Ozark Trail 12' x 8' 6-Person Dome Tent

For a cheap and cheerful tent this served me and my daughter perfectly for 12 nights this August.

We had the "new" fawn/brown/black version with gear loft and the power cord pocket -- not sure how much difference that makes.

Obviously huge for two people. I am 6' and definitely could stand up straight in the centre. Easy to erect except I do believe you need a second person to hold up the poles as you connect them to the corner pins (as stated in the instructions).

We had 24 hours of rain in Delaware at the end of which there was a slight leak from the hoop for the lower dividing wall hook at the front resulting in a "puddle" the size of a quarter on the groundsheet. Was pleasantly surprised as I had read other reviews of Ozark Trail but as this was a disposable item (I live in the UK) I was trusting to fine summer weather.

However, one of the rear hooks (that also seats the fly pole) started pulling out of the seam, so we managed to swap it for a replacement @ a Walmart in North Carolina. The replacement worked fine for the remainder of our tour, including surviving a pretty heavy thunderstorm in the Blue Ridge Mountains. During this storm two drops did splatter through one of the side mesh walls -- again no big deal and although the storm continued for another 30 minutes or so there was no other leak problem to mention, and I was unable to identify where the first two drops had got through.

Zip quality -- seems tolerably robust. Daughter did manage to get a lot of tent trapped in one zip at one stage and after 10 minutes of cursing I had the material out of the zip but the teeth were 'offset'. Completely opening then closing the zip (again as per instructions) recovered everything as per new though.

Obviously the pictures show this tent has no covered entrance, so in the rain getting in/out requires a bit of a ritual with shoes/feet depending on how clean/neat you keep your tent. The front door mat can turn into a bit of a pool depending on the slope and wind/rain direction: I came to the conclusion that all else equal it was best to have the front downhill from the back if the terain allowed: still not perfect but at this price it is a design fact rather than flaw in my opinion!

Overall -- hard to knock the bang for the buck this thing gave two people (car camping).

I previously had an Ozark Trail 4 man tent, loved it, lasted for quite a few years. I purchased a 6 man tent this past Friday to go camping with family on the mountain and loved the style of the tent and the canopy on it but we were missing one of the canopy pole sections and then went to bed Sunday evening to be awoken by rain coming through the tent getting us and everything else nice and wet. So we hurried and got all of our gear out of the tent and slept in our vehicle (not fun) and woke up to see puddles of water in the tent.

Took the tent back to Wal-Mart the next day and got a refund but it definitely ruined the weekend and some of us now have colds to fight off. I think the tents aren't made with the quality of the older tents. I would suggest that you go back to making the tents as in the past and I'd love to have another tent only if I knew I wouldn't wake up to rain coming in on me.

Update: September 5, 2008

I previously owned an Ozark Trail 4 man tent and I loved it. Purchased it at K-Mart a few years ago and had no problems with it but it's worn out. So I recently purchased an Ozark Trail 6 man tent at Wal-Mart and went camping on the mountain and it did great until early Monday morning when we were awoken by rain coming in the tent in all places. It ruined the weekend and we were moving all our belongings at 1:30 in the morning to our vehicle and slept in it (not fun).

I just wish the material were made as the old tents. I think the quality is less than it used to be. I would love to own another tent by Ozark Trail but am not looking forward to paying that and then wake up getting rained upon. It ruined the vacation and some of us now have colds we're trying to break.

We do need another tent but that was an awful experience to have when you're camping for the first time with your boyfriend's family. Also when we went to set it up one of the canopy pole sections was missing so we tied off to a tree. So all and all it was not good on your part with the Ozark Trail 6 man tent. Thank you for your time.
Deb

First of all this thing is huge...with plenty of space for two adults, three kids including a playpen/crib for my 1-year-old and plenty of stuff to keep the kids busy with room to spare.

Now let's get down to what is most important to me... that is keeping my family and stuff dry. Despite planning around the weather forecast we got pounded with rain storms during our 3 day stay. I am glad to report that after heavy rains with some sunny breaks (too few to mention) the tent held up well. I only found some moisture at the corners, but I do think that this was due to the fact that the tarp we purchased was way too big and we had to do a sloppy fold at the corner causing accumilation of water which eventually caused small amount of seepage into the tent corners which wouldn't of occurred with the proper sizing of the tarp (which I took care of). No, I did seal all the seams and then went over tent, seams and fly with silicon water-guard made by Atsko which I bought at Walmart for about 3 bucks per can... a tent this size used about 2 to 3 cans.

Overall I was very pleased with the results. My cousin bought another brand and got lots of rain despite sealing it. She will now most likely get an ozark b/c of the results of my tent.

I've had my tent for 5 years with no problems, even in heavy rain (I did have a tarp strung over top). Taking my stepson and his family camping for the first time this year and have no problem with them using this tent to stay dry, though I am switching to a 4 season heavy duty tent myself.

For the price, this tent served my wife and I well over several camping seasons in PA State Parks. I am now going with a four-season tent though as I'll be traveling the country and who knows what weather I'll run into.

