Customer Reviews

Columbia Cougar Flats II Family Cabin Dome Tent

5 star:		(105)
4 star:		(19)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

BUY THIS VERSION! The tent listed here is model number CB-9001-10. The other third party buying options listed on amazon are CB-9001. I first called amazon and they couldn't give me an answer about the difference. I then called North Pole at 1-866-706-9377 and got the low-down. The CB-9001-10 is the newest, 2010 version.

After a tremendous amount of research, I decided this tent was definitely the way to go for our family of four. I will not repeat everything previous reviewers have said here (read all reviews under other buying options on this site as well as additional reviews outside of amazon), but I do want to pass on newest model info.

The difference with newer model:
1. Added awning: a good addition, but it is not over the door, which would have been more helpful, especially if you wanted to leave muddy shoes at the door.
2. Pole issue has been resolved.
3. Floor is now made of nylon. The rep says this cuts down on noise and is also less prone to holes. They do strongly advise using a tent saver underneath. Most "tent savers" I researched seemed very flimsy, but I found a great tarp that fits this tent exactly and it is sold here on amazon: "Dry Top 210156 10-foot by 15-foot Full Finish Size Reversible Tarp, 10-mm, Silver/Brown". A regular tarp would work fine too, but make sure it is slightly smaller than the tent footprint, otherwise when it rains, water will pool underneath your tent.

Additional Info missing from previous reviews:
1. Rainfly has a 800mm coating. Tent buying guides usually recommend 1000-1500mm, but this tent does seem water resistant.
2. Mesh netting is no-see-um rated.
3. Seams are factory sealed, however rep said you can use Kenyon 3 sealer as extra insurance. A bottle comes with the tent. It's a good idea to seam seal before each season.
4. Columbia does not recommend coating the tent. This can have a reverse effect on moisture control!
5. There is a limited-lifetime warranty on tent, but you must save original receipt.
6. Yes, the second room does not have its own entrance, but we have a 6 and 5 yr old, so it is decidedly a safety PLUS for us.

Hope this helps! I researched the bejeezus out of family, cabin-style tents and this one seems to be by far the best all-around tent for the price, factoring features, materials, quality and price. The only other tent I seriously considered was Eureka's Titan Luxury Family Tent. It does have slightly higher quality materials, but at nearly $200 more, not enough of a difference to justify the price jump.

In Summary: This is the newest model of this tent (verify model #CB-9001-10). Amazon's price is the same as competitors (I researched that too) and you get free shipping. Happy camping!!!

UPDATE: Our tent has been set up and camped in, and we absolutely love it! Can't think of much I'd like improved, except the location of the awning (in front of door would have been much better). We had one night of driving rain, with it pooling on the rain fly because hubby hadn't staked it tightly enough. Same said hubby also admitted he hadn't finished seam sealing. A few drops of water was the only price we paid. We especially love the big windows and ventilation.

If you're thinking of buying this tent, don't hesitate! I can confidently say you will be very happy with your purchase. It's a great value--well built, good looking, with great features all around. We look forward to many outings and building lifetime family memories with our children in this tent.

For the 2010 camping season I decided it was time to upgrade our tent. I spent a lot of time looking at pretty much every tent available from pretty much every website and kept coming back to this one.

This is simply the best value in tents and getting it from Amazon means unlike at other online stores you do not have to pay for shipping.

The description does not say it but the tent comes with a very nice wheeled duffel bag that the who thing fits into. This bag has a hard plastic bottom and is a very nice touch.

The tent itself is very large but is perfect for family camping where you can pull up in your car/truck right to your camp site. I use it mainly just with my son and we each take a room. This leaves us plenty of space for our Outfitter XL Cots (also purchased from Amazon)coolers and bags with plenty of room to spare.

This would be a great cot for a family of 4 or smaller and could easily camp 6-8 if you don't mind sleeping a bit close.

The tent goes up really easy and all of the poles are color coded so you just put the red marked pole into the red marked hub etc. The poles on the roof are made out of fiber glass and the ones on the side are metal. This provides for a very stable tent that holds its shape well. The canopy that extends off the rain fly is small but a nice touch. It is big enough to fit about 2 chairs under it and rolls right up and out of the way when not in use.

