6-Person Tents · Vs review
REI Base Camp 6 V.S. REI Wonderland 6 (I Bought BOTH Tents!)
Same brand, same 82.5 sq ft floor, completely different tents — 12 head-to-head tests.
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Discontinued: REI has discontinued the Wonderland 6, so the buy links for it have come off this page. Everything I measured stays — it is still the right yardstick if you are looking at a second-hand one. For a 6-person tent you can actually buy today, my top pick is The North Face Wawona 6.
REI Co-op Base Camp 6Best for shoulder season
- Peak73 in
- Base area82.5 sq ft
- Vestibule52.4 sq ft
- Weight20.6 lbs
REI Co-op Wonderland 6Discontinued
- Peak81 in
- Base area82.5 sq ft
- VestibuleNone
- Weight23.6 lbs
The short answer
The Wonderland was the one to live in. The Base Camp is the one to camp in — and the one still on sale.
Identical 82.5 sq ft floors, and that's where the similarity stops. The Wonderland 6 is a cabin tent with 81 inches of peak height running the whole length of it, near-vertical walls, a room divider and mesh everywhere. The Base Camp 6 is a dome with a full-length rainfly, 2 vestibules, 34 pockets and loops and vents you can shut from inside. REI has since discontinued the Wonderland, so unless you find one second-hand the decision is made for you — and it is the right one: the Wonderland failed my 1-hour heavy rain test and the Base Camp passed it dry.
Side by side
Where they actually differ
| Measured | Base Camp 6 | Wonderland 6 |
|---|---|---|
| My score | 7.8 / 10 | 7.5 / 10 |
| Peak height | 73 inches | 81 inches3 in taller than marketed |
| Height at the far walls | 61 inches3 steps from centre | 77 and 76 inchesLeft and right ends |
| Tent shape | Dome | CabinNear-vertical side walls |
| Length × width | 109 × 109 inches | 120 × 99 inches |
| Base area | 82.5 square feet | 82.5 square feet |
| Base shape | Square | Rectangle |
| Queen beds that fit | 1 | 2 |
| Door height | 62.5 inchesI tilt my head | 72.5 inchesNo ducking at 5'3" |
| Room divider | No | YesSplits it into 2 rooms |
| Set up (1 person) | 17.5 minutes | 19.5 minutes |
| Pack away (1 person) | 15 minutes | 16.5 minutes |
| Vestibules | 252.4 sq ft — 31.1 front, 21.3 back | 0A mud room is sold separately |
| Pockets | 14 | 8 |
| Loops | 20 | 7Only 2 without the divider up |
| Vents | 42 roof, 2 floor, all worked from inside | 2Above the doors, and tiny |
| Heavy rain (1 hour) | PassedNot a single drop inside | FailedDivider loops leaked |
| Rainfly | Full length | Partial |
| Guylines | 6 | 14 |
| Bent poles after light-to-moderate wind | None | Almost half of 5 |
| Weight | 20.6 lbs | 23.6 lbs |
| Packed size | 28 × 13 × 9.5 inches | 30 × 15 × 10 inchesAbout 30% bigger |
✓ = the better result, from my own testing. Shared: both are REI Co-op tents I bought myself · both have 2 doors · both have exactly 82.5 square feet of floor · both are 3-season tents.
Which applies to you?
Get this one if…
Get the Base Camp 6 if…
- Rain is likely — it's the one with the full-length rainfly, and it came through my rain test bone dry.
- You camp in the shoulder season: less mesh, double wall, vents you shut from inside.
- You want the storage and the wet-gear space — 34 pockets and loops, plus 52.4 sq ft of vestibule.
- You're carrying it: 3 lbs lighter and a good bit smaller packed.
Hunt down a Wonderland 6 if…
- You want to stand up anywhere in the tent — 81 inches of peak height, right along its length.
- You're fitting 2 queen beds in. The Base Camp's square floor takes one.
- You want a room divider and a door you don't duck through.
- You camp in fair weather only, and you've found a good second-hand one.
