Coleman tents · Vs review
Coleman Instant Tent V.S. Coleman Pop Up Tent (I Tested Both!)
Both 4-person, both mine, run through 10 side-by-side tests.
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The short answer
Pop Up only on a budget, in fair weather. Instant for everything else.
Same footprint, very different tents. The Pop Up is up in 1.5 minutes against 4.5 and weighs less than half as much. The Instant Tent gives you 22 more inches of headroom, a cabin shape, 4 windows against 1, twice the storage, a tub floor, 150D fabric and steel poles. Neither is a rain tent — both leaked at about 10 minutes — but the Instant can be rescued with seam sealant.
Side by side
Where they actually differ
| Measured (4-person) | Instant | Pop Up |
|---|---|---|
| My score | 7.2 / 10 | 6.9 / 10 |
| Set up (1 person) | 4.5 minutes3 min if you leave the fly on | 1.5 minutes3x quicker |
| Pack away | 5 minutes3.5 min with the fly left on | 2 minutes |
| Pre-attached poles | Yes | Yes |
| Pre-attached rainfly | NoSold separately, $30 | Yes |
| Peak height | 61 inches | 39 inches6-inch mattress max |
| Tent shape | CabinNear-vertical walls | DomeOval base |
| Base area | ~55 square feet | ~55 square feet |
| Sleeping pads | 4 | 3The oval wastes the corners |
| Queen beds | 1 | 1 |
| Windows | 4All zip from inside | 1Part of the door; excludes ceiling mesh |
| Pockets / lantern loops | 2 / 1 | 1 / 0 |
| Heavy rain test | About 10 minutes | About 10 minutes |
| Tub floor | 4 inches | None |
| Tent body | 150D polyester taffetaSteel poles | 68D polyesterFiberglass poles |
| Weight | 20 lbsIncluding fly and stakes | 8.2 lbs |
| Packed size | 40 x 11 x 8 inchesEasier to store | 36 by 36 by 3 inchesA 3-foot disc |
| What I paid | Over $100Plus $30 for the fly | Under $10020–30% cheaper |
✓ = the better result, from my own testing of both tents. Neither is a wet-weather tent: both let water in at around 10 minutes under my hose.
Which applies to you?
Get this one if…
Get the Instant 4 if…
- You want headroom and shape — 61 inches and cabin walls.
- You want 4 windows you can open from inside, not 1.
- You want the materials: 150D fabric, steel poles, a 4-inch tub floor.
- You'll seam-seal it — that's what makes it usable in rain.
Get the Pop Up 4 if…
- You want it up in 1.5 minutes and away in 2.
- You're on a budget — it's 20 to 30% cheaper.
- You're backyard camping in fair weather.
- You want the light one: 8.2 lbs against 20.
Set Up
| Measured (4-person) | Instant | Pop Up |
|---|---|---|
| Set up (1 person) | 4.5 minutes3 minutes with the fly left on | 1.5 minutes |
| How the poles work | Pull the elbow joints up, then extend the wall poles | Pop open under their own tension |
| Rainfly | Drape, clip 4 tips, tighten, Velcro to the poles | Pre-attached |
Three times as long, for two reasons: the poles and the rainfly. The Pop Up's poles are under tension, so pulling the strap off is all it takes. The Instant's you prop up by the elbow joints and then extend telescopically.
Then there's the fly, which the Pop Up has pre-attached and the Instant doesn't. Tip: leave the rainfly on when you pack the Instant away — next pitch drops to 3 minutes instead of 4.5.
Take Down
| Measured (4-person) | Instant | Pop Up |
|---|---|---|
| Pack away | 5 minutes3.5 minutes with the fly left on | 2 minutes |
| The fiddly bit | Silver lock buttons, then squeeze the air out | Gripping it so it doesn't pop open again |
The Pop Up folds to a taco, then the taco folds, then the poles push together and it drops into a perfect circle that fits the bag with no fumbling. The Instant needs the fly off and folded, the silver lock buttons pressed, all the poles pushed down, the elbows in, and the air squeezed out.
Peak Height
| Measured (4-person) | Instant | Pop Up |
|---|---|---|
| Peak height | 61 inchesMy head presses the roof at 5'3" | 39 inches |
| Thickest mattress I'd use | Thick air mattresses are fine | 6 inches |
Twenty-two inches apart. I'm 5'3" and my head presses the Instant's roof if I stand fully upright — but it's tall enough that a thick air mattress doesn't eat the space. In the Pop Up my head touched the ceiling mesh sitting up on a 6-inch bed.
