Ozark Trail 10-Person Dark Rest Instant Cabin Tent Review

Ozark Trail is a brand of Walmart that provides great value at a reasonable price. The Ozark Trail 10-Person Dark Rest Instant Cabin Tent is a popular one of their product line.

We spent days researching and comparing the features, pros and cons, and finally came up with this review which will give you a perspective view of the product and every detail you want to know.

Let’s get started.

 

Who is it for

As a large tent, it has a lot of space to fit more people, so if you are a family or a group of friends this is a good choice for camping.

This is a tent for warm seasons. Especially for summer camping, due to the dark design it stays cool in hot sunlight.

It is not a good choice for cold weather camping, or fierce weather conditions.

 

Key features

Rainfly

As you can see from the product there is a rainfly at the top of the tent to shield water on rainy days. To some extent this is useful to divert water from directly flowing through vulnerable windows.

However, it only withstand moderate situations, so don’t try to use this tent in rainstorms.

Dark Rest technology

Dark rest is a technology that blocks sunlight to make the tent darker so you can sleep a little longer in the morning, or napping in the middle of day. Other big brands like Coleman have similar technologies called Dark Room. This is often implemented by a special coating.

Not only the darkness for rest, it also makes the inside much cooler by blocking out a lot of sun heat. Another ‘extra’ to the Dark Rest is privacy. You can see someone outside (when dark inside; their silhouette) but they can’t see in.

This is a very useful feature in summer camping. If you are interested, we have a dedicated review of the best dark rest tents available on the market here.

Instant setup

An instant setup tent is designed with poles pre-attached to the main frame so you can just stretch it out and pitch it up. It takes less time than the traditional ones, so you can save more time on the tedious process and enjoy more of the wilderness.

It claims that you can set it up in just 60 seconds. However, this is a large tent, if you have no experience it will consume about 10 or more minutes for the first try. But by time as you are more and more familiar with the tent structures this can speed up into a few minutes.

For those who are impatient this is a great feature.

Room Divider

It comes with a room divider that splits the inner space into two independent rooms, giving you more privacy. This is useful for parents and kids, or a group of boys and girls.

The divider curtain is removable, and can be rolled up too.

Lantern hook

From left to right, there are 3 hooks you can hang a lantern on. One is located at the center, you can also use the other two for a different purpose.

When camping in the wilderness night comes with total darkness, always much earlier than modern people used to. So remember to bring a lantern for convenience.

Other functional designs

It has a E-Cable port for power cord coming through. Also there are some pockets on the wall to store your cell phones,glasses or other small accessories.

More Details

Space

Note the floor area is 137.5 ft² (~13 m²), it is quite big. The claimed 10 person capacity is achievable by carefully arranging sleep pads. However, it will be very crowded if you really put 10 people inside. For comfortableness 5~6 is the threshold.

If you use the divider curtain separating it into two rooms, you can put a queen size air bed in each of them. As the door is double D shaped, the curtain is located just in the middle of it, so with each room you can use it as a single dedicated D door.

Ventilation

There are huge windows on every side of the tent, so the air circulation is good.

Also it comes with 2 floor vents, it gives you more air flow in situations like rain when all the windows are zipped off.

Materials

The poles are made of Alloy Steel, which is much more durable than fiberglass that is found in cheap tents. The fabric is polyester, and polyethylene of the floor.

Rain and wind

It does not have an officially declared waterproof rating. But from different user feedbacks we can see it only falls into a mediocre level.

We can also deduce this from the design, the large windows make it vulnerable from moistures, the rainfly is small and only protects parts of the tent.

Some users tested that the rain guard is very durable and holds up well in the wind which was around 8mph, but in strong wind 3 back side pole collapsed multiple times.

So, to some extent you can use it in moderate weather conditions, but avoid extreme scenarios.

Specifications

Weight	20 lb (9 kg)
Capacity	Up to 10 people
Season	3-Season
Dimensions	165 x 120 inches (4.19 x 3.05 m)
Floor Area	137.5 ft² (~13 m²)
Area per person	14 ft² (1.3 m²)
Peak height	78 inches (198 cm).
Material	Polyester, Alloy Steel

 

Frequently asked questions

How many doors does it have

It has only one double D-door in the front. However, if you are using the room divider this can be a two single dedicated D-door for each of them.

Does the black colored fabric make the tent hot?

Not at all! With the Dark Rest technology it reflects the sunlight away, the ventilation even with the fly on is really good. they all make the inside much cooler than you think. This is a great tent for summer camping.

Does the divider completely seal between rooms or is there open space around it?

The divider is removable so it isn’t sealed to the sides of the tent but there is very little space around the edges, you can see light around the edges but the space is small enough it would be hard to look through.

Competitors and Alternatives

Final words

The Ozark Trail 10-Person Dark Rest Instant Cabin Tent is a good tent for summer camping, with moderate weather conditions. It keeps the inside cooler by blocking hot sunlight and good ventilation, which is a highlight feature that is seldom found in the market.

However, you should note it is not as spacious as they claimed. For comfort you’d better camp with 5 to 6 people instead of 10.

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