… We both camped many years ago and loved it. Until recently

It’s just my wife and I and we both camped many years ago and loved it. Until recently, most of our travel was by constantly moving. Purchased this tent and used it. Summary: Only looked at 6 person tents for both room and ventilation. This one fits 3 to 4 adults comfortably. Wanted it rain proof, attractive and light, not circa 1963. Got it with this one. But you have to be careful because of the light materials used. You think at first a plastic trash bag has more tensile strength. But we did not need nor want to spend for a “3 or 4 season” tent. We will camp infrequently, woods only, no radical temps. We used tarps to cover the entire bottom. Use a tarp also for the inside porch area to keep it clean (ref: other people’s remarks). Got smaller folding chairs so as not to press on porch sides nor sit on that mesh part separating the porch area from the tent regardless of using a tarp. Carry bag is worthless except for instructions and spare parts info. Get a duffle bag- at least 30 x 15. Watch the U tube on setting up. Rainfly orientation is to look for the slots for the pole (uses black tipped pole at the front.). Rainfly: use it- it works for rain and temps. Back screen- no problem not having a flap. side ones do and w/rainfly offers privacy. Camped on rocky soil, no problem with pegs but I like the 10″ ones better. Get extras-but not the old standard kind, as you may tear the tent loops. We liked the tentswith the poles remaining outside called “instant” (like an inverted umbrella) but we wanted this style of tent first and would definitely buy this one again.

25 people found this helpful

Great for a small family or couple who wants extra space.

This is an awesome tent for our small family.SIZE: It says this is a six person tent and I am sure you could fit six people in it but you would be packed like sardines. This is true for EVERY tent. Anyone who has owned a tent knows that you take the manufacturer count and divide that by 2. It fits 3 people comfortably with some room for anything you want stored inside the tent. The porch is a nice plus. This is a great place to store shoes and coolers. Also a great place to sit but we haven’t used it for that purpose yet.SET UP: This was extremely easy to set up with 2 people. We haven’t used the rainfly yet but this took about 10 minutes for a first time setup. I imagine it would take less time in the future now that we know how to do it.QUALITY: I love all the windows. We camped in the fall (southern fall) and there was plenty of air flowing through the tent keeping us cool. It hasn’t rained yet but I don’t think there would be any issues with rain based upon how it is designed.SUMMARY: Overall great tent for a small family or couple. This was the first time I had a tent with a porch. I have always wanted one and I don’t think I can ever go back unless I am backcountry camping. This really helps prevent dirt from getting tracked into the tent and it is a great way to keep bugs out of your tent. Great value for the price. I will give an update if we ever camp in the rain.

13 people found this helpful

Test Night in a Thunderstorm

Our tent arrived this week and last night we set it up in the yard to check everything out. Set up was about 15 minutes with the help of my seven year old. The instructions aren’t necessarily great but it’s not hard to figure out. I did a lot of research before buying a family tent and this one had the size, screen room, bathtub bottom and easy set up we were looking for. It was getting dark after we set it up so we decided to leave it overnight. I woke up at 4am during a big thunderstorm. Wind, lightning, heavy rain, big enough to knock the power out in our area. I was worried about the tent since I hadn’t secured the rain fly leads, and was anxious to see how it held up when the sun came up. When morning came, I looked out to see that tent was just as we had left it. I went out and opened it up and it was completely dry inside! Yes, the screen porch is not completely covered and got wet, but if we were camping more than a night or two we would probably add a tarp cover to extend this space anyway. I really just want a place to sit bug free and relax when needed, and the screen room does that. My husband was skeptical of the size from the pictures but once it was set up he was sold. It’s plenty for us and our son and dog for family trips. We’re excited to take it out this spring!

2 people found this helpful

Great product! No complaints!

It is a little bigger than I needed but the screen room attatched is what I wanted. It is exactly what I expected. The tent should sleep 4 comfortably with gear. Screen room has a floor like the interior of the tent and is large enough for 2 chairs comfortably, 3 chairs is a bit cozy.Easy & quick up. There is a seam to cut on the storage bag to make it a little larger than the first deployment. When we take down the tent, I leave the main bows tied to the center of the main section, fold and roll the tent around them. Fits back in the bag everytime. I labelled the front & back of the rainfly because otherwise, there is nothing distinguishable to identify the correct orientation over the tent. A secondary bow is provided to create awnings over the windows. If chance of rain, I suggest this bow not be used. This allows the rain fly to cover the windows. I used waterproof spray on the rain fly and tent the first day it arrived. During a recent campout, we experienced a rain storm, ~20 minutes heavy downpour. The interior sleep area remained completely dry. The screen area took in a lot of water even with the rain fly, but there is a mesh area in the floor that separates the sleeping quarters from the screen room. This allowed drainage and facilitated quick dry out the next morning.

