Coleman Evanston 6-Person Tent Review (Bought & Tested!)
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Rating and Summary
The Coleman Evanston 6-Person Tent‘s most prominent feature is the screen room at the front of the tent, which gives you an additional 42.3 square feet of space (yes, I measured this myself!). This can accommodate an additional 1-2 people. Or, lots of gear.
However, its biggest weakness is the fact that there’s hardly any rainfly protection for the screen room, so be prepared to buy an extra tarp if you expect to be camping in prolonged heavy rains.
This little summary barely even skims the surface of what I’ll show you in this post, so read on to find out more! (There’s also more pros and cons below, if you’re interested.)
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Check out the Coleman Evanston 6-Person Tent:
Product Details
In this section, we’ll briefly go over the following:
- Unboxing
- In the Box
- Specifications
Unboxing
I bought my Coleman Evanston 6-Person Tent from Amazon, and here’s what the outer packaging looked like:
And here’s what it looks like when you unbox it:
In the Box
Inside the package, I got the tent body, the rainfly, 14 stakes in a carry case, 4 poles in another carry case, and a foot mat.
Specifications
Dome Tent Specs
Here are the measurements for the main dome tent of the Evanston Tent, not the screen room:
- Peak height of dome tent: 68.5 inches
- Length of dome tent: 9 feet 7 inches
- Width of dome tent: 8 feet 9 inches
- Base area of dome tent: 83.6 square feet
Screen Room Specs
And here are the measurements for the screen room:
- Longest length of screen room: 9 feet 7 inches
- Shortest length of screen room: 7 feet 4 inches
- Width of screen room: 5 feet
- Base area of screen room: 42.3 square feet
- Peak height of screen room: 62 inches
More Specs
And here’s even more specs, in case you need them:
- Total base area: 125.9 square feet
- Floor material: Polyethylene
- Bathtub flooring: Yes, ~7 inches
- Tent body material: 68D Polyester
- Rainfly material: 75D Polyester Taffeta
- Poles material: Fiberglass
- Number of poles: 4
- Mesh: Regular
- Packed size: 26 by 15 by 12 inches
- Weight: 19.4 lbs
- Number of guylines: 7
- Number of stakes: 14
- Number of doors: 1+1 (dome tent + screen room)
- Hinged door: No
- Number of windows: 3
- Number of vents: 1 (mesh wall vent)
- Number of pockets: 2
- Number of lantern loops: 2
- E-port: No
- Black-out: No
I also did some testing on my own, and came up with this data:
- Set up timing (2 people): 9 minutes
- Set up timing (1 person): 17.5 minutes
- Take down timing (2 people): 6 minutes
- Take down timing (1 person): 12 minutes
- Number of single sleeping pads: 6
- Number of queen-sized mattresses: 2
Testing and Performance
I put my Coleman Evanston 6-Person Tent through these 7 tests:
- Ease of use: Set up, take down
- Spaciousness: Height, base area, mattress sizing, screen room
- Comfort and features: Door, windows, storage
- Ventilation: Hot day ventilation, rainy day ventilation
- Weather protection: Light rain test, moderate rain test, heavy rain test
- Quality: Material, mesh, seams, stitching, zippers, poles
- Portability: Weight and packed size
Set Up
Pole Set Up
The Coleman Evanston 6-Person Tent comes with 4 poles.
From left to right: The 2 black poles on the extreme left are for the main body of the tent. The next pole (second from the right) has black tips at both ends, and is for the rainfly. The last pole (extreme right) is color-coded gray, and is for the screen room.
Set Up Instructions
First, grab the 2 black fiberglass poles for the tent body, which are the longest poles, and insert them into the black-tipped green pole sleeves at the center of the tent. This will form an X-shape across the tent.
After that, prop both poles up, by inserting the ends of both poles into one of these pins at the bottom of the tent.
When you’re done propping up the black fiberglass poles, your Evanston Tent should look something like this:
Then, attach the pole clips. There are 2 pole clips on each side of each black pole (so 8 pole clips altogether to be attached for now).
