So..I am an avid camper. Been camping many times since I was a kid. I have owned 3 tents in 25 years of on my own camping, the Coleman Montana 8 is the 3rd. When I was looking for a tent, I did a lot of research, and read many reviews. I would say for the Montana 8, the reviews have been pretty accurate. It is very roomy, yet a bit narrow and although on our trip the weather was sort of ok...I can see ventilation being a problem on hotter, more humid days and nights. But overall it is a solid tent.



First off, you have to know in shopping for a tent that a 4 person tent is good for two people and gear and 6 person is good for 3-4 people and 6-8 person tents are good for 4-5 adults and children if you want to be comfortable and not on top of each other. With that said, me, my son (5) and my friend and his son (4) had just about the perfect amount of room (maybe a tad more than we needed). Each little family had one side of the tent with a good amount of room in the middle for moving around and bags and such.



Honestly, if there was anyone else in there it would have been a little crowded. So think about it, 2 adults and 2 kids and it was just about perfect. My son and I had the Coleman 4 in 1 bed with the mattress' side by side...which they say is a about a king size mattress...it fit fine. My friend had a queen size sleeping mat on his side and it fit fine.



So while it was roomy for us, I wouldn't try to fit more than 5 people in there comfortably. If you are a family or set of friends of 3-4, this is a great size for you.



The set up - my son and I got to the site first and started with the tent. We had never taken the tent out of the box it was delivered in, so we went at it blind. If you have never set up a tent before I can see it being a bit overwhelming at first, but with more than one person, you should be able to get it. If you have set up a tent before, you will be fine with one person. I did it with my 5 year old and while he wasn't much help, I did need him to hold up the sides when it came time to make them tight. If he wasn't there I would have just stood them up and staked them to hold them up, so it really won't be a problem to do it by yourself...if you have done it before. I'd say 30-45 mins set up for one experienced person to complete.



As I said, we took it out of the box at the site, so I added no extra rain seal or anything and sure enough it rained on us the two mornings we woke up there. Not a drop got in that I could see and the rain was substantial at times...the kids just played in the tent, plenty of room to pass a nerf football, and we waited out the rain in there....not a problem at all. Except, ventilation, we did have damp clothes and bedding, but it was not the rain, it was the lack of ventilation.



Which brings me to the only two down sides, there are two small windows on either end and the screen door, so there is no real cross breeze. I even had the tent turned so the windows were in the direction of the wind, the windows are too small. Bottom line, better ventilation is needed, maybe just a venting window on the back wall facing the door. I had a tent fan to sleep with (got that because of the reviews I had read)....I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THAT if you need air to sleep such as I :) In a little colder environment, this would be a very warm tent. The only other negative is the awning or the "porch" this is not a porch...I was up one night while everyone was asleep and it started to rain. I put my chair under the "porch" to watch the fire and the rain and there is hardly any protection at all to sit under there.



The door is awesome. With kids running in and out it's great...but you still have to zipper it each time and both kids handled the zipper door very well and the zipper handled them well.



I would say overall I am very happy with this tent, just needs better ventilation. It's tall so you can stand up in it and that is important if you are getting older like me :) I am 6ft tall and fit fine in there. There may be better tents out there....but not many at this price. Happy Camping!