I plan to update this review after this weekend as we will be taking this camping for the first time. In the meantime I wanted to share some initial feedback on my purchase of the Elite Montana. [Updated since camping, see bottom of this review] Unboxing - It was noted immediately that the CPX 6 power pack is not the one with the USB port, and it did not include the rechargeable power cartridge. I contacted Coleman directly and they indicated that the rechargeable power cartridge is one that is an upgrade that can be purchased separately. I have let Coleman know their description is wrong, as well as filed something with Amazon so this can be corrected (this is all as of Aug 2019). Lastly I would note one of the pictures they supply in this product page, where a man is carrying a child out/into the tent, is not the Elite Montana tent/product. That pic is of the Elite Weathermaster 6-person tent. This threw us as that pic demonstrates back windows, but in fact this tent has no back windows, only an air-port close to the ground in the back center of the tent. We were a little bummed to not see a full back window. Other windows are on the small windows on the side as shown, of course the front door/screen, and lastly the large screened roof in the tent. I would say though if you check out the Coleman website directly for this tent, their description matches exactly what I received. Outside of these differences noted in the advertisement, the product included what I was expecting, and the bag the tent comes in was sturdier then I was expecting and has a handy expansion zipper to allow for easier packing up. Setup - This was pretty straight forward, the poles are easy to figure out. The 15 min setup time I would say is accurate. The auto-roll windows were a little confusing initially, but reading the instructions made it clear. They packaged the springs for those windows in the stakes bag (wasn't the first place we looked). I did not get a chance to put on the rainfly yet, but will be doing that this weekend. Initial Impression - I've seen this comment by others, but the bottom of the door is a bit higher than we are used to, so a couple of trips going in and out of the tent initially. That is mostly just because we are used to a different tent, I'm sure we will get used to this. I like the fact that they wired the lighting in such a way that the wires are integrated into the tent, and also the power connection side of the wire is on the side of the tent where the door opens, which for us is where us parents/adults planned to be (keeping the wires away from the kids side). For our tent if looking at the tent front, the power side of the integrated wiring is on the right-back side. An improvement I might make is to bring some added thin nylon rope to tie to the ends of the tent around the side window on the pole to better keep them in place. When the fly is on, the fly has these ropes that can be staked down to achieve this, but on a nice night where we don't want the fly I fear some wind will make this design less stable without it being tied down. Again would be an easy $2 fix by me, but just something worth noting I'm considering. I've given this 4 stars at the moment because we haven't fully tested yet and the description was off. This weekend will be the big test, and rain may be possible according to the weather. Will update my post after first full use. My last Coleman tent lasted us almost 20 years with regular camping each year, so we are looking forward to seeing how this goes! Updates Since First Camping Use Overall: This tent very much met our expectations. It was even blessed with some heavy rain! We were a little concerned going to a tent only 7" deep fearing having bedding or us touching the side of the tent during rain would be an issue. However I would say the side walls on the tent are vertical enough where our heads did not hit the side of the tent, and even with bedding slightly touching the side of the tend nothing got wet inside (we did have rainfly up). There was plenty of room for us with our queen size air mattress, pack and play for baby, sleeping bag for toddler, and all of our bags with room to change clothes easily as well as get in and out of tent without stumbling over anything. The Door - We were initially a little worried about tripping over the lip of the door, but we very quickly got used to it and no trips. We loved the ability to simply open and close the door with the hinge and avoiding the zipper. We never saw any bugs in the tent with this system, and with little kids it made it quieter to get in and out of the tent when they were sleeping, as well as any middle of the night bathroom breaks. The Lights - When buying we weren't too interested in this feature, however after using it, it was very handy and we were happy to have it. When putting the kids down leaving a night light on was super handy and they fell asleep easily. They advertise 81 hours of battery life with just the nightlight use. So if using only a few hours each night, our family can get at least 7-10 camping trips in on a single set of batteries. The Windows - As mentioned earlier it rained a few times on this trip, some being pretty strong rain. We left the side windows fully open and never felt a drop inside with the rainfly on. I would say this will depend completely on a direction rain is coming down, but for us this trip the wind wasn't very strong and it was mostly straight down so no issues. Airflow - This camping trip saw highs in the low 80's and lows at night in the mid 60's. These are pretty easy temps to tent camp in, so needless to say temperatures were comfortable. It never felt stuffy inside. With the large overhead screen roof, and the ground air-port vent, maybe everything did exactly as it should. I am interested to see how a warmer camping experience works out. Packing Tent - It's a little funny they give a rectangle shaped carrier to me. I'm so used to rolling up tents and having a round bag. I was able to get everything in easily, even when I had to pack up in the rain! One Minor Issue - Our rainfly was not fully waterproofed from the factory. There was a section about 18 inches wide by 4 feet long on the front side of the tent that covers the front door that clearly was missed. That section aborbed water where everywhere else on the rainfly beaded the rain up on the surface. This still did not cause any leaking at all inside the tent, but is something to be corrected. I contacted Coleman and they are going to send me the spray needed to correct. No big deal in our opinion, easily corrected, but something Coleman could have better quality controls over. Summary - My wife and I were happy upgrading to this tent. Our last tent was a Coleman Dome tent with a 10'x12' footprint. With our growing family we felt it was time to upgrade to something a little larger, and we are glad we did. We feel this will grow with us over time. We are both seasoned campers, so I feel confident based on this camp trip with the weather we saw, with proper care this tent will last us a long time. Will keep this a 4 star rating due to the incorrect description, and rainfly section that needs waterproofing.
