Is Coleman's Dark Room Worth It? (3 TESTS!)

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You may be wondering what a Coleman Dark Room Sundome looks like compared to a regular Coleman Sundome, and I’ll show you everything I know in this blog post, because I have both tents!

Coleman’s Dark Room technology is phenomenal at not only keeping light out of the tent during the day and at night, but also at keeping heat out of the tent. Coleman’s Dark Room tents are definitely a luxury for hot summer days and also for sleeping in while camping.

*This is a picture of me in my regular Coleman Sundome Tent (left) and also a Dark Room Sundome Tent (right).*

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Check out the Coleman Sundome Tents:

Check out the regular Sundome (Amazon)

Check out the Dark Room Sundome (Amazon)

Read my full review on the Regular Sundome

Read my full review on the Dark Room Sundome

Table Of Contents

First Test
Second Test
Third Test
Pricing and Recommendation
Bonus: Must Read!

First Test

For the first test, this is what the regular Sundome looks like from inside the tent, in the middle of the day.

*This is a picture of me standing in my regular Coleman Sundome Tent.*

And this is what the Dark Room Sundome looks like inside the tent, also in the middle of the day. It’s definitely a lot darker.

*This is what the inside of the Coleman Sundome Dark Room Tent looks like.*

In fact, it was dark enough that I had to use a lantern during the day to check on the seams for any leaking during my heavy rain test.

*This is a picture of me checking on any potential leaks in the Coleman Sundome Dark Room Tent.*

If it’s not as dark as you think it is, that’s because I have the rainfly fully guyed out, and there are 2 large vents here by the sides, which lets in a lot of light. So, if you don’t guy the rainfly out, it would be a lot darker inside the tent.

*The mesh wall vents by the 2 widths of the Coleman Sundome Dark Room Tent let in a lot of light.*

Nevertheless, compared to a regular Coleman Sundome Tent, it’s still much, much darker.

*This is what the mesh wall vent in the regular Coleman Sundome Tent looks like.*

In fact, this is another of my Coleman tents with the same dark room tech, and without any vents. There’s only a little bit of light seeping in through the gap between the roof and the rainfly, and also from the bathtub flooring at the bottom of the tent.

*This is a picture of the dark room technology black-out feature of the Coleman 10-Person Instant Cabin Tent.*

Take note that the flooring doesn’t have dark room tech.

Second Test

For the second test, I switched on a 250-lumen lantern inside the Dark Room Tent at night, to check whether the dark room fabric would let light seep out of the tent.

*This is the Black Diamond Apollo lantern that I used for this second dark room test.*

I found that the only light seeping out is from the window, door, and vents, which are open, and the dark room fabric itself actually holds a lot of the light in.

*Here’s what the Dark Room Sundome Tent looks like at night.*

On the other hand, the regular Sundome just lights up like crazy. The comparison is pretty amazing when you look at it from the outside.

*Here’s what the regular Coleman Sundome 6-Person Tent (without the dark room technology) looks like at night.*

Third Test

The third test will be inside both tents, at night.

This is the regular Sundome Tent at night, without any lighting, and with the windows and door closed. There’s actually quite a bit of light seeping into the tent from the outside, which actually makes it harder to sleep.

*This is what the regular Coleman Sundome Tent looks like at night, from the inside.*

Now, here’s the inside of the Dark Room Sundome at night without the lantern. Even with the window and door left open, there isn’t a lot of light coming into the tent. The blackout fabric is practically pitch black, and amazing for sleeping.

*On the right of this picture, you can see a little streak of light coming into the tent, but other than that, it’s pretty much pitch black.*

Pricing and Recommendation

I really love my Dark Room Sundome, because not only is it a lot darker at night and in the day, as I showed you just now, it’s also a lot cooler inside the tent, especially during the day. I was burning up in my other Coleman tents, but not in my Dark Room Tents.

*This is a picture of me touching the blackout fabric of the Coleman Sundome Dark Room Tent.*

And to top it all off, I paid about $100 bucks for both my regular Sundome and the Dark Room Sundome from Amazon, so the Dark Room was practically a free upgrade for me.