Coleman 4-Person Pop Up Tent Review (I Bought & Tested It!)

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For a 4-person, this Coleman Pop Up Tent sets up really quick, taking just 15 seconds to pop up, and another 1.25 minutes if you’d like to stake it down and guy it out. It’s also very inexpensive for a pretty large tent.

However, it doesn’t stand up to rain at all, and it’s more of a 3+ person tent, not a 4-person tent. Even though I’m only 5’3″, so not very big or tall, it definitely can’t fit 4 of me, and I’ll show you this in a bit if you’re interested to read on.

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Check out the Coleman 4-Person Pop Up Tent:

Here’s what we’ll discuss here:

• In the Box
• Specifications

In the Box

I bought this Coleman 4-Person Pop Up Tent from Amazon, and it comes with the tent, which has a pre-attached rainfly, the carry bag, 8 stakes, 2 pre-attached guylines (with their tensioners), as well as instructions.

Specifications

Here’s all the data (including my personal measurements) that I gathered on this Coleman 4-Person Pop Up Tent:

• Peak height: 39 inches
• Longest Length: 9 feet and 1 inch
• Longest Width: 6 feet and 8 inches
• Base Area: 60.6 square feet
• Floor material: Polyester
• Bathtub Flooring: None
• Tent body material: 185T 68D Polyester
• Rainfly material: 185T 68D Polyester
• Poles material: Fiberglass (Pre-attached)
• Mesh: Regular
• Packed size: 36 by 36 by 5 inches
• Weight: 8.2 pounds
• Number of guylines: 2
• Number of stakes: 8
• Number of windows: 1
• Number of doors: 1
• Number of vents: None
• Number of pockets: 1 (split into 2)
• Number of gear lofts: None
• Number of lantern loops: None
• E-port: None
• Black-out: No

I also did some testing on my own, and came up with this data:

• Pop up timing (without staking): 0.25 minutes
• Set up timing (with staking): 1.5 minutes
• Take down timing (without staking): 1.25 minutes
• Take down timing (with staking): 2 minutes
• Number of single sleeping pads: 3
• Number of queen-sized mattresses: 1

I go through all the above specifications in the sections below, in more detail, if you’re interested.

I put the Coleman 4-Person Pop Up Tent through these 7 tests:

1. Ease of Use
2. Spaciousness
3. Comfort & Features
4. Ventilation & Condensation
5. Rain & Wind Protection
6. Quality
7. Portability

Here’s how it performed.

Ease of Use

For ease of use, I looked at the:

1. Ease of Set Up; and
2. Ease of Pack Up.

Set Up

Setting up this Coleman 4-Person Pop Up Tent is as simple as just taking it out of the carry bag, removing the black strap across the tent, and popping it open. This takes just 15 seconds.

Awesome stuff – Check out these 3 pictures, which happened within 5 seconds of each other.

Tip: Do toss it away from you the moment you slide the black strap off, or it’ll pop up in your face.

If you want to, you can stake down the tent, but first I highly recommend zipping the window and door up. This is so you wouldn’t have any issues trying to zip the doors up after the tent has been staked down.

After that, stake down the left with 3 stakes, stake down the right with 3 stakes, and guy both sides out with the 2 pre-attached guylines.

This takes another 1 minute and 15 seconds, so altogether the entire set up can take as little as 1 and a half minutes once you’re used to it.

Take Down

Packing up the Coleman 4-Person Pop Up Tent is slightly more difficult though. First, remove all the stakes and guylines, then unzip both the window and door panels, so that air can be pushed out of the tent more easily when you’re folding it up.

Then, pick the poles up from one side, and fold all the poles together, until the tent looks like a taco.

After that, stand it up on one end, like this. This takes about 1 minute.

With one hand, grip the middle of the taco. Take your time to get a good grip on it. With your other hand, reach out as far as possible to the other end of the taco, like so:

Next, fold that end down towards you, just like this:

At the same time, quickly kneel on the ground, using one of your knees to press down on that end that you’ve just folded in. This is to prevent the poles from popping up again.

Then, push the rest of the poles down and together, until the tent folds back into this smaller circle. Place the black strap back across the tent.

Tip: I find that it’s easiest to do so when you grip it between your legs.

Once the black strap is secured across the tent, pack it up, along with the stakes. It should go back into the carry bag no problem.

This takes another minute, so the entire pack up takes just 2 minutes for me. If you don’t use the stakes and guylines, it’ll take about (or slightly less than) 1 and a half minutes.

Spaciousness

For spaciousness, I looked at the base area, as well as the height inside the tent.

