3 Top Picks
3 Reviewers
6 Hours of Research
15 Products Considered
While camping and hiking are extremely fun activities with a lot of value, they can cause a significant amount of frustration. When you’re not at home and don’t have all of the amenities that you typically have, everything is more inconvenient and difficult.
One of the many inconveniences that campers face is how much of a pain it is to set up a tent when camping. It seems like a simple concept, but often time’s tents are difficult, bulky, and hard to set up. The difficulty can also be amplified even further if you are trying to set it up alone without help.
For that reason, instant tents have become more and more popular. As the name implies, instant tents are known for how quickly and easily they set up so that you can start enjoying your camping trip instead of constantly assembling your campsite. This list of the best instant tents will walk you through some of the crucial information that you need to know when purchasing and using an instant tent.
By the end, you’ll be an expert in the field of instant tents and you’ll be able to identify which instant tents or instant cabin tents are the best for you.
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Best Instant Tents Types
Before we get into how you should select an instant tent or which instant tents are the best out there, we have to understand what types of instant tents exist. From instant dome tents to traditional instant camping tents, there are several kinds of tents out there to meet several different needs.
Here are the four basic instant tent types.
Summer Tents
As the name implies, summer tents are typically used in the summer and warm weathers. Summer tents often are built using a lot of light materials including mesh for increased ventilation. This is to allow maximum airflow and encourage comfort while you are sleeping or hanging out in your tent.
Three-season Tents
Three-season tents are tents that are to be used during the summer, spring, or fall. They are very strong and durable instant pop up tents due to the materials that they are made out of. These tents are usually made of nylon and mesh. They have some airflow options but typically are made for protection. They’re very versatile tents that can be used in many situations.
All-Season Tents
As the most versatile tents out there, you can use them in any season and virtually any environment. They usually put an emphasis on protection from the elements including rain and sometimes snow. While they are extremely durable and made of sturdy materials, but they also have breathability and airflow options that still make them comfortable to use in the summer.
Winter Tents
If you are an extreme camper that camps in extremely cold conditions, you are going to want to get instant set up tents that are suitable for those conditions. There are tents out there that are made for this type of weather abuse. With these tents, you’ll be getting a high-quality durable construction made of heavy materials.
Additionally, the frame will be reinforced to support the weight of snow and moisture on the tent. Winter tents are among the sturdiest tents that are available. If you are looking for something that can get through most anything, buy a winter tent.
Dome Tents
Dome tents are named for the shape of the tent. They are typically better for deflecting rain and in the harsh elements and structural integrity is their strength. This is just a shape style for a tent and is subject to personal preference. If you like the mobility of dome tents but would prefer something that is a little more sturdy, check out the quality SUV tents that are out there.
Tent Selection Factors
When you are starting the process of selecting a tent for you or your family, there are going to be some features and factors to take into consideration to ensure that you get the best tent possible to suit your needs. If you don’t, you are going to end up with a tent that might not serve your needs.
It’s important to look at each of these factors, how important they are to you, and whether the tents you are looking to meet those needs during the shopping process. Here are some of the factors that we consider to be essential and that we used to evaluate the tents in our buying guide.
Ease Of Tent Setup
The good news is that instant tents are generally the easiest type of tent to set up. However, there are still features and factors that you want to look out for with these tents to ensure that they are going to be suitable for your setup.
Your opinion of what constitutes “instant” or “easy” might be different and although no instant tents are really considered to be difficult to set up, they do vary in ease of setting up. You should make sure that you know exactly how a tent is set up and how easy it is before you purchase a tent.
Vents On Instant Tents
If you are a camper, you know the struggle of sleeping in a tent that has no ventilation when it’s warm out. Tents can be incredibly stuffy if they don’t have proper ventilation. For that reason, you should carefully look at what ventilation options are available on the tent that you buy and plan accordingly.
If staying comfortable and cool is important to you, be sure to get a tent that has plenty of vents around the outside. It’s also important to ensure that those vents can be optionally closed for when it does get chilly outside.
Doors For Easy Access
Camping tents are notoriously difficult to enter and exit because of how low the doorway sits and those tricky zippers. However, you can still try to find an option that makes entering and exiting via the door as easy as possible.
The most important thing here is that the zipper for the door is easy to use so that you can enter and exit conveniently. You also want to make sure that the doorway is large enough for you to move easily through when you need to enter or exit.