Camptastic!!

I was on the hunt for a tent that felt like a house, and I found it! This tent offers a lot of space, is easy to build, and feels homey. Assembling it took us about 15 minutes if that. I would say you need 2 people to build but was very upfront and easy. We turned our “front porch” into our kitchen and kept the cooler and a chair in their. It was a lot of fun at night to sit in there and watch the lightning bugs. Our first night camping a rather large thunderstorm happened. It was scary but the tent held up without any issues. Other sites tents were blowing away and people were leaving while we were sitting watching them from our window. We have a queen size mattress and there was still a bunch of room. Our plan is to buy two chairs and a table for in the tent so next time we can sit and read or play cards. The only issue we had was bugs. They all would get stuck between the top roof and the tent and we could hear them at night time. But you are camping and bugs are excepted. Overall it’s a really nice tent, I slept really well, and would recommend you to buy it.

15 people found this helpful

Perfect occasional/newbie tent.

I can count on one hand how many times I’ve been camping in my lifetime and I’m now 61 yrs old. But after moving to Oregon 3 yrs ago, we discovered so many places we wanted to visit/spend time/fish and hotels are either too far away or too spendy. So camping. After looking at several tents, I decided upon the 6-person Steel Creek tent. I noticed a lot of reviews were critical of the screen room not being waterproof, and rain is not a seasonal thing in the Pac NW, but I figured the 6-person tent would be large enough for my adult daughter and myself + all our stuff if need be.First setup (test before our big trip) was less than perfect. We attached the tent clips to the poles before inserting the pole ends in the receptacle cups for those at the corners of the tent. Later, I searched and found some YouTube videos that helped a lot. Second time (at our campsite), we assembled the poles and inserted the pole ends in the receptacle cups first, then attached tent clips to the poles. This tent is TALL and we’re not, so it was a bit tricky attaching the highest clips and tying the fabric strip to the pole frame at the very top. We accomplished this by unzipping the screen room and tent doors and stepping nearer the center of the tent. Next time, we’ll probably tie the tie before inserting pole ends in the receptacle cups and bring a super collapsible step stool to address the vertical challenge.Rainfly. After some confusion about the front/back of the rainfly during first setup, I marked the corners of the front with a sharpie pen, but it really wasn’t necessary. The front has a 5″ wide piece of fabric attached to it, draping over/attaching to the screen room pole.Stakes. The stakes that came with the tent are really a checkbox (yeah, we include stakes). When I bought the tent, I also bought the Coleman accessory kit (the rubber mallet, stake puller, heavy duty stakes were really helpful). Those stakes are good, but the YouTube videos about guy lines also taught me about the lightweight aluminum tri-beam stakes. I found them at a nearby equipment store and wished I’d bought more than 4. I’d used the Coleman heavy duty stakes for the corners of the tent, and the tri-beams for everywhere else.Guy lines. The rainfly comes with guy lines attached. I like that they are white and have reflective strips woven in and they were great for night visibility. They also have line tighteners attached for making the lines taut after they are attached to stakes, but the reflective material prevents the guy lines from sliding, so tightening took a little bit more work. Even so, I don’t think a taut line knot would have slid any easier (TY, YouTube for teaching me about guy lines and knots).Footprint. Prior to laying out the tent, we laid down a footprint (Columbia makes one that is 9’10” x 8’10” – perfect for this tent and a true footprint with web loops that join tent stakes at corners). The tent does have a thick tarp-like floor, but it was in breaking camp that we discovered the true value of the footprint. The underside of the tent floor was clean, despite setting it up on dead, damp pine needles and other detritus. The footprint was easy to flip over, sweep off, shake out. Another YouTube video explained why I wanted a footprint slightly smaller than the tent – it doesn’t create a catch basin for rainwater between footprint and tent.Breaking camp. As I mentioned before, the footprint kept the tent floor clean. But the rain, breeze, a bird, and damp ground messed the rainfly and underside of the screen room floor. We live in an apartment so I really don’t have a place to spread it all out for cleaning after we got home. And I didn’t want to take seeds and bugs to another area where they might be invasive species. So we took a little extra time to sweep off, shake out, wipe down the rainfly. We unstaked the screen room first, then folded it back onto the collapsed tent and swept it off toward the bare ground.Packing it all back in the bag. I love the expandable bag feature and had already cut that seam, but the bottom side-to-side seam kept the bag from becoming a fully 4-5″ taller. I found that the rainfly, folded to a shorter length than the bag, fits nicely in the bottom, then the tent… I folded the 10′ wide width so that the front corners met in the middle, making a strip 5′ wide by 9′ long; then folded again in the same direction, so the tent was a 2.5′ wide strip, 9′ long. The 9′ length, folded in half, then in half again, then in half again, it fit perfectly.Rain. Yes, it rained. Early June. Oregon Coast. The rainfly, properly staked with guylines, kept us dry. The rainfly also provides a 3′ roof over the screen room, leaving just a couple of feet exposed. After a night of gentle, all night long rain, there were a couple of small (4″?) puddles near the front of the screen room – easily sopped up with 3-4 paper towels.The 6-person is perhaps too large for 2 people (twin air mattresses on opposite sides left 4′ between us), but I really wanted the additional height. Both my 4’10” daughter and I (5’3″) can stand up and move around in this tent. Our first trip was only 4 days long, but we could comfortably spend a week or two. I also wanted the screen room so that if we found ourselves camping with gnats and mosquitoes, we could kick back in comfort. I found the Coleman Utopia Breeze Beach Chairs fit perfectly and gave us plenty of headroom.Is this the tent for hardcore campers who are planning a cross-country roadtrip? It is easy to set up, take down and pack. It easily withstood hours long rain showers and a breeze (less than 7 mph in a valley campsite, shielded by nearby hills), but it really is a fairweather tent. The back window doesn’t have a covering (the rainfly provides privacy, but wouldn’t prevent a cold wind from cooling the interior).