It is hard to decribe in writing but you can tell that a lot of thought went into the design of this tent.

The tent comes with a bottle of seam sealer and as with all tents you should seal the seams at the start of each season. So far we have had it out in the rain once and we stayed dry as a bone the tent also held up well in high winds.

All in all you won't find a better value in car/family camping and buying it from Amazon means it ships for free. Strangely enough the tent is sold by several other vendors on Amazon that will charge you for shipping so make sure you get it from Amazon

Please note that this review is from the point of view of a family of 4 - 2 parents / 2 boys (ages 4 1/2 and 3). If you have a family, this review is for you.

Setting the tent up:
The first time my wife and I set this up, it took about an hour. Please don't let that scare you. Part of that hour included the standard married couple arguing. Neither one of us had ever put up a tent in our lives so it took us just a bit longer. I took it out again this past weekend and it took only 10 minutes that time.

After the tent was set up:
Our boys are crazy. God knows I love them, but they are just two balls of pure, 80's red kool-aid energy. They were very excited about being in a tent and were running and jumping and sliding everywhere. They still had their shoes on and I was worried it might catch and rip. The tent held fine. No rips or tears.

How the tent felt:
There is plenty of ventilation. Never felt hot or humid. There was no moisture in the tent in the morning. The height of the tent makes it very easy to move around. The four of us were able to sleep in the back room with 2 queen mattresses. This tent easily holds 8 people. The extended roof on the rain fly is a nice feature to have so you can sit in a shaded area without going too far away from the tent. Fits 2 or 3 people with a cooler as a footstool comfortably.

In weather:
If it's warm, keep those windows open. It can get warm in their quick, but the ventilation helps tremendously. Both times I've set it up, it has rained. Not one drop got past the rain fly! We had some pretty serious wind the second time we set it up, and it held with no problems. Just make sure you tie down the extended roof from the rain fly real good if you use that.

The negative:
This thing weighs almost 50 pounds. If you can drive up to your site, that would be ideal. However, the bag that this comes in has wheels to make it a bit easier to move. Worked fairly well in the gravel I drug it through recently. But considering how well it functions as a family tent, I can look past the weight.

5 out of 5 kool-aid points for me.

Tents have come along way since my Boy Scout days ..millions of times better and CHEAPER ..for what you get. The Columbia Cougar Flats II Family Cabin Dome Tent is the nicest tent I've ever been in. Its TALL I'm over six foot and I have to reach up to touch the ceiling. It has a zippered wall dividing it into two rooms,with an overhead storage area and even cup holders! Naturally it has poured rain almost the entire week since I set the thing up in my yard..not one drop of rain has leaked inside. And assuming the sun ever does come out every exterior wall has fantastic windows and or almost entire screen walls. Buy it..take the kids camping. Even if it rains..and it will..you'll have fun.

We love this tent - it was a first tent purchase for us and our 3 children, and we researched it thouroughly as we are new to camping! It is roomy and we love the two room feature. This weekend we were using it at our town's Relay for Life for the American Cancer Society. The Relay was evacuated in the evening due to bad weather and heavy storms headed our way. We were told to leave all our belongings and go. I was so sad to leave our beautiful tent! The local newspaper just ran a story stating that of the 114 team campsites, there were 2 tents at the fairgrounds left standing...1 was our Columbia! It shook so hard that the bedrolls we had secured in the overhead netting were shaken loose, and one of the round rings that secure the main poles at the groun now looks a bit more like an oval, but our tent was standing. Only a tiny bit of the floor was wet in one corner. In fairness, we did have some heavy things inside the tent that helped to weigh it down, and there was a partial building behind us a ways that may have borken the winds a bit, but 2 tents left standing...that's impressive. I highly recommend this tent. After we bought ours, our friends bought the same one after doing research and they love theirs too! You will be the envy of your camping friends and neighbors! :)

First off let me just say how amazing Amazon is.

