Genius, or the worst idea ever ?

I cant see that I wouldnt be trying to repair a puncture in the middle of the night in the rain / snow. On the flip side, they gotta be great to put up and I would have hoped the likes of Vango and Outwell would have done their research and used reasonably ‘puncture proof’ material for the inflatable bits.

Any experiences / thoughts ?

I have a Nemo GoGo which I’ve used a lot on multiday kayaking trips in India and California.

It has a single inflatable ‘beam’ which goes over your head and gives you space. It’s basically a small bivi-tent.

I had a few problems initially but I think have it sussed now and it’s made from pretty robust material but I guess will never really have the simplicity and rigidity of poles.

Camped next to some people with a large inflatable (vango?) tent last year. Was their first outing and they were loudly extolling it’s virtues to the entire campsite. Weather was extremely cold (~-4/-5C) and they had an electric heater in the tent. Result of basic physics = exploding poles around 2AM leaving them to pack up and depart sheepishly early next day…

😆

jca – What was loudest, the explosion or laughter from around the campsite ?

Not a new idea by any means, Karsten have been at it for 30 years and I don’t think they were first. Wish I could afford a one, although if I had the money for Dutch canvas tent I’d go De Waard.

From a puncture-possibility and structural rigidity point of view, I’d be sceptical.

Strikes me as one of those things that would be great when it worked, but an utter ballache when it didn’t. Like tubeless tyres…

The actually air beams are a bit like tubed tyres with an inflatable inner encased in a tough, zipped, outer case. For one to puncture it’d either have to be faulty or you’d have to try quite hard to stick a pointed object into it. In normal use, so far, it’s not been an issue for me at least and the individual beams on the Vango ones at least are isolated, so if one punctures, the rest are still fine. They also tend to deform and spring back in really high winds rather than failing catastrophically like poles.

The big advantage isn’t so much with small tents, when really it just helps reduce pack size – as with the Nemo bevies – but with big family frame tents which go up really easily and in minutes with an air beam system as opposed to lots of pole-associated faff without.

I suspect they don’t fail that often, but when they do, it’s a pain in the backside, however broken poles in the middle of the night are similarly not exactly a pleasant, hassle-free experience.

Still, a potential god-send for those who love laughing at others’ misfortune even if it doesn’t happen very often. Tent for life etc, blah.

From a puncture-possibility and structural rigidity point of view, I’d be sceptical.

Oh, and they’re fine on that side of things. Plus, as above, in really serious winds they tend to deform and spring back rather than snapping like poles pushed beyond a certain point.

ooh – I like those Bimbler. …But not spending that much.

BWD – It would a bigger family tent I want. Given the tubes are in zipped pockets, in an emergency do you think you could temporarily replace a deflated section with a rigid pole ?

How much stick has yours had – i.e have you got young kids.

jca – Member
Camped next to some people with a large inflatable (vango?) tent last year. Was their first outing and they were loudly extolling it’s virtues to the entire campsite. Weather was extremely cold (~-4/-5C) and they had an electric heater in the tent. Result of basic physics = exploding poles around 2AM leaving them to pack up and depart sheepishly early next day…

And how many hundred psi did they have in them in the first place to make that happen?

I’m just wondering about improvising a hoop with an inner tube and a bivvy sheet…

If it’s a family tent for car camping, just get one of those collapsing tents from Decathlon, I’ve got the 2/3man one and it’s great for rocking upto trail centers at 2am in the morning after driving through the night, throwing it up, throw a self inflating mat and a blanket in and I can be asleep in 10 minutes from turning the engine off.

Unless pack size became important I wont be going back to normal tents.

Had a vango family tent . Took 15 min from engine off to tent up in the dark on the second time of erecting the tent including ground footprint and carpets. The inflatable mattress took longer. We did have a leaky beam which was replaced after the holiday but we could live with it for a week. Great in high winds. It just takes more space than a normal tent packed. Like it.

First night in the middle of France:

It would a bigger family tent I want

Wouldn’t you be better off with a caravan? 🙂

Still unconvinced either way.

IHN – I aint taking the caravan to Morocco. And besides, whos side are you on.

5thElefant – Member
First night in the middle of France:

Got drunk and couldn’t be arsed putting it up properly?

BWD – It would a bigger family tent I want. Given the tubes are in zipped pockets, in an emergency do you think you could temporarily replace a deflated section with a rigid pole ?

How much stick has yours had – i.e have you got young kids.

I guess you could replace the beam with a pole, but it would mean finding one the right size. I guess you could also simply source a spare air beam though I guess that would depend on the actual tent and whether the beams were a uniform size.

Mine hasn’t had a huge amount of hammer to be fair – it’s a three-person tunnel rather than a big family tent – and no kids, but it’s dealt with some rough weather when it has been used without problems including surviving a night in the Lakes which snapped several conventional tent poles. There’s a recommended pressure and I suspect some people exceed it, but who knows.

I guess a load of them have been sold, so if there’s a widespread problem with the Air Beams it’ll get a bunch of internet airing. My experience has been positive, but I’m just one person. What I can tell you is that when they do work, they are proper low hassle, easy to use alternatives to poled tents.

Is it not possible to patch a leaky air beam?

Is it not possible to patch a leaky air beam?

Yes, My Nemo came with a spare bladder and a puncture kit. Never had one though. They are pretty tough in the casing.

Is it not possible to patch a leaky air beam?

Yes. Depends how it’s failed though, there’s a vid on YouTube of one that had basically exploded rather than holed leaving it in localised tatters. A bit like an inner tube really, it depends on the nature of the leak.

I’m sure there’s scope for someone to fill an air beam with sealant and re-enact the infamous Badger scenario, but with added camper content… 😉

i looked at the inflatable tents when I was last buying a family tent ended up with a Vango Tigris.

However if you have loads of money to spare and a massive car or roof rack to transport it, I can highly reccommend the oztent RV4

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4AiHBoc6Jyg[/video]

My folks can’t be bothered with setting up tents but they love camping so it’s ideal.