15 people found this helpful

Good Warm Weather Tent

We have had the Coleman Steel Creek Fast Pitch Tent for a few years now, so I thought I would share our experience with it, now that we have used it in various conditions.The size is very comfortable if you are using bedding that is on the floor, because an adult can almost stand up in the middle, so it is easy to change clothes. We have camped with two grandkids and a dog comfortably on sleeping pads. But we recently upgraded to a queen cot and found that the tent is not really large enough for that. The bed fits in the tent with plenty of room on three sides, even have room for a dog crate. BUT, due to the dome shape, once the bed is in the middle, there is NO standing room. And bringing the kids would be doable, but extremely tight. When we used the queen air bed on the floor, we had the option of stepping on it. Or when using individual sleeping pads, there is plenty of floor space to hunker down inside and play games during a heavy rain.I say “warm weather” because the back screen is always open. The only way to cut down on a cold breeze on cold nights is to drop the fly at that location. I was worried about leaking when we did that, but that was not an issue.I really like the toughness of the tarp floor, and it wraps up the side. There is no need for a footprint tarp, but it would give additional padding if you are camping where there are stones. And if you do use a footprint, don’t put it under the screen porch.The screen porch is FOR BUGS, it is not for rain. I have seen a lot of reviews mentioning that the rain still gets in the porch. It does. Like I said, the porch is designed to keep the bugs out. Our two large Coleman chairs fit in there nicely and I have enjoyed my morning coffee in there where I could be close to the kids when they awoke when they were really little. If you put your shoes inside near the door wall to the tent, they will stay dry and it’s nice to have a “foyer” to remove shoes. When it rains, the porch has a nicely engineered drain made of mesh between the porch and sleeping area. After a heavy rain, two of us each grab a corner of the floor, take the stake out, pull the floor straight up and all of the water goes out the drain and not at all in the tent. Then we restake and the sun dries it right back out. (That is IF the sun comes back out after the rain. 😉 I have really enjoyed the porch. Also, we can put the dog crate in the porch during the day and our dog enjoys his naps in there out of the sun while still being around the camp action.Overall, it’s been a great tent for us and even though we are upgrading to a larger size, we will still use this for those that join us on trips and for backyard sleepovers!It’s perfect for a young family of 4 or less.

5 people found this helpful

Best tent thus far. Read review

I looked at the reviews and was concerned whether I got the right tent or not so let’s cover everything I’ve experienced.I went camping in the Nez pierce country land of Idaho. I didn’t think it was going to rain so I didn’t bring my back up tarps. What a mistake so I thought. It rained so hard you would have thought you were in the Amazon. With shaking thunder and lightning I laid in my tent just waiting for the water to start to seep in. I was so wrong. In fact I was beyond surprised. No water in the tent AT ALL. The rain fly worked perfectly though while setting up you think to yourself this isn’t going to hold, but it does and not just well, but fantastically. Now there is a downside. The front awning does get wet and water resides, but I already knew that given the design hence there is a drain line in front of the tents main door which keeps your sleeping area 100% dry. Let’s move on to the wind resistance. My goodness does this thing hold up. I had tables and chairs getting whipped around during that storm, and not once did my tent ever show signs of weakness or fault. I’m beyond impressed with this tent. Fast forward: 3rd time camping with this tent I decided to put a Queen blow up mattress inside. Yup it fits. Height kinda stinks as it’s 6th exactly at the center, as my bf smiled ear to ear whilst standing up at the center.Other than the durability of this tent, it’s easy to set up. I’d recommend that you tie the top and place the first 2 clips (at the top) before hoisting it up.Happy camping everyone! I’d say 10/10 for the tent. Just wish the awning had more coverage, but this tent does what it’s intended and that’s room, dryness, wind resistance.Oh btw when you’re looking for a tent to view the stars with dry weather, this is by far the best one I’ve had. The mesh is so slick in design it’s as if the mesh isn’t present at all. Just make sure you’re lights are off inside the tent…(duh).