Peak Height & Livable Space
| Measured | Base Camp 6 | Wonderland 6 |
|---|---|---|
| Peak height | 73 inches | 81 inches3 in taller than marketed |
| Where you get it | At the centre only | Along the whole length |
| Height at the far walls | 61 inches | 77 and 76 inches |
| Side walls | Slope in from the centre | U-poles, near vertical |
Eight inches between them, and it feels like more. The Base Camp is a dome, so its 73 inches is only at the centre — three small steps out and my head is on the roof.
The Wonderland is a cabin, and its U-poles hold the side walls near vertical, so I get the peak height give or take a few inches along the whole length of the tent. I can press my back flat against the side wall and still stand upright. That is the whole appeal of this tent.
Base Area & Bed Fit
| Measured | Base Camp 6 | Wonderland 6 |
|---|---|---|
| Base area | 82.5 square feet | 82.5 square feet |
| Length × width | 109 × 109 inches | 120 × 99 inches |
| Base shape | Square | Rectangle |
| Queen beds that fit | 1 | 2 |
Exactly the same floor area, and only one of them takes 2 queen beds — a 109-inch square simply won't have it. Fair warning though: once 2 queens are in the Wonderland, there isn't much floor left to move around on.
Doors
| Measured | Base Camp 6 | Wonderland 6 |
|---|---|---|
| Door size | 74 × 59 inches | 66 × 64 inches |
| Door height | 62.5 inches | 72.5 inches |
| One-handed zip | Not quite — 2 hands past a bend | Yes, in 3 seconds |
| Holding it open | Above-door pockets | Door pockets, 4 seconds |
Both have 2 big doors that unzip snag-free in 3 or 4 seconds. The difference is height: at 5'3" I walk straight through the Wonderland's doors, and tilt my head at the Base Camp's every time.
The Base Camp also sometimes needed 2 hands to drag the zipper past a bend near the bottom — it has no stake loop under the door to pull against, where the Wonderland does.
Room Divider
| Measured | Base Camp 6 | Wonderland 6 |
|---|---|---|
| Room dividers | 0 | 1 |
| Rooms | 1 | 2One door each |
The Base Camp doesn't come with one. The Wonderland's is a good one: a zip down the middle so I can get between rooms without dropping the whole divider, fabric that isn't too see-through, and no big gaps around the edges.
Amount of Mesh
| Measured | Base Camp 6 | Wonderland 6 |
|---|---|---|
| Ceiling, rainfly off | A rather small skylight | Mesh across the roof and down the sides |
| Overall | More fabric than mesh | Easily more than half the tent |
Rainfly off, the Wonderland has an insane amount of mesh — it doesn't stop at the roof, it runs down the sides. Rainfly off the Base Camp, you get a small skylight. That's it.
Which way that cuts depends entirely on the month, and it's why the Wonderland is the summer tent and the Base Camp holds its heat in the shoulder season.
Set Up
| Measured | Base Camp 6 | Wonderland 6 |
|---|---|---|
| Set up (1 person) | 17.5 minutes | 19.5 minutes |
| Tent shape | Dome — the simpler pitch | Cabin |
Two minutes in it, and it's down to shape — a dome pitch is simpler than a cabin pitch, and that has been true of every pair I've tested. Both were manageable on my own.
Vestibules
| Measured | Base Camp 6 | Wonderland 6 |
|---|---|---|
| Vestibules | 2 | 0 |
| Vestibule area | 52.4 square feet31.1 front + 21.3 back | NoneMud room sold separately |
The Base Camp has two, front and back, adding 52.4 square feet of covered space for wet gear. The Wonderland has none — REI sold a separate mud room to act as one, but that cost extra, which is never a good thing.
Storage
| Measured | Base Camp 6 | Wonderland 6 |
|---|---|---|
| Pockets | 14Most of them big | 8 |
| Loops | 20 | 75 of them divider loops |
| Total | 34 | 15 |
The Base Camp has more than double, using the whole tent to do it: pockets running all the way round, and 20 loops to hang lanterns from.
