Instant Tent Vs Regular Tent (9 Differences with REAL Pictures!)
There are quite a few differences between an instant tent vs a regular tent, with instant tents winning in certain categories, and regular tents winning in the rest. Here’s a quick summary of everything:
Key Takeaways
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RELATED: Best Instant Tents
What are Instant Tents?
Instant tents are tents that set up much more quickly than a regular tent. Here are the usual features of most instant tents that make them easier to set up:
Extendable pre-attached poles (so, no pole sleeves)
Elbow joints and top hubs connecting all the poles together
Pre-attached pole clips holding the tent body up
They also typically come in a cabin shape, and not a dome-shape.
If you need to know all the nitty-gritty details of what an instant tent is, you can check out this other related blog post:
RELATED: What is an Instant Tent?
1. Ease of Set Up
So, one of the most obvious differences between an instant tent vs regular tent is the ease of setup, or how quickly your tent sets up.
How to Set Up an Instant Tent
First, here’s a quick summary on how to set up an instant tent.
Step 1 – Unfold the tent flat on the ground. It doesn’t have to be completely flat on the ground, do not force any of the poles into place.
Step 2 – Pull 1 of the 4 elbow joints up first.
Step 3 – Once you’ve lifted the elbow joint, extend each pole into place, until the locking button of each pole pops out.
Go ahead and do this for all the 4 poles around the tent. Lift the elbow joint, then extend each pole.
Step 4 – Once all four poles have been fully extended, secure the rainfly over the tent, along with any rainfly poles that may come with the tent.
And finally, stake down the entire tent and also attach all the guy lines.
Instant Tent Setup Time
Now, how long exactly does an instant tent take to set up?
Well, that depends on the capacity of your instant tent. The larger the capacity, the longer it’ll take to set up. I’ll give you examples of instant tents in different sizes and their setup timings here:
| Instant Tent | Setup Timing |
|---|---|
| Coleman Instant 4 | 4.5 minutes |
| Gazelle T4 Hub Tent | 5 minutes |
| Ozark Instant 6 | 6.5 minutes |
| Caddis Rapid 6 | 9.5 minutes |
| Core Instant 9 | 12 minutes |
| Outdoor Products 10 | 12 minutes |
A 4-person instant tent would take only about 4-5 minutes to set up, while a 9 to 10-person instant tent would take about 12 minutes.
Regular Tent Setup Time
How do the instant tent setup timings compare to a conventional tent?
Well, here are some regular cabin tents that I’ve set up on my own as well. These non-instant, cabin-shaped tents should give us the best comparison of an instant tent vs regular tent setup time.
| Non-Instant Tent | Setup Timing |
|---|---|
| REI Skyward 4 | 10 minutes |
| Eureka LX 6 | 14 minutes |
| Core Cabin 10 | 22 minutes |
Notice how a 4-person tent takes 10 minutes to set up instead, while a 10-person tent would take 22 minutes instead?
Essentially, instant tents would give you about 40-50% of setup time savings.
2. Ease of Pack Away
Now, do instant tents have the same time savings when it comes to packing them away? Well, let’s find out.
Regular Tent Pack Away
Using the same non-instant, cabin-shaped tents above, here are all their pack away timings:
| Non-Instant Tent | Pack Away Timing |
|---|---|
| REI Skyward 4 | 10 minutes |
| Eureka LX 6 | 12 minutes |
| Core Cabin 10 | 14 minutes |
Instant Tent Pack Away
Packing away an instant tent is just the opposite of setting it up. Instead of extending the poles, you’ve got to unlock them and retract them instead.
After that, you’ve got to fold the poles and the tent body together to get them back into the carry bag.
Now, here are the pack away timings for each of my different-sized instant tents:
| Instant Tent | Pack Away Timing |
|---|---|
| Coleman Instant 4 | 5 minutes |
| Gazelle T4 Hub Tent | 6 minutes |
| Ozark Instant 6 | 6.5 minutes |
| Caddis Rapid 6 | 7.5 minutes |
| Core Instant 9 | 9 minutes |
| Outdoor Products 10 | 10.5 minutes |
| Coleman Instant 10 | 11 minutes |
And here’s the bottom line – I found that my instant tents were able to give me about 25-50% of pack away time savings.
