CuteCamper
Summer is a great season for camping, although snows and the silence of winter can be a unique experience and worth a try, there is more fun in the warm days. Humans have been evolving for millions of years together with plants and animals. It is a natural emotion of happiness and good feelings when coming back to the wilderness bustling with life. The plants are growing and turning green, which makes a beautiful scene for you to enjoy.
However, you should equip yourself with the right gears, tents are an essential part of your camping journey. This is why we are here to provide help.
We have years of experience in camping, and we know a lot of tents. We spent a lot of time and carefully picked this list of the best tents for hot weather and summer days. Hope it may provide you some value.
If you are in a hurry, here is our recommendations:
- Best Overall: Coleman Cabin Tent with Instant Setup
- Best Budget: Wakeman 2-Person Dome Tent
- Best Screen Room: Coleman WeatherMaster 6-Person Tent with Screen Room
- Best Blackout: Ozark Trail 10-Person Dark Rest Instant Cabin Tent
- Best For Family: Core 9 person Instant Cabin Tent
Let’s dive into more details and take a closer look.
What to look for in a summer tent
Black out / Dark Rest technology
This is a common technique used by many vendors under different names, such as Dark Rest Technology by Ozark Trail, Dark Room Technology by coleman.
It is implemented by a special coating layer on the tent fabric that blocks the sunlight and UV out and makes the room darker, and much cooler too.
This is very useful on hot summer days, the dark environment also makes it possible for you to sleep late in the morning or have a nap in the middle of the day.
Ventilation
Ventilation is crucial when it comes to hot weather campings. A good air flow will always make the tent cool and keep the inner space dry.
Many tents have big mesh windows that let the air flow through and keep the bugs out. This is important for summer camping. For some tents, the top of the roof is full of meshes that provide additional air circulation. The mesh roof is protected by a rainfly or tarp to keep the water alway on rainy days and blocks out the sunlight on hot days.
A ground vent can provide more air flow on rainy days when all the mesh windows are zipped off.
Screen room
As the name suggests, a screen room is an inner room in the tent with its walls (often three) made of screen mesh.
The benefit of the screen room is that it has a very good eyesight and is fully protected by the roof. The air flow is almost like in the open space as all the other three walls are open with the screen. It also protects out the annoying bugs and mosquitoes.
AC Port
This is a little complicated and requires more gears, you should buy an additional portable air conditioner, the ac port allows you to connect the air conditioner together with a tent to provide more control of the inner temperatures.
Other features that should take into consideration
Instant setup
An instant tent makes the setup process in minutes and can save you a lot of time. If you are in a hurry and want to avoid the tedious setup process then choose an instant one.
It is often utilized with the poles pre-attached with the main frame, so you don’t need to find each one with different code or color and attach it yourself, which can hugely speed up the pitching process.
Waterproof
This is not a mandatory feature, it depends on your scenarios.
Most tents have some extent of waterproof capability that may sustain a mild rain, however, you should not expect too much from it. If you want camping for harsh weather, make sure you are well prepared with additional protections like a tarp and other equipment.
In many cases the weather is unpredictable and will rain sometimes on the summer days. You’d better bear this in mind and choose a tent with waterproof ratings.
Best Tents for summer compared
Coleman Cabin Tent with Instant Setup
Coleman is a big tent brand and has it’s reputation of both quality and features, this is one of the most popular tents of their product line, a lot of people buy it, which means it has endured the examination of the market itself. If you don’t know something, just choose the one that everyone else buys.
The most notable feature is it’s instant setup design, as they claimed in the name, you can put it up in less than one minute, which is awesome.
There are big mesh windows on different sides of the wall, so the ventilation is good.
It is equipped with Coleman’s patented WeatherTec System, with coated fabrics, Inverted seams, and other minor techniques that makes the tent perform well on rainy days.
The Dark Room Technology that blocks out 90% of sunlight and reduces the inner temperature by 10%, this is very useful on summer days. You can sleep late in the morning without disturb.
For different capacities, it has 4p, 6p and 10p models and you can choose. Keep in mind that the officially declared number is achieved by how many sleeping pads it can fit in, so you can use a 6p tent with 4 people for maximum comfortability.
It has an expandable carry bag and it is not big, the portability is good, however, it is a little heavy (24.6 Pounds) and you’d better take it with a car.
We also have a dedicated review of this tent, you can check it here.
Pros:
- Instant setup in 60 seconds
- Good ventilation
- Dark Room Technology
- Good portability
Cons:
- The center is not hight enough to stand in the tent
- Can’t withstand extreme weather conditions
Wakeman 2-Person Dome Tent
Wakeman outdoors is a small brand that you may not have heard of, but it also means you don’t have to pay extra money for brand names. This is a budget tent with an affordable price.
This is a 2p tent, with a 7×5 ft (213x152cm) floor size, it seems spacious enough for two people.
It is lightweight with a total of 4.6 Pounds(2kg), which means it is great for backpacking and hiking. This is a good choice if you are concerned about portability.