We purchased the Cougar Flats tent based on the outstanding reviews we read online after researching plenty of tents. We set up the tent at the camp site and realized that we were missing a center yellow Y-bracket. My honey was able to make the tent work for the weekend and when we got back, I called Columbia to find out how to get the missing part required to put the tent together. I was told by Columbia that I needed to contact North Pole Limited because they are the ones who manufacture the tent and it was explained to me that Columbia allows their name to be used but they do not actually manufacture or support this tent.

I called North Pole and they quickly informed me that they severed ties with Columbia and they no longer support this tent, even though they are the manufacturers. They do however have replacement parts if I want to pay for shipping and so forth, because in their words, "they were not going to lose anymore money on this model tent". From a consumer stand point, I was not replacing a part I myself broke, I was requesting a part that is a required part to assemble the tent and that was MISSING from my shipment from the company who actually manufactures the tent and has North Poles info to call in the instructions manual if you have missing pieces which I pointed out. It seemed to me the simple solution was for the manufacturer to simply send me the missing piece, but they would not. I spoke to the supervisor and she said that they would not waiver on this and that it was an issue I needed to address with Columbia, there was nothing more they would or could do for me. After a few more phone calls back and forth, I became so frustrated with no one taking ownership that I called Amazon to see what I should do.

Amazon was amazing and offered to send me a replacement tent or do a return for me. We opted to do a return and will order a Coleman tent we had also considered becasue with Coleman, no matter what the issue, their customer service will work to resolve it. Although the Cougar Flats tent was a great tent (we actually really did liked the tent), the fact that neither Columbia or North Pole will take any ownership in resolving issues meant we didn't want a replacement that we would be back in the same frustrating situation again in the future should we encounter another problem down the road. Overall, I'm very happy with Amazon for putting themselves in our shoes and stepping up when the manufactures would not. THANK YOU AMAZON, WE LOOK FORWARD TO OUR COLEMAN TENT COMING SOON FROM AMAZON!!! :)

Buy it! Man, we used it over a 3-day weekend and can't wait to use it again - such quality, we were wowed! Have always had those $100 tents and knew you got what you paid for. Sweated spending almost $300 for this one when could have easily done that again, but decided wanted quality - best decision ever made! High quality, thick fabric, heavy duty poles - about 3/4" diameter and rigid, not those thin, flexible poles that give, makes for a sturdy tent in wind and rain, and boy did it get its test with us. Were in a torrential downpour on our first trip - huge wind, gushing rain, and she withstood it! Just a couple of minor leaks around a couple of window seams which I blame on myself for having forgotten to apply the sealant. Love the quality door flaps/zippers - nice. The little trinkets inside like cupholders, net you can hang above, and little hanging shelf system are awesome features you won't find in cheap-o's.

Definitely buy your own tent spikes, though, as this one just comes with some smooth ones that won't work too well. I forget how many, but you'll need quite a few - about 6-8 for the tent itself, plus another 8-12 or so for the rain cover and bow windows. Buy the 12" metal ones that are angled, you won't go wrong. Oh yeah, those bow windows are really neat features too, along with the little air vent.

One piece of advice - I messed up and didn't tie down the right side enough, so the roof collected some rain and could have collapsed had I not removed the water. The left side's super okay due to the rigid horizontal roof pole which supports the optionally-raised outside canopy, but again, be sure to tie that right-center tie-down good, to as much as a 45-degree angle out away from the tent to prevent my mistake.

Oh, one last thing - I'd buy this tent for the heavy, heavy duty fabric carrying case w/wheels alone - holy schmackeral, that thing's gotta be worth 100+ bucks by itself! At first didn't think would get the tent back in there, but after exercising some patience and trying another time or two, figured out the tricks, one of which being to open up the one zipper that allows the case to expand, much like your luggage probably has. That helped a bunch and made me grin from ear to ear.

I should probably marry this thing after gushing so much, but goodness, I love good quality at a reasonable price, and boy, this is it.

What are you waiting for? Quit reading all these reviews and just buy this bad boy, you won't be sorry!