4 people found this helpful

UPDATED REVIEW: Not sure about “Fast Pitch”, but still good quality

UPDATED REVIEW: Now that we used this tent a number of times, I have some other thoughts to share.First, we still like it.Second, the concern about critters getting through the e-ports is not really a concern. And the ability to run an electrical cable into the tent has been a lifesaver. We can keep our phones charged and run a small fan on hot nights.Third, the tent has nice space inside. We use a queen inflatable mattress, have a 

Funtell Portable Table

 to hold small items and the fan and still have great floorspace.Fourth, we have been rained on a few times. Happy to report 0 leaks.Overall, still happy with the tent!ORIGINAL REVIEW: We have now used this tent a few times in different places. So far, we are pretty pleased with it. It’s only had water hitting it one time, but there have been 0 leaks to date. Seams look good (waterproof) and we really like the screen room part. We always take off our shoes there, and it decreases the amount of debris brought into the tent. There is not a lot of headroom in the screen room, but we did not find it to be a major problem.The tent has two mesh windows in the front and one on each side. Each has a panel that will zip closed to provide privacy. The window in the back is mesh only for the top half of that side and does not have a cover to zip closed. However, when you have the rain fly on, it provides adequate coverage to prevent rain from coming in.We like the “E-port” corners, but wish they could be zipped closed to prevent small critters from getting in. I think those corners are a good feature that with the addition of zippers would be a great feature.The floor material is heavier than the walls, but I would strongly recommend putting a tarp under the whole tent to help prevent punctures. Many place we go will not be a concern, but the last one had uneven ground with rocks and roots sticking up. I felt much better having the tarp down.The included tent stakes are okay, not great. I use a 

B07P1XK7VY REDCAMP Aluminum Camping Hammer with Hook

 and it works great.As the the “Fast Pitch” part… it’s definitely not a pop-up tent. And when setting it up the first time, it took two of us about 20 min. However, now that we have set up and taken it down in different places, our time if probably closer to a 10-minute mark. Really, once you get a few reps in, it’s not that bad.Overall, I am going to rate this tent 4 out of 5 stars. If I could rate it 4.5 stars, I would.

3 people found this helpful

Screen room gets wet

Design flaw – screen room DOES get wet if it rains. The rain fly does NOT protect this area. But…it is great to have extra space outside the tent…zipped up to sit without mosquitoes eating you alive.I recomment a seperate rain tarp placed over the tent. We loved how compact this tent packed. Perfect for our truck camper or to throw in our SXS for a just incase shelter.

Plenty of space

Received this tent and set it up in my yard right away. The directions are very minimal, so it’s a tad awkward to get going, but once you do, it really is a simple set up. I’m not sure why people had so much trouble with the rain fly? I thought it was self explanatory and the built in hooks for securing it to the tent are GREAT. Spent some time in it this weekend and here are my thoughts:1. Not a TON of airflow with the rain fly on so if you need a lot of breeze, bring a camping fan.2. Was great to be able to keep the windows open during rain as the fly takes the rain off the tent sides.3. It’s also great to be able to have the windows at the front of the tent open at night for air flow and enough view out of the tent, but privacy also.4. It rained twice this weekend (fairly light to moderate rain) and the tent was perfectly dry inside, not even wet against the wall that isn’t covered by the rain fly .(the screen porch will get wet so if you’re concerned about that, I recommend a tarp.5. I know it’s a simple thing, but I LOVE a gear loft that can hang from the ceiling. It’s surprising how easily you can lose things in a tent.6. There’s a lot of room in this tent. I have a queen air mattress that is 18″ high and it fit perfectly with plenty of room to spare for gear or bags.7. My only con is that I wish the back wall wasn’t totally screen. Would be great to also have the option of a window you can open and close just like on the sides.

Fully honest review!