Dimensions

The longest length of the Coleman 4-Person Pop Up Tent is about 9 feet and 1 inch, while the longest width is about 6 feet and 8 inches.

However, bear in mind that the base area isn’t rectangular, but oval in shape.

Mattress Sizing

Because the base area isn’t rectangular, when I tried inflating a few sleeping pads inside the Coleman 4-Person Pop Up Tent, the maximum number I could fit was only 3.

This is what my Exped MegaMat Duo 10, which is a double sleeping pad (74 by 43 inches), and my Sea to Summit pad, which is a single sleeping pad (72 by 20 inches), looks like inside the tent, for a maximum of 3 adults.

But you do get space for gear.

Or, you could fit 2 adults and 2 kids inside the tent, with not much space leftover for gear.

This is what an almost queen-sized camping mattress would look like inside the Coleman 4-Person Pop Up Tent.

There’s more than enough space for a queen mattress, with lots of room leftover for gear.

However, there’s no vestibule for your footwear.

Height

The peak height at the center of this 4-Person Tent is about 39 inches.

When I sat down on my Exped MegaMat, which has about 4 inches of loft, my head never touched the top of the tent, even when I sat upright.

On the Alps Queen mattress though, which is 6 inches thick, my head touches the mesh at the top of the tent when I sit upright.

Tip: I would recommend no more than 6 inches in height if you’re planning to use an air mattress in this Coleman 4-Person Pop Up Tent.

Of course, the lower your pad or mattress, the more livable space you’d have.

Comfort and Features

For comfort and features, I looked at the door, window, and storage options.

Door and Window

The Coleman 4-Person Pop Up Tent has a single door at the front length of the tent. It measures about 41 inches in length (longest length), and 35 inches in width (longest width).

If you don’t want to use the door, you can just zip up the window mesh panel instead for more ventilation, and this inner window measures about 35 inches in length (longest length), and 17 inches in width (longest width).

Both the door and window have 2 zippers each, and each zip can be opened from both the outside and inside.

The Coleman 4-Person Pop Up Tent comes with these latches that you can use to tie both the door and window up for maximum ventilation.

You can also have just the window tied up, or the door tied up.

Storage Options

There’s 1 pocket inside this pop-up tent, which is split into 2. The pocket measures about 17 by 8 inches.

There’s no lantern loop inside this tent, but you can hang a lantern up using the window and door latch attachment.

You can hang a lantern up with both the window and door open, with just the door closed, or with just the window closed. You can also use the zipper if you want to, but personally, I’d rather not put too much strain on the zippers.

Ventilation

For ventilation, I looked at hot day and rainy day options.

Hot Day Ventilation

On a hot day without any rain, you can take off the rainfly entirely, without even having to remove the guylines stakes.

To remove the rainfly, all you have to do is to unhook the 4 S-hooks at the front of this Coleman 4-Person Pop Up Tent, like so:

After that, undo the Velcro attachments near the guylines, and then sweep the rainfly to the back.

At the back of the tent, you can tie the rainfly up using more latch attachments behind, or you can just leave it like this.

However, you cannot remove the rainfly entirely because it is attached directly to the tent.

On a hot day with the rainfly removed and the door completely opened, there’s actually quite a bit of ventilation from the ceiling mesh and the door.

Rainy Day Ventilation

However, on a rainy day, you do need the rainfly to be in place, and the door to be closed. There are also no vents, so there’s hardly any ventilation when it’s raining.

Weather Protection

For weather protection, I looked at:

1. Rain; and
2. Wind protection.

Rain Test

I put this Coleman 4-Person Pop Up Tent through about 10 minutes of light to moderate rain, which looked like this.

I noticed a small pool of water on the rainfly, but it doesn’t look like it’ll be a big issue.

After the 10 minutes of light to moderate rain, I found that while most of the tent body was still dry, a little bit of water started seeping in through the white fabric near the bottom of the tent. It felt slightly damp to me.

Also, I noticed that all around the tent flooring, some water started leaking through the holes of the seam. Thankfully, it was taped, and the seam tape prevented most of the water from leaking in through this seam, but it looks like it’ll probably leak soon actually.

Also, I noticed a small spot of water actually leaked through the seam tape right here.

I also tested my Coleman 2-Person Pop Up Tent through heavy rain, and I’ll link the full rain test video on my channel here.

Take note that other Coleman tents have better rain protection than the Coleman Pop Up Tent (which is, in fact, my worst Coleman tent against rain). Check out these V.S. comparisons if you’re interested:

• Coleman Pop Up Tent V.S. Skydome Tent (I Tested Both Tents!)
• Coleman Pop Up Tent V.S. Sundome Tent (I Tested Both Tents!)

