This Coleman Sundome 2 person tent review is about an enormously popular tent. This is a nice tool to use in relatively dry conditions and for occasional outdoor excursions and camping with a car access. It will provide you a shelter against annoying insects, and it will protect you from the wind and light rain.
Key benefit
- The price.
- Nice design, just see the picture.
Description
Coleman Sundome 2 tent has an interesting design. This is a free-standing tent with the structure based on an X-shaped pole construction. Having a free-standing tent is important as it can be pitched on any ground.
Formally, this is a 2-person tent, but the reality is that all these tents are too small for 2 people. On the other hand, it is very heavy, so you can use it as a solo tool only in places with a car access.
The tent has mesh windows on all sides, but they are positioned very high as you can see from the images. You have an extra vent opening close to the floor, it is visible in the picture above. Such low positioned vents may not work well in case of snow around because you do not get much ventilation in this case. But you would not use the tent of this type as a 4 season tent in any case. The rest of the tent body is taffeta which offers privacy, see the picture of the tent without the fly.
The rain fly covers only the top section of the tent, basically protecting only the mesh openings, as you realize from the picture. So you can only pray that the lower portion of the tent body is indeed waterproof.
Note that you really do not have any vestibule like in the other tents which I mentioned in the table above. So all covered space is what you have inside the tent. The small awnings on the front and on the back look great, but they only protect the windows and do not give any extra covered space for the gear.
Inside the tent, you have two mesh pouches to keep small items, which is really useful. You also have a zippered port in one of the corners, for electrical connection.
This Coleman Sundome 2 tent is definitely heavy. Its design suggests that it is built for camping in places with car access (you have seen that it has an electricity port in the wall).
But then in view of this, it is hard to understand why they did not make it larger. There is not enough space for 2 people and equipment, and you may not be able to leave your stuff outside. Note also that it has only one door and this is the side door, in fact, therefore not so convenient for 2 people.
Specifications
- 2 person tent.
- Floor size: 7 x 5 ft (2.13 x 1.52 m).
- Floor surface: 3.24 sq m.
- Height: 48 in (1.22 m).
- Weight: 7.2 lb (3.26 kg).
- Packed size: 24 x 6 x 6 in (61 x 15 x 15 cm).
- 10 minutes setup.
- One door.
- Electric accessibility port.
- 2 windows for ventilation + 2 additional mesh openings.
- Door awning to keep the rain out.
- E-port for electrical power.
- Ground vent for ventilation.
- Storage pockets inside the tent.
- 1-year limited warranty.
Conclusion, rating, pros & cons
To summarize this Coleman Sundome 2 person tent review, if you need a tent for occasional outdoor adventures in an environment without too much rain, and you do not want to spend too much, then this is a reasonably good choice for you.
Bear in mind, this is a rather heavy tent and not the best choice for backpacking or hiking tours. There are no vestibules to store gear, so if it is used for two people, you will be very cramped inside.
But the fact is, this tent has received a very high rating by Amazon customers. As of the moment of writing this text, there are close to 9000 reports and the average rating is incredibly high. But it is fair to say that they sell all the tents from this Sundome series at one place, so it is not possible to know details about those separate tents. My rating is shown below, please have a look:
Coleman 2-Person Sundome Tent
$38.22
Pros
- Interesting design.
- Freestanding.
- Unbelieavable price.
Cons
- Heavy.
- Only one door.
- No vestibules.
- Very small rain fly.
Please check among 2-person tents here in the site if you want to see more options, you have them in hundreds.
I hope this text has been useful. It will be great to hear from you, there is a comment box below. I wish you a nice day.
Jane says
Area per person
3
Weight
5
Packed size
3.5
Protection
7.5
Feature
5
This is a great tent I think. Can I use this tent for backpacking and beach camping?
Jovo says
The tent is a bit heavy for backpacking, but it is great for beach camping.
John says
I bought a coleman sundome 2, and pretty much as you say here, the price (I paid NZ$125) is good for what you get. My one stood up to rain overnight without any problems at all, it was light enough to cary a couple of kilometres to the campsite, but as you say, it is no lightweight tramping tent.
Pros- Super simple to setup solo, generous sized bag to pack it away in when done, and I found it very comfy for the weather we planned for. (but to be honest, I invested in a sub-zero sleeping bag, so just about anything that keeps the rain of is fine for me).
The side entry i think would be a pain for two people using the tent, but on my own, it was perfect, as there was plenty of space for my gear and me.
The internal gear pockets are a bit of a pain, as they do tend to dangle right above your face, but it made it easy to find my glasses and torch in pitch darkness 8)
Jovo says
Thank you John, it is really great to hear about such a first-hand experience with this tent. So, fair price for what you get and good enough, this summarizes it all. Yes, this about pockets dangling above I have seen also in some other tents of this type, the dome geometry has some downsides. With such a subzero bag and this tent, your pack must have been very heavy.
Jay Raxter says
I disagree with your article.Your article is akin to comparing a Kia to a Porsche….OF COURSE the more expensive one is better..duh? I’ve camped for over 40 years. As typical for reviewers you take a basic THIRTY dollar tent and compare it to a $150 or $300 tent….and say “Oh…it’s not as good”
REALLY? You have years of experience and this nice shopping website and that’s all your have?
If you seam seal and scotchguard this $38 dollar tent it will last most NORMAL users for years.
People that have sites like yours, that do stupid match-ups like this do a disservice to someone looking for a basic tent. While the Coleman is robust, the Moutain Smith is fragile. Did you really test it? One of my scouts destroyed his when he sat on it….where did he sleep? In a $40 Coleman Tradition 2 Person tent (another under $40 tent from Coleman).
Jovo says
Hi Jay, it is not so cool describing my text “stupid”. I could have just deleted your comment, but I am giving you the chance to express your views because I respect your views. But you should also respect my own.
Great that you have so many decades of experience. But my site is not only a “shopping” place as you call it. If you look around you will realize that I also have a few decades in the outdoor activities. Once I set my camp up at 3200 meters with a tent from this brand, a completely new tool used for the first time, and it did not keep the rain any second. This ruined my climb of a 4000er in the Alps. I was in rush and made mistakes, bought a cheap tool and did not test it before the tour. If you buy a reliable tent you will not have to seam seal it. There are reasons why things are cheap. We have a saying “not rich enough to buy cheap things”.
You miss to observe that I am not promoting any brand, I am not paid by any of them. I am giving my unbiased views, what you are going to buy is completely up to you.