Okay! We are novice campers and decided to take the tent out for one night this past weekend- low and behold 10 minutes after getting to the site sudden downpour of rain! We purchased the 6 person tent, and had 2 adults and both of our large dogs in the tent- queen air pad and two dog beds, with extra room. We waiting for a while, and set it up- and was bummed because I thought I would have enough time to use a seam sealant before the rain. Surprisingly enough the inner part of the tent stayed pretty dry for the most part. The screened in foyer has a mesh lining on the bottom before the inner room, and that allowed a lot of mud in (could have been prevented had we laid a tarp down under the tent before setup). The screen room obviously also slants out and is nothing but mesh on the walls, so that allowed a lot of water to pool into the front area- very difficult to cover with a tarp, but you can definitely find a way around tracking mud or water into the tent itself. Throughout the night the main problem areas we had was a little mesh pocket sewn into the seam under a zipper window which let in a very large amount of water so we had to keep a towel there through the night. Also when we woke up the water started to seep through the tent walls itself but would really only drip through if the walls were accidentally bumped into. Other than that- the tent is super easy to set up and can definitely be done with one person. We really enjoyed our time, and enjoyed our tent!

One person found this helpful

Put to the test!!!

I will start by saying that the weather conditions exceeded what this tent is rated for. I set this tent up with help from a friend. This is the first tent I have ever needed help figuring out so it’s not the simplest to set up. I’m sure I would have no issues again when I use it. But first time was not easy. Also setting up in a drizzle and getting dark didn’t help. Anyway, after setting up the night was rainy and breezy and all was well. The next day the gusts picked up and did they ever. For the next 36 hours this tent was punished with wind gusts in excess of 50 mph. The fly did tear on the edging in one section near the entrance and a small tear happened in the main body about 2 ft up from the ground. That tear was about 3” in length. I was able to patch both issues with duct tape as I was on a photography gig weekend and had supplies with me. One of the front corner stake down straps also tore off from the gusts. All in all this tent took a beating. It never leaked and I’d buy it again with no hesitation. I can patch the tent wall and easily make due with the stake down area by staking through another spot between the pole pockets. As for the fly, probably patch material will fix that but it’s on the edge so it’s not gonna cause a leak or prevent one anyway. No poles broke with all the gusts. 👍👍👍

Easy Set Up Great Tent

We have taken this tent around for two summers now all over Colorado and Utah. It is a wonderful tent for days with good weather. Perfect size for a family. Great room. The height is amazing. Super easy to put up even by one person.The only cons is that it does not do well in wind, and the rain fly is near impossible to put on, especially in poor weatherOverall, I highly recommend this tent!!

Great tent-kept out three days of rain!

The tent was great. We had a significant amount of the rain the first night and intermittent rain over the next couple of days. The tent stayed dry and comfortable in over night temps that got as low as high 30s. Easy to put together and I appreciate that the storage bag expands so you don’t have to be a ninja to put it away!

2 people found this helpful

6 years later still the best!

Thunderstorms ALL NIGHT in Michigan, pouring rain, no joke 2 hours of straight rain, tiny bit of water in 1 corner.Highly recommend!!!!

Large, comfortable and easy to setup…mostly.

Purchased June-2019This is a large, tall tent. I am accustomed to small one person tents and the roominess of this one was outstanding. The wife and I had a queen size inflatable mattress inside and there was still plenty of room on both sides as well as at the foot of the bed for items and movement. I am 6’ tall and could nearly stand straight inside. The attached foyer was perfect for stowing wet items or dirty shoes to keep them bug free, as it too has a zippered enclosure. In addition, the room proper also has its own zippered doorway for privacy. The included rain canopy doubles as a privacy screen, as the windows do not have an attached cover, but are nearly screened. Fortunately / unfortunately, we did not test it in any significant rainfall.My only real desires for this otherwise fine tent are 1) the rain canopy requires a bit of creativity and teamwork to properly position and 2) the windows have no privacy flap and are just screened.Overall, I would recommend this tent for the happy couple or crowd on a budget looking to bunk up.Cheers!

One person found this helpful

Good tent, though the instructions aren’t the best

Overall, this is a pretty good tent. I probably would buy it again, but I’d definitely consider other options before I do.Pros:The porch area makes the main tent area much easier to keep clean.The size is a good compromise for me. I (6′ tall) can almost completely stand up near the center, which makes getting dressed much easier.It’s somewhat easy to setup and tear down.There is a piece of netting that comes with the tent that acts like a basket at the peak of the dome. This is great for lights and whatnot.CONS:My main complaint is that the instructions included are pretty useless. They leave out a bunch of details, including any mention of a small tarp strip that’s included with the tent, but I’ve yet to figure out what it’s for.The included bag could have been an inch or so bigger in all dimensions, especially in length. This is because the hub system is permanently attached to the poles, so you end up with this unwieldy clump.The above mentioned mesh allows a cloud of dust into the tent, right next to the doorway. I understand it was probably put there to drain water, but not the best design.

