Coleman Instant Up

This tent is very easy to setup. One person can do it with a 6 year old running around in no time. It does indeed block a lot of light and I believe it is cooler than a regular tent. However, the durability is rubbish. Three times it has been used. Three times it has had damage due to light to moderate winds that it should be able to withstand and… Read more

much cheaper tents did. The stitching is weak as. The material is thin. After three uses it won’t be getting a fourth. Complete waste of money

Bought two instant up Dark Room 6 person tents 2 years ago ,used half a dozen times and this time i noticed stars on the roof when i woke up in the morning only to discover the fly has deteriorated to the point the inner lining is flaking of and its letting light and water through = tent now useless if it rains . $600 investment x 2 , not happy at all. Materials used in manufacture absolute rubbish Show details

Dear Coleman, since you are monitoring these reviews would you kindly answer if the darkroom fly is able to be purchased separately?? Since the polyurethane coating only lasts an avg of 3 years judging by online reviews, surely Coleman can provide product support at an affordable cost. Hopefully will hear back soon as I have a 4p and 6p that need… Read more

replacing and I have really had no other issues with these tents and want to continue using them in future tours. For those having issues in the wind, make sure you are setting it up properly and use larger pegs if necessary. The pegs that come with it are too small for proper wind resistance.

Beginning of last year I brought a 10 men tent for 1 person, that was me for the Bathurst 500 car racing, it was terrible so I left a brand new 10 man tent at the tent site, and then I looked into the Coleman Darkroom 4 or 6 man tent and when they say darkroom it's bloody dark alright. I brought it for $350.09 club prices and I took it to last… Read more ·  2

weekend Townsville V8'S Supercar race & before that was the Bathurst 1000 race in October last year and Bathurst 12 hour race February this and again last weekend at Riverside Convention site, Townsville. I had a esky side fridge/freezer in it, king single cot and mattress my clothes it rain and it did not get wet inside at all everything was dry because of the main tent with the frame DON'T USE TENT PEGS AT ALL USE A BATTERY HAND DRILL AND SCREW IN TENT PEGS , saves so much time and $19.00 for 15 screws in hand drill tent pegs makes life so much easier so I brought 2 boxes that 30 screw in the ground tent pegs comes with the screw head adaptor for the hand drill and it takes seconds to drill into the ground and then tied them the rope for the tent. Set the temp pegs to halfway only then you put the main dark roof over the frame tie it off and it doesn't touch the other frame or the other tent at all so it does get wet and water drips through once the outer covers on your eyes the rest of the tent poles to the height until it locks in then with the tape ropes used screwing tent and pegs and tighten the ropes up. Coleman dark room tent is a must when you get home in the afternoon from the car racing and you want to sleep you just shut everything up it is so much cooler being so dark and it's like night time and you get to sleep and you wake up round about three o'clock in the morning to start unique cash shift again. Coleman has outdone themselves with these darkroom tents they are the best tents ever. I was under a tree so I took photo of the tree and the Coleman Darkroom 4 person Darkroom tent. Unfortunately I didn't take any photos of inside the tent as it was pretty messy inside. I also suggest with the tent lines as you will see in the photos best to buy at least three or four extra tent ropes lines in case they break. I highly recommend Coleman's 4 or 6 person Darkroom tent for camping as it cooler in the hot parts of the day, don't leak when raining, pleanty of room an I highly recommend the great price of $350 in getting one of these Coleman's dark room tents either four person or a six person , if you go on your own four person tent is fantastic. Again I highly recommend this tent.

Excellent – Absolutely a breeze to put up and put down. I just took this tent out to Menindee Lakes and the Mundi bash. Was faultless. I set up by myself and took down. Plenty of room for two stretchers and space for getting dressed and keeping your gear organised. The windows are good for letting in a breeze and also for sealing off the wind on cold nights.… Read more

We were faced with a strong storm one night and the tent was faultless. I would not hesitate recommending this tent to anyone. I want another one for my two sons to sleep in. Thank you Coleman for being so damn reliable.