The tent has a water resistant coating that can protect water seeping in. It also has a detachable rainfly on the top for additional protection.
However, the ventilation is not very good, It only has one mesh window located in the front door. It doesn’t provide enough air circulation as there is no window on the other three walls.
There is also an electric access port for you to bring an electric cord into the tent, this is very useful if you are camping near civilization or in your own backyard.
Another noticeable feature is the storage pocket for your phones or glasses, this is very useful and you can see the design on many modern day tents.
Pros:
- Excellent price
- Lightweight and Great portability
- Spacious for 2 person
Cons:
- Ventilation is not good
Coleman WeatherMaster 6-Person Tent with Screen Room
The Coleman weathermaster is great if you are looking for a tent with good weather performance or you want a solid tent with screen room.
Many people think the screen room is a good design because it has a good view, and has a roof that blocks out the sunlight. The screened mesh makes the air flow through freely. It is a very good feeling when you put a chair and sit inside the screen room just enjoying the beautiful wilderness. It protects against the annoying bugs so you can stay comfortably.
The other great feature is its Weathertec system, although you can see this technology on many other Coleman tents, but this one is better. It has a big rainfly that provides additional protection on rainy days. We will not repeat the technology details here, you can read our dedicated product review for this tent here if you want to know more.
There are mesh windows on the wall, and the top of the roof which is protected by the rainfly is full of mesh, the air can flow freely across them. Those designs give excellent ventilations.
It has a hinged door that allows easy in and out, like the normal door at home. It is a good design for children because they often mess up with the zippers on a traditional tent.
The other convenient designs are the E-Port and storage pockets, and you have seen on many other tents.
There are 2 models available, 6p and 10p, however, the 10 person model is sacrificing the screen room for more capacity. You can pick the right one accordingly.
Pros:
- Screen Room
- Good weather performance
- Good ventilation
- Spacious
Cons:
- A little heavy
Ozark Trail 10-Person Dark Rest Instant Cabin Tent
Ozark trail is a great choice if you want good features with reasonable prices. It is a Walmart brand so it’s their tradition for affordable prices with considerable quality.
The reason we recommend this tent here is for its Dark Rest technology, this is implemented by a special coating layer, it blocks the sunlight out and keeps the inner space cool. Furthermore, you can sleep late in the morning without worrying about being awakened by the sun. It is also great if you want a nap in the middle of the day.
Read more: best black out tent
It has an instant setup design so you can put it up in minutes, this will save you a lot of time to enjoy more of the wilderness. As a 10p tent which they officially declared, it is big and spacious, you can fit 3 queen size air mattresses inside with additional space for gears. It is good for family or a large group of friends.
The big mesh windows give it excellent ventilation. A double D door in the front side of the tent. There are 3 hooks in the tent for you to hang a light, and several wall pockets for your necessities. Also, as found in many modern day tents, there is an E-Port opening at the bottom of the tent for you to bring an electric cord inside while without worrying about leaking or bugs.
The rainfly can be removed for even better ventilation at night, the roof of the tent is full of mesh that keeps the insects out yet still offers a great view for the night sky.
This is a solid tent with great features, we recommended it before and have a detailed product review for it.
Pros:
- Instant setup
- Dark Rest technology
- Good ventilation
- Spacioust
Cons:
- Heavy for car camping only
Core 9 person Instant Cabin Tent
Actually this tent is both great and has similar features as the Ozark 10p dark rest tent. The major difference is it does not have the Dark Rest technology and focuses more on quality and water-resistant. Core has been working on outdoor gears for years and has a solid reputation, you can expect a better quality from them.
It also has an instant setup design that allows you to put it up in less than 60 seconds as they officially claimed. It has a floor size of 14’x9’ as you can see from the name, you can fit 9 sleeping pads inside, or 2 air beds. It is big enough for an ordinary family. The center height is 6’6″ so you can stand inside freely without bent.
They have a special H2O Block Technology that carefully treats the seams to keep the water out, this water-resistant design keeps the inner space dry and cozy.
There is also a removable room divider inside so you can split the inner space into two separate rooms, it is very useful when you’re camping out with your kid and want to keep some privacy.
Other features include the E-Port and wall storage pockets, you should have found them in many other tents above in this review, those are common on modern day tents.
All in all, this is a solid tent for your family or a group of friends. It is similar with the Ozark tent and they are both great.
Pros:
- Instant setup
- Water-Resistant
- Good ventilation
- Room divider and rainfly
Cons:
- No Dark Rest technology
Final Thoughts
As you have seen, all those tents are good for different cases, but they all work great for summer days and hot weather. You should consider your own scenarios and choose accordingly.
- Best Overall: Coleman Cabin Tent with Instant Setup
- Best Budget: Wakeman 2-Person Dome Tent
- Best Screen Room: Coleman WeatherMaster 6-Person Tent with Screen Room
- Best Blackout: Ozark Trail 10-Person Dark Rest Instant Cabin Tent
- Best For Family: Core 9 person Instant Cabin Tent