Next, grab the gray pole, which is the pole for the screen room. Insert this gray pole into the pole sleeve at the front of the tent, prop the pole up, and secure each end into the pins as well.
The pole sleeve is also color-coded with gray tips. Then, attach the 2 pole clips, 1 on each side of the gray pole.
Then, I like to pull the entire tent out tight, and stake it down with 7 of the provided stakes. Coleman gives you 14 stakes in total.
Now, grab the last rainfly pole, which has these rounded black tips at both ends, and insert it into the rainfly.
To secure this rainfly pole, there’s 1 tiny pocket at each end (so 2 pockets altogether, one of the pockets is pictured above), and 2 Velcro strips.
Here’s what the rainfly pole will look like when secured into the rainfly:
Next, drape the rainfly over the tent, with the green part over the screen room, and the white part over the dome tent body.
To secure the rainfly, there are s-hooks on the rainfly to be attached to the rings at the bottom of the tent where the poles are attached.
There are also Velcro attachments under the rainfly, along each pole, to better align the rainfly and secure it in place.
After that, guy out the entire tent with the remaining 7 stakes, for the 7 guylines around the tent.
Set Up Timings
It took my bro and I about 9 minutes to set up the entire Coleman Evanston 6-Person Tent, and I set up the entire tent on my own in about 17.5 minutes, so slightly less than double the time.
Take Down
Take Down Timings
Taking down the Coleman Evanston 6-Person Tent is just the opposite of the set-up, and it took my bro and I about 6 minutes for the entire take down and pack up. On my own, it took me about 12 minutes, so about double the time.
For more details on the set up, take down and pack up, I have this video on my channel that you can watch:
Height
The peak height in this Coleman Evanston 6-Person Tent is about 68.5 inches, and I can stand upright here. (I’m 5’3″, by the way.)
I’m also able to stand upright even on thick queen mattresses.
But this Evanston is a dome-shaped tent though, so the peak height is only at the center. When I take 2 small steps around the tent, my head would touch the top of the tent.
Dome Tent Base Area
Dimensions
The length inside the dome tent itself (not including the screen room) measures about 9 feet and 7 inches, while the width measures about 8 feet and 9 inches, so slightly smaller than the marketed dimensions of 10 by 9 feet.
Mattress Sizing
But I could still easily fit 6 regular sleeping pads inside the tent, and here’s what having 6 pads looks like.
You do have to sleep shoulder to shoulder, but there’s still a small space leftover to fit a little bit of camping gear.
I think it’s a little bit of a tight fit though (with 6 pads), especially if you have to sleep at the sides of the tent, because my head touches the wall of the tent when I sit up.
I think having 4 people on 2 queen-sized camping mattresses would be a much more comfortable fit, and here’s what the Coleman Evanston 6-Person Tent looks like with these 2 mattresses.
There’s also quite a bit of leftover room for storing gear (at the head of both mattresses), which is always very nice to have.
One of my mattresses is actually slightly smaller than a Queen (80 by 56 inches), which is why it fit nicely into the tent. Otherwise, the length of the tent is actually a few inches shy of being able to fit 2 actual Queen beds.
Screen Room
The Coleman Evanston 6-Person Tent also comes with a screen room.
This screen room has a width of about 5 feet, and the longest length is about 9 feet and 7 inches, which is the same as the dome tent. It tapers off a bit at the front though, so the shortest length is only about 7 feet and 4 inches.
The peak height in this screen room is only about 62 inches, so even though I could kind of almost stand upright, my head is pushing up against the top of the mesh though.
Windows
This Coleman Evanston 6-Person Tent has 3 windows in the entire tent. There’s 1 window on each wall of the tent, and the last wall is a mesh wall.
All the windows are about the same size; the window on the left measures about 46 by 23 inches, while the double window on the right measures about 51 by 21 inches, so only very slightly bigger.
Each window comes with a window latch to hold the fabric when the window’s open, 2 white zippers, and also a bug net to stop larger bugs from getting in.
Doors
Dome Tent Door
This Coleman Evanston 6-Person Tent has 1 door on the front length of the dome tent. It measures about 47 inches in length, and 26 inches in width, so honestly not very big.