2 people found this helpful

Excellent tent.

I’ve only got to use the tent once, but so far i’m loving it. It is a nice size. Be ready to be the guy with the biggest tent at the campsite though lol.. I put two of the larger coleman cots in there and it was perfect. Cots go by walls leaving you about a 2 or 3 ft gap between them. Also had a lot of space at end of beds, plenty for bags and such. Screened in room is very nice, fit my two larger coleman chairs very well with some room to spare. For me the screened room acts like mud room. I use this room to take my shoes off before going in tent. This room has a water drain on bottom as well. The screened room is also nice for sipping your morning coffee and enjoying nature views. =) The chairs in the screened room were wet in the morning, but we had a hard rain overnight when i was camping. The main tent stayed nice and dry though. As others mentioned, the tent would fit 6 but it would be tight (not counting if you had people sleep in screened in room). You could probably fit 4 of the larger coleman cots in there, but it would be tight. Maybe 5 or 6 of the smaller cots.

3 people found this helpful

Like it!

I have had this tent for 3 years now. I use it for solo car camping. I am 5 ‘2″ and put this tent up including the rainfly and staking in a comfortable pace about 30 minutes. If I know it is getting ready to rain, I can do it in 15. I have had no issues with it being wet on the inside and have not done any additional waterproofing. I have also camped in unexpected cooler weather (just above freezing) with no heater and was plenty warm.My sister liked mine enough that she bought one similar (Carlsbad, not fast pitch) and is happy with hers as well.

Great tent so far

Great tent so far. I used it on a 3 nighter in Wayne National Forest in Ohio this past weekend, and it performed very well. The tent itself is extremely easy to pitch. Attaching the rainfly is another matter, but in fairness, I had a late start and was attaching it to the tent in semi-darkness. (A hint for your first time set-up: There are a series of guy-lines running from the rainfly. Most are single lines. However, TWO are attached to the rainfly in two different spots. Position your rainfly so that these two double guy-lines are at the front of the tent, and to either side of the porch. Also, one of the single guy-lines is much shorter than the others. That guy-line will be positioned in the back of the tent, directly in the center of the large open window. Hopefully, that eliminates any confusion as to what is the front and the back of the rainfly.)The tent is fairly roomy and there is a good amount of headroom. I was a little concerned that the tent would not fit on the tent pads provided at the campsite, but it fit perfectly.The porch is really handy. As others have mentioned, there are electrical ports at either side which cannot be closed. Also, there is a mesh drainage strip which runs the entire width near the tent. One or both of these allowed a small family of ants to move into the porch. Not a big deal, but thought I’d mention it. The porch was an advantage to keeping the tent itself clean. Sweeping the floor of the tent at the end of my trip yielded very little debris, as any dirt brought in on the shoes fell off in the porch area.I thought the zippers opened and closed very freely. Other tents I use seem to have a problem with the tent fabric getting caught in the zipper from time to time. I didn’t have this issue at all with this tent. I’ve read a few negative comments about the T-configuration zipper for the porch. I found that if you make sure the two bottom zippers are closed snug against each other, opening the top/bottom zipper changes from a two-hand task to just one-hand – which is more convenient if you are carrying something.All-in-all, I’m very happy with this tent so far.

8 people found this helpful

Two-Season Tent still stays dry in a storm. Excellent value.

Because of the open mesh rear and top, this tent is intended for warm gentle weather. Nevertheless, my son and I took it out for 3 nights in early March on a local mountain. We had lots of rain, a little snow and hail, and gusting wind well over 20 mph. Not the weather this tent is designed for, and yes it was cold and drafty. But it held up fine in the wind (despite making a lot of noise) and, surprisingly, stayed bone dry inside. The interior is very comfortable for 2 people playing cards to wait out the rain. The screen room was convenient for taking off boots, but the rain fly doesn’t cover it well enough to keep things dry — I brought my boots inside.I had wanted a tent I could set up by myself in the dark with a wind. One person can set it up the tent itself pretty easily with practice, even with a little breeze (probably not over 10 mph) but so far I find the rain fly to be much more a 2 person job. In a dead calm it would be ok. And should get easier with practice.The instructions are truly awful. Not only are they tiny and hard to read, but they convey practically nothing you need to know. Figure it out beforehand: tie the pole fittings to the tent ribbons BEFORE you try to raise the poles. Snap the tent to the poles AFTER you raise the poles, starting from the top. For the rain fly, attach the pole before you put the rain fly on the tent.The Coleman tent stakes are easy to bend when hammering, but they work in most ground if you’re careful.Overall, our experience with this tent was surprisingly good in weather it wasn’t designed for. At the price I think it was an excellent value.

