CORE Tent for Family Camping, Hiking and Backpacking | 3 Person / 4 Person / 6 Person / 9 Person Person Dome Camp Tents with Included Tent Gear Loft for Outdoor Accessories

I purchased the Core 9-person extended dome tent for family use during car camping trips. I have several tents including an ultra light 2-person for backpacking, as well as a 4-person and 6-person dome tents for car camping. I've found that for car camping, it is best to take the rated size of a tent and divide it in half to arrive at the right size for comfortably fitting your family. My family of 4 found the Core 9-person tent a nice fit during our first use in the Sierra Mountains near Yosemite. I considered several 9 and 10-person tents including cabin-style models from various brands, but opted for Core's modified dome tent with extended side areas. I found this design to be more resistant to high winds that you often encounter in the mountains, especially when temperatures fluctuate at sunup or sundown. During our first use, our tent held up to such winds while cabin-style 10-person tents on sites near ours were heavily buffeted. Another key difference is the size and configuration of the rain fly for a dome tent versus a cabin-style tent. The rain flys on cabin-style tents leave a lot more of the tent exposed. In terms of interior space, we were able to fit two Coleman cots and two twin-size air mattresses into the tent. This left just enough space to maneuver in between, as well as at top and bottom to get in or out of the tent. Next time we are going to swap the air mattresses for two more cots because they have smaller footprints and enable storage of packs underneath. Doing so will open up a lot more space and make the Core tent perfect for our use case. Headroom was adequate for me (6' tall) to stand straight in the middle and slightly stooped at the outer ends. My wife and children could stand comfortably throughout. While some reviewers had issues with the fabric thickness, I found it consistent with most other tents in terms of strength and weight. Overall the materials and build quality of the tent, fly, screen windows, and zippers were very good. As for ease of use, the Core 9-person tent is not a one-person setup tent. It uses individual poles with female ends that are connected to male pegs at points along the bottom edge of the tent. This is in contrast to some other tents that use pre-connected poles that are supposed to simplify setup. I point this out because I tried a Coleman 10-person tent with pre-connected poles and found the bulky plastic connection points susceptible to tearing away from the tent, rendering the tent useless. In fact, the first one I tried came with one of the connectors "pre-ripped" from the tent. Setup and tear down of the Core 9-person tent was quick and very simple but you will need two people. The tent uses four individual poles - two very long and two a bit shorter. The two long poles crisscross the center of the tent to hold up the central dome. After slipping the long poles through the sleeves on top of the tent, the second person should hold up them up while you slip the pole ends over the related pegs at the bottom edges of the tent. The other two poles support the extended side sections of the tent and can be added by just one person. Due to the size of the tent, a second person also comes in handy when putting the fly over the top. I recommend always putting down a tent footprint underneath your tent to mitigate moisture wicking from the ground and to protect your tent floor. A footprint should be a few inches smaller in length and width than your tent. This is to allow rain to run off the tent and not be captured by the footprint where it could seep under the tent. I typically use a plastic tarp for this purpose, but opted to give Core's footprint (sold separately) a try. It was more expensive than a generic tarp, but it was specified for this tent and it was a good fit and saved some time during setup, it might be worth it. Unfortunately, while the footprint's length was perfect, it was two wide (front to back) for the 9-person tent. As such, I had to fold the excess material under the tent and could not peg it. Note to Core: While I had no problems with the poles during my first use, due to their long length and the amount of flex necessary to setup and support the tent, it would be helpful if you offered replacement poles as an add-on. Nothing ruins a camping trip like a broken tent and being able to bring along a spare long and short pole would mitigate that issue. Since no such poles were available, I opted to bring along a $4 pole repair kit instead. All in all, I recommend the Core 9-person extended dome tent. It is a quality tent that sets up easily, has big windows and a bottom vent to regulate temperature, and an ample fly to keep you dry. Unless you want to sleep shoulder to shoulder, don't try cramming the rated 9 people inside. But for 4 or 5 people, this tent is a winner.

We borrowed this tent for a family camping trip and loved it so much that we bought the exact same one. I compared it to all of the the other ones within the same size and relative price point and chose this one happily. The good: This tent was very fairly priced and a good deal. It’s huge inside, including a high ceiling. While we didn’t sleep 9 people in this 9 person tent, it was really great for all of us and gear too. I *love* the added touch of the mesh storage loft and the 2 net storage pockets inside. The hanging hook in the center of the ceiling for a lantern is also a great touch! The spacious bag is awesome with plenty of room to pack it back up without having to struggle to squeeze it in like many products out there! One of the big reasons I liked this tent was the huge mesh screens that cover the ceiling and dip down to the corners of the walls. This allowed for a great breeze on the hot summer nights we camped. We didn’t put up the rain fly since there was no rain and needed the airflow. Note that I can’t comment on the waterproofing or water resistance of this tent because of this. My recommendations to improve: It comes with 2 patches but no instructions on how to use them. I'd like to see an option to buy this with aluminum poles. I'm always concerned about the fiberglass ones breaking. This tent would be even better with 2 more mesh storage pockets inside. With a 9 person tent you’d bet that more than 2 pockets would be useful. I’m not complaining, just suggesting to make it even better. I’d also love to see zip up panels to close the “windows” of the mesh ceiling that dips down near the corners of the tent. This would be great for privacy for when you don’t want to put up the actual rain fly that does fully cover it. I’m imagining something similar to the zip up panel that closes the back window and the front window on the door. I would *really love* to see a tent with magnetic closure of the door for quick entries and exits. Let’s face it, this is a 9 person tent and likely kids will be using it. Our kids love to run in and out every minute and the zippers of tents are just annoying - they’re slow to open and fully close each time, they get stuck in the fabric and it’s just a matter of time until they’ll break. I saw something in another tent that talked about a magnetic door closure but turns out it’s only the bottom corner of the door that magnets shut. So close! I’m thinking that good strong magnets could be sewn into the fabric near the edges of the entire door so that they would hold the door basically closed for quick use - this would basically keep out bugs and allow for privacy. And when you want to properly close the door fully then you would use the full zipper. I’m probably going to sew my own magnets in to try it. Wish me luck!

This was a pandemic purchase 3 years ago and after nearly 3 years of use I can confidently say this tent is a solid investment. Most recently, this tent stayed upright and intact without a tear or puncture during a midnight climbing raid by an intrepid trash panda. Said critter was climbing on top of the outside of the tent underneath the rain fly. Pro tip: a flashlight in its face will get it to move on. Secondly, this tent only gets water in the far corners during torrential rains. You and your stuff will stay dry in the middle and this tent does not blow in. I’m a rather fair weather camper, but the few instances of middle of the night pop up storms and downpours haven’t crumpled or flooded this tent yet. Last, this tent is super roomy. Plenty of room for 4 twin air mattresses plus gear. I am 5’5” and can stand comfortably in the middle. With only 4 tent poles, it’s super easy to set up alone. I do wish I had some sort of entryway portico but I saw what I was buying. I didn’t know that was a feature I would want until using this tent over the years. TL;DR This is great tent for the weekend car camping warrior. Dependable, sturdy, easy to set up, and trash panda safe.

I purchased this for a camping trip in Big Sur which is usually a colder area that can have rain in early spring. Setting it up for the first time was very straightforward and felt very spacious as the tent size is 7x7. I had no issues with its durability as it withstood some light to moderate rain. Some issues I have with it is the gap between the rainfly and the wall. I found that much of the wind blowing was coming up from under the rainfly and made the tent significantly colder. This is good for summer camping bit in colder conditions it can be quite uncomfortable. A good tip is to lean something against the wall to close that gap or to face the door against the wind. Doing this made the tent significantly warmer and will consider adding some Velcro to close that gap. Doing this however creates a LOT of condensation that leaves water on the inside walls. Another issue is with the zipper, it has a lip on the inside that transitions to another lip on the outside, this transitions makes the tent difficult to open and close which can be a bit annoying. A really cool feature related to the door is a mesh screen that takes up a third of the top of the door that can be opened so you can peek out without having to fully open the tent. A cool plus was with the pockets on the inside and the net in the ceiling that has 2 kinds of hooks to hang anything from lanterns, keys, etc. The material is not thin nor thick and is pretty much the same as any tent whether that’d be a 25 dollar tent or a 500 dollar tent. The water resistant coating does help in some rain but I’d doubt it’d hold up in strong winds or sideways rain. Overall a great tent for the price.