This door also measures about 52 inches from the ground to the top of the door, and I’m about 5’3″, so I had to duck when getting in and out of the tent through this door.
This door comes with a single latch by the side to tie the door fabric up to keep it open, and it also comes with 2 black zippers to zip it open and shut.
Screen Room Door
The screen room of this Evanston 6-Person Tent comes with another 1 door. It spans almost the entire length of the screen room, measuring about 7 feet and 3 inches in length, so it’s really quite big.
It’s about 55 inches in height, so a little taller than the dome tent’s door, but I still had to duck when getting into and out of the screen room.
The door of the screen room comes with 2 door latches, 1 on either side of the door, to hold the fabric when it’s open. It also comes with 3 black zippers.
If the front length of your screen room isn’t taut, I highly recommend re-staking it, so that zipping it open and shut is much easier.
Storage
Pockets
For storage, there are 2 pockets inside this Evanston 6-Person Tent, each measuring about 9 by 7 inches.
Lantern Loops
There’s also 1 loop at the top of the center of the tent, where you can hang a lantern for lighting at night.
There’s also one more loop here over one of the windows, so 2 loops in total.
Miscellaneous Features
The Coleman Evanston 6-Person Tent doesn’t come with any other features, like e-ports or a blackout feature.
Rain Test
I put my Coleman Evanston 6-Person Tent through 3 separate rain tests:
- Light rain;
- Moderate rain; and
- Heavy rain.
Light Rain Test
It rained very lightly while I was using this Evanston 6-Person Tent. It was just a passing shower, and after the rain stopped about 15 minutes later, I found that there were no leaks inside the Evanston Tent, and the tent was still dry.
I was even able to leave not just the windows open, but also the door as well.
However, the flooring of the screen room got wet, because there’s isn’t enough rainfly to cover the entire screen room.
Moderate Rain Test
I also put this Evanston 6-Person Tent through a moderate rain test lasting about 2 hours. Here’s what I found.
First, because of the screen room, I could leave the front door and the window beside it completely opened, and no water got into the tent.
Both the green and white tent fabric were still dry, and even the seam connecting the bathtub flooring to the green fabric was dry as well.
Second, on this wall here, the window mesh was still dry, even after 2 hours of moderate rain.
Also, the tent fabric was all completely dry, but I found quite a bit of leaking from the corner.
The seam connecting the bathtub flooring to the green fabric was also leaking slightly, but it’s just a few drops of water.
Third, on this wall here, the green fabric was dry, the mesh wall was also dry, but the seam of the bathtub flooring was very slightly damp.
And fourth, the screen room got completely wet, because there’s hardly any rainfly here.
Also, there’s quite a big gap at the edge of the screen room (1 at each end), which let in quite a big puddle of water. It was a little bit of a pain to clean out after, honestly.
Heavy Rain Test
I wanted to also test for heavy rain, so I used this water hose on the Evanston tent.
I noticed that water started seeping in through the seam between the green tent fabric and the bathtub flooring at around 30 minutes in. It’s just a few drops of water, but the seam is pretty much soaked. The fabric around the tent was still dry though.
If you prefer to watch a video on the Evanston Tent’s rain test, here it is:
Ventilation
I found this Evanston 6-Person Tent quite well ventilated.
Hot Day Ventilation
On a hot day without the rainfly, which is removable from the outside, the 3 windows, and especially the mesh wall is pretty big.
And of course, the screen room has even more ventilation with the rainfly off.
Rainy Day Ventilation
On a rainy day with the rainfly in place though, the mesh wall forms a vent, which looks like this.
It spans almost the entire length of the tent, which is nice. I was able to stake down the rainfly and leave this vent open in not just light rain, moderate rain, but heavy rain as well, and no water got into the tent.
I was also able to leave all my windows and door completely opened in light to moderate rain, and no water got into the tent at all.
In heavy rain though, even though the rainfly did quite a good job of protecting the window mesh from the heavy rain with these window awnings, the bottom of the mesh still got wet. The top was still fine though, so I could actually leave it slightly open.