Wind Protection

For wind protection, the Coleman 4-Person Pop Up Tent has only 2 guylines.

When I guyed out the tent and tried to shake it, it wasn’t the most stable, but it was okay. The peak height isn’t too high, so it would probably be able to take light to moderate winds.

Quality

For quality, I looked at the following factors.

Material

The flooring of this Coleman 4-Person Pop Up Tent doesn’t feel like polyethylene, and my guess is that it’s polyester.

It doesn’t seem very thick, and it also doesn’t have a bathtub feature, so there’s less rain protection.

The rest of the tent is made of 185T 68D Polyester.

Stitching

Most of the seams have been seam taped, except for the seams of the ceiling mesh (protected by rainfly above) as well as the door (protected by rain cover outside).

But weirdly enough though, some water managed to seep through the seam tape, like this taped seam here connecting the flooring to the tent body. (Pictured above in the rain test)

The stitching was double stitched and okay for the most part, but there were some parts that don’t seem as well stitched. Plus, I found loose threads as well.

Zippers

The zippers don’t feel super smooth, and I noticed some tension while trying to zip the door and window up.

This is why I highly recommend staking down the tent only after you’ve already zipped the door and window up, so you don’t add more tension to the zips.

Poles

The poles are made of fiberglass, and I’ve been using this tent lightly over the past couple of years with no issues at all.

Carry Bag

The carry bag is pretty good quality, it’s the perfect size for the packed up tent.

Portability

For portability, I looked at weight and packed size.

Packed Size

This Coleman 4-Person Pop Up Tent has a packed size of 36 by 36 by 5 inches.

For a size comparison, here’s what it looks like beside a Coleman 2-Person Sundome Tent, as well as a 32-ounce Nalgene bottle.

Weight

It weighs about 7 pounds for just the tent and carry bag alone. The 8 stakes weigh about 1.2 pounds separately, so 8.2 pounds altogether.

Ease of Carry

The carry bag of the Coleman 4-Person Pop Up Tent comes with a small handle at the top, and here’s what it looks like when I carry it:

Pros

For pros, I found the Coleman 4-Person Pop Up Tent super easy to pop open, it takes just 15 seconds if you don’t stake it down and use the guylines. It’s also super easy to pack up.

What I like even more is that even though the Coleman 4-Person Pop Up Tent is quite a bit bigger than the 2-Person version, the set up and take down process is almost exactly the same, and takes me almost exactly the same time.

This Coleman Pop Up Tent also has a decent amount of ventilation on hot days, because of the ceiling mesh, and I also found it very inexpensive.

Tip #1: If you find this Coleman Pop Up 4 a little too pricey, you can always get the Pop Up 2 instead. Find out how the Coleman Pop Up 2 and 4 compare against each other here.

Tip #2: Alternatively, if you have a little more in your budget, you can upgrade to the Coleman Instant 4 instead of this Pop Up 4. Check out how these 2 tents stack up against each other.

Cons

As for cons, it doesn’t stand up to rain at all. After just 10 minutes of light to moderate rain, the bottom of the white fabric felt a bit damp, and also water started seeping in through these seams.

While I really liked that I could fit a queen-sized mattress inside this Coleman 4-Person Pop Up with plenty of room leftover for gear, so perfectly comfortable for 2 people, I think another con is that it’s definitely not a 4-person tent, even if you sleep shoulder to shoulder.

At best, it’s a 3-person tent, with some room for gear of course.

Also, this tent has only 1 pocket, which is split into 2, but still, it’s tiny for a 4-person tent.

The quality is ok, but definitely not the best. I found that some parts of the Coleman Pop Up Tent weren’t as well stitched, and there were loose threads too. The flooring seems a little thin, and I also noticed some tension while trying to zip the door and window up.

But overall, I think you do get what you pay for, and more. It’s a perfectly functional tent for a very affordable price, and I found that this Coleman Pop Up Tent is definitely a great budget option for backyard camping in the summer with clear skies.

I got plenty of use out of this Coleman 4-Person Pop Up Tent over the few years that I’ve had it, and would recommend it.

How does this Coleman 4-Person Pop Up Tent compare to other pop-up tents though? Well, I’ve already done the comparison for you, in this blog post right here, where I bought, tested, and compared 7 of the best pop-up tents in the market.

Alternatively, check out how this Coleman Pop Up 4 compares against 13 other Coleman tents in this blog post: I Bought & Tested the 14 BEST Coleman Tents!

Or, check out the Coleman 4-Person Pop Up Tent: