This is our first tent, so my wife and I invested a lot of time in finding the right one. We originally bought the Coleman WeatherMaster Screened 6 Tent, but we found something we didn't like about it. We, therefore, opted to pay a little bit more for a bigger and roomier tent that would fit our supplies. Although only 3 of us occupied the tent, we were glad there was more than enough space to put our personal items on the other side of the tent. We were both able to stand up without having to haunch over. That was a plus for us. The other version of this tent comes with a ceiling light and fan, but it was more than what we were wanting to pay. First of all, I'm not a very tall person, so I needed another individual to help me set it up. It does help to have one side of the tent staked down while you get the rest of it up. The instructions on the bag aren't very helpful, but it's pretty simple to set up once you get the 3 main support structures together. Even though the tent came with its own stakes, I bought at least 8 extra ones. I think in total, you'll need at 9 stakes if you were to secure all of the available sections. I'm sure the stakes that came with it will suffice, but I read a few reviews suggesting to get better ones, and I don't regret doing so either. The plastic yellow ones still do the job, and there are thin metal ones that are included as well. I didn't check how many there were of those, since I used the other ones that I bought separately. Once the tent was up, we put the rain fly on, since there was a chance we were going to have rain. Thankfully, it didn't rain as much, just sprinkles. I was hoping it would so that I could test out the effectiveness of the rain fly. Even though it was pretty hot during the day, we still kept the rain fly on. It got pretty cold at night, so please be aware that this tent is more suited for warmer camping trips. We were fine, since we brought extra blankets. Too bad Coleman doesn't have zippers to close the top mesh areas. There's no way to cover those, only with the rain fly. Regardless, we had all of the windows open during the day, and the airflow through the tent was pretty good, even on hot days. Next, we loved the door. Some reviewers think it's no big deal, but it's a smart design. You don't have to keep zipping anymore unless you're going to sleep at night. My daughter did trip a few times going into the tent, since the bottom of the door is a few inches high. As long as your kids, friends, or family are aware of that, it shouldn't be a huge deal. Velcro keeps the door from flapping around. I didn't notice this before I bought it, but there is also a back door on the other side of the tent, but that one is the standard tent door where you zip it up to open/close. We never used that one, since it was more of a nuisance. I kind of wish it wasn't there, for security reasons, but that's fine. Inside the tent is pretty spacious. I do wish that there were item holders in each corner to put your phone or other little things in. Still, no big deal. Do note that the end of the tent are tilted in, so you won't get all the room on both ends of the tent. Again, that didn't bother us either. On one side of the tent, towards the bottom, there's a zipper that you can open to allow an extension cord in. That came pretty handy. The tent came with a privacy screen to divide the room up if you had another occupant on the other side, but we didn't put it up, since we weren't needing it. It doesn't zip up to the tent, unfortunately. It just hangs onto these little grapples, so you don't really get too much privacy, just something to block your view of the other people on the other side. Lastly, putting the tent away is a pain, only because you have to fold this thing really good to put it back into the little bag that it comes in. Make sure to keep your window flaps open so that the air can escape when you're folding it back up. I would also suggest purchasing or bringing along a little dust broom and pan to clean all of the dirt that will collect on your tent when you're in the process of putting this away.
