Coleman Pop Up Tent VS. Sundome Tent (I Tested Both Tents!)
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I have both the Coleman 2-Person Sundome Tent and the 2-Person Pop Up Tent, and in this blog post, I’ll go through all the differences between these 2 tents.
While the Coleman Pop Up Tent sets up and packs up much more quickly, the Coleman Sundome Tent is a much more well-rounded tent; the Sundome is more spacious, fits an entire queen bed, has enough storage options, is less bulky, and can withstand more heavy rain.
| Characteristics | Pop Up Tent (2P) | Sundome Tent (2P) |
|---|---|---|
| Set Up Timing | 1.5 minutes | 5.5 minutes |
| Pack Up Timing | 1.75 minutes | 5 minutes |
| Peak Height | 32.5 inches | 48.5 inches |
| Base Area | 34.1 square feet | 32.1 square feet |
| Number of Pockets | 1 pocket | 2 pockets |
| Number of Loops | No loops | 1 lantern loop |
| Number of e-ports | No e-ports | 1 e-port |
| Heavy Rain Test | ~10 minutes | 35 minutes |
| Bathtub Flooring | No tub floor | Tub floor of 7.5 inches |
| Weight | 6.6 lbs | 6.4 lbs |
| Packed Size | 29 x 29 x 2.5 inches | 24 x 9 x 6 inches |
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Check out the Pop Up and Sundome Tents:
Set Up
Coleman Pop Up Tent
To set up the Coleman 2-Person Pop Up Tent, all you have to do is just take the tent out of the carry bag, remove the black strap, and toss the tent away from you while it pops up with the rainfly pre-attached. This takes just 15 seconds.
Guying out and staking down the tent takes another 1 minute and 15 seconds, for a total set up timing of just 1.5 minutes.
Coleman Sundome Tent
The Sundome Tent, on the other hand, has more of a conventional set-up, where you’d first have to insert the poles through the pole sleeves, prop the poles up, and secure the poles into the pins at the bottom of the tent, like so:
After that, you’ve still got to attach the pole clips, drape the rainfly, secure the rainfly, stake the tent down, and then guy it out. Altogether, it takes me about 5.5 minutes.
Pack Up
Coleman Pop Up Tent
The Coleman Pop Up Tent also packs up really quickly, by folding the tent until it looks like a taco, and then folding the taco down. I’m able to pack it up in less than 2 minutes. Actually, it’s 1 minute and 45 seconds, not to be specific or anything.
Coleman Sundome Tent
As for the Sundome Tent, I first have to take down the entire tent, then I fold the tent body, fold the rainfly, put the poles and stakes back, before stuffing everything back into the carry bag. This takes about 5 minutes or so.
Peak Height
Coleman Pop Up Tent
The peak height in the 2-Person Pop Up Tent is just 32.5 inches, and I wouldn’t recommend using a mattress thicker than 4 inches inside this tent.
Coleman Sundome Tent
On the other hand, the Sundome Tent has a much higher peak height of 48.5 inches, and I could fit up to a 9-inch-thick mattress inside the tent without feeling too squished.
Base Area
Coleman Sundome Tent
The base area of both tents is about the same, coming in at slightly over 30 square feet, but only the 2-Person Sundome Tent could fit an entire Queen bed.
Coleman Pop Up Tent
Because the Pop Up Tent has an oval base, when I inflated my Exped MegaMat Duo 10 inside this tent, which is the size of 2 regular pads put together (74 by 43 inches), the corners of the pad were already touching the side of the tent.
So, when I tried to inflate a Full-sized mattress (73 x 53 inches) inside the tent, one side of the mattress couldn’t be inflated.
Storage
Coleman Sundome Tent
My 2-Person Sundome Tent came with 2 pockets inside the tent, 1 lantern loop at the top, and 1 e-port at the bottom of the tent.
Coleman Pop Up Tent
In contrast, the 2-Person Pop Up Tent has only 1 pocket inside the tent, which has been split into 2, and there is no lantern loop and no e-port.
Heavy Rain Test
Coleman Pop Up Tent
When I put my Coleman Pop Up Tent through just 15 minutes of heavy rain, because the rainfly is just so small, the entire tent was completely soaked through. Not only did the door leak tons of water into the tent, the taped seam between the flooring and the tent body was also leaking, all the fabric in the tent had been soaked through, and even the underside of the rainfly was wet.
Coleman Sundome Tent
As for the Sundome Tent, the length of the rainfly is much longer and provided much more rain protection. The first drop of water only started seeping in through the un-taped flooring seam after 35 minutes in.
If you use a little seam sealant for this seam, the Sundome should be able to last at least a couple of hours under heavy rain, if not more.
Tub Floors
Also, the Sundome Tent has a bathtub flooring extending up about 7.5 inches, while the Coleman Pop Up Tent doesn’t have any bathtub feature.
Rainy Day Ventilation
Coleman Sundome Tent
For rainy day ventilation, the Sundome Tent has 2 large vents on 2 walls of the tent, plus a small ground vent.
Coleman Pop Up Tent
The pop-up tent, however, has no vents at all and thus no ventilation on rainy days.
Hot Day Ventilation
Coleman Sundome Tent
On a hot day, with the rainfly taken off, the Sundome Tent has 2 huge mesh walls, a window, and also a door for ventilation.
Coleman Pop Up Tent
The Pop Up Tent, however, has only some ceiling mesh, plus a door, so slightly less ventilation.
Portability
The 2-Person Sundome and 2-Person Pop Up Tents have about the same weight, coming in at 6.4 and 6.6 pounds respectively, but the Pop Up Tent has a much larger packed size. It’s actually almost twice as big, and here’s what it looks like beside the Sundome tent, plus a 32-ounce Nalgene bottle.
Recommendation
Overall, I love how easily the Coleman Pop Up Tent springs open, and also how easily it packs back into the carry bag without any huffing and puffing. No other Coleman tent sets up and packs up this easily, and this tent is perfect for backyard camping in fair weather.
I highly recommend the 4-Person Pop Up Tent instead though, because the 2-Person is rather small. In fact, when I was trying to use a full-sized mattress inside the 2-Person Pop Up Tent, not only could I not inflate the mattress fully, it also ate up so much of my livable space. And this is only an 8-inch mattress.
The 4-Person Pop Up Tent gives me much more versatility.
I can not only fit a queen bed inside the tent, I’ve also got 6 inches more headroom, so I can squeeze in slightly thicker mattresses. Click here to read my full review on the differences between the 2-Person and 4-Person Coleman Pop Up Tents.
However, just bear in mind that the Pop Up Tent isn’t the most rugged, most weather-resistant Coleman tent on the market. It doesn’t do well in rain, ventilation inside the tent isn’t the best, and it’s pretty bulky too.
If you’re expecting your tent to hold up over a longer period of time, or you’re expecting many rainy days, you’re better off with the Sundome Tent instead. It takes just 5 minutes to set up and pack up, ventilation is pretty good, and it can do well in heavy rain if you add a little seam sealant.
Bonus: Must Read!
But before you buy anything, I highly recommend that you read this blog post where I compare not just the Sundome Tent, but also the Pop Up Tent, against more than 10 other Coleman tents.
Or, check out the 2 Coleman tents:
