Customer Reviews

Coleman Hooligan 3 Tent

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I purchased the Coleman Hooligan 3 for car camping and used it for the first time this past weekend. I did not purchase through Amazon as I found it locally for $20 off, but I feel the Amazon price is fair and would not hesitate recommending it at the current price ($79.99 on 28 Jul 2009).

The first thing I did upon bring it home was un-pack it and set it up, followed closely by applying a silicon water repellant spray to the entire rain fly. This is imperative, especially with a tent at this relatively low price point, since factory waterproofing often leaves much to be desired.

Setup was quite simple and pretty quick. I set it up alone during the at-home shake down, but had my fiancée to help at the campsite over the weekend. It does go a little faster with two, but it's very doable solo. The poles are typical fiberglass with shockcord and insert into sleeves on the tent; I would have preferred clip-on hooks rather than sleeves so the tent can be erected after you bend the poles individually, but for the price of this tent it's acceptable.

The tent itself is composed mostly of screen material with a door on one side and a small zip open vent on the other. If you want any kind of privacy at all, the rain fly needs to be on the tent at all times. The floor of the tent is made up of heavy duty plastic tarp material and looks like it will hold up well if taken care of. The floor of the tent is large enough for a Intex® Camp Air Bed with Pump with about a foot of room to spare on two edges if you push it into the corner. With a smaller air mattress or just sleeping bags you would easily have room for a substantial amount of gear if you kept it to two full-size occupants.

The rain fly goes over the tent and covers it pretty much to the ground. There are no windows, save the entryway and a small ventilation opening opposite, but it's not really big enough to be considered a window. Don't expect to have much of a view from inside the tent. The rain fly attaches by hooks at the corners of the tent (rings where the tent poles attach) and hook-and-loop strips which wrap around the poles to keep it aligned. The system works pretty well, but could certainly be better, though that would raise the price of the tent.

One of the key features of the tent, at least for my application, is the vestibule. This was a rather important item for me as I bought this tent for family camping and wanted to be able to put a porta-potty nearby for my fiancée and three year old daughter to use in the night without traipsing all about the wilderness. I haven't actually used it for this yet, as the campground we stayed at had facilities very nearby, but based on the amount of space it should work out fine. Aside from the potty, it also makes an idea place to store shoes and any wet items that shouldn't come into the tent itself. We had a small (15 gal) tote and a couple pairs of shoes out there and still had more than enough room to get in and out of the tent. There is no floor in the vestibule, but I remedied that by getting a ground cloth that was a bit larger than the footprint of the tent and using the excess to form the floor. Works great and helps keep the inside of the tent free of dirt and mud while keeping your shoes nice and dry.

Our first night out in the tent it thunder stormed pretty hard; we were confined to the tent for almost an hour and were unable to converse with our friends (in their tent no more than 10' away) over the rain, even when shouting. The tent held up to it great, though how much of that is due to the tent and how much the extra waterproofing I can't say. There were a couple of very small drips, but nothing that would have ruined our night had it continued raining. I intend to touch up the waterproofing before our next outing in two weeks and this should solve the drips, hopefully. VERY impressed with this tent in wet conditions, overall.

One thing to be aware of is that the entry into the vestibule is relatively low and somewhat small. I am average height (67" 170 lbs) and had no trouble getting in and out, but someone a bit larger and/or less spry might have problems getting in and out.

A couple of issues:

The stakes are cheap aluminum and will bend if you are trying to drive them into hard soil. I bought a 4 pack of nail-style steel stakes and used them for the corners of the tent and they worked out fine. I will be getting a few more to use for staking out the vestibule and the guy lines for the rain fly as well, but for light-duty camping in good weather and soft soil you might be able to get away with the cheap factory stakes.

There is a small pole that holds the ventilation opening open that I had trouble with as it kept popping through the grommet meant to hold it in place. Not a big deal, and only took a second to fix, but annoying none-the-less. I'll rig something up to prevent this next time we go out, should be a simple matter of a small washer or a swatch of cloth.

Overall I am very happy with the tent, especially since I found mine on sale. It has a few quirks, but will work for me until I save up enough for a nicer tent and probably a while after that too. It sets up and packs away easily and would be difficult to beat for the price. Don't forget to waterproof, it is VERY VERY worth the time and money to keep yourself (and your stuff) dry.

The Coleman Hooligan 3 is an excellent tent for less-than-ideal spring/summer/fall conditions, but design elements keep me from recommending this tent for all-around use. The positive features actually can be negatives under certain circumstances. I rate this tent at 3.5 stars for general purpose use, and 3.75 for those who want a tent better able to handle tough weather. If the zippers and the multitude of lightweight Coleman-issue stakes were all sturdier, I'd make that a 4.

The Hooligan is similar to a two pole Coleman Sundome tent constructed primarily of netting covered by a complete, waterproof fly with a good sized vestibule. There are none of the "windows" common to the Sundome family of tents; airflow through the tent is via the door/dome/side Ventilation openings. The design makes it impossible to close off the side vents, rendering this tent impractical for very cold weather use. With 13 stakes necessary for the fly, and 4 for the tent itself, setting it up in rocky or very sandy soils could be a bit of a challenge. Otherwise, actual set-up is straightforward (a usage tip-do NOT stake the tent out prior to setting up the main poles; before you do, check the tension across the front of the tent, as I found that a lot of strain can be placed on the tent zipper if you don't proceed in this manner, and the zipper itself is a little on the wimpy side). With the vestibule, most folks will need to do a double-dip or drop to hands and knees to enter the Hooligan through the vestibule and door combination. With a 58" height, standing up inside is out of the question for most of us, but that's to be expected in a small tent. At 8' x 7', the tent can handle a double size air bed, with some room to spare, making it adequate for 2 people (ok, 2 humans and one stinky dog), but forget about the three person designation unless you leave all of your gear outside.

The 13 stake fly covers the inner tent nearly to the ground and stays down tight,even in a strong wind. The dual shell design keeps water from wicking onto items touching the interior sides of the tent, and keeps condensation to a minimum. The now ubiquitous "bathtub" bottom really works; the waterproof poly floor stayed dry even when we recently pitched the tent in a mud puddle. You can get plenty of air going through the tent when it warms up by controlling the upper vent and front door openings. The lack of "windows" doesn't seem to matter much with this tent; the glow provided by the bright over-fly provides light even on a gloomy day (and on a recent trip to the Trinity Alps, allowed enough starlight through to be able to see in the middle of the night). The vestibule is big enough to be truly practical; a couple of day packs and pairs of shoes can be stored there leaving plenty of access room for the main tent (note, however, that the vestibule does not have a built-in floor; a piece of tarp will help keep your items dry).

Updated 6/2011:

We're now in our second season with the Hooligan, and it's proven to be a good choice for us. We've used it in Lassen
N.P., the Trinity Alps and throughout the California Redwoods. It's not the easiest tent to set up, but it handles
weather, is small enough to place in a relatively tiny area, yet the vestibule is big enough to be truly useful as a mud
room, dressing room, and storage area. Experience indicates that the aquisition of strong, steel stakes is essential to
insure successful performance of the tent. This is a relatively minimal additional investment to make in order to obtain
an inexpensive but tough shelter capable of standing up to variable weather conditions. For the reasons I stated above, I
stand by my original rating for the tent; it's just not going to be satisfactory for everyone. But for those who need or
want that next step up and are willing to invest some extra effort in set-up and tear down, a solid value at the price.

I bought this tent to use for car camping for myself (one person). At 7x8 feet there is plenty of room for two people but threes a crowd. You can't stand but can comfortably kneel without your head hitting anything, and ventilation is very good. I just returned from three nights of camping in the White Mountains in New Hampshire where I set up at two different campsites - by myself. The first day it rained pretty much all night and no problems.

Proper setup is bit tedious, particularly the rain fly, because there are many stakes to set up, about 13 just for the rain fly plus all the Velcro attachments, at least 12-15. The material for the floor is pretty thick - a good thing. It will take a solid 20 minutes to setup `properly' by yourself, and up to 30 minutes if you have trouble bending, and/or you're middle aged like me. The view from instead is limited due to the design of the rain fly, and the entrance way through the vestibule is truly a pain in the back. However, in strong wind and rain the design makes up for the limited view and tedious setup since this design is exactly what you want in these `worst case' conditions. That crawl way through the vestibule is a great buffer zone for getting in and out of the tent when it rains without getting any water inside, and is also ideal for leaving your wet or dirty shoes outside the tent and protected from the elements.

EDITED To Add: I have now used this tent for at least 15 nights. On one trip, back to the White Mountain for seven nights, it rained six out of seven nights with one or two nights having sustained torrential downpours, plus incredibly strong gusts of wind (when you camp about 2 miles near the base of Mt Washington, tallest mountain in the northest and the official home to the worlds worst weather, you have have to expect the worst). Anyway, the tent held up surprisingly well with no problems at all. This tent really holds up to terrible weather when it is set up properly - which is why you need it. I also have a $40 tent from Dicks with a similar floor size that I use for single nights in good weather - much easier to setup, takedown, and get in/out of, but it would never have stood up, pun intended, to the week I had last October in the White Mountains.