2 people found this helpful

My first ever bug-free camping trip!

The tent was sort of a pain to set up, but now that we’ve done it once, I bet next time is absolutely no trouble. It took us 30 minutes because we struggled with the rain fly but I went ahead and labeled the front in permanent marker so next time we can throw it on instantly and have the whole tent up in 10.We stayed in mild to chilly weather with some light rain and had no issues with leakage, although I imagine that if the wind had been blowing, the screen room would have gotten damp.We didn’t encounter any privacy issues despite the fully net back of the tent. It’s really designed to have the rain fly on at all times, which is fine by us! It didn’t get too hot or too breezy for us either, which I was concerned about from other reviews.This tent was PERFECT for me (5’2″) but slightly uncomfortable for my 6’2″ fiance, who could not stand up completely and felt a little cramped on a standard camp chair in the screen room, but a good fix would just be to use a shorter chair in there or a reclining one.The inside was large enough for our queen air mattress cot (also coleman brand iirc) with both night stands attached with no issues, but we couldn’t fit much else if we wanted space to stand up and change our clothes. We mitigated it by storing some stuff in the screen room and under our cot. If you’re into glamping, go a bit bigger than this. If you’re into standard camp stuff or slightly fancier camp stuff, this is perfect. Easily the best tent I’ve ever used!My favorite part was that the combination of the screen room door + internal door kept bugs out COMPLETELY. I legit didn’t think that was a real thing that could happen when you’re at a lake in the summer, but yeah!! Not even a single bug!We were also able to get it back in the original bag (barely) because it has a neat trick where you pull a tab and the bag extends to create a bit more space. Was much appreciated and made clean up a lot less stressful.

6 people found this helpful

Easy setup

Grandsons setup and took down 13,10&7 age

GOOD TENT, LOVE THE SCREENED IN AREA, STAYED DRY

I bought this tent to replace my old one that leaked like a sieve. I was attracted to the screened-in entry area and am very glad I bought this model as I found I enjoyed that screened area very much – as I sat and viewed the river outside my tent – even though it made the sleeping area smaller. The screened area was plenty big for a chair and small table and a second chair would probably fit too. The main area was roomy with just a twin air mattress but a double or queen would fit as well, though obviously, it would cut down on space for other things. I sometimes brought my table and chair inside after dark and there was plenty of room for that. the D shaped entry door to the main area worked beautifully, a one handed operation. I wish they could have put the same kind of door on the screen area entry. The T shaped zipper took two hands to operate (awkward if you were carrying anything into the tent) and it was impossible to close it tightly at the bottom, no matter what you did. There was also an unzippered electrical port opening in the screened in area. I taped that up but couldn’t really do much with the main entry other than make a ball of duct tape, sticky side out, and place it in the opening. And it picked up a bunch of little crawlies! I’m going to work on a permanent solution to this, maybe a velcro tab of some sort. I only had a morning of gentle rain to test this for waterproofness, but the main area was totally dry afterwards and the screened area was only wet at the very front. An almost perfect tent, a very reasonable price and I don’t regret buying it.

3 people found this helpful

Updated Evanston.

I don’t trust the waterproofing on anything, so I just got done spraying it with starbrite waterproofing spray. 50/50 with denatured alcohol to thin it out in a pump sprayer if you’re interested. Just spray the crap out of it and let dry a few hours. That being the case, I haven’t used it yet. However, initial thoughts are good. This is an updated more thought out version of the Evanston. Drainage issue of the “patio” area was addressed, as well as a simplified support structure with the 4-way rubber grommet center piece. Storage of this 4 way pole thing isn’t the most elegant, but it has its own bag, so it’s not bad. Easy to set up if you have ever put a tent up before. I like the color scheme a lot. If there was only a tag labeling the front of the rain fly for tents, it would just make things so much more organized. With a tent this size that has a substantial rain fly, trying to find the right orientation can be a task on initial setup. Easily my least favorite part of setting up tents.

