Coleman Skydome 4 Tent Review (Bought & Tested!)

I bought this tent with my own money and put it through 11 hands-on tests.

Setup 9.5 min
Peak 59in
Base area 54.2 sq ft
Weight 10.4 lbs

The author testing the Coleman Skydome 4 Tent. — *My Coleman Skydome 4, pitched in my yard.*

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Test scorecard

7.3out of 10

Ventilation9.5

Portability9

Comfort & Features7.3

Quality7.1

Ease of Use7

Rain Protection7

Spaciousness6.5

The Coleman Skydome 4 is a roomier Coleman dome with a huge door, generous storage and standout ventilation, but its short front rainfly needs seam sealant before you trust it in heavy rain.

What won me over

HUGE door
Good storage options
Good ventilation

What let me down

Requires seam sealant for heavy rain
Not a “quick-pitch” as marketed by Coleman

Check price on Amazon Check price on REI Check price on Backcountry Check price on Dick’s Check price on Coleman

Video review thumbnail for the Coleman Skydome 4

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

See the 11 tests

In the Box
Set Up & Take Down
Peak Height
Base Area
Doors
Windows
Storage
Ventilation
Rain Protection
Quality
Portability
Pros, Cons, Recommendation
Bonus: Must Read!

In the Box

I bought my Coleman Skydome 4 from Amazon. Inside I got the tent body with its 2 pre-attached poles, a blue rainfly and its pole, a gear loft, a foot mat, and a carry bag with 13 stakes.

This is what the Coleman Skydome 4-Person Tent looked like out of the box. In this picture you can see the tent body with the attached poles (gray and black), the rainfly (blue), and the gear loft at the bottom (black). — *Everything in the box: tent body with attached poles, blue rainfly, and gear loft.*

Set Up & Take Down

Set-up time (1 person) 9.5 minsame as a plain Sundome
Take-down + pack-up (1 person) 10 min
Poles 3 fiberglass2 pre-attached to the body

This is a picture of me inserting the fast-fitting foot of each pole into the pole pocket. — *Seating a pole’s fast-fitting foot into the floor pocket. Only the back is pre-attached.*

Stakes / guylines 13 / 7

This is a picture of me guying out the Coleman Skydome Tent. — *Guying out the last corners; 7 guylines in all.*

Coleman markets this as a 5-minute quick pitch. It isn’t. Two of the 3 fiberglass poles come pre-attached at the back, but only at one end. I still assemble each pole, seat its “fast-fitting feet” into the floor pockets, clip on all the pole clips, drape the rainfly, add its pole, then stake and guy out. Solo it took me 9.5 min, the exact same as the plain Sundome. Take-down and pack-up run about 10 min.

Want something genuinely fast to pitch? I compared the Skydome with two quicker Colemans:

Coleman Pop Up vs Skydome
Coleman Instant Tent vs Skydome

Coleman Skydome 4 set-up video thumbnail

Want the full step-by-step? Watch my Coleman Skydome 4 set-up walkthrough on YouTube.

Peak Height

Capacity 4-person4 single pads, 2 double pads, or 1 queen
Peak height 59in

At 59in peak I can’t stand up. I’m 5’3″ and still have to stoop, and being a dome the walls slope off fast from dead centre. The floor measures 7ft 10in by 6ft 11in (54.2 sq ft), a touch under the marketed 8 × 7ft.

This is a picture of me standing under the peak height of the Coleman Skydome 4-Person Tent. — *Stooping under the 59in peak. No standing room even at 5’3″.*

Base Area

Base area 54.2 sq ft7ft 10in × 6ft 11in, under the marketed 8 × 7ft

I fit 4 regular sleeping pads or 2 double pads inside, but it’s shoulder to shoulder with almost no gear space. One queen mattress is the comfier call and still leaves room for gear.

This is what the Coleman Skydome 4-Person Tent looks like with 2 double pads (the Exped MegaMat Duo 10 and the Klymit Uninsulated Double V). — *Two double pads fit, but you sleep shoulder to shoulder.*

This is what the Coleman Skydome 4-Person Tent looks like with 1 queen bed in it. — *1 queen bed is the roomier setup, with space left for gear.*

Need more room to store gear? See how it stacks up against Coleman’s screen-room tent in Coleman Skydome vs Carlsbad.

Doors

Doors 148 × 39in opening, no hinge

This is what the door of the Coleman Skydome Tent looks like when it's open. — *A huge 48 × 39in opening, the Skydome’s standout feature.*

The single door is the Skydome’s best feature: a huge 48 × 39in opening that makes hauling gear in and out easy, with a triangular stash pocket at the side instead of the usual tie-backs. There’s just 1 window, 47 × 21in, on that same front wall, with a bug net and a latch.

Windows

Windows 147 × 21in, on the door wall

This is what the window of the Coleman Skydome Tent looks like from the inside of the tent. — *The single 47 × 21in window, from inside.*

Storage

Pockets 2triangular 17 × 16in + a 24 × 7in split into 4

This is what the main pocket of the Coleman Skydome 4-Person Tent looks like. — *The main pocket, stitched into 4 compartments.*

Gear loft 123 × 19in, included

This is the gear loft of the Coleman Skydome Tent. — *The included gear loft clips into the roof.*

Lantern loop 1
E-port No

Storage beats the average Coleman: 2 pockets (a triangular 17 × 16in and a 24 × 7in one split into 4 compartments), a lantern loop, and an included 23 × 19in gear loft, though the loft blocks the lantern loop when it’s up. No e-port.

