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See the 11 tests

1. In the Box
2. Set Up & Take Down
3. Peak Height
4. Base Area
5. Doors
6. Windows
7. Storage
8. Ventilation
9. Rain Protection
10. Quality
11. Portability
12. Pros, Cons, Recommendation
13. Bonus: Must Read!

In the Box

I bought my Coleman Sundome 6. Inside the package I got the tent body, the rainfly, a foot mat, 3 poles in a carry case, 14 stakes in another case, and the carry bag.

Set Up & Take Down

• Set-up time (1 person) 11.5 min
• Take-down + pack-up (1 person) 10 min
• Poles 3 fiberglass

• Stakes / guylines 14 / 6

The Sundome pitches with 2 fiberglass poles crossed in an X for the body, plus a third pole down the rainfly. You clip the body on, drape and stake the rainfly, then guy it out.

I did the whole thing on my own, and I’m only 5’3″. Take-down is just the reverse, and I didn’t even need to rip the expander strip on the bag to fit it back in.

If those timings sound slow, here’s how the Sundome stacks up against Coleman’s quicker-pitching tents:

• Coleman Pop Up vs Sundome
• Coleman Sundome vs Instant
• Coleman Sundome vs Skydome

Peak Height

• Capacity 6-personcomfortable for a family of 3-4
• Peak height 74.5in

At 74.5in peak I can stand fully upright with headroom to spare, even standing on a thick air mattress.

It’s a dome, though, so the peak is only dead centre. Two steps back and my head brushes the roof.

Base Area

• Base area 92.6 sq ft9ft 8in × 9ft 7in, shy of the marketed 10 × 10ft

The measured floor is 9ft 8in by 9ft 7in (92.6 sq ft), a few inches shy of the marketed 10 × 10ft. Even so, I fit 6 regular sleeping pads inside, shoulder to shoulder, with a little gear space by the door.

I’d rather run 2 queen-sized mattresses for 4 people. They’re a snug fit lengthwise. One of mine is 4in narrower than a true queen, which is what made it work. But there’s still gear room at the foot of each bed.

Thinking of a smaller Sundome? The biggest differences are peak height and floor area. I break them all down in Sundome 6 vs 4 vs 2.

Doors

• Doors 1no hinge

The single door is 54 × 42in and 56in tall, short enough that I have to duck through it at 5’3″.

Windows

• Windows 2back 42 × 25in, front 41 × 26in

The 2 windows sit one on each length, each with a bug net and a latch to hold it open.

Storage

• Pockets 29 × 7in each

• Lantern loop 1

• E-port 1

Storage is a little basic: 2 interior pockets (9 × 7in each), a single lantern loop at the peak, and one e-port with a zippered closure.

Ventilation

• Vents 32 mesh-wall vents + 1 ground vent
• Mesh-wall vent width ~14in
• Ground vent 35 × 9infactory taped

With the rainfly on, the two mesh walls turn into full-width vents, well protected so no rain gets in. I can also crack the windows and the small ground vent.

On a hot day I take the rainfly right off and the two mesh walls open the tent up completely. Just know they can’t be zipped shut, so you lose some privacy.

Rain Protection

• Rain hold 30-35 minheavy hose on the least-covered wall
• Seam taping Ground vent + rainfly only
• Vestibule Nonerainfly shades the door only

It didn’t properly rain while I had the tent out, so I ran a hose test, concentrating heavy water on the two walls nearest me.

The back wall (less rainfly coverage) held up for about 30-35 minutes before the first drops came through the untaped bathtub-floor seam in the corner.

The side wall (more rainfly coverage) stayed bone dry, mesh and seam, even after 35 minutes. More rainfly over a wall means less water reaching the seams, and less leaking.

One limit: the rainfly only shades the door, nothing more. There’s no vestibule, so footwear left outside will get wet in the rain.

Quality

• Floor Polyethylenebathtub floor, ~8in high

• Body & rainfly Polyester68D to 75D
• Mesh Regularnot no-see-um
• Blackout No

The floor is polyethylene with a ~8in bathtub; body and rainfly are polyester (68D to 75D), like my other Coleman tents. All of it stayed dry through 35 minutes of hard hosing.

Only the ground vent and rainfly are factory taped; the rest of the seams aren’t. The ones with less rainfly cover (like the bathtub-floor seam) are at least inverted to shed water.

Stitching is double-stitched and consistent. I found just one loose thread and a bit of stray mesh, both easy fixes. The mesh is regular (not no-see-um), the zippers are catch-free and colour-coded (black doors, white windows), and the fiberglass poles slid through the short sleeves with no snagging.

Portability

• Packed size 27 × 12 × 9.5in
• Weight 16.0 lbseverything, including stakes, guylines and foot mat

Packed, the Sundome is 27 × 12 × 9.5in and weighs 16.0 lbs with everything in the bag.

Pros, Cons, Recommendation

Now, what are the pros and cons, and would I recommend the Coleman Sundome 6?

Easy to set up and take down

About 11.5 minutes to pitch and 10 minutes to pack away, solo, at 5’3″. The short pole sleeves and body clips make it genuinely simple.

6-foot peak height

A real 74.5in at the centre means I can stand, stretch and move around: a lot of livable space for a dome tent.

Really inexpensive

I paid barely over a hundred bucks for mine, which is hard to beat for a 6-person tent that performs this well. That price made it my Best Budget Pick of the 6-person tents I bought and tested.

Decent ventilation and rain protection

Two full mesh-wall vents, crackable windows and a ground vent, plus a rainfly that kept the well-covered wall dry through 35 minutes of hose.

The bathtub-floor seam isn’t taped

I wish Coleman taped it instead of just inverting it, so it would last longer than 30-35 minutes under genuinely heavy rain. A quick pass with seam sealant fixes it.

Only 2 pockets and 1 lantern loop

For a tent that sleeps up to 6, the storage is lacking.

Bonus: Must Read!

Every figure above is from my own testing. Measured by hand, bought with my own money.