3. Ease of Cleaning
As for the ease of cleaning, this was one thing that really bugged me when it came to instant tents.
How to Clean an Instant Tent
I’ve noticed that many of my instant tents cannot be folded flat on the ground.
After I took the tent down, and folded all the poles together, I had to I had to deal with a gigantic mess of tent fabric and poles all stuck together, which made cleaning up the tent a little bit more of a pain.
Here are all the instant tents I had that couldn’t fold flat on the ground:
Coleman Instant Cabin 4
Coleman Instant Cabin 10
Core Equipment Instant Cabin 9
Outdoor Products Instant Cabin 10
So, for these tents, I just used a water hose to hose off as much dirt as possible.
Some of my instant tents were designed in such a way that I could fold them flat on the ground, and this made wiping off the dirt and drying it up much easier. (I couldn’t wipe down the tents that couldn’t fold flat)
These easier to clean tents are:
Gazelle T4 Hub Tent (this has a removable floor, unlike all the other instant tents)
Caddis Rapid 6
Ozark Instant Cabin 6
How to Clean a Regular Tent
On the other hand, for all conventional tents or regular tents, you can remove all the poles, and separate the poles from the tent body.
This makes the tent body easy to fold up and clean, because it lies flat on the ground. I’ve never had a cleaning issue with my regular tents before.
4. Peak Height
There’s also a slight difference when it comes to the peak height inside an instant cabin tent.
Instant Cabin Tent
Because of the instant tent mechanism (pre-attached poles connected together with elbow joints and hubs) of instant tents, I’ve noticed that they tend to have slightly shorter peak heights than non-instant cabin-shaped tents.
Here are the peak heights of the instant tents that I have:
| Instant Tent | Peak Height |
|---|---|
| Gazelle T4 Hub Tent | 77.5 inches |
| Outdoor Products 10 | 77.5 inches |
| Caddis Rapid 6 | 77 inches |
| Core Instant 9 | 75.5 inches |
| Coleman Instant 10 | 73.5 inches |
| Ozark Instant 6 | 65.5 inches |
| Coleman Instant 4 | 61 inches |
Here are the trends that I noticed from the table above:
4-person instant cabin tents have peak heights between 61 to 77.5 inches.
6-person instant cabin tents have peak heights between 65.5 to 77 inches.
10-person cabin tents have peak heights between 73.5 to 77.5 inches.
Essentially, instant cabin tents tend to have a peak height capped at about 77-78 inches, no higher than that.
Regular Cabin Tent
On the other hand, let’s take a look at some non-instant cabin tents that I have in different sizes too:
| Non-Instant Cabin | Peak Height |
|---|---|
| Core Cabin 10 | 90 inches |
| Eureka LX 6 | 84 inches |
| REI Wonderland 6 | 81 inches |
| REI Skyward 4 | 78 inches |
Only the smallest 4-person regular cabin tents tend to have 78 inches in peak height (the same as the instant cabin tents).
The larger 6 to 10-person cabin tents can have peak heights as high as 84 to 90 inches. This is 10-15% taller than instant tents of the same capacity.
Regular Dome Tent
What about non-instant dome tents though? Well, I’ve also noticed that dome tents tend not to have as high a peak height as cabin tents.
They’re about the same as instant cabin tents, and here’s a list of dome-style tents in different sizes that you can check out:
| Dome Tent | Peak Height |
|---|---|
| Coleman WeatherMaster 10 | 80.5 inches |
| The North Face Wawona 6 | 77 inches |
| Coleman Sundome 6 | 74.5 inches |
| Coleman Montana 8 | 74 inches |
5. Rain Protection
Another huge difference between an instant tent vs regular tent is their rain protection. Let me explain why.
Instant Tents in Heavy Rain
I put each of my instant tents through a 1-hour heavy rain test, and none of them were able to stay dry. (Yep, none of them. I swear I’m not exaggerating.)
And that’s because all of these instant cabin tents have really short rainflies. (This is typical of all cabin-type tents, and not just instant cabin tents. Most non-instant cabin tents also have really short rainflies.)
This poses a problem for these cabin tents in 2 main ways:
Seams not covered by rainfly
Rainfly barely covers top mesh panels
First, if there are any seams that are not covered by the rainfly, even if they are taped, that’s still a potential problem for leaking in the rain.