Quality
For quality, I looked at the materials used in the construction of the Evanston tent, as well as the quality of other factors.
Flooring Material
The flooring of this Evanston 6-Person Tent is made of polyethylene, and the bathtub feature extends up to about 7 inches.
Even after 30 minutes of pouring rain, no water seeped through the flooring itself.
Tent Body Material
The rainfly is made of 75D polyester taffeta, and looks like this:
The rest of the Evanston tent is made of 68D polyester:
Both the rainfly as well as the rest of the tent body stayed completely dry after 30 minutes of pouring rain.
Seam Quality
All the seams inside the tent have not been seam taped, and only some of them are inverted, like this green tent fabric to bathtub flooring seam:
The seams protected by the screen room or rainfly were not inverted (like the window and door seams).
The only seams that were taped were the seams on the rainfly.
The seams of the Evanston Tent are generally good quality, double-stitched, and consistent, with maybe a few small exceptions of extra overlapping fabric, but these weren’t big issues to me, and didn’t really affect the usage of the tent.
Mesh Quality
The mesh is just regular mesh, not no-see-um mesh, and it’s decent quality.
Zipper Quality
The zippers are also decent quality, and all of them are catch-free. I didn’t have snagging issues on the windows, and also no snagging issues on both the tent door and also the screen room door.
Pole Quality
All the poles of this Evanston Tent are made of fiberglass and are color-coded for a pretty easy set up.
Portability
Packed Size
This Coleman Evanston 6-Person Tent has a packed size of 26 by 15 by 12 inches, and here’s what it looks like beside a Coleman 2-Person Sundome Tent and a 32-ounce Nalgene bottle for a size comparison.
Weight
It weighs about 19.4 lbs for everything, including all the stakes, guylines, poles, etc.
The red handle at the top of the carry bag is pretty short though, check it out:
Pros and Cons
Pros
For pros, I found the base area super generous in size. The dome tent has a base area of 83.6 square feet, and the screen room has a base area of 42.3 square feet, for a total base area of a whopping 125.9 square feet.
This is actually about 20 square feet bigger than my Coleman Montana 8-Person Tent, which has a base area of 103.5 square feet.
Another humongous advantage of this Evanston Tent is that it’s super affordable. Even though it’s bigger than some 8-person tents out there, I actually paid less for my Evanston Tent than I did for my Montana 8-Person Tent and my Coleman Red Canyon 8-Person Tent.
I also really liked that I had quite a bit of ventilation on not just hot days, but rainy days as well, because of these window awnings. Even in heavy rain, ventilation is not too bad.
The rain protection is also decent. Obviously not the best, but better than I expected. I still highly recommend at least sealing the bathtub flooring seam, and also the corners (after 1-2 hours of non-stop rain) if you’re expecting many hours of heavy rain.
I also liked that I was able to stand upright at the peak height.
Cons
As for cons, I think the biggest one is that there’s hardly any rainfly protection for the screen room, so even in light rain, water gets into the screen room, not to mention in heavy rain. If you want this to be protected, you’d need to buy an extra tarp or canopy or something.
Also, it was annoying to have to drain the water out of the screen room after the rain. I tried to use the mesh area as drainage, but it wasn’t very good, and I just had to sweep all the water off myself. This mesh area also traps a bit of dirt and grass when trying to pack up.
A smaller con is that the packed size of this Evanston 6-Person Tent is as big as my Montana 8-Person Tent, and here’s what they both look like together.
Recommendation
But overall, I feel that the cons are pretty insignificant actually, especially compared to the advantages that you get in terms of a humongous base area and how low the price of this tent is.
I think it’s great value for money, and I would definitely recommend this tent.
Bonus: Must Read!
How does this Coleman Evanston 6-Person Tent compare to other Coleman tents though? Well, don’t worry, because I’ve already done the comparison for you, in this blog post: I Tested the 14 Best Coleman Tents!
Or, check out how the Evanston Tent compares against another of Coleman’s screen room tents in this blog post: Coleman Evanston Tent V.S. Carlsbad Tent (I’ve Got Them Both!)
Or, check out the Coleman Evanston 6-Person Tent: