pitched with tarp and windbreak

Coleman Mosedale 5 Tent Review

Coleman Mosedale 5 Tent Review

We test out the Coleman Mosedale 5 and are very impressed with what we see.

Review Score

We really like the Coleman Rocky Mountain 5, it's proved to be a great tent.

Our Score: 9.6/10

We've given the Coleman Mosedale 5 Tent Review the Thumbs Up award.

GOWTK Thumbs Up Award
Value for MoneyQualityFeaturesFamily FriendlyPracticalityEase of Pitching

The good

  • A great tent perfect for long weekend camping and really good value for money with quite a few features normally found on more expensive tents. Easy to pitch too.

The not so good

  • None found so far.

This was a hands-on product review. The product was supplied to us to test and conduct the review.

Price Guide

Coleman Mosedale 5 Tent Review Videos

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Coleman Mosedale 5 Tent Review Photos

pitched with tarp and windbreak

Our pitch

Coleman Rocky Mountain with no inner tent

Inside the empty rocky mountain 5 tent

Using the Coleman Rocky Mountain in the Yorkshire Dales

Friendly Chicken

Tent poles creating arches

The tent with arches

Rocky Montain 5

Rocky Montain 5

Our Review

Update

Coleman has discontinued this version of the Coleman Mosedale 5.

However, a new version exists called the Coleman Mosedale 5 Pro BlackOut Tent

Coleman Mosedale 5 Pro Blackout Tent

The new Coleman Mosedale 5 Pro Blackout Tent


Coleman sent us over their Coleman Mosedale 5 family tent for us to test and review, and we've been quite impressed with this family tent. Let's have a look at some of its features.

Doors

Doors are an important aspect of a tent. You need them good enough to keep the elements out when the weather is wet but provide good airflow when it is warm.

We found that the tent had some well-designed doors.

The doors were doubled up to provide additional weather protection.

Double doors for more weather protection

All doors featured a bug mesh, so you can keep them open for maximum ventilation and still keep the bugs out.

Bug screen mesh on all the doors

As well as a good sized front door, the Mosedale 5 also has a side door.

Side door with bug mesh

Bedrooms

A major feature of the Coleman Mosedale 5 tent is its blackout bedrooms.

The bedrooms with handy mesh pockets

These are really black, and might not be to everyone's taste, but they certainly do help block out the light. However, it's not completely pitch black, as a little bit of light comes in through the ventilation panels.

What the blackout bedroom is like when zipped up

The bedrooms in the Mosedale 5 have a clip-in divider that separates the space into a 3+2 arrangement. However, when we went camping with the tent, we took the divider out, which gave us a little more space.

The black-out bedroom without the divider

The black-out bedroom with the divider

Other Features

There are lots of other features too. Here are a few of them.

If you use electric hook-up there's a cable entry point.

I would have preferred to see this on the side opposite the door, as that is most likely where you would have a table with the power supply on. Having it here could block the use of the door. However, it's nice to see that this feature is included on the tent.

Cable entry point for electric hook-up

The obligatory lantern hook was also present.

A lantern hook

The tent has a good amount of ventilation, both below, above, and at the back of the tent.

Ventilation points

Pitching the Coleman Mosedale 5

Like all good campers, we tested pitching the Coleman Mosedale 5 in our garden rather than waiting for any surprises it might give us at the campsite ;-)

This is a really straightforward tent to pitch.

Tent Bag Size

Unlike some large family tents, the Coleman Mosedale 5 is not too big or heavy when in its bag. You'll note that the it says Rocky Mountain 5 of the tent. That's because when we reviewed it, it was the Rocky Mountain 5. It has now been renamed the Mosedale 5.

Contents of tent bag

Here's what is inside the Coleman tent bag

For years, many tents came with very thin cheap tent pegs. It was good to see that Coleman has provided much thicker tent pegs, a spare guyline and a tent repair patch.

Decent pegs, repair patch, and spare guy

Decent tent pegs, a repair patch, and spare guyline with the tent

Assembling the tent poles is the first thing you need to do when pitching this tent.

Coleman Rocky Mountain Tent Poles

The tent poles slotted together. Note the one with the red segment.

