 6 single sleeping pads, or 2 queen-sized mattresses, so I suppose you still can consider it to be a decently large instant tent.

6 single sleeping pads in the Caddis Rapid 6.
This is what 6 pads looks like inside the Caddis Rapid 6. From left to right: Exped MegaMat Duo 10 (green), Klymit Double V Uninsulated (blue), Sea to Summit pad (yellow), Big Agnes sleeping bag (white). That’s me lying on the Exped.

Pro-Tip: If you’re wondering whether pop up tents (a specific type of instant tent that pops out of the carry bag in seconds) come in these large sizes, well, they don’t. The largest one is a 4-person pop up tent, and there’s nothing bigger than that.

A queen bed in the Coleman Pop Up Tent 4
This is what an almost queen-sized mattress (80 by 56 inches) looks like inside a Coleman 4-Person Pop Up Tent. This is also a dome tent and not a cabin tent (which equals less livable space too).

Instant Tent Mechanism

When picking all the best large instant tents for this review, I made sure to determine which had the highest quality instant tent mechanism. Only those that did made it into this review.

Here are the factors that I kept in mind:

  • How to set up the instant tent (was it smooth-sailing or did the poles jam, etc.)

  • How long it takes to set up (including all tent stakes and guy lines)

  • Number of hubs

  • Number of elbow joints

  • Quality of the pre-attached poles and pre-attached frame

Even my most budget-quality instant tent here (the Core Instant Cabin 9) had a really decent quality instant tent mechanism, which was easy to set up and also easy to pack away back into the carry bag.

Large Instant Tents to Avoid!

Now, there were a few large instant tents that I had that did not make it into this review, because their instant tent mechanism wasn’t up to par. These are the tents that you may want to avoid when buying a large instant tent.

Coleman Instant Cabin 10

I didn’t like my Coleman Instant Cabin 10 because it has only 1 hub at the top of the tent. (In contrast, the Core above that I recommended is the same size, but with 3 hubs.)

The single hub of the Coleman Instant Cabin 10
The only hub of the Coleman Instant Cabin 10.

So, the walls of my tent felt really floppy and droopy, and really ate into my livable space.

The droopy tent fabric of the Coleman Instant Cabin 10
This is the tent body of the Coleman 10. I felt that another pole clip at the part where the red arrow is pointing would have increased livable space inside the tent.

Also, whenever I tried to set up this tent, sometimes the poles would jam. I would then have to fiddle around with the poles, bending it in every which direction to un-jam it, before putting it back up again.

The elbow joint of the Coleman Instant Cabin 10
My bro bending the elbow joint to prop the tent up.

The rest of the tent was great though, I just wasn’t a fan of the instant tent design.

Ozark Trail Instant Cabin 6

Another instant tent I didn’t like was from Ozark Trail. The instant tent mechanism here was just as floppy as Coleman’s.

On top of that, I didn’t have enough standing room at all, the walls were really slanted and ate into my livable space, and it wasn’t a spacious cabin tent at all.

The author standing in her Ozark Trail Dark Rest Instant Cabin 6
Me standing under the peak height of the Ozark. My head is almost touching the top.

Why You Can Trust Me

To create all of my product reviews, I usually buy and test all of my gear on camping trips. I ran out of budget for this review, and wasn’t able to buy the Bushnell Shield 12, but I did manage to buy all the other tents, and more.

All the tents I mentioned in this review cost me more than $1,000 (including the ones I don’t recommend), and I took about 5 weeks testing all of them here.

Conclusion

With that said, what are the best large instant tents that I’d recommend for your upcoming camping trip? Here they are:

  1. Best Overall Large Instant Tent: Gazelle T8 Hub Tent

  2. Best Screen Room Instant Tent: Gazelle T4 Plus Hub Tent

  3. Runner-Up Large Instant Tent: Caddis Rapid 6

  4. Best Budget Large Instant Tent: Core Instant Cabin 9

  5. Best Extra-Large Instant Tent: Bushnell Instant Cabin 12

  6. I didn’t like these: Coleman Instant Cabin 10 and Ozark Trail Instant Cabin 6

I hope this helps, and feel free to reach out to me on my YouTube channel if you have any questions.

Alternatively, if you’ve decided to go with a smaller instant tent instead, you can check out my complete review on the best instant tents (with smaller sizes, along with these large ones).

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