Seams peeled off after 2 uses – Owned the tent for 4-5 years. Kept in garage. Opened it up for 3rd time. Seams had totally peeled off and whole tent stank of glue. Water was pouring in through the fabric. Thought Coleman would be more customer orientated but not interested as out of warranty. Manufacturer fault in my opinion. Show details

problem with seams – inner linings covering the seams deteriorated after 4 years. not much used. Hopefully it’s still waterproof.

This is my second Coleman tent, and possibly my last. InstantUp is obviously a lie. No one expects instant, but....they do claim "less than two minutes". Even in their video example of two experts putting it up, it takes much more than 2 minutes - the video is clearly edited and they edit out and skip many tasks of putting up the tent. Just dodgy.… Read more

Secondly the instructions do not match the content of the tent. I spent quite some time liaising with Coleman to get the right pieces that match the instructions, but they don't exist. They've obviously updated the components without updating the instructions. Wasted much time. The instructions themselves within the tent were neither clear nor complete.

Only a few months into use this tent's light has stopped working. It switches off immediately you turn it on every time. Replaced batteries pointlessly to no effect.

The last and MOST FRUSTRATING part of this tent is the dodgy bag. Every time you have to put the tent away you spend ten minutes trying to squeeze it into the tiny bag. You NEED a bigger bag. And Coleman saving pennies on materials will now waste my time and frustrate me every single time.

UPDATE - squeezing the tent into the bag does not get any easier with experience. The bag size is a disgrace and endlessly frustrating. I will never buy anything from Coleman again.

Really good value for money – I purchased an Coleman Instant-Up 4 Silver because our expensive bigger tent takes too long to assemble and put up. We have used this tent extensively. In 2017 we've done the big lap - around Australia. Over 20,000km we slept in this tent nearly every night. We have not experienced a lot of rain in it, but from cold to hot nights, no worries. … Read more

Since then, we have made several other trips taking only the Instant-Up, and not our big 3-room tent. Why? It takes less space and goes up much quicker. We have done the NSW Outback, the Victorian Alps, the Vic Coastal Road, Kosciusko, etc. My experience with strong winds is different from that of the person below. Camping at Jindabyne in Autumn, we had winds of over 100km/h. I woke up in the middle of the night, put in a few extra pegs, and tied the ropes to our trailer. Next morning, our tent and fly-sheet were still standing - undamaged - while a lot of other campers around us had their tents and awnings blown into the lake. Not bad for a $200 tent. (The tent was sheltered behind the trailer, so pick your spot before pitching).

On hot nights, we often don't cover the tent with the fly-sheet, but sleep under just one layer. Quicker to pitch and take down. Talking about which, my then 10 year old son had no trouble putting the tent up by himself within 5 minutes. Or taking it down. The 4 person tent is bit cosy for 3 people over several months, but quite liveable. You have to leave your shoes and luggage outside though. But bugs stay out as well.

The only criticism I have for this tent is that it is quite snug to fit into the bag after take down. Tent pegs are quite flimsy (ie bend easy). So far nothing has broken or ripped.

I am writing the review now to help me decide if I should upgrade this tent, as my wife now insists on taking the dog camping with us. And I reckon I may go for the Coleman Instant Up Dark 6P. Slightly larger, slightly better materials, same design.

Can’t be trusted in the wind – 4 days in mild weather-great. Lights, could stand up, had the dog. 10 nights in Jindabyne in winter- great except day 1 due to wind and had fo use our hiking tent. 3 days in winter-disaster. Wind gusts 40km/h. Poles buckled and knuckles snapped. Goodbye $700 and Coleman instant up as can’t be trusted Show details

A nightmare in the wind – We’ve set this tent up at least 120 plus times in all sorts of weather conditions. From zero wind to 40/50 km winds. If there is any wind greater than a slight breeze it’s a two person job or in a decent wind a three or four person job to hold the inner frame and tent upright. Requires one or more to hold the internal tent and frame steady in… Read more

the breeze. It has no structural integrity of its own and will damage in an instant. It requires the fly to be attached as quickly as possible as the fly is the is the sole means of support. We’ve been through two flys under warranty as none have been made to actually fit the inner frame correctly and are stitched off centre. This means the inner Velcro straps that attach to both sides of the knuckles on each pole are under extreme tension in the fitted position. Most times if the wind blows greater than your ability to fart this then tears the Velcro either open or in our case off the fly itself. We’ve had to re-stitch multiple times before extending the Velcro longer.

