Coleman Mosedale 5 Tent – Review

Coleman Mosedale 5 Tent - Review - Coleman Mosedale 5 tent erected
Coleman Mosedale 5 Tent – Review 

The plan for 2017 was to get out camping with the family, outdoor adventures for all of us. For Zoe and Bubs this would be new experiences, for Tubs a common practice he has with his mum, and for me a step back to when I was under 30 and much fitter, but our tent is to be the Coleman Mosedale 5 a new season tent exclusive to Go Outdoors.

After our first experience camping at the birdfair this is the Coleman Mosedale 5 Tent – Review.

Coleman Mosedale 5 Tent – Review

There were two things we were looking for in our first tent, something light enough to carry without a car, but something that 4 of us would be able to use comfortably (yeah there is little to no hope of my 17 year old son joining us, he HATES camping). At about 17kg the Mosedale 5 fitted the weight description (maybe not that light, I carried it on my back across birdfair and it was quite heavy, but on a small trolley will be OK) and as a 5 man tent we thought it would be fine for a family of 4.

Specifications

Before going on with the review, these are the technical side of things:

  • Capacity: 5 person
  • Rooms: 3
  • Bedrooms: 2
  • Doors: 2
  • Set up: Pitch-in-one
  • Structure: Tunnel
  • Poles: Fibreglass
  • Number of Poles: 3
  • Groundsheet: PE, welded, fully integrated
  • Outer fabric: Polyester PU coated/Fire retardant
  • Inner fabric: Breathable Polyester, Polyester PU coated, No-see-um mesh
  • Seams: Taped seams
  • Carry bag: Included
  • Pack size: 68 x 33 x 32 cm
  • Pitching Order: As One
  • Weight: 17.2 kg
  • Height (cm): 195.00
  • Length (cm): 470.00
  • Width (cm): 335.00
  • Inner Height (cm): 185.00
  • Water column (Flysheet Hydrostatic head): 4500mm
  • Tent Features: Blackout / Darkened Bedrooms, Cable Access Point, Internal Storage Pockets, Lantern Hanging Points, Sewn-in Groundsheet, Vents, Windows

Erection (teehee)

Our first attempt at putting the tent up, was at Birdfair, and with two of us, Me + Zoe & Tubs (they counted as one person here), and it wasn’t hugely difficult, in fact having not put a tent up in well over 10 years it still took under 30 mins, the three pole set up was easy enough, the only really tricky part getting the metal pins into the end of each pole (well one end was harder than the other).

I have to admit I watched the Coleman YouTube video on how to set up a couple of times prior to actually going away, but that just made sense to me. – You can view it here: Coleman Mosedale 5 Tent on YouTube actual pitching starts at 2.45.

Coleman Mosedale 5 Tent at Birdfair camp site
Coleman Mosedale 5 Tent at Birdfair camp site

Blackout Rooms

One of the major features that attracted us to this tent were the blackout bedrooms, in the shop they looked great, cutting out the light nicely, in practice they were equally as good, really dark (I’ll try and get a picture next time we pitch). The light is not completely cut out, a couple of air vents let in a little light in the morning, but less than a pair of curtains would at home.

As for space, the bedrooms are separated into two by a thin sheet, hung from the roof, personally I would have liked more connectors and a tighter fit here, but it serves a purpose (and I imagine you could add extra connections without too much hassle?).

Weather resistance

We were able to test out the Coleman Mosedale 5 Tent in some heavy rain, hot sunshine and strong winds over our weekend camp at the 2017 Birdfair and it held up well. There were no leaks from the rain (the only water build up due to condensation in the mornings, leaving a few of the vents open would have helped here of course. The wind (18 miles an hour) rattled the outer fabric, but the tent didn’t sway or suffer any issues (even the pegs stayed in place, although I may invest in some better pegs than those that came with the tent).

As for holding up to the sun, this links back with the blackout rooms, mentioned above, part of the idea is that the rooms stay cooler in the full heat of the sun, and it is true, there was a noticeable difference in temperatures between the living area and the bedrooms, however the breeze that was obtainable in the main area was lacking in the bedrooms (with the double shell and only a small vent at the rear) so the lower heat wasn’t as effective as the breeze cooling us.

Coleman Mosedale 5 Tent at dusk
Coleman Mosedale 5 Tent at dusk

Family Space

The Coleman Mosedale 5 Tent is designed and sold as a 5 man tent, but I would imagine this would be a real struggle. There were three of us on our first outing, and there was loads of room. However if we had thrown the little lady in too then things would have become a little tighter; a 5th person would have, in my opinion, been too tight.

The family space at the front was large enough for a couple of chairs and a Freedom Trail Lazi bed, with space in the centre, much more and it would have felt crowded. I think a canopy extension of some kind will help to create more space. An extension is now available from Go Outdoors and it looks like it will add a nice bit of extra space. Coleman Mosedale 5 front Extension.