I have camped and hiked a good bit, and was familiar with higher end backpacking …

We recently took our first family camping trip as a family of 4 with 2 young boys and a dog (4 and 7 months). I have camped and hiked a good bit, and was familiar with higher end backpacking tents, but not large family car camping tents. After doing a lot of research, and weighing spending $500 on a high end tent vs. ~$100 on big box store tents we decided to go with the Coleman Steel Creek 6. The big selling points were, price, the screen room that we can let the boys play in without getting eaten alive by bugs, and the large but not oversized tent body. I was a little cautious as I did not have a high opinion of Coleman gear.The tent goes up so easy, and with 2 people it takes less than 10 min to put up. Upon initial set up, I loved the functional layout of the tent. The tent was large enough to fit a full size air mattress, a childs sized sleeping pad, and a pack-n-play for a little one with tons of room to spare. The screen room was perfect as a play area for our boys during the day, and our dog’s favorite place to sleep at night. My two concerns about the tent were the somewhat flimsy fiber glass poles, and whether or not the tent was water proof. On our final night we had an unexpected rain storm, where it came down pretty hard for about and hour. The inside of the tent was bone dry, so no worries there. Time will tell if the fiberglass poles hold up.The only down side as others have mentioned was dirt and mud did wash into the screen room. It would be so much better if Coleman used a bath tub design here as well as this was a mess in the morning. It was not horrible but it did make a mess, I will need to see what I can come up with for this.

304 people found this helpful

Stood strong against the elements

We just took this tent camping this past weekend. Our family was a little worried by the rain forecast, but it didn’t seem like it would be too heavy so we decided to be brave and tough it out. We did a “practice run” setting up in the backyard the weekend before when winds were about 20-25 mph and were pleased with the durability. Sure, things swayed and flapped, but nothing came undone or flew away. This weekend, we were able to set up before the rain started, which was nice. Set up is quite simple, took us maybe 15 minutes including the rain fly… but we don’t have much practice. A seasoned veteran will likely be faster.What I really want to talk about is Saturday night, when the light rain turned into a downpour which escalated into a full on flash flood, lightning and thunder, HAIL storm. Luckily there was not much wind, which I think might have been the real deal breaker. But we looked out during some of the worst patches and saw our tent swimming in water, surrounded by a lake around 2-3 inches deep. There was ping pong sized hail falling and torrential rain. But the tent stood strong! No water leaked in as it sloshed around us, and no noticeable damage from the hail storm as we packed up the next day. It was loud and scary, but wow we stayed safe and dry. I don’t often give written reviews, but I was thoroughly impressed with the performance, and grateful to have the sturdy shelter during that storm.

2 people found this helpful

Good tent for the price

The tent is very cool looking, great price, the screened in porch is nice to have, the actual tent portion is spacious, but I have a couple reservations. Here they are:1.) The tent is not fitting two queen sized air mattresses as advertised. Unless you put one in the porch area.2.) The screened in porch area while being nice to have is exposed to the elements. There is a mesh part of the floor where the water is to drain, but it’s near the door of the tent, so in order for it to drain you would have had to pitch your tent on an angle towards the door(which you don’t do). Took it out for the first time, had a good rain, the porch was flooded. I had to physically brush all the water out the door(which was a lot) and let it sit to dry. Why they wouldn’t just continue the rain fly to cover the entire area is beyond me.3.) As I mentioned we had some rain first time out, well the corners didn’t hold up. The seams of the two back corners are more exposed to the elements than the front two and water seeped in. I just put a towel in each corner so the water wouldn’t go any further. If we had more than a day of rain it may have posed more of an issue. When we got home I bought seam sealant, sealed all the corners, so will see how that holds up if we get rain with the tent again.Update: 4.) Not a fan of the top of the tent and the front of the screen having to be tied to their respective pole with the piece of material that is attached to the tent. It holds, but looks like something that may rip over time. Some type of clip setup would have been better.Otherwise it is a nice tent for the price and looks cool. Just may have to invest in an additional rain fly or pop up canopy to cover the screened porch area.

2 people found this helpful

Amazing tent

I decided to write a review since I wasn’t expecting this tent to be as awesome as it was . We’re new to tent camping and didn’t really know where to start. We went with this one since its “waterproof, easy to assemble and large”. When we went up to camp we ended up in the middle of a monsoon so rain all day long, when they say this thing is waterproof they mean it. Not a single drop of rain got into the main part of our tent. The “porch” it mesh and got soaked but has a mesh strip right at the base to help with drainage and it’s designed to push the water towards that rather than it pooling right at the opening of the tent. The tent itself is huge. Me, my husband, and our two dogs (large about 60lbs-70lbs) fit just fine with more than enough room to move around and for all our gear. I can stand up fully in it and I’m about 5’4 so that was an added bonus. It took a second to figure out how to set it up since it’s not your basic kind of tent but it’s an effective design and easy once you get it. The only thing I didn’t like was the porch got mud it in after a few days of rain and you can’t take it off to clean that separately. Other than that this tent was amazing!