Coleman Dark Room Sundome Tent Review (Bought & Tested!)

I bought this tent with my own money and put it through 8 hands-on tests.

Setup 11.5 min
Peak 73in
Base area 95.1 sq ft
Weight 16.4 lbs

The author testing the Coleman Dark Room Sundome Tent. — *My Coleman Dark Room Sundome, pitched in my yard.*

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Test scorecard

7.9out of 10

Comfort & Features8.8

Spaciousness8.5

Rain Protection8

Ventilation8

Portability7.5

Quality7.1

Ease of Use7

The Coleman Dark Room Sundome is one of my favorite Coleman tents — incredibly inexpensive, and it performed very well in all the 7 tests that I threw at it — though it does need seam sealant under prolonged heavy rain.

What won me over

Blackout feature
Inexpensive
6-foot peak height
Easy to set up
Easy to take down
Decent ventilation and rain protection

What let me down

Requires seam sealant under prolonged heavy rain

Check price on Amazon Check price on Coleman

Video review thumbnail for the Coleman Dark Room Sundome

If you prefer watching to reading, check out my video here instead.

See the 8 tests

In the Box
Set Up & Take Down
Spaciousness
Comfort & Features
Ventilation
Rain Protection
Quality
Portability
Pros, Cons, Recommendation
Bonus – MUST read!

In the Box

I bought my Coleman Dark Room Sundome from Amazon. Inside I got a carry bag, 3 poles in a carry case, 13 stakes in another case, a foot mat, and the green rainfly and tent body.

From left to right: stakes, poles, foot mat, rainfly, tent body of the Coleman Dark Room Sundome Tent. — *From left: stakes, poles, foot mat, rainfly, tent body.*

Set Up & Take Down

Set-up time (1 person) 11.5 min
Take-down + pack-up (1 person) 10 min
Poles 3 fiberglass

This is what all the fiberglass poles of the Coleman Dark Room Sundome Tent look like. — *All 3 fiberglass poles — two for the body, one for the rainfly.*

This is what your Coleman Sundome Dark Room Tent will look like when both the tent body poles have been set up and secured in place. — *Both body poles sleeved and centered.*

Stakes / guylines 13 / 6

The Sundome pitches with 2 fiberglass poles crossed in an X for the body and a third down the rainfly. You sleeve and pin the body poles, clip on the 8 body clips, drape and stake the rainfly, then guy it out with the 6 pre-attached guylines.

I did the whole thing on my own at 5’3″ — about 11.5 min to pitch and 10 min to take down and pack up.

Coleman Dark Room Sundome set-up video thumbnail

Want the full step-by-step? Watch my Coleman Dark Room Sundome set-up walkthrough on YouTube.

Spaciousness

Capacity 6-person6 pads, or 2 queens for 4 people
Peak height 73in
Base area 95.1 sq ft9ft 9in × 9ft 9in — shy of the marketed 10 × 10ft

At 73in peak I stand fully upright with headroom to spare, even on a thick air mattress. But it’s a dome, so the peak is dead centre — a few steps back and my head brushes the roof.

This is a picture of me standing under the peak height of the Coleman Sundome Dark Room Tent. — *Standing under the 73in peak, with room over my head.*

This is where my head would touch the top of the Coleman Sundome Dark Room Tent. — *Step back and the sloping roof meets my head.*

The measured floor is 9ft 9in square (95.1 sq ft), a few inches under the marketed 10 × 10ft. I fit 6 regular sleeping pads shoulder to shoulder with a little gear space left, though I’d rather run 2 queen mattresses for 4 people — a snug lengthwise fit (one of mine is just under queen width), with gear room at the head of each bed.

This is a picture of me lying down on a double pad inside the Coleman Sundome Dark Room Tent. This tent fits 6 pads, or 2 double pads and 2 single pads. — *6 regular sleeping pads fit inside, side by side.*

This is what 2 queen beds will look like inside the Coleman Sundome Dark Room 6-Person Tent. That's me lying on one of them. — *2 queen beds fit, with gear room at the head of each.*

Comfort & Features

Doors 1no hinge
Windows 2back 43 × 24in, front 41 × 26in

This is a picture of me opening up the back window of the Coleman Sundome Dark Room Tent. — *Opening the back window.*

Pockets 29 × 7in each

This is what one of the pockets inside the Coleman Sundome Dark Room Tent looks like. — *One of the 2 interior pockets.*

Lantern loop 1

This is what the lantern loop at the top of the Coleman Sundome Dark Room Tent looks like. — *The single lantern loop at the peak.*

E-port 1
Blackout YesColeman Dark Room tech

The single door is 54 × 41in and 56in tall, short enough that I duck through at 5’3″. The 2 windows sit one per length, each with a bug net and a latch.