Additionally, you might want the door to have ventilation features to act as a screen door. Some tents feature an almost “porch” that serves as an entryway to put shoes and other accessories before you actually enter the sleeping area of the tent.
Portability And Convenience
One of the main benefits of an instant tent is that they usually pack into compact carrying cases and are not difficult to transport. These tents are a popular choice among those who hike and backpack because of how easy they are to carry on the trail and setup/takedown on the road.
When you are shopping for an instant tent, you will probably want to take a look at what features the tent has to make transport a breeze. If you are shopping for an instant tent, chances are that you value portability and convenience as the main factor in your tents.
Pay special attention to the size of the tent when collapsed, whether it comes with a carrying case, and the weight of the tent when broken down.
Poles For Stability
Instant tents usually specialize in being lightweight and easy to assemble, but they aren’t always known for their stability and durability. A common misconception is that because these tents are lightweight and sometimes thin, that they cannot be durable or stand up to harsh weather conditions.
This is true for some models, but you can absolutely find instant tents that stand up to the elements very well and can serve you in a variety of situations and conditions. If you are going to be camping out in harsh elements like wind, rain, and snow, you want to pay attention to what the poles of your tent are made of and whether they will be able to stand up to those conditions.
The last thing you want is for your tent to collapse on you or blow away in the wind, so be sure that whichever tent you decide on has all the stability that you’ll need for your journeys.
Height For Comfort
Comfort is obviously a huge factor in what tent you select. Most of the time what it comes down to is how high the ceiling of your tent is. The height of your tent is going to determine whether you can comfortably stand and move around within the tent.
This might not seem like a big deal since you’ll only be sleeping in the tent, but if you are planning on spending any amount of significant time in the tent you want to be comfortable. That’s very difficult to do when you don’t even have room to stand up.
When you are shopping for your tent, make sure that you pay attention to the assembled dimensions to ensure that you will be able to be comfortable within your tent.
Enough Space For All
While on the subject of comfort and dimensions, we should also touch on the capacity of your tent. You should ensure that whichever tent you are looking at has enough room to fit all of the people that you want it to be able to fit. This could be just you or it could be your family.
A good tip is to look at the assembled dimensions to see how much space is available within the tent. That way you can more easily determine how many people it will fit comfortably. Most tents will also tell you their capacity.
Best Instant Tent Reviews
Since it can be hard to find tents in a world of thousands of products, we’ve put together a list of some of the best instant tents on the market. In addition to identifying these products for you, we’ve also done an in-depth analysis of these products and what their strengths and weaknesses are.
Using this comprehensive buying guide, you’ll be able to find a tent that best suits you conveniently and quickly. Enjoy!
Editor's Rating:
4.4/5
This very impressive instant tent is named our best overall instant tent on the list. It is packed with features, very large, and can accommodate you in a variety of camping situations.
Starting with the speed, this tent can be assembled in 60 seconds. That’s about as fast as it gets when it comes to camping tent assembly. This tent is large enough to feature a room divider and storage pockets, which makes traveling in groups much easier.
There’s also an electrical cord access port so that you can easily charge your electronics conveniently. This all comes in a convenient carrying case to make it easy to transport and bring along to your next camping trip.
The biggest trait of this tent is that it has more than enough room for a group or family to use it. The room divider makes group accommodations a breeze and the high roof means that you’ll also be comfortable during your stay in the tent. If you are purchasing an instant tent for your family, this is an excellent choice.
The tent comes in two colors and sleeps 9 people altogether. It can fit two queen mattresses and features an adequate center height of about 50 inches.
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Editor's Rating:
4.4/5
This easy instant setup tent is made specifically for beach-goers! Like the tent that we profiled before it, this tent sets up in about 60 seconds. It’s a super easy tent to set up, but you’ll also find that there are handy and comprehensive instructions contained within the tent for you to follow.
This tent is both lightweight and water resistant, making it a perfect tent for a day at the beach. It’s made out of high-grade polyester with UV protection that can protect you from the sun. When it’s fully assembled, it weighs only 5 pounds and sits 39 inches high. When it’s packed up, it’s incredibly easy to carry and fit into the back of your car.
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Inside the tent, you’ll find that it’s spacious and made from quality materials. There’s a small porch space where you can keep your belongings or let children and pets play. The main function of this tent is to keep you off the wet or unpleasant ground and allow you to have a shelter to hang out in on your day at the beach.
