Our First Night in a Core Cabin Tent With Five Kids

The plan was to leave Ogden by three, grab dinner in Idaho Falls, and roll into the campground with plenty of daylight. The plan did not survive contact with five kids. We pulled into the state park near Driggs at 7:40, the sun already behind the Tetons, and I stood in the gravel with the Core 9 Person Instant Cabin Tent bag at my feet wondering how fast I could get it up before the youngest decided she was done being in the car.

That first setup is the part I want to talk about, because it's the part every big-family camper dreads. With a regular pole tent, I'm the one threading poles through sleeves while Jenna chases toddlers and the teenagers stand around waiting to be told what to do. The Core cabin tent is different. The poles are already attached to the frame, so it opens like a folding chair. I pulled it out of the bag, spread it on the ground, and the whole thing was standing in maybe four minutes.

I've owned tents that took longer to get out of the stuff sack.

Before I go any further, the honest caveat. This is a big tent, fourteen feet by nine, and it is not light. It lives in our Ford Expedition's rooftop cargo box, not in the back with the coolers. The tradeoff is worth it for us, because we are not backpacking it anywhere. We drive up, we camp, we drive home. For that kind of trip, the weight is a non-issue.

The whole thing was standing in maybe four minutes. I've owned tents that took longer to get out of the stuff sack.

Once it was up, I did what I always do before the kids pile in: walked the perimeter, checked the stakes, ran my hand along the seams. The rainfly is the part I was most curious about, because a cabin tent has a lot of flat wall to catch weather. It covers the top and drapes down the sides, and it attaches with buckles instead of fiddly clips. I'm not going to tell you it's bombproof, because I don't think any family tent is. But it handled a solid Idaho thunderstorm that night without a single wet sleeping bag.

The inside is where this tent earns its keep. The peak is tall enough that I, at six feet, can stand straight up in the middle. The walls go nearly vertical instead of sloping in, which means the floor space is actually usable. We fit two queen air mattresses side by side with room to walk between them, and the kids claimed the far end for their sleeping bags. The 12-year-old announced it was 'like a hotel but better,' which from him is practically a standing ovation.

The pockets along the walls turned out to be the most fought-over feature of the trip. Headlamps, water bottles, the youngest's stuffed rabbit, a half-eaten bag of trail mix. Everything had a home, which meant nothing got stepped on in the dark. That's the kind of detail you don't appreciate until you've stepped on a water bottle at 2 AM.

The other thing I'll give the Core tent credit for is the door. It's a T-shaped opening, wide enough that Jenna could carry the youngest through while holding a lantern in the other hand. No crawling, no squeezing, no waking a sleeping four-year-old because you can't get through the zipper without bumping the mattress. If you've ever tried to get a toddler out of a tent at 3 AM to use the bathroom, you know exactly why this matters.

Now the things that aren't perfect, because they never are. The included stakes are fine for soft ground but I'd swap them for heavier ones if you camp somewhere rocky. The zippers work smoothly, but the kids have already proven they can snag the fabric if they're rough with them. And the bag it comes in is functional but not generous; it takes some wrestling to get the tent back in at the end of the trip. None of these are dealbreakers. They're just the normal quirks of a big family tent.

The next morning, the teenagers helped fold it up. That never happens with the old tent. I'm not sure if they were being helpful or if they just wanted to get to the lake, but I'll take it.

What I'd Tell You If We Were Sitting at My Kitchen Table

If you're a family that does drive-up camping, the way we do, the Core 9 Person Instant Cabin Tent is the kind of gear that makes the trip feel easier before you even start the fire. It sets up fast, it stands tall, and it holds five kids and two adults without anyone feeling like they're sleeping on top of each other. It's not a backpacking tent and it's not a luxury cabin. It's a solid, honest piece of camping gear that does exactly what it promises.

My advice, for what it's worth: if you're tired of spending the first hour of every camping trip wrestling poles and listening to kids complain, this is worth a serious look. Check today's price on Amazon and see if it fits your family's version of a good weekend.