This is a picture of me ducking to get through the door into the Coleman Sundome Dark Room Tent. — *Ducking through the door — it tops out at 56in.*

Storage is basic for a 6-person tent: 2 pockets (9 × 7in each), a single lantern loop at the peak, and one e-port.

The e-port of the Coleman Sundome Dark Room Tent is located at the bottom of the tent, above the bathtub flooring. — *The e-port, above the bathtub floor.*

This tent also comes with Coleman’s Dark Room technology, which is one of my favorite features. With the windows and door closed it’s a lot darker inside — though not as dark as you might expect, because I keep the rainfly guyed out and the two large mesh-wall vents let a lot of light in.

Another picture of me lying down in the Dark Room Sundome Tent, this time with the door closed. — *Windows and door closed — a lot darker inside.*

The mesh wall vents by the 2 widths of the Coleman Sundome Dark Room Tent let in a lot of light. — *The mesh-wall vents still let daylight in.*

At night I switched on a 250-lumen lantern inside: light only escaped from the window, door and vents, while the blackout fabric itself let none seep out.

Here's what the Dark Room Sundome Tent looks like at night. — *At night, light seeps only from the window, door and vents.*

And with the lantern off, the inside is practically pitch black — amazing for sleeping. It’s also a lot cooler inside on a hot day: I was burning up in my other Coleman tents, but not in this one.

On the right of this picture, you can see a little streak of light coming into the tent, but other than that, it's pretty much pitch black. — *Lantern off at night — the inside is almost pitch black.*

Wondering if the tech is worth the price bump? I ran three tests in Is Coleman’s Dark Room Worth It? — and compared with the regular Coleman Sundome 6 without the dark room technology, there’s no comparison.

Ventilation

Vents 2full-length mesh-wall vents, rainfly-protected
Windows 2stay open in light rain
Mesh Regular

Two full-length mesh-wall vents run under the rainfly, so they keep air moving without letting rain in — dry through both my rain tests. In light rain I left the windows wide open with no water getting in.

The red arrow in this picture is pointing to the mesh wall vent inside the Coleman Sundome Dark Room Tent. — *A full-length mesh-wall vent, seen from inside.*

On a hot day I take the rainfly off for even more ventilation — instead of 2 vents you get 2 full mesh walls. Just know they can’t be zipped up, so it can get cold and drafty in cooler weather, and you lose some privacy.

This is what the mesh wall vent in the Coleman Sundome Tent looks like when the rainfly has been taken off. — *A full mesh wall with the rainfly removed.*

Rain Protection

Light rain No leaksstill dry 30 min after it stopped

This is the Coleman Sundome Dark Room Tent in my yard in light rain. — *The tent in light rain in my yard.*

Heavy-rain hold 35 minfirst drops at the untaped bathtub-floor seam
Seam taping Rainfly onlybody seams inverted, untaped
Vestibule Nonerainfly shades the door only

In light rain it held up really well — no leaks at all after the rain stopped 30 minutes later, with the bathtub seam, the flooring and the fabric inside all dry.

For heavy rain I ran a hose on the least-covered wall. At the 30-minute mark the untaped bathtub-floor seam felt damp; 5 minutes later the first few drops came through — so it holds about 35 min of heavy rain untreated. The fabric and flooring inside stayed completely dry.

This is a picture of me using a water hose to hose down my Coleman Sundome Dark Room Tent. — *Hosing down the tent for my heavy-rain test.*

This is the bathtub flooring seam of the Coleman Sundome Dark Room Tent, which started leaking. There's water droplets on the seam itself, as well as on the flooring. — *After 35 min, the untaped bathtub seam let a few drops in.*

One limit: the rainfly only shades the door, so there’s no vestibule — anything left outside will get wet.

Coleman Dark Room Sundome rain-test video thumbnail

See it for yourself: watch my Coleman Dark Room Sundome rain test on YouTube.

