Over the past several years, I have owned a variety of tents and, actually, still do. My quest for the perfect tent began after a week-long camping trip to Padre Island National Seashore. If you’ve ever been there, you know the wind is blowing nearly constantly and can be rather gusty, too.
The first tent to be tested on Padre Island was a Coleman Cimmaron 8 person modified dome tent. While setting up the tent, a seam ripped; irritating for sure. My wife and I used the tent for the week without any additional problems and it held up fairly well in the high winds. The tent was large enough that we were able to fit a queen sized air mattress and portable toilet inside but the poor quality was a concern. It was returned to the store once we arrived home.
The next tent to be tested was a cabin-style instant tent purchased at Walmart. This tent’s footprint was basically the same as the Cimmaron, 9 x 13, but it offered more stand up room. The other apparent plus was that it would be quick and easy to set up, even by one person. It didn’t take long to discover this tent also cannot withstand high winds; it collapsed on our second night. We ended up sleeping inside the full-size van driven on this trip for the rest of the week.
Overall this is a decent tent but for use only in good weather conditions (no wind and no rain). It’s easy for one person to set up and it does provide good stand up room. It doesn’t do well in high wind situations and it doesn’t keep rainwater out (I discovered that on another camping trip).
The third tent to be tested on Padre Island National Seashore was another Coleman tent. This time it was a Coleman Sundome 6 person dome tent. Coleman boasts that their tents can withstand winds up to 35 mph. This one was a 10 x 10 tent with 6-foot center height. The size of it allowed for a queen air mattress and portable toilet.
Have you ever tried sleeping in a tent with the sidewall flapping in your face? It doesn’t make for a peaceful night. I’ll give Coleman some credit because the tent poles didn’t break but it really irritated me having the tent sidewall cave in from the wind gusts. Upon taking down the tent, I discovered the tent’s material couldn’t withstand the constant wind. The sleeves that the fiberglass poles slip through were torn and in bad shape. Another Coleman tent returned to the store. I think Coleman should do some real-world testing on Padre Island with their products.
While staying in a hotel room on the return trip home from our week long adventure on Padre Island, my wife convinced me to buy a Kodiak Canvas 10 x 10 cabin tent. I had seen these tents in my research but they were costly. On this last trip to Padre Island, there was a guy that actually had a Kodiak Canvas tent set up; his was still standing while many other conventional tents had collapsed. I spoke with him about his tent; he was real happy with it and the room it provided. I could see that it looked like a good quality tent.
This tent has become my favorite. It is sturdy and provides excellent stand up room. It doesn’t collapse when pressured with high winds. Its size allows for a queen size air mattress and portable toilet. All of the windows can be zipped up and closed when temperatures drop (unlike most tents now that use screen mesh as part of the tent and no way to zip ’em closed). I purchased the model with triangular windows on each end for maximum ventilation when camping in hot weather. The downside to this tent is its weight; it’s bulky and can take time setting up. My wife and I spent two weeks in this tent on Padre Island in January of this year. The best price I have found for this tent was through the Competitive Edge Products website. I believe these tents are also available from Cabela’s/Bass Pro, Amazon, and other online sellers.