Coleman Instant Dome 5 Tent Review Whilst Camping In Cornwall

 
I’m desperatly trying to claw onto the last remaining days of summer. On a recent sunny weekend my girlfriend and I decided to go for a little camping trip to Dennis Farm Campsite near Padstow. This campsite is next to and run by the same people as Dennis Cove Campsite (which I’ve written about previously).

What I was amazed to find out though, is that this campsite is even better! This is mainly due to its incredible location. You drive down over the cycle trail and onto a small narrow field that is actually between the Camel Trail Cycle path and the water, this gives it some stunning views!

Coleman Instant Dome VW Van
 
Along with us on our mini adventure I had taken my Instant Dome 5 Tent new Coleman Instant Dome 5 man tent. I was excited to give this tent its maiden voyage as its a little bit special. What makes this tent unusual is its ingenious quick pitch design.

This tent is actually a proper, well made, quick pitch tent. Not a cheap shoddy pop-up, designed for festivals and to be almost disposable. The Coleman Instant Dome is a really quality bit of gear that will last years. What makes it unique is how the poles are pre-attached to the tent and are kind of telescopic. You basically unfold the tent and then just expand the sturdy poles until the tent is up and ready for pegging out.

My first ever pitch of the Instant Dome was super simple and their claim of just one minute to pitch is very accurate. It took me only a couple, doing it for the first time, whilst reading the instructions. I’m not going to explain in detail how you pitch and pack up the tent as I’ve popped a great little video at the bottom of this post which shows how to pitch the tent. It’s well worth a watch and shows you how well this tent is designed and how quickly it goes up.

Padstow Camping View
 
Just above is the view from the campsite. Lush. Further above that is what Sam looks like inside the Coleman Instant Dome 5, she is sitting on a double size airbed. As you can see it’s a really spacious tent, with lots of head height. It was a really luxurious space for just the two of us. With lots of room to spread our gear around and still have loads of space all the way around the tent. You could easily fit a whole family in this tent, no problem at all.

Below is the front of the tent. Sam is showing off the nice windows in the door, these let in loads of light but also have covers to keep your privacy when needed. It’s got loads of those nice quality features like; high-vis guy lines, bug mesh throughout, vents in the roof (which you can open from the inside).

Coleman Instant Dome 5
 
It’s got some really nice touches like this ‘gear loft’ where you can place your valuable so that: A. you don’t roll onto them and B. you can find them easily. Further to this it can be removed so you can use the very useful lantern or torch hook. As you’d expect with a tent like this it’s very waterproof (3000mm) and also protects you from the sun (SPF50) so it’s going to be great rain or shine!

Instant Dome 5 Coleman
 
Check out that view… and that van!

VW T4 Camping
 
While we were there we got up to a few different things, which I’ll write about in future articles. The main attraction was the Camel Trail as Sam, training for a half marathon, wanted to use it to train on. I cycled along next to her and we went from Padstow to Wadebridge and back again. I’m very proud of her as she didn’t even stop once and was running for absolutely ages! I know she is going to do brilliantly on half marathon day. The campsite was perfect for the route as it is literally right on the path and less than a 5 minute walk from Padstow.

I really enjoyed using my new Coleman Instant Dome 5, it’s an excellent tent and I’ll be using it often I’m sure. Below is that video so you watch how quickly and cleverly it goes up…

Running Camel Trail Padstow

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1 Comment

  1. September 18, 2014 / 4:03 pm

    Love that this tent is good quality AND quick to pitch- in my experience it’s usually one or the other with tents. I like to have a porch though, especially for festivals. Did you find the fact it lack a porch a problem?
    Miss Tulip x
    The Thrifty Magpies Nest

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