Livable Space & Base Area
| Measured (4-person) | Instant | Pop Up |
|---|---|---|
| Tent shape | Cabin — near-vertical walls | Dome — oval base |
| Base area | ~55 square feet | ~55 square feet |
| Sleeping pads | 4No room spare | 3Some room spare |
| Queen beds | 1Room spare | 1Room spare |
The same 55 square feet behaves very differently. The Instant's near-vertical walls mean I can stretch my arms out and it takes four pads. The Pop Up's oval base wastes its corners, so three is the most I could fit. Both take a queen bed with room to spare.
Windows
| Measured (4-person) | Instant | Pop Up |
|---|---|---|
| Windows | 4Big on each side wall, 2 small at the front | 1Part of the door |
| Ceiling mesh | Yes | Yes |
| Openable from inside | YesAll of them zip | NoFly must come off from outside |
Four windows against one, and the Instant's all zip open and shut from inside. On the Pop Up, getting air through the ceiling mesh means unhooking the rainfly from outside, and opening the window means unzipping the window, unzipping the door, tying the door fabric up and zipping the window again. It's annoying.
Storage
| Measured (4-person) | Instant | Pop Up |
|---|---|---|
| Pockets | 2 | 1Split into 2 |
| Lantern loops | 1 | 0I hung mine off a latch |
Two pockets and a lantern loop against one pocket and nothing to hang a light from.
Heavy Rain Test
| Measured (4-person) | Instant | Pop Up |
|---|---|---|
| Time to first leak | About 10 minutes | About 10 minutes |
| Rainfly coverage | Top only, about 10 inches down | Ceiling mesh only |
| After 15 minutes | Leaking at the floor seam and the pocket | Soaked throughTested on my Pop Up 2 |
| Tub floor | 4 inches | None |
A tie, and not a flattering one. Both let water in at about 10 minutes. The Instant's fly covers only the top and extends at most 10 inches down, so by 15 minutes it was leaking through the inverted, un-taped bathtub floor seam and through the pocket, with the black lower fabric damp and even the fly slightly damp.
The Pop Up's fly is smaller still — it covers the ceiling mesh and nothing else. When I ran the same test on my 2-person Pop Up it was completely soaked: door pouring water, taped floor seam leaking, all the fabric wet, and the underside of the fly dripping down through the ceiling mesh.
Rainy Day Ventilation
| Measured (4-person) | Instant | Pop Up |
|---|---|---|
| Vents | 0 | 0 |
| Usable windows in rain | 0All get soaked | 0All get soaked |
Neither has any. Every window on both tents has to be shut once it's raining, and neither has a vent to fall back on.
Materials
| Measured (4-person) | Instant | Pop Up |
|---|---|---|
| Tent body | 150D polyester taffetaColeman's double-thick fabric | 68D polyester |
| Flooring | Polyethylene | 68D polyester |
| Poles | Alloy steelSignificantly thicker | Fiberglass |
Not close. The Instant runs roughly twice the fabric denier, a polyethylene floor instead of polyester, and noticeably thicker steel poles.
Weight & Packed Size
| Measured (4-person) | Instant | Pop Up |
|---|---|---|
| Weight | 20 lbsIncluding fly and stakes | 8.2 lbs |
| Packed size | 40 x 11 x 8 inchesLong, but easy to store | 36 by 36 by 3 inchesA 3-foot disc |
The Instant is two and a half times the weight. They're about equally bulky, but the Instant's long bag slides in somewhere; the Pop Up's three-foot circle is genuinely awkward to store.
My recommendation
If all you want is a tent that goes up easily, the Pop Up is by far the easiest Coleman tent to pitch and pack. Just know the pack-up takes practice — my first time took more than five tries, and if you don't grip it well it pops open again. It also has a much lower peak, fewer storage options, less ventilation, narrow fiberglass poles, and does worse in heavy rain. I'd only recommend it if you're on a budget and backyard camping in fair weather.
The Instant Tent shares the rain problem, but it can be salvaged with seam sealant and waterproofing spray. Past that it has the decent peak height and base area, the cabin shape, the better ventilation, the much thicker steel poles and the double-thick fabric.
One more thing: Pop Ups only come in 2- and 4-person, while the Instant range goes up to 10. For hot summer days I'd take the 10-Person Instant Cabin over either — windows on every wall, ceiling mesh, blackout fabric, I can stand up everywhere in it, and the rainfly is included. Full reviews: the Instant 4 and the Pop Up 4.
Bonus: To see how the Pop Up and Instant compare against more than 10 other Coleman tents, read the post where I bought and tested the 14 best Coleman tents.
Every figure on this page comes from my own measurements of the tents I bought and tested.
