How to Choose Tents for Camping

Bring along the entire family for a weekend of fun in the outdoors with the Mountainsmith Cottonwood 6-person tent. Mesh-ventilated windows offer views and airflow whether it's raining or sunny.
Imported.
View all Mountainsmith Camping TentsBest Use | Camping |
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Seasons | 2-season |
Sleeping Capacity | 6-person |
Packaged Weight | 13 lbs. 5 oz. |
Packed Size | 24 x 11 inches |
Floor Dimensions | 116 x 110 inches |
Floor Area | 90 square feet |
Vestibule Area | 29.5 square feet |
Peak Height | 75 inches |
Number of Doors | 1 door |
Number of Poles | 3 |
Pole Material | 7001-series aluminum |
Pole Diameter | Unavailable |
Canopy Fabric | 68-denier x 185t breathable polyester |
Floor Fabric | 75-denier x 190t polyester with 5000mm polyurethane coating |
Rainfly Fabric | 68d x 185t polyester with 2000mm polyurethane coating |
Footprint Included | No |
Design Type | Freestanding |
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I’ve had this tent 5 yrs. We camp a lot! I even bought the same Mountainsmith tent for a gift. If staked properly we’ve NEVER had issues. The windows make nice airflow and the large rain fly is great quality. Fits a queen air mattress and gear. Wish it had a footprint, but a tarp works fine. Mountainsmith tents are awesome and this one was designed as a salesman sample. I’ve tracked its sales for years. Great value with the small vestibule, rain fly to the ground, built-in windows and lightweight/packable. I only wrote this review because I can’t believe negative the reviews. This is a great tent for stormy weather or a hot summer trip with a cross BREEZE.
Bought this 6 person tent two days before a 3 day camping trip in the mountains. There was a bit of a breeze while setting up which made it difficult. Once it was up, it could hardly withstand a 15 mile per hour wind, and the 2 poles were not enough to keep it standing up. I was able to add additional tie down lines to the poles to aid in keeping the form of the tent. The next night some stronger gusts of wind hit it, and it buckled in again and eventually snapped one the the poles directly in half, which then ripped through the rain fly. The tent is too big to be supported by only two poles. Luckily I was able to return it since I had only used it for one trip. Rei’s policy it great when it comes to that. If they hadn’t, I would have just thrown the tent away, as it was no longer usable after day three. This was not a cheap tent, wasn’t a really expensive one either, but not up to par with other tents in the same price range. Had it been designed with 4 poles, that may have been enough to support it. But being so tall, the two poles made it out to be a big sail that the wind would catch and cause it to fold inside itself. Can’t recommend for anything other than back yard setups on calm days. Too bad. It was big, roomy, had great vestibule fly, and looked good, but beware!!
Camped in mine at least 8 times and never had an issue with stability.
I have this tent. Everything in this thread of reviews is true. My experience is also very true and real. I took it out two years ago. It was my 4th time using it. We had a 15 MPH wind and a few gusts of maybe 20. The tent started to twist. Once I tied guy lines, the tent stood up and was a very good shelter. This tent is guy line dependent. As an owner and user of this tent, I’m certain this is a good tent and likely the best value when it comes to a tent with aluminum poles, great user vestibule and rain fly and spacious. It may fall short on some of the stitching and integrity of other Big A companies but it’s still a good product when used with the guy lines and certain extra care.
Terrible design. The tent cannot withstand a breeze, let alone a real wind. The tent fly is too loose on the tent and contacts the body no matter how tight the guy ropes are pulled, and the fly is too close to the ground so there is almost no ventilation and the tent condensates terribly. Day two of use the wind pulled the guy line right off the tent fly. Day three the poles snapped.
This is our second Mountainsmith Cottonwood 6-person tent. We love this tent! I noticed it received poor reviews for not being very sturdy. We camp a lot, and travel all over camping along the way for weeks on end. If staked down properly, it can withstand wind. Yes, it does flatten, but we never had issues with busted poles from the wind. The tent is super easy to set up, one person can do it, super easy with two people. After more than 6 years of camping all over from the midwest, to out west, to all over Canada, this tent has stood the test. Housing two humans, and three dogs it was so great when the first one finally bit the dust, we got another. This tent is a great buy for the money! Another thing we absolutely loved about this tent was the big vestibule. We have been able to weather countless storms with our camp chairs side by side in the vestibule staying nice and dry and comfortable.
I've owned this tent 3+ years and used on probably 10 trips. PROS: It's an awesome size for a small family who likes space; can fit 3 twin air mattresses, our gear and a huge dog. The floor is very durable. In year 2 one of the large support poles broke during camp breakdown and Mountainsmith kindly sent me replacement. The tent body is mostly mesh and does well for airflow on hot summer nights. A definite stargazer setup. CONS: The rainfly is giant and really takes 2 people to put on. During rain there has been issues with condensation (we were soaked out by it one night in the Smokies to the point of sleeping in the car). If it were designed just a little differently so the rainfly would stay off the mesh walls better, this tent would have 4 stars from me. Also the mesh is pretty fragile, as are the pole sleeves. Both have ripped/worn now so I am replacing with a new tent this year.
Good family tent for car camping. Well designed with huge vestibule. As you would expect, you'll never fit 6 persons in here unless it's a family with 4 small children. We had one problem: the first time I set it up, one of the 6 grommets to hold pole ends popped out of its webbing tab. I repaired it myself with a grommet kit so we could continue with our first family outing with the tent. I looked at the other grommets - half of them seem properly set and the other half appear shaky. I'll keep the grommet kit at hand. Otherwise manufacturing seems good quality. We are happy with its performance during family camping and will continue to use it. It's a tall tent, so you might want a second person to help toss the rain fly across the top of it. Otherwise easy for a single adult to set up.
Very nice good-looking tent, roomy interior, tall. Love the extensive mesh for stargazing. Held up pretty well and in a crazy Midwest storm. However, the windows on the rain fly are sort of poorly designed. In crazy winds, those leaked water into the tent, especially since the underneath is all mesh. This tent is good value for the money, though!!!
Extremely tall so you'll need two people for the rainfly unless you're super tall. Vestibule is part of the rainfly so completely staking down the vestibule is a must. The tallness of the tent was concerning due to its height and the wind. I found it very odd that there are zipper windows in the rainfly. Set up was super easy other than the vestibule. When taking the tend down, each pole piece wanted to come undone while still in the tent sleeve. I decided I was taking it back. Please keep in mind that it was on sale for $100 so it was a super great deal but I also think that maybe I was trying to compare it to my other tents that are way more expensive than this one. If you need a 6 man tent, this was a value at the 100 I paid.