We will be setting fire to it the moment we return home and looking for a better quality product elsewhere

Weather tent – We have had this tent for seven years and in that time we have used it in most weather conditions. Last week we camped on Moreton island at northpoint where it was subjected to 35 to 40knot winds and it didn’t budge. We had it under a tarp but it was open to driving rain and wind. The fact that you can close the windows without having to brave the… Read more

elements and it had hooks for torch or lights is good. Each side pockets which you can place keys, iPads and small items is good. Even though it is a 4 man, nice you put a double bed inside there is little room for bags. The length means that your feet touch the door but it didn’t affect our sleep. It sets up easily after you have clipped it together the first time and packs away like a beach umbrella.

Poor quality fabric – I purchased a Coleman Instant Up 4P gold series tent from Tentworld, Tweed Heads in April 2021. I have used it 3 times and when packing it up from the last trip was surprised to see two small holes in the fabric, one in the rear wall and one in the floor. I'm a careful camper, rake the site clear of leaf litter, etc and use an OZtrail Ultramesh… Read more

ground sheet. I have used various tents under all sorts of conditions over the past 50 years including a couple of lightweight hiking tents and a well used low cost cheapy. None of these tents developed holes. Very disappointing that Coleman are using a poor quality fabric that's simply not fit for purpose in an otherwise good design.

Could be good but poor materials used – Pros: easy to set up and break down, lots of ventilation and handy storage pockets flouro guy ropes, pretty good in the rain, good quality floor on gold series tents. Cons: tends to collapse in moderate winds breaking knuckle joints, heavy, fly screens so flimsy they stretch out of shape and hole easy even with the gold series. If you decide to purchase an instant up tent make sure you take spare knuckles and tools to fit them. Show details

Perfect if no wind, can’t stand up in wind – Great tent if there is no wind. We’re been camping in winds above 30km/h and the tent just collapsed. Had to book accomodation as we couldn’t stay in the tent. It also doesn’t matter how many ropes you put down, the elbows just fold in. Very poor design in my opinion Show details

Great tent if the quality were there – great tent, really great design but so far 3 different points have snapped after a few uses. We've had replacement parts so can't complain but would have rather it held together. Shame. Tentworld have been fantastic to help us, just the tent that's poor quality. Show details

Coleman Easy up tent 6 person – Easy to put up and Pack away but easily falls down on top of you in the wind. Which is quite disappointing. Great if you are camping with absolutely no breeze. Doesnt seem to matter how many guide ropes and pegs you put in the top corners collapse with the slightest breeze.  Show details

Snake holes in each corner – Bought this tent from tentworld Perth heading North. First night at Geraldton we set it up went up in 30 seconds but then my wife said i can touch the grass. Really i had a look and each corner had a hole above the floor panel big enough for any snake to get in. Called Tentworld. We did a swap and paid extra for a Coleman Darkroom 6 man thats another disaster story. Show details

Great design. Poor quality materials – We've used this tent 7 times this year ranging from 3 night stays to 7 night stays. At first we loved the tent. Very easy to set up and easy pack away. We do a lot of beach camping so it can get gusty. We use all tie down points and appropriate pegs. The tent has never let us down in adverse weather conditions. My big issue with it is durability… Read more

of the materials used to make the tent. Two zips have broken in the last two trips. The elastic tabs used for pegging down have serious wear with some now unusable- weve replaced with this rope. The tabs which hold out the bottom air vents out at the side are tearing the material beside the stitching. One of main knuckles on the frame randomly bent sideways in packing up last time and bent the the very thin screw that holds the joint together. Luckily I had something to replace it. Were very careful where we place our tent but there is now a hole in the bottom which needs repairing. Great design but poor quality build and materials. With that consideration, way overpriced.