Coleman 8-Person Instant Tent

I have owned this tent for 11 years. Have used it roughly once each year and I use it by myself or with only one other person, so not under heavy repeated use.

If you want it to last, best not to force anything and follow the instructions on setup. It has held up very well and still looks like new. I sweep it out before every take down.

Recently, I experienced my first breakage. At the top center hub, I got in a hurry and erected the legs too soon in the wrong order which caused the hub to twist breaking one hub link and twisted one D leg tube internally.

Very difficult to source certain replacement parts. You can’t purchase through Coleman. They recommend ereplacementparts.com. An eBay source had some parts but was out of stock on the broken link, perhaps permanently out of stock.

Background

I have owned this tent for 11 years. Have used it roughly once each year and I use it by myself or with only one other person, so not under heavy repeated use.

Great idea, but crucial parts break very quickly, hard to get replacements.

Last year I bought a Coleman 8 Man Instant Tent, since I usually camp alone it looked like a good product. I spent three weeks going up the Arkansas river valley in Colorado from Salida to Leadville prospecting for gold. The first day I set the tent up the wind blew it over while I was setting it up, 3 "Knuckle" joints broke instantly, they are a part of the tent poles that allow the tent to "pop up". This was not a strong wind, more like a gust in a breeze and should not have injured the tent at all. During the course of camping all 6 of these joints broke and I used duct tape to hold the poles together (which was far superior to the cheap brittle plastic joints that came with the tent).

I ordered the parts from Coleman after spending far too long on hold only to be informed a couple weeks later that my order was being cancelled because it was taking too long to get the parts, so back on hold for what felt like forever just to tell them not to cancel my order. All in all, if the plastic parts were switched out with steel or something with a little stregnth to it, the tent would be worth it, but brittle plastic parts that break under normal wear almost instantly coupled with the companies uncaring attitude and difficulty with getting replacement parts, makes me give it a thumbs down.

I cannot recomend this tent, the ease of putting the tent up stops as soon as these crucial parts break which happens almost instantly. Will I ever get the replacement parts? Will those parts break as well? I may just end up making my own parts out of aluminum or steel.

Great tent, easy to put up, but the only problem is the plastic joints break and are hard to replace.

Great tent, easy to put up. But the only problem is the plastic joints break and are hard to replace. I had one joint break which happened to be a corner joint and no parts were available and that they would be back orders for over a month.

In other words I would get the part after I came back from camping vacation. Damn Chinese made crap needs to be re-engineered and made in the U.S.

Leaks in moderate to heavy rain and tent corners break easily. If someone could make them out of metal it would be a great tent.

Used camping, worked good, setup was easy. Then the deluge hit and the tent folded sideways, broke three joints.  With all the comments found researching this part why doesn't Coleman either make these available and affordable or make them better?

I agree with the last reviewer...tent looks good, setup is really nice, but the plastic corner brackets break way too easy, metal ones and this tent would be awesome. I like the weatherctec system, on most Coleman tents seems they stay dry even in heavy rains. 

I would love to have a roomy eady setup takedown tent that you can stand up in and get dressed. But those cheap plastic corner brackets make this tent useless...By the way the preplacement coleman part #5010000851. If they even have them in stock.  Like previous reviewer said customer service is lacking...Peace

Ditto the last two reviews — the tent is great but Coleman NEEDS to re-engineer the crappy plastic corner pieces. A 10 cent aluminum die cast piece would be far superior to what they currently have.

When I emailed Coleman asking about these, they were on back-order from China; 3 months later now they show that they sholuld have some in a few weeks....we'll see if this is true because so far their service is as poor as their engineering.

The setup and take down is pretty good, unless the tent is wet. Then you can't dry it out. Everything in between however is suspect. Any rainwater comes in the tent poles have started to come apart the bag doesn't fit. Basically a good idea poorly executed.

I will never buy a Coleman product again. They use to be the number one name in outdoor stuff. Now nothing lasts. Used the tent twice before two corner joints broke. Bought two air beds, both lost air in a matter of a few hours.