Bottom line, there are other tents that are easier to set up, and get in and out of. But, when it rains, and it will rain, this design is far better than any of those other options. Plus, the front of the tent - vestibule area, can be unstaked on sunny days removing the need to get on your hands and knees to get in and out. Recommended!!!

I recently bought this tent for my wife and I to go camping. It has great interior space for two people and gear, as well as a high dome that we are almost able to stand in. The set up was very easy and didn't take that long, also the vestibule is a great idea for taking of dirty boots to keep the tent clean, and dry. I love it and think its great for a couple to go camping, great tent for the price.

I'm not much of a camper, but I needed a tent for a quick weekend trip. This tent worked out great. Easy and fun to set up. It had a lot of stakes, but it wasn't a problem. You do have to crouch down to get in the vestibule, but I'm 5'7" and didn't have a problem. It's a nice place to leave your shoes or other stuff you don't want to track into the tent. Temperature got down to 35F at night and I was fine with only this and a sleeping bag on an air mattress. Moisture on the outside in the morning and no wetness within. Highly recommended.

Oh...yeah, it's hard to get back in the bag but it's do-able. I would imagine all tents are like this.

I bought it for my teenage son to use on his sleep away trips with his squadron. I was worried it may be a little cold with just the rain fly covering a mesh tent. We sprayed it with silicon spray and sealed the seams. He set it up in less than 5 minutes on his own while other cadets were tangled in their tent poles.

The condensation did build up a little on the inside of the rainfly but it wasn't a big deal he just left the window on the fly open a little for air flow. The 2nd night the rain showers moved in and he said not a drop and the rain fly kept the water away. Tie the lines out to keep the rainfly tight and enjoy..

I got one for myself to use this summer on our camping trip and I can't wait to pitch it and get some miles on it..

Happy Camping

I am in the military stationed in England and as everyone knows it rains ALOT and gets very cold and extremely windy. We bought it for camping and really put it to the test on a trip to Wales. The tent is very easy to set up with only the three poles one person can do it in under ten minutes taking your time, others have commented saying it's difficult which means, regardless of what they say, are inexperienced in putting up a tent. The grounds we camped on were on a mountain side in Wales. The ground was soaked from rain the entire week prior and also rained during the trip. The tent stayed completely dry inside and the floor of the tent remained dry as well with no condensation. Others have also complained about the side vents which i figured how to pitch and keep them closed without being affected by wind since the hill sides in wales have strong wind gusts. The entrance way was a perfect place to keep our fire wood and we placed a small tarp to use as a "mud room" before entering the tent. Kept all the firewood dry the whole trip. Also the inside can EASILY fit three people but obviously using inflatable matresses take up most of the usable space so I'd recommend just a sleeping pad since your already camping you should do it right. We had plenty of room for my wife and I and our German Shepard with all our gear, food, water and a cooler. Tent packs up smaller than expected to be used on longer backpacking trips as I use on hunting trips and backpacking. All around a very good and reliable tent I highly recommend.

IMPRESSIVE

The "Hooligan" arrived in one day. Set up of the interior was a snap. The rain fly is a little tricky the first time setting up, but if you've ever pitched a tent before, it's also a snap. It's very roomy inside and has a festive glow to it. I haven't actually camped in it yet, but the tent appears to be sturdy, wind and rain proof. Tear down is super fast, and packs easily in the bag. I would recommend it for the price alone and looking forward to some great camping.....

This tent is very spacious and has a full-coverage fly. It takes a while to set up, as there are a lot of guy lines to stake out. However, this makes for a very stable tent. The vestibule is handy for storing items that you don't want inside the tent. You do have to stoop to enter the tent through the vestibule, as the door to the vestibule is not very tall.

Field tested this tent a couple of weeks ago on a camping trip to WV.
The tent had plenty of room for my wife and I, and we were able to set it up really quick.

The tent floor is durable and didn't let any ground moisture creep in. There are some zipper pockets
on the inside that are nice for storing your phone and flashlight while you sleep.

There were thunderstorms the entire night and not a drop of water made it inside the tent!

On a hot night when you're sure its not going to rain you can take off the orange rain guard to let some air flow
through the tent, but if you suspect rain at all you should probably just put it up. You don't want to be messing with it
when the rain has already started.