With the tent poles assembled, lay out the tent on the ground.

Coleman Rocky on the ground

Layout the tent on the ground. The doors should be open.

You then slide the tent poles into the sleeves on the tent, with the red tent pole going into the sleeve marked red.

The red tent pole sleeve

Thread the red tent pole through the red sleeve

Tent poles threaded into the tent

Thread all the poles into the sleeves

With the tent poles in their sleeves, secure each pole by inserting the 'spike' at the bottom of the tent. Do this just on the one side first.

Securing the tent poles

Secure the ends of the tent poles to the tent

Go around to the tent poles on the other side of the tent and secure those. To do this, you might need to slide the pole in its sleeve to ensure its length is equal on both sides and nothing is snagging, as it can get a little stiff as the tent poles start to bend.

Tent poles creating arches

Now your Coleman Rocky Mountain should look like this.

Finally, it's time to get the tent up. This is quite straightforward, but you'll want to get your guylines ready, especially the ones at the top of the tent's front and back.

The end guy line

Grab the guyline at the top end of the tent.

The guy lines on your new tent will need adjusting. See the picture below for the correct loop you put your tent peg through.

Guyline tensioner

You can adjust the length of each guy line by moving the black slider

Now, pull the end arch up of the tent, and peg out the guyline from the top.

The Rocky Mountain now upright

The tent will stand up with just the end guy line holding it place

Pull the sides of the tent out and the back of the tent back so that the tent is fully stretched. Peg out the top line at the back of the tent soon.

Now zip up the doors and peg out the sides and remaining guylines. You must have the doors zipped up for this, as if you have them open, it is easy to peg out the tent too stretched for the doors to zip up properly.

Putting up the Inner Tent

When you get your tent, the inner tent won't be connected. This is easy to do; for the most part, you can keep this attached to your tent, so you won't need to do this again. The only time I would take out the inner tent is if the tent was damp, and so storing the inner tents in a separate bag would be one less thing to dry out when you get home.

Coleman Rocky Mountain with no inner tent

The large empty space without the inner tent

The inner tent is easy to pitch and toggles into place.

Lay it out on the floor of your tent, and then systematically work up through the toggles.

Inner tent ready for hanging

Lay the inner tent on the floor and systematically toggle it into place

Using the Coleman Mosedale

We took the tent to a long weekend camping in the Yorkshire Dales.

Using the Coleman Rocky Mountain in the Yorkshire Dales

Using the Coleman Rocky Mountain/Mosedale in the Yorkshire Dales

We had rain, wind, and sun, and the tent performed great.

To make cooking easier, we put a tarp over the front of the tent and used our Coleman windbreak to create a shelter.

pitched with tarp and windbreak

The tent pitched with tarp and windbreak

Making breakfast with fresh eggs

Making breakfast with fresh eggs. The windbreak and tarp make a great shelter for cooking under.

Verdict

We liked the Coleman Mosedale 5 tent.

It's the sort of tent that's not too big and bulky, quick and easy to pitch for a weekend camp, and if you have a small family, it could still give you enough space for much longer stays.

It doesn't have an extension, but if you use a tarp and windbreak, you can create a lot more outdoor living space.

This tent gets the thumbs up from us.

The Miller Family Tent

The Miller family bought the Rocky Mountain 5 tent (now called the Mosedale 5). For them, the blackout bedrooms are a big selling point as it helps their kids settle down while it is still light.

When researching the tents, Tim found that the Rocky Mountain 5 Plus has narrower bedrooms.

They also use the Easy Camp Tarp and the Landmann Tripod to complete their set-up.

The Miller Family Tent

This tent set-up looks familiar ;-)

Details

AttributeColeman Mosedale 5 Tent Review
RRP
Best Price
Product Info
Dimensions
Tent Details
Recommended Tent UseIdeal for Weekend Camping
SleepsSleeps 5
Bedrooms2 Bedrooms
Frame TypeFlexible Poles
Tent Construction
Fly Hydrostatic Head4500 mm
Tent Windows
Tent Doors
Tent Bedrooms
Tent Living Space
Pitching and Storage