New(b) campers opinion on tent and sleeping bag.

[Maverick]

Our kids are finally old enough where we want to take them camping. We've narrowed our choices to this tent and sleeping bag(s). What do you pro's think? We are going to be casual campers (car camping) and not attempting to trek Mt. Everest or the K2..at least not anytime soon..

http://www.amazon.com/Coleman-Instan...2123344&sr=1-1

and

http://www.amazon.com/Sports-Celsius-Regular-Flannel-Sleeping/dp/B006IYCSES/ref=pd_sim_sg_1

[Internetpilot]

Re: New(b) campers opinion on tent and sleeping bag.

I know they're more of a mass-market rather than specialty sportsman product, but I really like Coleman tents. I've owned two of them and still use both of them depending on my mood. My first one is an earlier model of this:

and my current tent is this:

Both of which are similar size/rated tents to what you're looking at.

There are a few things that steered me away from the Instant Tent line, but most of those are just personal preferences:

1. I mostly camp in warm weather so I like to have a full screen top with a rainfly.
2. You may notice about both of my tents above that they have hinged D-frame doors -- once you have them you won't want any other type of tent door. LOVE those doors!
3. Once you've had a straight verticle wall tent, you won't tolerate any slope to your tent walls because that really cuts down on the useful footprint space. The Instant Tent is less sloped than a dome tent tho.

Don't let the quick setup claim fool you -- although the initial raising of the tent is relatively instantaneous, you're still going to spend 5-10 minutes properly staking it out, which puts you at about the same setup time as any Coleman tent with practice. The quick setup is still a very nice feature of this tent. My current tent sets up just about as quick though, and packs smaller since the poles are detached. My boys are still a little too young to be of much help with setting up my tent, so I typically do it by myself and it's done in 15 minutes.

I noticed several reviews on various websites claim that the hinge mechanism on the poles is a weak spot in the construction, and some have come from the store broken. As with any tent you buy, you'll want to set it up in the yard (maybe in the garage?) before you actually have to rely on it for camping. I've also noticed numerous claims of leaks in the rain, but you have to take those with a grain of salt because my two Coleman tents have similar leak claims in their customer reviews and both of mine have been and still are water tight in Florida downpours. I highly suspect the problem is not installing/staking out the rainfly properly, as most of the claims are about leaking window seams. Which brings me to the latest development in your choice of tents -- they're now sold with a rainfly. If you come across some "old" stock in a store without one, you can buy a rainfly for it separately now, too. It seems to be about $20 cheaper to find one with the rainfly included though.

The sleeping bag looks good to me. Keep in mind that I'm a Florida camper though -- we don't have much use for sleeping bags under 40-degree ratings, but my two sons do use 20-degree rated bags since they can't handle much cold being Florida natives. Your bag of choice seems to have really nice straps and a nice bottom to it for keeping dry/warm. I don't think you could go wrong with those sleeping bags.

[Maverick]

Re: New(b) campers opinion on tent and sleeping bag.

Yes, I will definitely do a trial set-up before we leave next month.

[GlitterHiker]

Re: New(b) campers opinion on tent and sleeping bag.

Specifically, the Coleman instant tents have a history of not being able to disassemble them. If you think about that for a moment you'll realize what a nightmare scenario that is especially when it comes time to try to get a refund. Just getting the thing back in the car will be an adventure in itself.

Oh my!