Inflatable family tents?

My 4 man Air Seconds 4.2 XL is my solo tent when I want space at an event if I’m either taking part or marshalling. Plenty of space to sit around and talk rubbish whilst getting drunk out of the rain, get changed and so on. Feels like a place compared to the Banshee 200 that I use if I’m short on space…

I was dithering between the 4.1xl and 4.2xl, but as it’s usually just me and the boys (11 and 14) I reckoned one big sleep area and a biggger living space swung it towards the 4.1. That said I think the 4.2 looks more sturdy….

GrahamS – Member
If you can hold out get one in winter when the prices drop!
“Now is the winter of our discount tents”?

I’ve fancied getting a bigger tent than the 3-person I bought at Millets five or six years ago, but as it’s YT who has to pitch the thing then take it down, going bigger is just going to add to the phaff-factor.
I’d seen inflatables a while back, I think they were the geodesic type, which looked amazing, but were sodding expensive, so this thread has been very informative.
I’ve just had a look at the Air Seconds 4.2 XL, and I’ve found it going for around £350, which is half what I’d be paying for B&B at the pub in the village where I usually go, and looks absolutely ideal for pitching up and setting up single-handed, and giving me space to be able to move around without crawling if the weather takes a turn for the inclement.
I don’t have kids to worry about, it’s just me on my tod, so minimal kit as well, just S/A mattress and bag, and I could use one of those air lounger jobbies inside if I needed a bit of luxury.
Is there anything wrong with this picture of sybaritic luxury away from home for a reasonable period of time, a week to nine or so days?
It’ll all go in the back of my Octavia, which should have plenty of room.

Think the new 4.2 XL is that price, which has the blackout bedrooms and a few other new features. The previous model is still available for £280.

Looking at the forecast for the next couple of days I’m glad it’s the tent I’ve brought with me…

Hmmm, £280 looks like an even better number…
This bears a closer look at, methinks; I’ve fancied a bigger tent, just to have space to stand up in, if nothing else, but being able to use a double S/I mattress would be added luxury as well, and just not going stir crazy in a small space if summer turns to winter overnight.
What’s put me off is wrestling with loads of really long poles and acres of nylon when it’s just me fighting with it.

Unless you need 2 bedroom sections the 4.1xl has a bigger living area, plus the bonus of one big airy sleep bit.

On camp at the moment so in the interests of science I timed our erection (diggity).

2 adults, 6 man (allegedly, realistically 4) family tent pictured earlier, ideal soft grassy pitch and no wind:

15 mins to the initial pitch (separate footprint down, tent pegged at 6 main anchor points only, poles in, standing proud).

35 mins till full pitch (all guys tensioned, skirt pegged, inners/bedrooms up, carpet down).

That was a good time (for us) in pretty much ideal conditions.

Not counted: additional hour or so ferrying stuff from the car, inflating beds, adding awning etc.

Was it on Strava? If not…

No, but performed under strict test conditions under the watchful eye of beaver/cub leaders, so hopefully it still counts 😆

We bought a Vango air beam a couple of years ago in the winter sales. It’s the best piece of camping equipment we have bought and revolutionised how much enjoyment I get out of camping. When I say revolutionised I mean that I no longer need the wife to help me put the tent up which means no arguments. She is about as useful as a chocolate teapot and our 6 year old daughter is more help. Our old tent a Coleman quadspace used to take us around 2 hours of hard work. The airbeam I can do on my own without rushing in about 20 mins. I’m not concerned by weight or pack size but it’s not too bad. We used it on a campsite on an exposed sea cliff last year and a few nights it was ridiculously windy. It was amazing to see how rigid our tent was compared to the same tent with traditional poles. Ours stood firm most of the time and when it did start to fold it just popped right back up again. The pole version moved a hell of a lot more. Both survived fine though. Packing away is easy too. Release all the valves and sit back for 10 mins while it deflates. Every time I have seen people struggle packing air beam away they haven’t got all the air out and they push one bit in the bag and another bit pops out. Overall we are very happy and no way would we go back to poles.

Event I was at with my tent got cancelled, partly down to the fact that the wind was so bad that I woke up several times to the tent roof being pushed against my face… The poled tent on the campsite didn’t cope so well.

Well thanks to you lot l’m sat in my new Kampa Croyde 6 air. Beer in hand, watching the kids seemly get every soft toy from their bedroom to join us for the night in the back garden.

Not sure l’ve ever put a tent up before but this went up a dream with the help of the sprogs pushing the beams up from inside while l pumped.

Will be used in properly next weekend when we are going to our first camp site… About 40mins away on the Stour in the Dedham Vale.

Bought a Kampa air awning for our tin tent. Was a doddle to put up compared to the poles one. Much sturdier too. Bloody pricey though.

Unless you need 2 bedroom sections the 4.1xl has a bigger living area, plus the bonus of one big airy sleep bit.

Ah, right, thanks for that, it’s not something I’d thought about, let alone considered, these inflatable tents are a rather new innovation to me, so that’s very useful info, and I’ll be investigating further.
Cheers!
Just had a shufti at the Air Seconds 4.1XL Family, and that’s looking like just the thing, stand up, large living area and large bedroom, around £190 or so, and easily put-upable by one person. I’m sold, just got to pay for the car’s mot and insurance then I’ll be getting one, ready for later in the year!
Splendid stuff, gentlemen, STW proves its worth yet again!
Thank you all.

I picked up my Air Seconds 4.1XL Family the other day and had the obligatory trial run in the back garden yesterday, with junior checking the times :

lay out footprint, unpack tent, position and put in the 4 main pegs – 3 mins

pump up the 3 air beams to 7psi and close off valves – 2 mins

put in single roof support pole, peg out remaining 6 base points – 2 mins

peg out the 7 guy ropes, tension and adjust all – 3 mins

So that is from taking it out the bag first time, to fully up, in 10 mins, on a breezy afternoon, on my own.

My old Vango 5 man one, which was a fair bit smaller, took around 20 mins in similar situation, with much cursing when trying to get the poles all in and up.