And second, all cabin tents (instant or non-instant) have ceiling mesh panels at the top of the tent. These roof mesh panels are really great for stargazing at night or for loads of ventilation on hot days.
However, because the rainfly of these cabin tents are so short, the rainfly doesn’t overlap the top mesh panels by more than a few inches.
So, if the rain is heavy enough, and the wind is blowing at the right angle, the rain will blow under the rainfly and into the tent through these mesh panels.
Regular Tents in Heavy Rain
On the other hand, regular dome tents have much longer rainflies. Some are partial coverage, while some are full coverage and extend almost all the way to the ground.
This covers not just the seams in the tent, but also any mesh panels that may be inside the tent.
6. Wind Protection
Just a word of caution here from me to you:
When it comes to wind, if you need strong wind protection, instant tents should not be your first pick.
Instant Tents in Strong Winds
Instant tents tend not to be good in strong winds for two main reasons:
Their elbow joints; and
Their vertical walls.
Let me explain.
Instant cabin tents have 2 different types of pre-attached poles – they have leg poles and roof poles. To connect these leg poles and roof poles while still making them pre-attached, elbow joints are used in between both these poles.
These elbow joints are meant to bend easily, which is what makes for the easy setup and easy pack away, but that also means that they will bend and buckle more easily in the wind.
This makes for the weakest point in any instant tent, especially in very strong wind.
On top of that, instant tents tend to be cabin-shaped, with relatively vertical side walls. These side walls have a huge profile that catches a lot of wind, making these tents particularly susceptible to wind.
Essentially, instant tents aren’t great for weather protection and bad weather conditions.
Regular Tents in Strong Winds
Even regular, non-instant, cabin tents without the instant tent mechanism also have large side walls that catch wind and blow away easily.
So, if you’re camping in windy conditions, your best bet is to go with a dome-style tent instead. These have curved side walls that shed wind much better, allowing it to last longer under crazy strong winds.
7. Lifespan and Repair
Instant tents also typically have a slightly shorter lifespan than regular tents, due to their difficult repairs.
Repairing a Regular Tent
When one of your regular tent poles breaks, you can easily remove the pole out of the pole sleeve.
After that, you can easily slide a tent repair pole splint through one end of the pole, move it over to the break section, and then tape it to the pole.
This effectively repairs the break in your regular tent.
Repairing Instant Tent Poles
However, when it comes to an instant tent, remember how all the tent poles are pre-attached?
This means that the pole is completely attached to the tent, at both ends of the pole.
Here’s what one of the pre-attached poles would look like at the bottom of the tent:
And here’s what the same pole would look like at the top of the tent:
This being the case, with both ends blocked, and the pole being pre-attached, how would I get a pole repair splint in?
This makes it extremely difficult to slide a pole repair splint through any end of the pole to repair any break.
And that’s if a pole breaks.
Repairing Instant Tent Joints
What if something else breaks, like the elbow joints?
It is not common for elbow joints to be sold on a camping marketplace, much less one that fits the exact model of your tent.
If you’re looking for an elbow joint replacement though, here’s one that I found on Amazon.
That isn’t to say that you shouldn’t buy an instant tent though.
I would, however, recommend this, to lengthen the lifespan of your instant tent:
Take care of your instant tent gently.
Do not force any of the poles into place with brute strength.
Do not use your instant tent in strong winds.
8. Packed Size
Instant tents also tend to have much bigger packed sizes than regular tents.
If you’re wondering, here’s all the complete packed sizes of each instant tent I have (these are my personal measurements and may differ slightly from what the brand’s marketed measurements are):
| Instant Tent | Packed Size |
|---|---|
| Coleman Instant 4 | 40 x 11 x 8 inches |
| Ozark Instant 6 | 44 x 11 x 9.5 inches |
| Core Instant 9 | 46 x 13 x 12 inches |
| Caddis Rapid 6 | 50 x 15 x 9.5 inches |
| Outdoor Products 10 | 50 x 17 x 12 inches |
| Coleman Instant 10 | 50 x 17 x 12 inches |
| Gazelle T4 Hub Tent | 68 x 13 x 10 inches |
Take note that the length of each instant tent is extremely long. They’re anywhere between double to triple the length of a regular tent.