We researched a long time before settling on this tent. There are several things we like about it. First, it is well ventilated with big windows. Secondly, it is very roomy. We can fit our queen-sized air mattress on one end with room to spare and our two kids and dog have more than enough space on the other end. We could easily fit two more kids if needed. The tent is easy to set up. It does require two people to hoist up the top of the tent but after the initial set-up, the second time we set it up only took about 20 minutes. EDIT: I was able to set it up myself. Just takes a little maneuvering. The tent carrying case is like a giant duffle on wheels with a hard plastic bottom. There is plenty of space to get the tent back into the bag thanks to a second zipper that makes the duffle expand. Zippers are sturdy and well-made. They zip pretty smoothly, rarely getting caught on the fabric flaps over the zippers. Tent poles are sturdy and well made. The tent did come with a bottle of seam sealer which I used on the seams of the tent. The fly is taped so I didn't put any on it. Two days later it rained all morning and that tent was dry as a bone inside!

EDIT: We have now camped in this tent three times. Two of those times we had torrential rains. The tent stayed dry both times! The awning I thought was useless is actually quite helpful. It shades the big window and allows you to leave it half open in the rain so there is adequate ventilation. Just be sure to stake it correctly so that water drains off and does not pool. I love the number of windows you can leave open on this tent during rain. I also love sleeping next to the big window. It's as though you were outside. We recently used this tent during a camp for girls. One of the other tents leaked miserably during several inches of rainfall so all 10 girls piled into this tent. It was snug but very dry.

The only reason I don't give it five stars is that I really wish there was an awning of some kind over the doors so you could get in and out without letting in rain. But we have just started leaving a towel in front of the door when it rains and that soaks up the rain that drips in off the door.

In conclusion, we love this tent. I love that I can trust it to keep us dry. I love that its big enough for all the kids to play in when its raining (we usually camp with friends and their kids come in and play because its so roomy). My husband loves the tall ceilings and we love all the big windows. Another plus is that the floor is sturdy and easy to clean. You can buy this tent with confidence. Its well-made and reliable!

Important things to note before purchasing this tent! This tent does have a room divider, however one must note part of the divider on this tent actually extends up from the floor,walls, and ceiling. You must step up and over the divider, even when open. It is designed as two zipper doors that connect in the middle of the tent. The tent fabric extends from the ceiling to the floor when rolled from the left and right and meet in the middle and not in use. Therefore you don't have an uniterrupted floor space from one end to the other. Also the manual says two people are required to assemble this tent, not true. I have put this tent up by myself, but i must reccomend after the roof poles are in place, put the corner poles in one joint at a time in each corner, followed by the 2nd joints,and then the 3rd joints. This reduces stress on the tent and poles. I gave this tent 4 stars,only because i am waiting to see how well the tent lasts. I have had many tents over my 30 yrs. of camping, and this tent is well thought out. The oversized windows,bay windows, and vents should provide maxium ventalation, using only the bay windows and vents for air flow will allow you to have increased privacy. I am extremely thrilled with the design of this tent!!!! (model # CB-9001-10) HAPPY CAMPING.

This is a good tent - I purchased this family size tent after using Eureka! tents for years. I've used it 7 times so far this season.

What I like:
* Size - this tent is spacious inside.
* Accessories - cup holders and storage bins are well thought out.
* Appearance - this tent looks nice and we've received compliments on it.
* Venting - with the windows unzipped this tent stays fairly cool inside. With the windows zipped and the bottom back air vents open it does a moderate job circulating air.
* Security - my kids sleep in the second room and I love knowing that no one can come or go without coming through my room in the tent.
* color coded tent poles.

What I don't like:
* The rain fly takes as long to put on the tent as the rest of the tent takes to build. If you like to try and leave the fly off at night, if it starts to rain, you will have a very hard time putting this fly on in the dark and with any speed. Especially given the number of tie downs on the thing (8).
* If every cord isn't tied down on the tent then it greatly increases the probability of leaks. This tent does a fair job of keeping rain out depending on how well it is tied down. The tie downs round out the roof-line and let the rain roll off of it instead of pooling up and leaking into it.
* After 6 uses one of the bay window tent poles broke while in use. The pole snapped and the window went from nice and round to being "v" shaped. The lesson learned here is always camp with a tent pole repair kit. Fortunately the repair wasn't difficult, but I was disappointed in the pole cracking after only 6 uses.

Overall, I'm happy with the tent purchase and would recommend this tent to a friend.