Confession: I suffer from tent envy. It’s a serious condition wherein the afflicted individual suffers feelings of insecurity and inadequacy as soon as they roll into the campground. With each passing campsite, every tent looks more spacious, more glorious than the one in the trunk of your car. But fear not, Coleman has the answer to tent envy; the Tenaya Lake Fast Pitch 6 person tent.
On Performance and Design…
Get ready to turn the tables on tent-envy. Bigger than your college dorm room, this tent is more portable vacation cabin than family tent.
You’ll feel the tables start to turn as the gaze of envious eyes fall upon you during set-up. While your camp neighbors lug out their duffel style carry bags, you reach into the back of your vehicle and pull out a wheeled carry bag complete with a hard-sided bottom and rubberized handle for easy hauling. It makes your walk to the campsite feel more like a stroll through the airport terminal.
Sure, Coleman rates the Tenaya Lake as big enough to sleep six (and yes there is an eight person option), but in all honesty, the living area is big enough to host formal dinner parties. The spacious 13×7 floor area has room for 2 queen airbeds and gives you as much livable space as you would need for a mean game of Twister. And because Twister involves some standing and adjusting, rest assured the 6’8” tent height leaves plenty of headroom.
For that added touch of luxury, Coleman added in two cabinets. Yup, a tent with a cabinets. These 2×2 cubby-holes not only invoke serious jealousy from your fellow campers, they let you keep a cluster free environment by giving you more storage space for family gear. That means less tripping up inside the tent, which means less frustration, which means a more enjoyable camping experience. And to help avoid tumbles outside the tent, Coleman uses their Illumiline reflective guy lines for greater visibility at night.
The Fast Pitch™ system uses pre-attached, color-coded top poles and hub, fast fit feet and snag-free Insta-Clip™ suspension to let you set up your tent 50% faster than a comparable Coleman tent with conventional setup. As with any tent, the first set up takes some time. But by the second and third camping trips you’ll have your tent set up while your friends are still rummaging around for their direction sheet.
If the skies open up, and the wet stuff begins to tumble down, be prepared to be a gracious host to your fellow campers. While their tents take on rain, your Tenaya will be demonstrating superior weather protection courtesy of Coleman’s WeatherTec system. With its patented welded floors and inverted seams, the Tenaya tent is 75% more water-resistant than traditional tents, helping to keep your family of adventurers nice and dry.
Notes From The Field…
Now we know there are those of you out there who consider Coleman little more than a bargain brand designed for the shelves of big box retailers. For those who think Coleman is cutting corners to hit their remarkable price point, take a quick moment to watch this video and we’re sure that you’ll come away impressed with the level of testing these tents go through before finding their way onto your future camping spot.
That being said, we did run into one significant quality control issue with the Tenaya Lake Tent. Upon taking down the tent after just our first use, the pole used to give structure to the D-style door suffered a significant split. If you decided to purchase the tent (a decision we still whole heartedly support despite this issue) and you suffer a similar defect, Coleman offers a limited warranty from the date of original retail purchase – but you’ll need to keep your proof of purchase to take advantage of the warranty.
Lastly, we did also find it difficult to differentiate between the zipper for the door opening and the zipper for the pole sleeve for the D-style door. While this did create some frustration in getting in and out of the tent – particularly at night – it’s easily enough remedied by simply attaching a colored ribbon to the appropriate zipper.
Bottom line….
When you’re the target of envy, you’re winning. But more importantly, the Coleman Tenaya Lake Fast Pitch tent is ready to provide your family years of glorious camping comfort.
*Gumption Gear Review received the items featured in this review from Coleman at no cost and receives no monetary compensation for this or any related review. The items featured were provided solely in return for our honest views and opinions.