This tent features roll-up windows on three sides to allow you privacy when you need it or a 360-degree view when you want it. There’s plenty of ventilation to let the cool air in and 4 handy internal mesh pockets to store your belongings.
If you need something lightweight, durable, and easy to transport for your day at the public park or beach, this is the perfect instant tent for you. This shelter will keep you out of the sun and let you relax. For the money, this is certainly one of the best instant tents out there.
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Editor's Rating:
4.3/5
This dome tent is the best instant dome tent that we have seen on the market. It’s perfect for backpacking or hiking as well as a casual backyard sleepover. It’s one of the easiest tents you’ll ever experience for setting up and the steel pole system will ensure structural integrity when it is assembled.
It comes with easy-to-follow instructions for setting up and use and can be set up in only 30 seconds from the beginning. Since it’s a dome tent, the doorway is smaller than other types of tents, but that is to be expected. It’s also not the roomiest tent out there, but if you are looking for a tent for 1 or 2 people, it will do just fine.
The floor of this tent is high-quality and can handle years of use when taken care of. The tent itself can fit a queen mattress or 2-4 sleeping bags.
As far as extra features go, this tent has storage pockets and a gear loft to keep your belongings organized and safely off the ground. You could opt to hand a small battery lantern from the gear loft to light your tent conveniently.
Core 4 also has water repellent fabrics, quality seams, and an advanced venting system to keep you cool in the summer months. If you are looking for a simple, affordable dome tent, this is the one.
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Editor's Rating:
4.4/5
This is another dome tent that might catch your eye. It is very similar to other dome tents, but the capacity is larger than typical with this one. Using sleeping bags, you can sleep up to 6 in this tent if you need to.
It has a spacious interior that will allow you to move around the cabin comfortably and sets up in 10 minutes or less. While the setup time is longer than what you might find in other options, it’s still very manageable, especially if you have a small team of people working on it.
The WeatherTec system includes the seams, floors, and walls and helps to keep you dry. Dome tents are great at repelling water and this dome tent is no exception to that.
It also features large windows that allow you to see out and a great venting system so that you don’t get overheated in summer months. When assembled, this tent measures 9 feet by 7 feet with a 4-foot 11-inch center height that allows you general comfort when moving about.
It also comes in four different color schemes to fit your style. If you are looking for an intermediate-level dome tent for a group of people, this is a great option for you. It’s available in multiple sizes and isn’t the most affordable option out there, but is still worth the money.
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Editor's Rating:
4.3/5
Though dome tents are great for affordability and compactness, there are other types of tents out there. This cabin instant tent by CORE is a perfect example. You’ll notice that this tent looks a little bit larger and more substantial-looking. That’s because it stands higher and is a little bit larger than your average dome tent.
This tent takes about 60 seconds to set up and can sleep up to 6 people. Inside, it fits two queen mattresses and boasts a center height of 72 inches, allowing you to get up and move around comfortably.
There’s an adjustable ground vent that will increase ventilation while also blocking water from getting in and up top, you can find a convenient gear loft.
If you are looking for a larger family tent that’s still compact and easy to set up, this could be a great candidate for you. It also comes with a 1-year warranty.
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Editor's Rating:
4.2/5
This dome tent is a true ‘Budget Pick’. If you need a quality dome tent with a very affordable price tag, look no further! This tent is simple but durable. It’s made with an eco-friendly coating that helps to repel UV rays. It also has a sealed flysheet and seams that help to block moisture.
It has plenty of ventilation coming in the form of 2 zippered windows to keep you cool in the summer months. It can be set up in less than 5 minutes, making it competitive but not the fastest out there.
This dome tent comes with side pockets, a large overhead pocket, cable port, and plenty of headspace to move around the tent. It comes in 8 different colors, as well!
If you are looking for something simple, durable, and affordable, check out this tent by ALPHA CAMP. They offer a 1-year warranty with this basic tent.
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Editor's Rating:
4.3/5
This unique-looking tent is the perfect step up if you are looking for a basic beach tent with a little more substance than others. The price is higher than some others such as the beach tent we reviewed earlier, but so is the quality and spaciousness.
This tent is waterproof and windproof to accommodate you on the beach and it sets up in seconds. It’s the perfect sturdy hub to bring along to the beach for you to relax and take a break in. The hexagon shape makes it distinct and spacious while the durable construction won’t have you worrying about it not lasting.
If you need a beach tent that’s going to be durable and last you a long time, you will definitely want to consider this one.
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