Extras

Eagle eyed readers amongst you may have noticed the blue tarp sticking out from under the tent. This was a cheap (£10) tarp from B&Q to keep the groundsheet clean, currently there is no footprint or carpet designed for this tent (August 2017) although hopefully this will change, especially the latter as a carpet would be nice. But in the mean time who needs a footprint! A Foot print and Carpet are now available for this tent. We will certainly be looking at the carpet, shame we missed the bundled deal, although might just stick with the tarp we have for the footprint, at least for a while.

Mosedale 5 Carpet
Mosedale 5 Footprint

As yet we have found no issues with this tent, but more extensive use will tell if that remains.

Coleman Mosedale 5 Tent in its carry bag
Coleman Mosedale 5 Tent in its carry bag

And if you are wondering what Zoe thought of the tent well, she puts it more simply than I

“Tent roomier than expected”

Conclusion

At £239.99 at Go Outdoors (with card discount £330 without – GoOutdoors removes the item when out of stock. If link doesn’t work, that is why, please check back later), this tent is a great price. It may prove a little small for a two week holiday in France, but shorter periods will cope well. It holds up well to weather and the blackout rooms are a god send, even camping the kids might not be up at dawn then! If you are on the lookout for a new tent then I’d certainly recommend trying the Coleman Mosedale 5 for size.

UPDATE – April 2018

I’ve noticed the tent has had an update, but the only changes I can see are the colours? If anyone knows differently, please do let me know. Oh and the GoOutdoors website lists 4 poles rather than 3, but I can’t see where the 4th pole goes, think they may have this wrong.

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Coleman Mosedale 5 Family Tent - reviewed by Views from an Urban Lake & Family
Coleman Mosedale 5 Family Tent
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13 Comments

  • Anonymous

    I found your review, just before we purchased our Coleman Mosedale tent. We purchased this tent specifically for the blackout bedroom, and it worked a treat – no ridiculously early wakeups with our 3 year old! Just to let you know, the carpet for the Icarus 500 Deluxe fits well. Also, this tent is exactly the same dimensions as the Coleman Galileo 5, for which you can still buy a front extension (although I haven't tried it). I agree it's a shame that there aren't accessories readily available for this tent, as there are for most other family tents.

    • AshleyBeolens

      That's great news, thank you, I will look at both the carpet and front extension. I loved the blackout rooms also found I could cool a little better in them, rather then the hot sun, after erecting the tent 🙂

    • AshleyBeolens

      We bought it online as it sold out really quickly instore, but we did have to keep checking as again it sold out online really quickly, at which point the page goes offline (which really makes no sense). Hopefully the link on this page will work again at some point, when they have stock. Those black out rooms are popular 🙂

  • Susannah

    Hi I’ve just got one from go outdoors, there is a foot print and porch extension as well as a carpet (they were out of stock of carpet I think).

  • Dawn

    Can someone tell me what the actual size is of the Mosedale 5 tent is with the Front Extension attached. When booking a campsite i cant work out what size pitch i need in feet or Metres. Thank You

  • Anna Was Lewis Wright

    I read one review and it commented
    “the only really tricky part getting the metal pins into the end of each pole (well one end was harder than the other)”
    I have just bought a second hand ()omly erected twice before so as good as new) and I agree the pole ends are hard to put up the poles…
    I found it mUCH easier to put the pole on the first pin then separate the pole at the joint above the second pin allowing the second pole to easily fit the pin THEN join up the pole with both pins in place.
    I am taking the Mosedale 5 on my cruiser motorbike to Germany and Holland for bike rallies this August. It lashes very well onto the wide passenger seat and I’m sure it will be the envy of many! I can’t wait to try out the blackout bedroom. 🙂

  • Suzanne Beckett

    Hi we attempted to put this up today as a trial .. but failed because the poles and the pins . Didn’t want to force it too much incase the fabric ripped . Tent newbie by the way lol. Any tips are welcome.. thanks

  • Diba Artingstoll

    Hello, thanks for your detailed review. We have this tent and love it. We have camped twice and on both occasions we have had a bit of a structural issue. Once the tent is up we find that the tent is not sat evenly. For example, the side door ground sheet is off the ground if you stood on it i think it would tear, whereas on the opposite side this is not the case. We have been unable to ‘wriggle’ it in to a more even place.

    Has anyone had this issue? Is it something we are doing wrong with the setup? Would love some feedback on anyone else’s experience and set up tips as we are new to this!

    Also, on our second erection one of the poles in the elastic snapped so we replaced it. I have read that someone has actually shortened 2 of the poles by 4cm (front and middle, not bedroom) after advice from Coleman. Would like to know if anyone else has done this and whether it would assist with the above issue we have?

    Thanks all. Happy camping!!!

  • Simon smith

    We’ve got this tent and front extension but can’t work out how to make the middle section rigid with extension on. The guideropes to make it rigid aren’t used when you use the extension so it just flops about. The bed section and extension are solid. Any wind and it’s awful, we must be missing something.

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