Ventilation

Vents 3full-length mesh wall vents, ~12in wide
Rainy-day airflow Vents stay openstake them out in the rain
Hot-day airflow Rainfly offthe whole upper tent is mesh

Ventilation is where the Skydome shines, and it earned my highest score here. Three mesh wall vents run almost the full length of the tent, about 12in wide each, so even with the window shut in rain, I can stake the vents out and air keeps moving without letting water in.

One of the mesh wall vents inside the Coleman Skydome Tent. — *One of the 3 full-length mesh wall vents, from inside.*

Pull the rainfly off on a hot day and the upper tent is basically all mesh: superb airflow, and great for stargazing (though zero privacy).

This is a picture of me lying down inside the Coleman Skydome Tent without the rainfly. — *Rainfly off on a hot day. The top is nearly all mesh.*

This is what the Coleman Skydome Tent looks like without the rainfly. — *The Skydome without its rainfly. Open mesh on every wall.*

Rain Protection

Hose test 15 minfront bathtub seam began leaking

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

Natural heavy rain 45 minpuddle at the front; other 3 sides dry
Weak spot Short front rainflydoesn’t shade the door well
Seam taping Rainfly + a few body seamsbathtub-floor seams untaped

Water flowing over the Skydome Tent. The red arrow is pointing to the vulnerable seam. — *Water pouring over the front. The red arrow marks the seam that leaks.*

Vestibule Nonethe rainfly only reaches the door

The front is the Skydome’s rain weakness. In a 15 min hose test, water ran over the short front rainfly and the untaped bathtub-floor seam started letting a few drops through; open the door afterward and roof water drips straight in.

The other 3 sides tell a different story: their rainflies hang much longer and cover most of the wall, so through 45 min of real heavy rain nothing leaked there at all. A pass of seam sealant on that front seam would fix most of it.

The other walls of the Coleman Skydome Tent. The rainfly is a lot longer. — *The other 3 walls: a much longer rainfly, and no leaks.*

Coleman Skydome 4 rain-test video thumbnail

See it for yourself: watch my Coleman Skydome 4 rain test on YouTube.

Quality

Floor Polyethylenebathtub ~6.5in
Body & rainfly Polyester
Seams Mostly inverted, untapedrainfly + a few body seams taped

A close-up shot of the bathtub flooring seam. — *The untaped bathtub-floor seam, the tent’s main quality miss.*

Mesh Regularnot no-see-um
Poles 3 Fiberglassincl. the rainfly pole

One of the fiberglass poles of the Coleman Skydome Tent. — *All 3 poles, including the rainfly pole, are fiberglass.*

I had to take the stitches out on my own to be able to use the tent! — *My unit arrived defective. I had to unpick a mis-sewn pole pocket to use it.*

The floor is polyethylene with a 6.5in bathtub that never let water through, even after 45 min of pouring rain. Body and rainfly are polyester. The catch is seam taping: the rainfly and a few body seams are taped, but most interior seams, including the bathtub-floor seam that leaks, are only inverted.

Stitching is double and clean (one loose thread), the mesh is regular (not no-see-um), and the zippers are catch-free once you hold the rainfly clear. All 3 poles are fiberglass. One real gripe: my unit shipped defective. Coleman sewed a front pole pocket shut on the wrong side, so I had to pick the stitches out and clip it closed myself before I could pitch it.

Portability

Packed size 25 × 9 × 9in
Weight 10.4 lbseverything, incl. stakes and guylines

Portability is the other standout. Packed, the Skydome 4 is just 25 × 9 × 9in and 10.4 lbs with everything in the bag, small and light enough to stow easily, as you can see next to a Sundome 2 and a 32oz Nalgene.

From left to right: Coleman Skydome 4-Person Tent, Coleman Sundome 2-Person Tent, 32-ounce Nalgene bottle. — *Packed size next to a Coleman Sundome 2 and a 32oz Nalgene.*

Here's a picture of me holding a packed-up Coleman Skydome 4-Person Tent. — *The whole tent is a light 10.4 lbs packed.*

Pros, Cons, Recommendation

Now, what are the pros and cons, and would I recommend the Coleman Skydome 4?

HUGE door

A 48 × 39in opening, a full 4 feet tall, makes loading gear and ducking in and out genuinely easy.

This is a picture of me exiting the Coleman Skydome Tent through the door. — *Stepping out through the oversized door.*

Standout ventilation

Three full-length mesh vents keep air moving even in the rain, and the rainfly comes off for near-total mesh on hot nights. It earned the tent’s highest score.

More storage than most Colemans

Two roomy pockets plus an included gear loft, better than the single pocket most Coleman tents ship with.

Short front rainfly leaks

The stubby front rainfly lets water reach the untaped bathtub seam, so it needs seam sealant before you trust it in heavy rain.

Not the “5-minute” pitch Coleman claims

It took me the same 9.5 min as a plain Sundome, and the pre-attached poles only cover the easy part of the job.

The carry bag of the Coleman Skydome Tent features a '5-minute set up' and '20% more headroom'. — *The carry bag’s “5-minute set up” claim. Not my experience.*

No standing room

At a 59in peak you’re stooping the whole time, even at 5’3″.

Overall recommendation

Honestly, after testing it back to back with the Sundome, I came away only mildly impressed. Get the Coleman Skydome 4 if you want a roomier, better-ventilated dome with a huge door. The bigger door, extra storage and better airflow are real upgrades. But it pitches no faster than a Sundome and its front seam leaks sooner in heavy rain, so if rain protection is your priority, the plain Sundome holds up longer.

Bonus: Must Read!

Before you buy, see exactly where the Skydome lands against every Coleman I’ve tested in I Bought & Tested the Best Coleman Tents.