A fad? Or are inflatable tents here to stay
A fad? Or are inflatable tents here to stay
2013 really is the year of the blow up tent with people flocking to shows from miles around not just to see these new 'no poles' tents, but actually buying them as well despite the hefty price tag.
With mega brands like Outwell and Kampa joining the likes of Vango with their - arguably much better - air tent designs, the whole market seems to have opened up for the consumer. Much has gone into developing a substantial and robust offering from all the brands, and gone now are the worries about flimsy performance in the wind and explosions in too strong sunshine. In fact, many retailers are touting the fact that air tents should stand up in bad weather actually much better than traditional poled tents, because of the simple fact that there is absolutely nothing to break. Once you've seen an air tent in gale force winds flexing and moving with the wind you can really see how these tents offer a very real and practical camping solution.
So what about the myth about pitching speed? Yes air tents are faster to put up, but given that the main bulk of time spent pitching a tent is the pegging and the guying, you don't save a whole lot of time on the overall pitch - it takes perhaps 2-3 minutes to inflate an air tent depending on size (and the enthusiasm of the pumper), so you can compare that to the time it usually takes you to build and insert all the poles in a normal tent.
The real benefit is the ease of pitching, and the fact that it can't go wrong no matter how bad you are at camping! The system that Outwell and Kampa use for inflation means you only have to plug in and pump from one point, and as literally anyone (barring any major physical health problems) can inflate a tent you can pitch the tent all by yourself. Now this might not sound like much, but to the single parent camping with 3 small children it means a much bigger tent and less hassle. It sounds simple but you just don't need another person to help with the other side of the poles or raising the tent, and brings with it the prospect of a larger family tent for a whole myriad of people whom, for many reasons, like to camp on their own. Singles campers - of which there are many - can now camp in relative luxury, thanks to what is being seen by the industry as a revolution in tent design.
So now we want your stories and experiences. If you are one of the new air campers who have dived in and got one of these new breeds of tent, how have you found it and what are the pros and cons. Send your tales in to sales@campingworld.co.uk or post on our Facebook page facebook.com/UKCampingWorld
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