Coleman Elite Sundome Tent V.S. Regular Sundome Tent (13 Differences!)
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I have both the Coleman Elite Sundome 6-Person Tent, and the regular Sundome 6-Person Tent, and in this blog post, I’ll go through all the differences between these tents.
Coleman’s Elite Sundome Tent is incredibly feature-rich, complete with not just a bigger base area, but also a room divider, 2 doors, 1 of which is hinged, auto-rolling windows, and pre-attached lighting, but I found the regular Sundome Tent to be much more budget-friendly.
| Characteristics | Sundome Tent (6P) | Elite Sundome Tent (6P) |
|---|---|---|
| Set Up Timing | 11.5 minutes | 16 minutes |
| Take Down Timing | 10 minutes | 12 minutes |
| Length | 9 feet 8 inches | 11 feet 7 inches |
| Width | 9 feet 7 inches | 9 feet 6 inches |
| Base Area | 92.6 square feet | 110.0 square feet |
| Room Divider | No | Yes |
| Doors | 1 | 2 |
| Hinged Door | No | Yes |
| Windows | 2 | 2 |
| Auto-Rolling Feature | No | Yes |
| Lighting | No | Yes |
| Vents | 3 | 2 |
| Weight | 16.0 lbs | 21.4 lbs |
| Packed Size | 27 x 12 x 9.5 inches | 30 x 13.5 x 10 inches |
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Check out the Coleman Elite and Regular Sundome Tents:
Set Up
For the set-up timing, the Elite Sundome takes 16 minutes for the full set up, including staking and guying out the entire tent, while the regular Sundome takes just 11 and a half minutes.
That’s because the Elite Sundome comes with 2 extra poles to hold the rainfly away from the tent body, 1 pole at the front of the tent, and another pole at the back.
There are also 2 extra poles for setting up the hinged door, so all this took a few more minutes.
Take Down
For the take down and pack up timing, the Elite Sundome takes 12 minutes, while the regular Sundome takes just 10 minutes.
Carry Bag
The carry bag of the Elite Sundome Tent is made of a thicker, higher quality material than regular Coleman carry bags, and can be expanded by unzipping the bottom, so it didn’t take too long to pack everything up.
Length
The length of the regular Sundome is about 9 feet and 8 inches, while the length of the Elite Sundome is about 11 feet and 7 inches, or about 2 feet longer.
The width of both tents is about the same.
Base Area
So, for the base area, the Elite Sundome has 110.0 square feet of space, while the regular Sundome has just 92.6 square feet, which is about 17.4 square feet smaller.
In fact, the Elite Sundome’s base area is so big that I could fit not 6, but 7 regular sleeping pads inside the tent, and here’s what it looks like:
And there’s even room leftover for gear, which is amazing.
Room Divider
The Elite Sundome tent also comes with 1 room divider, while the regular Sundome doesn’t have one.
The room divider is to be put up in the middle of the tent, and each side of the divider can fit either 3 pads, or 1 queen bed, like this.
Doors
The regular Sundome tent has just 1 door, while the Elite Sundome Tent comes with 2 doors for lots of cross ventilation.
On top of that, one of the doors in the Elite Sundome Tent is hinged, which is super user-friendly for easy access into and out of the tent.
Auto-Rolling Windows
Both Sundome tents come with 2 windows each, 1 on each width of the tent.
But, the windows in the Elite Sundome have this auto-rolling feature, which rolls your window fabric up as you unzip the entire window.
To install this feature, you’ll get these black strips that you need to slide into this window sleeve.
Pre-Attached Lighting
The Elite Sundome also has pre-attached lighting, and comes with this lantern, a power pack, and also a light switch near the hinged door to control the lighting.
Ground Vent
The Regular Sundome Tent has this small ground vent at the back of the tent, but the Elite Sundome doesn’t have this.
It’s not very big though, and I don’t think it does as much for ventilation as these huge mesh wall vents, and each of these Sundome tents have 2 mesh wall vents.
Weight
The regular Sundome tent weighs 16.0 lbs for everything, while the Elite Sundome weighs 21.4 lbs. That’s a whopping 5.4 lbs heavier because of all the extra features.
Packed Size
And of course, the packed size of the Elite tent comes in at about 25% bigger than the regular Sundome.
The Elite Sundome 6 has packed dimensions of 30 x 13.5 x 10 inches, while the regular Sundome 6 has packed dimensions of 27 x 12 x 9.5 inches.
Pricing and Recommendation
As for the pricing, I paid only about $100 bucks for the regular Sundome 6, while I paid more than double the price for the Elite Sundome 6.
Is it worth it though? Well, I quite liked all the features of the Elite Sundome, especially the bigger base area, the 2 doors, and the auto-rolling windows. But I did feel that the Elite is overall, a little bit pricey.
My recommendation would be to check out the prices of the Elite Sundome against the regular Sundome. If it’s not too much more expensive, and you like these extra features, I think the Elite Sundome would be worth it.
Bonus: Must Read!
But wait, before you buy anything, I compared these Sundome tents against more than 10 other Coleman tents, so I highly recommend that read this blog post: I Tested the 14 Best Coleman Tents!
Or, check out the Coleman Elite and Regular Sundome Tents:
