Getting good shelter at the beach can save your day. It protects you from turning into a lobster and offers some well needed shade, in a place where it is often impossible to find. We sampled the Beach Sun Shelter Tent from Trail Outdoors to see how it compared to the popular pop up versions on the market.
Quick Verdict
This is a great family sized beach shelter that works well for picnics.
This is a high quality tent at a very low price.
So Size Does Matter!
The first thing to notice about this beach sun shelter tent is the size available. While it’s not humongous, it does offer a better sized shelter than most rival pop up beach tents.
We have a pop-up beach tent that we first bought in order to protect our kids when we went to the beach. While I liked the concept and ease of the pop-up tent, it soon became clear that on a windy day our budget pop-up beach tent was not much use to us.
The gusts would soon cause the shelter to fold in and we would need to spend lots of effort weighting the corners down. The problem with this was that it encroached on what was already a small internal space.
The Trail Outdoors Beach Sun Shelter however offers fantastic floor space, so that the whole family can fit inside. The benefits of this is that you can enjoy a family picnic when it is lunchtime and you want to avoid the sun. It also offers a nice spot for your kids to have a sleep, which gives you the Holy Grail while on holiday…adult quiet time!
Having a good sized beach tent really will help enhance your day at the beach. The first thing our friends said when they saw this beach tent was ” wow, that is a good size tent” and I think that is the important thing to take away from this review.
You get plenty of space in order to relax, which is why you have gone to the beach in the first place.
Beach Sun Shelter Tent
I mentioned sun protection. This beach tent has a 170T polyester material with UPF50 coating to protect you from any harmful UV rays. This is really important if you have young children, as a long day at the beach is already a hazard for their delicate skin. With this beach sun shelter you get reassurance that your little one’s skin is well protected.
The Dome shaped structure is higher than most small sized beach shelters, so with this beach tent you get the benefit of your kids being able to stand up on the inside. Well provided they are under 18 cm tall. This is great as it allows a good flow in and out of the tent. The pop up rival on the other hand has a smaller entrance, so you can spend most the day readjusting to let people come in and out of the shelter.
A Nice Erection.
That’s what she said. Well, my wife thought that this tent was easy to put up.
Now some of you may be thinking: “I can’t be bothered using poles at the beach, it sounds like too much effort”.
Well I’ve been in your shoes too and it’s taken me a long time to convert from the ease of a pop up beach tent. After all, the reason why I first bought a pop up beach tent was that it was so quick and easy to arrive at the beach and instantly have shelter put up.
This was of course in a time before I had children. Maybe having kids has increased my patience level, or maybe it’s just that I need a good quality beach tent to enjoy my time on the sand. However, I am now prepared to build three easily connecting poles in order to have a better quality beach tent.
The pop-up beach tent is quicker to erect, however I’ve already mentioned that in winds the tent becomes floppy and folds in on everyone inside. The pole built version is much sturdier and thanks to the pre-attached guy-lines and reinforced plastic pegs you get a higher quality hold in the wind.
Whereas before I was using windbreaks to protect the tent, I can now use those windbreaks as they were designed to provide shelter and privacy for the family.
If I am being perfectly honest the build time is very quick with this tent. It comes with three telescopic poles that simply slide and connect easily to help build the tent structure as you would any normal tent.
When it comes to packing away it’s a simple job. You just need to pushing the tent poles out and fold up the tent. Once done, roll it all away into the light weight bag. If you don’t have your own beach trolley, the bag comes with an easy to carry shoulder strap. This means it’s no big deal when it comes to transporting this beach sun shelter around.
Other Features
The main reasons to buy this beach shelter are because you get a good sized family space. It also has a very sturdy build quality. All of which is at a very reasonable price.
There are some other nice features though that I will point out.
Firstly you get 3 mesh windows with zip covers. These are a great way to keep your tent ventilated on those super hot days. The tent provides great shade. However, on a very muggy day you will want some form of breeze and these work really well.
If you want to keep the breeze out, they simply zip up and keep your space nice and private.
The other nice feature is the reflective door to floor zip design. If you need to leave the tent, you can zip the floor all the way round so that people can’t see inside the tent. While I still wouldn’t leave any valuables lying around, it acts as some privacy for your belongings. Alternatively you can zip it up and have a sleep. The reflective material will help keep out some of that heat when the tent is fully zipped.
Summary
This is a great family beach tent. It’s low in price and great on the beach. While it might not “pop up” as quickly as it’s rival beach tents, it give great performance for any couple or family with young kids.