If you’re wondering how big the packed size of a regular cabin or dome tent is, here are some of the tents that I’ve tested:
| Regular Tent | Packed Size |
|---|---|
| Coleman Sundome 6 | 27 x 12 x 9.5 inches |
| The North Face Wawona 6 | 26 x 16 x 10 inches |
| Coleman Red Canyon 8 | 26 x 13 x 10 inches |
| Coleman WeatherMaster 10 | 31 x 18 x 12 inches |
And of course, here are some pictures for you to visualize the humongous size of instant tents:
Why are instant tents so long though?
That’s because of the pre-attached poles that instant tents have.
Unlike regular tents where you can remove the poles and fold them down nicely, you can’t fold pre-attached poles of instant tents down quite as much. (Fold them too much or too forcefully, and they’ll break.)
9. Weight
And the last difference when it comes to instant tents vs regular tents is the weight of each of these tents.
Instant tents tend to be slightly heavier than regular tents, because their tent poles are usually made of steel (and not aluminum or fiberglass like regular tents).
Here’s the weight of each of my instant tents that I have:
| Instant Tent | Weight |
|---|---|
| Ozark Instant 6 | 17.8lbs. |
| Coleman Instant 4 | 20.0lbs. |
| Caddis Rapid 6 | 25.0lbs. |
| Core Instant 9 | 30.0lbs. |
| Coleman Instant 10 | 32.0lbs. |
| Outdoor Products 10 | 32.8lbs. |
| Gazelle T4 Hub Tent | 34.0lbs. |
On the other hand, here’s the weight of some of my non-instant cabin and dome tents that I’ve tested too:
| Regular Tent | Weight |
|---|---|
| Coleman Sundome 6 | 16.0lbs. |
| The North Face Wawona 6 | 19.4lbs. |
| Coleman Red Canyon 8 | 20.2lbs. |
| Coleman WeatherMaster 10 | 30.6lbs. |
Just taking the Caddis Rapid 6 as an example, this is an instant tent with steel poles, and it weighs 25.0lbs.
On the other hand, The North Face Wawona 6 with DAC MX aluminum poles weighs 19.4lbs, or more than 5 pounds less.
And the Coleman Sundome 6 with fiberglass tent poles weighs 16.0lbs, or 9 pounds less.
When to Choose an Instant Tent
As you might have seen from above, instant tents certainly have their own pros and cons.
Here are some situations where I would recommend an instant tent:
And here are some situations where I would definitely avoid instant tents:
In these scenarios, regular tents would be much more suitable for sure.
When to Choose a Regular Tent
As for myself, I don’t particularly mind the setup process of regular tents (in fact, that gives me more info to talk about on this blog and on my YouTube channel!).
I also sometimes expect super heavy rains because of the unpredictable weather in my country. So, normal tents/regular tents/conventional tents are more for me than instant tents.
What are Pop Up Tents?
A pop up tent is a tent that literally ‘pops open’ right out of the carry bag. All you’ve got to do is to take it out of the carry bag, throw it away from you, and it pops open.
That’s why they’re called pop up tents.
Instant tents, on the other hand, don’t pop open the same way. Instead, you’ve got to lift the elbow joint, and manually extend each leg pole upwards, like what I showed you above. So, instant tents are a little slower than pop up tents.
A pop up tent, however, tends to have a much smaller tent capacity. The biggest pop up tent I have is the Coleman 4-Person Pop Up Tent, which fits at most 3 adults in a very cramped sleeping configuration.
Pop up tents also tend to have much shorter peak heights, with no standing room at all, and very thin fiberglass poles.
And that’s why I much prefer instant tents, for their vertical side walls, higher peak heights, overall more livable room, and also thicker poles. If I have to take a few extra minutes to set them up, so be it.
Do check out this blog post where I bought and tested the best instant tents in the market, if that’s more your speed for your next camping trip. I’ll see you in that one.
By the way, Coleman has all types of easy setup tents. These include the Coleman Instant Tents you saw throughout this post, the Coleman Pop Up Tents right above this, and they even have Fast Pitch Tents. Find out how these Fast Pitch tents differ from instant tents here.
