5 best lighted tents 2023: find the perfect tent with built in led lights
Our round up of the best tents with built in lights
Why not brighten up your camping trip with a tent with built in LED lights?
Perfect for chilling out around your tent in an evening to add a warm, relaxing atmosphere, to help your kids sleep easy with a low night light, to read while tucked up in bed or to help find your belongings late at night.
Tents with a built in lighting system provide multiple benefits to a simple hanging lantern or light. They are often brighter, bigger and have their own control whether remote or attached to the tent walls.
It’s also one less thing to not forget to pack.
In a hurry? Here’s our top 3 picks for the best tent with built in lights.
Best all-in-one solution
The Coleman OneSource dome tent includes an airflow system as well as an LED lighting system. The airflow system features an integrated fan in the ceiling that helps warm air leave your tent and reduce humidity.
Best for families and car camping
The CORE 10-person lighted tent provides tonnes of space for large families. It can easily fit two queen size air mattresses and comes with a room divider to make two private rooms.
Coleman Elite Sundome lighted tent
Best budget lighted tent
The Elite Sundome is the perfect budget option for anyone looking for a lighted tent. It features all the usual you would expect from Coleman plus LED lights and a hinged door.
5 best lighted tents
Coleman OneSource dome tent
100% wool sock for maximum warmth and odor control
The Coleman OneSource dome tent features an airflow system and LED lighting.
OneSource is Colemans’ newest line of gear brought out in the middle 2020. The OneSource lineup allows you to streamline your electronic devices with one interchangeable rechargeable battery system.
Available in 4-person and 6-person sizes, the tent comes supplied with one rechargeable battery that powers the airflow system and LED lighting.
The airflow system is a great addition if you plan to go camping in hot weather. The integrated fan allows the air in your tent to be refreshed 6 times per hour. It basically pushes hot air out of a vent in the ceiling to help reduce humidity and ensure a cooler, more comfortable sleeping environment.
The LED lighting system stems from the fan itself in four different directions. They have zippered covers that allow for warm, diffused lighting while chilling out in your tent at night, or they can be unzipped for a brighter light if needed.
There is a battery docking station inside the front of the tent with fan and light controls for easy control and access. The battery also features a 10 lumen flashlight on the top, so you can see the controls easily in the dark.
The 4-person tent can fit a queen size air mattress inside, with a little room on all sides for gear and walking around.
The 6-person tent can fit up to two queen size air beds with no room to spare. With only one air bed inside there is plenty of room for belongings, walking around and chilling out comfortably.
CORE lighted 10-person instant cabin tent
A great lighted tent for large families and car camping trips
The CORE lighted instant cabin tent is the largest tent with LED lighting, making it perfect for bigger families and car camping trips.
The built in LED lighting features three brightness options including high, low and night light. The lights can be turned on from both the inside and outside of the tent via a wall-mounted control panel, meaning no searching for the light switch in a dark tent.
The LED system requires 4 x D-cell batteries.
The tent is spacious enough to comfortably fit two queen size air mattresses, even with use of the room divider. Along with it’s spacious interior, it’s also super tall at 7 feet peak height. So if you’re looking for a tent that is comfortable enough to chill out and relax in, this is the perfect choice.
A great feature of the CORE lighted tent is the ability to replace the lights directly from CORE equipment if one goes bust, which, over the years is an inevitability.
The tent is instant set up with pre attached poles. The pre-attached pole system allows you to unpack, unfold, position the legs, click into place and voila, your tent is pitched.
Coleman Elite Montana 8-person lighted tent
A long standing tent in the Coleman lineup, it’s reliable and durable
The Coleman Elite Montana lighted tent is a super popular lighted tent that has been around for many years.
Similar to many others on this list, the tent features three brightness levels including high, low and night light.
It features a hinged door making it easier to enter and exit your tent. No zipping and rolling of the doors, simply open and close as you would a door at home.
While the Montana can hold up to three queen sized mattresses, it would be extremely cramped. The Montana is long but narrow, and with multiple mattresses would mean you would have to climb over other mattresses to move around the tent.
There are plenty of storage pockets dotted around the interior to easily store small items such as your phone, books or maps.
While the Montana is not an instant tent, its color coded poles and sleeves means it’s extremely quick and easy to set up. After your first couple of attempts, you can have the tent up in around 10 minutes, and the same to take down when it’s time to go home.
Coleman Elite WeatherMaster 6-person lighted tent
A great choice for small to medium families looking for comfort away from home
The Coleman Elite WeatherMaster is a 6-person tent and features a built-in LED system with three brightness settings including high, low and night light.
The lighting system requires 4 x D-cell batteries or one of Colemans rechargeable cartridges.
Similar to many of the other Elite Coleman tents, it features two doors on either side of the tent, one of which is a hinged door for easy entry and exit.
The tent features 2 rooms that can fit one queen size air mattress each, plus a large 9 feet x 6 feet screen room. Its peak height is 6 feet 8 inches.
Other neat features include plenty of storage pockets, an electrical cord port to feed your electrical cables through without having to route them through the doors or windows of your tent, and a large mesh ceiling for stargazing without the rainfly on at night.
Coleman Elite Sundome 6-person tent with light system
A great option if you’re looking for a lighted tent on a budget
The Coleman Elite Sundome is a great budget tent with LED lighting.
Despite its cheap price it has some great features including two doors on either side of the tent, one of which is a hinged door. If you don’t already know or appreciate a hinged door, you need to try one. It will change your life. It allows you to go in and out of your tent easily without having to zip and fold each time. You can simply open and close the door like you would a normal door at home.
The LED lighting system provides three intensity options ranging from bright, overhead illumination for reading or finding belongings to a nightlight to help your kids drift off or a relaxing glow while you relax inside or outside your tent.
The light system is controlled by a lighted light switch (try saying that quickly) on the interior of the tent and requires 8 x D-cell batteries.
While Coleman suggests you can fit two queen size air mattresses inside, it’s much more suited to one. With one inside you will have tonnes of room left over to store your belongings and move around freely.
Recommended accessories
D-cell batteries
All of the lighted tents minus Colemans’ OneSource lighted tents use between 4 and 8 D-cell batteries, but do not come supplied with the tent. So if you plan to purchase a lighted tent, ensure to purchase some batteries!
Coleman OneSource battery
If you plan to purchase the Coleman OneSource tent, you should probably buy at least one spare battery to ensure you always have power. The tent does come supplied with a battery, but it’s cool to have a spare to use while charging the other.