Quality

Floor Polyethylenebathtub ~7.5in

This is the bathtub flooring seam of the Coleman Sundome Dark Room Tent. Notice that the seam is inverted on the inside. — *The inverted (but untaped) bathtub-floor seam.*

Body & rainfly Polyester

This is what the rain cover looks like from the outside of the Coleman Sundome Dark Room Tent. Notice that the zipper is caught on it. — *The door’s rain cover can catch the zipper if you don’t hold it aside.*

Mesh Regularnot no-see-um
Poles Fiberglass3, green
Seam taping Rainfly onlybody seams inverted, untaped

The holes from the seams were more obvious in this Dark Room Tent (especially near my hand). — *Daylight is more visible through the stitch holes here.*

The floor is polyethylene with a ~7.5in bathtub; body and rainfly are polyester, and all of it stayed dry through 35 minutes of hard hosing. Only the rainfly seams are factory taped — the body seams are left inverted rather than taped, which is the tent’s one weak spot in prolonged rain.

The seams are pretty good quality, double-stitched and consistent, with no loose threads — though some of the stitch holes are a little larger than others, and in a dark-room tent you can actually see the light coming through them.

The mesh is regular (not no-see-um) and decent, the fiberglass poles slid through the short sleeves with no snagging, and the zippers are catch-free — the only catch is the door’s rain cover, which I just hold aside when zipping.

Portability

Packed size 26 × 12 × 9in
Weight 16.4 lbseverything, incl. stakes and guylines

Packed, the tent is 26 × 12 × 9in and 16.4 lbs with everything in the bag. The one gripe is the carry bag’s small red handle — too short to sling over a shoulder.

From left to right: Coleman Sundome 6-Person Dark Room Tent, Coleman 2-Person Sundome Tent, 32-ounce Nalgene bottle. — *Packed size beside a Coleman Sundome 2 and a 32oz Nalgene.*

This is a picture of me carrying my packed up Coleman Sundome Dark Room Tent. — *Carrying the packed-up tent.*

Pros, Cons, Recommendation

Now, what are the pros and cons, and would I recommend the Coleman Dark Room Sundome?

Blackout dark-room feature

There are a lot of pros here, but I think the biggest one is the dark room feature. It’s a lot darker at night and in the day, and a lot cooler inside — I was burning up in my other Coleman tents, but not in this one.

This is a picture of me touching the blackout fabric of the Coleman Sundome Dark Room Tent. — *Touching the blackout fabric of the tent.*

Really inexpensive

I paid barely over a hundred bucks for mine — and it’s sometimes even cheaper than the regular Sundome without the tech.

6-foot peak height

At 73in with plenty of headroom, I can stretch my arms out, walk around freely and stand up on my pads and mattresses — a lot of livable space.

Easy to set up and take down

About 11.5 min to pitch and 10 min to pack away, solo, at 5’3″ — and I didn’t even need to rip the expander strip on the bag.

Decent ventilation and rain protection

Two full-length mesh-wall vents plus 2 windows I could leave open in light rain — and both the vents and the window mesh were still dry after my 35-minute heavy-rain test.

The bathtub-floor seam isn’t taped

I wish Coleman taped it instead of just inverting it, so it would last longer than 35 min under genuinely heavy rain. A quick pass of seam sealant fixes it.

This is the seam that I found was the most vulnerable in the rain. — *The seam I found most vulnerable in the rain.*

Limited storage

For a tent that sleeps up to 6, just 2 pockets and 1 lantern loop isn’t much.

Overall recommendation

Overall the pros clearly outweigh the cons, and in my opinion the Coleman Dark Room Sundome is a great budget tent, and it’s also great for camping on hot summer days. Even though I didn’t pay much for it — barely over a hundred bucks — it’s still going strong after quite a few campouts. Just add seam sealant if prolonged heavy rain is on the forecast. If it’s a little out of your budget, an even more budget pick is the Coleman Sundome 6, the classic version without the dark room.

Bonus – MUST Read!

Before you buy, I bought and tested 14 of the best Coleman tents head to head — see exactly where the Dark Room Sundome lands in I Bought & Tested the 14 Best Coleman Tents. And if you’re weighing the blackout tech against the price, I put it through three tests in Is Coleman’s Dark Room Worth It?.