I bought the Ozark 6-person tent about two months ago and have camped in it with my two girls 3x. If it's below 50 degrees, use a good sleeping bag or lots of blankets. That is expected as it is a warm weather tent. About the rain and leaking; I read these reviews right after I bought it and was afraid that my tent would do the same thing. Well it has worked out very well. I even let it sit outside through two thunderstorms and I'm impressed by how dry the inside was.

I did not use any seam sealer or waterproofing on it at all. It has been up now for two weeks in the back yard and through wind and raining has done very well. I'm curious if the other reviewers put on the blue top, or just had a few defective tents. I still plan to put the sealer and waterproofing on anyway. Good deal for 50 bucks. My kids really enjoy our outings.

We purchased this tent in hopes that it would be the last tent we would have to purchase. Following all instructions included with the tent, we used the seam sealer as recommended. Our first outing with this tent, we had two sunny days and two rainy days. Needless to say we were drenched inside this tent! When we arrived home, we set the tent up to let it dry and once again used numerous (8) bottles of sealer. The same thing happened our next outing, we were drenched again. We figured out that the rain was coming in where there was a mesh netting on the top part of the tent, which is covered by a nylon tarp that covers the entire tent. There is no amount of sealer that would fix that problem. Needless to say we are very, very unhappy with this tent.

I got this tent and camped two nights in it. It was the hardest tent I have ever put up.

Don’t buy a tent from Walmart. No matter what they won’t refund or exchange without a receipt. I’ve called customer service and still can’t get any satisfaction.

I’m 68 years old and been camping all my life. I recently put up a10x18 tent by myself.

I am so disappointed with Walmart and Ozark Trail, but it appears I’m gonna be stuck with a tent I can't use and I don't want.

Don't buy it.

Background

50 years.

I had a 3-Person EZ Up tent (which I had no problem with except it was too small). I went with this tent cause of the size. It was good for the first 2 nights. It went up fairly easy and there was no wind or anything else. There was a slight rain when I went to bed on the 3rd night. I woke up too see the tent collapsing on us. It had snowed. I got all the snow off and it looked fine. I looked inside the tent and noticed about 4 leaks. I did like this tent for the roominess if you don't put up the wall and you camp were it's not going to rain (or snow for those who live in Canada). I've got to say it's going back cause I live in Canada.

We already had an Ozark Trail tent and after three years of camping we were very satisfied with it. So we bought another one, a bigger one ... disapointing!!!

We had rain and the tent didn't do the job! We are very frustrated about this fact. Impossible for our things and for us to stay dry in this tent. I don't understand why they write on the tent bag "GOBY DRY stay dry system". Did they test the super GOBY DRY SYSTEM"??? If it's the case, it was surely during sunny days.

So we return the tent at Walmart and exchange it for another one (same) because we were thinking "hey, it was only an exception..." but now, reading these emails ... I'm afraid to go camping again in a few days.

We have owned our 6 person family tent for 10 years. We have the one with the extra detachable dome. When the kids got older the extra dome was used for storage.

It has been to the beach in Mexico 3 times and several Northern California camping trips. The canopy has been used several times with out the tent to have shade for family functions. It came with scotch guard and we used it. The tent has been in hot weather, high winds, and rain. It held together and dry.

We have no complaints.

I also experienced trouble with the tent. We have been camping for seven years and have never had as much water come in and soak our things in other tents from Wal-Mart. We didn't have water come in around the bottom seams but it leaked from the top where the mesh is. We also used seam sealer and had no results. I liked the size and that is what drew me to the tent. I think if it could be improved it would be great and well worth the money.

Had a good experience with the tent. It was my kids' first time camping, and we had no problems. My husband is a city-boy and even he could figure out how to put it up. Although, he did have the room divider pole left over, LOL. Oh well, even incorrectly assembled it worked great. We didn't have any leak problems with it. Thought the instructions could have been better, though.

Wanted an inexpensive tent to sleep out in backyard with grandkids. First and only night it rained & in front of both doors there was a sizable puddle.

Very disappointed with the fact that it was not more waterproof. If it had been a downpour we all would have been drenched.

Easy to put up, nice size....but only for fair weather.

I bought two tents and have been camping for years: a 6-person dome tent and a 4-person tent. Both leaked very badly. Our sleeping bag held out more water then the tent did. The rain wasn't even that bad. I will never buy an Ozark Trail tent again. The poles broke setting up the 4-person tent.

I read the review about the water problems. We were given one as a gift and the first time we went camping we where caught in a severe thunderstorm with torrent rail. We stayed dry throughout the storm. Would recommend to anyone.

I can't rate the tent because in 80 degree weather for 6 to 8 hours you can sit back and watch the poles snap. I only put it up to see what it looked like. It never left the backyard. Very upset!

My last tent from Ozark was great. This tent is cheaply made, what a bummer.

I put this tent up and the second day the stick to the cooler compartment broke (sigh). I am going back to Coleman.

Tent leaks around windows when it rains. Only used it for 4 nights.

The pole broke while assembling the tent.