I ordered this tent and it arrived on time with no issues. Upon first set up, before going camping, I discovered one of the long poles was missing the metal base that the tent anchors slide into during my initial setup, so I reached out to Core customer service and spoke with a representative. The rep was awesome and acknowledged my issue and offered a replacement for the part, under warranty, provided I give proof of purchase and a picture of the damaged part, via email. Once received, the replacement part was in the mail and arrived in two days. Customer service was excellent. I took the tent out camping with my girlfriend and my dog. This tent is huge, which is what we wanted. We had two cots and a dog crate in the tent with us. There was plenty of room to stand up, though I'm 5'10". The wings made perfect nooks for myself and my girlfriend with plenty of room for our remaining stuff. There was enough room that 4 people with two queen sized air mattresses could fit comfortably in this tent, with some room in between. Our cot's feet pushed the base of the tent into the soft ground with no ripping or tearing. It appears to have held up nicely. We had rain the first night, though not a storm of any sorts. The inside of the tent remained dry. Ventilation in the tent is lacking. There is only two windows, the door and the back wall, with the rain fly up. I think improvements could be made here as the tent will get hot when the sun gets on it. I feel that this tent will hold up just fine in cooler weather. We were faced with 95* degree days in mid Missouri and hanging out in the tent would not be enjoyable (who does that during the day anyway). The rain fly is time consuming to set up, but works sufficiently. Overall, the tent is ok to set up in terms of difficulty. A single person who has experience setting up tents will have no issues. There are 4 body poles and one for the front of the rain fly. The stakes provided with the tent are your typical tent stakes. I would always recommend bringing extras or more sturdy stakes. The tent was easy to tear down and put away. After folding in the wings, I folded the tent into tight thirds before rolling it up, which allowed it to fit just fine in the bag. The bag is very typical material and I would expect the possibility of rips from standard wear and tear. Nothing exceptional, nothing lacking. I did not feel at any point in time that the tent was going to rip, tear, or collapse once staked down and set up. Overall, it's a solid tent. I'd like to weather a storm in it and see how it holds up.

Tent delivered when it was promised. Since I’m planning a camping trip I decided to test out the tent when it arrived. Set up was fairly easy with two people, but might be a little cumbersome with just one. I decided to sleep in the tent that night. What I didn’t count on was a rain storm blowing in. I have to say, the tent did not leak; despite the rain cover being on backwards. Also, I forgot that the automatic sprinklers were turned on, but again the tent repelled the water save for what little blew in sideways. Can’t fault the tent for that. The inside of the tent was VERY spacious. I’m 6’3” and could stand up inside with very little stooping. The only leak I noticed was at the bottom of the door where I didn’t close the zipper completely. Again, not the fault of the tent. Take-down was smooth and fast, but I recommend folding the tent into thirds lengthwise and rolling as tightly as possible to fit into the bag. Overall, a great tent. But I would suggest using a liner beneath the tent. The floor is made of a material like that of a cheap tarp. Also, if you plan on having chairs or a table inside, using a mat or some other protective surface would be a good idea so as not to rip floor. All in all, great tent for the price.

Plenty of space, easy setup.

I cannot praise this tent enough for the price.Bought this tent on sale for 170 bucks. Me and my friends planned a trip to go down to Daniel boone forest in kentucky and camp for 3 days 3 nights. We planned this trip in March 6 months prior. The weekend we went is when hurricane helene hit. We said screw it and went through with it knowing the risks. First day we get down there we set it up in the rain and took 30 minutes to do which is not bad for me personally lol. It then proceeded to rain moderately to severe for the next 24 hours straight. This tent had less leakage than every other tent my other friends brought and they were coleman tents! Theirs had huge puddles and leaks by the morning but this tent proceeded to have little to no leakage. The small water droplets that were inside the tent was probably there from when we set it up anyways. The second day proceeded with rain; however, there was a severe wind and storm warning. 25-70 mph wind gusts! Let me tell you I was incredibly impressed when this tent proceeded to take these wind gusts LIKE A BOSS! No damage, stakes were still in the ground and didnt move an inch, rain cover still attached, and very minor water leakage again! The third day, the hurricane had mostly passed and only had small showers and drizzling rain. Absolutely no issues on the third day of course. My expectations being exceeded is an understatement! I will say 1 very minor criticism of this tent is the zipper handles kept falling out from the door zippers but you could still zip them without the handle. That's it. If you are looking for a robust, large tent for the family or 3-5 big and tall adults to sleep very comfortably, look no further. I cannot praise this tent enough for the price and performance.