We lived in a Coleman Instant Up Tent (6 person) for almost a month on our NSW road trip. But, was it really the best tent for our family?

To start our camping collection in Australia (again), we needed quality items that fit our current camping lifestyle. We spent two weeks researching and buying our camping supplies*. Including a tent that is easy to put up and can fit two adults and a baby comfortably. And, the Coleman Instant Up Tent (6 person) is almost perfect.

The Coleman Instant Up Tent is ideal for families

Overall, we loved our Coleman Instant Up Tent. Here’s why:

• It’s really fast and very easy to set-up. The tent’s simplicity makes it great for beginners and experienced campers.
• It’s super spacious inside, allowing you to stand up straight and actually live in the tent. More on that below.
• The tent is light-weight enough (13.5kg) for one adult to carry it a short distance (like from the car to the camping spot).
• The Coleman Instant Up Tent 6P (silver edition) has a very large screen door and three large screened windows with roll up flaps. So, we could hang out inside the tent during a hot day and enjoy the airflow away from mosquitos and bugs.

Is the Coleman Instant Up Tent really an ‘instant-up’ tent?

It depends on your interpretation of ‘instant-up’.

I’m very impressed with how quick and easy it is to put up such a large tent. Once the Coleman Instant Up Tent is out of it’s carry bag, it takes two minutes to fold out and pop up. Meaning the frame and inner tent is fully assembled in less than three minutes! It’s incredible! However, it does take another ten minutes (or so) to pull the fly over the frame and peg it all down.

It’s really is easy and quick, even for one person to put it up and pack it down on their own.

And, even after it has been put up and down several times, the tent, fly, poles, pegs and guy-ropes all fit into the large bag very easily. Great for anyone who is sick of trying to stuff everything into the same tiny bag it came in.

Is the Coleman Instant Up Tent (6 person) big enough?

Where size matters

At 190cm tall, the Coleman Instant Up Tent allows an adult to stand upright while inside. And, the square structure and flat roof allow you to walk around upright. As someone with a dodgy back, this was a huge selling point for me.

The Coleman Instant Up Tent is very spacious. The large floor space (320cm L x 260cm W) comfortably fit our queen size mattress, three pieces of luggage and a baby travel cot. And, without the travel cot we fit two camping chairs and a small camping table or a playmat inside. This meant we could have playtime inside the tent when it rained or the mosquitoes came out.

But there was one thing we didn’t think of…

Too big to fit in here

Even after extensive research and shopping around, we didn’t consider that the Coleman Instant Up Tent would not fit in our car. Oops!

Unfortunately, the package that the tent comes in (134cm L x 24cm W x 24cm H) was too long to fit the width of our Mitsubishi ASX’s boot. But it did fit in long-ways if we folded down one of the back seats.

We had to rethink how we packed our car and what we could take with us on our road trip. Luckily, most of our belongings fit around the tent and in our Road Trip Kit** roof bag. In the future, if we have another person in the back seat, we would need to transport the tent in a trailer or roof rack.

 

What else do I need to know before I buy a Coleman Instant Up Tent?

As mentioned, consider how much space the Coleman Instant Up Tent needs to be transported.

The Coleman Instant Up Tent material is pulled tight around the corner points at the top and our tent is showing wear and tear. Our tent already has two small holes just big enough for a small bug to get in. However, we have used it at eight different campgrounds and two campgrounds had high winds. So, I’m sure that was a contributing factor to the wear and tear.

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*We purchased our tent and other supplies at Tentworld.

**Our awesome Road Trip Kit waterproof roof bag is made by a small Kiwi company and is essential for any camping road trip.