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 Topic: Air Tent vs Pole Tent
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25/7/2018 at 12:57pm
Location: Leicestershire
Outfit: Karsten 380 Veranda
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Joined: 06/8/2013 Diamond Member 
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After struggling with a heavy polycotton poled tent for 3 years (an Outwell Bear Lake 6) we decided to switch to air in 2014, with an Outwell Harrier XL. Great we thought, an inflatable version of what we already have as we loved everything about the Bear Lake once it was up! True enough the Harrier was easy for me to pitch solo so my wife could look after our two very small kids.
That season however, this forum was awash with horror stories about exploding airbeams, sagging beams in rain and splitting interconnecting tubes on single point tents like ours. Outwell, Vango and Kampa were all affected.
I decided I didn't trust the technology and decided to sell our tent before it either let us down or lost too much money with all the bad stories. Luckily air tents were very much in demand and we didn't lose very much on the new price selling it after a year.
I didn't like all the interconnecting tubes and valves and the way they all got squashed rolling the tent, it just seemed to be asking for trouble, and a full set of spare beams was a fortune to buy.
We did have a twisted front beam on the Harrier, which the dealer replaced for free although I didn't fit it and the new owner got that as a spare.
We bought a Karsten for the 2015 season, which is still going strong and as new with no issues. The price of course was £1500 more than the Harrier, but no regrets. Still looks like new despite us camping way more then we used to before, and needless to say nothing has gone bang or sagged or split. It's still under warranty for another year and half.
I'm a pretty cautious type, I think my advice would be stick with an alloy or steel poled tent or buy a Karsten. Holiday and family time is priceless, who wants to waste or lose out on that dealing with a faulty or failed tent.
I read another thread on a different forum last night about air tent owners worrying about what pressure to use. They were under-inflating their tents to 3-4 psi for worry of them bursting in the heat if they went up to 5-7 psi as recommended, but then they were sagging in the rain and wind. Who needs that!! I wack 60 psi in the Karsten and forget about it. It won't burst and won't budge in the weather!
Really sad to hear the mainstream airtent makers are still getting this wrong all these years later and letting people down, even if its the minority of owners affected.
Jim
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