The Wonderland's 7 loops need an asterisk — 5 are on the room divider. They work, and I hung my lanterns off them with the divider up. But take the divider out and the tent is down to 2 loops, one over each door.
Vents
| Measured | Base Camp 6 | Wonderland 6 |
|---|---|---|
| Vents | 42 roof, 2 floor | 2Above the doors |
| Worked from inside | All 4 | n/a |
The Base Camp's 4 vents open and shut from inside the tent — very few tents I own can — and it matters the moment horizontal rain starts coming in.
The Wonderland has 2 vents over the doors. They are the tiniest I have ever seen, they did nothing for me wet or hot, and I wouldn't count them as vents at all.
Rain Protection & Seam Taping
| Measured | Base Camp 6 | Wonderland 6 |
|---|---|---|
| Heavy rain (1 hour) | PassedNot a single drop inside | FailedDivider loops leaked, both sides |
| Rainfly | Full length | Partial |
| Seam taping | Flooring and corners taped; the rest inverted and untaped | More thorough — everything not under the rainfly is taped |
The Base Camp is one of very few family tents I own with a full rainfly, and after an hour of heavy rain the inside was completely dry — water runs off the fly straight to the ground without really touching the tent body.
The Wonderland got an hour of heavy rain plus a few hours of light rain after, and by morning the divider loops at the bottom were leaking. They sit right where the partial rainfly stops covering, so they are the most exposed seam on the tent, and they weren't taped.
Credit where it's due: the Wonderland's taping is otherwise the more thorough of the two. REI's rule seems to be that seams under the rainfly go untaped, and the Base Camp's fly covers everything — fine until you camp in flooding.
Wind Protection & Guylines
| Measured | Base Camp 6 | Wonderland 6 |
|---|---|---|
| Tent shape | Dome | Cabin — a big flat profile |
| Intersecting poles | 4 | 0 |
| Guylines | 6 | 14 |
| Bent poles after light-to-moderate wind | None | Almost half of 5 |
The Base Camp's 4 intersecting poles make a far more secure structure than the 2 you get on a budget dome, and it did well in light wind. Nothing bent.
The Wonderland has no intersecting poles and a big flat cabin profile that doesn't shed wind, and after a few weeks in nothing worse than light to moderate wind, almost half of its 5 aluminum poles had bent.
The odd part is the guylines: 14 on the Wonderland, 6 on the Base Camp. I'd rather they had put more on the tent that can actually use them.
Weight & Packed Size
| Measured | Base Camp 6 | Wonderland 6 |
|---|---|---|
| Weight | 20.6 lbs | 23.6 lbs |
| Packed size | 28 × 13 × 9.5 inches | 30 × 15 × 10 inchesAbout 30% bigger |
| Pack away (1 person) | 15 minutes | 16.5 minutes |
Three pounds and about 30% of packed volume to the Base Camp — the Wonderland has more material in it and REI gave it a bigger sack to match. One caveat: the Base Camp's sack is small and side-loading, so rolling everything together and squeezing it in at once is a genuine pain.
My recommendation
If you love cabin tents and the space inside them, the REI Co-op Wonderland 6 was a great pick — and if one turns up second-hand it still is, as long as you camp in fair weather. I wouldn't take it out expecting heavy rain or any real wind though. This tent wasn't built for crazy weather, and my poles are the proof. REI has now discontinued it.
That's where the REI Co-op Base Camp 6 comes in. The full rainfly keeps the rain out, the 2 vestibules take the wet gear, and the vents are far more user-friendly. It's also the better shoulder-season tent: less mesh and a full fly means the heat stays in. It scored 7.8 against the Wonderland's 7.5 — and it is the one of the two you can still walk into REI and buy.
Bonus: I spent over $2,000 buying and 6 months testing seven different 6-person tents against each other — set-up timings, rain tests, base areas, the lot. Every figure on this page comes out of that run.
Every figure on this page comes from my own measurements of the tents I bought and tested in my own yard — not from a spec sheet.
