Ease of Setup: One of the most significant advantages of air tents is the quick and easy setup. Instead of dealing with traditional tent poles, you use an air pump to inflate the tent's beams. This can significantly reduce the time and effort required for setup, making it more convenient, especially for solo or inexperienced campers.

Stability: In many cases, air tents can be quite stable and withstand windy conditions. The inflatable beams distribute stress more evenly than rigid poles, and some models come with multiple inflation points for added stability.

Mildew is a real problem and prevention is the only real way to deal with it. A tent must be packed away bone dry with any potential sources of damp removed. This could even be from insects that have been packed away with the tent! Or from the core of guylines that were not dried unravelled to ensure deep moisture was removed by air flow.

Once mildew has set in you have to stop it spreading. Kill off the spores with a very mild solution of one part Milton or white vinegar to ten parts water − rinsing off well.

Besides the cleaners from the likes of Storm you can get canvas cleaners from the caravan market and mildew cleaners for sails from the yachting market but we have not tried any of these. The Camping and Caravanning Club used to have a data sheet on tent maintenance - worth looking on their website.

Remember to reproof the tent after cleaning.