Coleman 4 Pole Sun Shade Review

by Shannon · Published July 7, 2010 , 12:13 pm · Updated October 29, 2022 , 7:35 am

Active Gear Review is supported by its audience. If you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

In the past, we have jimmy rigged a sun shelter at our camp sites with some rope, bungee cords, and a tarp. This is a nice, cheap solution for sun protection, but if you are in the desert or a place without suitable trees to tie your rope to, you are out of luck for sun protection. The Coleman 4 Pole Sun Shade solves this quandary by providing a 14′x12′ area of sun protection that can be set up anywhere and anytime.

We first tested the Coleman 4 Pole Sun Shade at the local park for a group BBQ. We were setting the shade up in 30 mph winds and had to call in a few friends to help out (3 people total). The set up took about 15 minutes because we are not always the best at reading directions and would rather “figure it out on our own” types of folks. The steel poles snap into place quickly, there are 2 taller poles and 2 shorter poles that are placed across from one another. The easiest way to set up is have two people holding the taller poles in place and have a third friend arranging the guy lines with either stakes (if placed in grass or dirt) or wrapped around large rocks (if placed near a creek bed or rocky terrain). We found the stakes to be cheaply made: we have broke 4 of them over the course of 3 weeks. The stakes are plastic and tend to break when you remove them from the ground. Perhaps Coleman could have added some nice metal stakes.

Traditional sun shades that have a square design do not provide a great deal of square footage of sun protection and do nothing for the wind. The 4 Pole Sun Shade can be rigged to offer sun and wind protection by placing the shorter poles in the direction of the wind and placing the guy lines in a fashion that provides a back drop appearance to the shade. We used this while camping on July 4th and found this to be a nice way to keep warm and protected when temperatures drop. No matter how you set up the shade, most adults can stand comfortably under the shade. I say “most” because a tall ball player will not fit comfortably under the shade; fortunately, our friends and family are average heights and love the sun shade. As you can see from our photos, the shade can accommodate at least a dozen folks.

We felt the price was right on the sun shade, running at $59.99. This shade is very versatile and is bound to come in handy on numerous car camping trips and BBQ’s. When the shade is not in use Coleman has provided a rectangular bag with two straps to store the shade in. You can throw the bag over your shoulder and even ride your bike to the park with it in tow (we’ve done this!) For more information about the 4 Pole Sun Shade and other Coleman gear, please visit www.coleman.com.

MSRP $59.99