Top class review, very fair. My conclusion goes with yours Sir. Rubber dinghy's, paddling pools, anything that blows up with air does not last. Thank you for this video..
Very nicely conducted review - having clearly identified and explained criteria up front is important, as is the observation that the criteria don’t carry the same weight for all people. I was interested in the maintenance aspect, as that had been a factor that disqualified air tents for me. Poles are so easy and cheap to repair provided you prepare yourself for it, but I did not realize that air beams are also relatively easy.
Thank you, I tried to be as objective as possible and cover all the points I thought to be important. Yes air beams are relatively easy to change, as long as you can get the right tube. Thanks for watching!
Thank you, ease of pitching is the factor that pulls most people to an air tent I think, not always realising how big the packs can be! Thanks for watching!
In terms of extreme heat, the gas laws tell me that a 20 degree rise in the temperature (which is about as much as you can reasonably expect) leads to a rise in the pressure of less than 7%. If air beam tents have burst because of this in the past, I suspect that it is something that has long been engineered out - that the bladders inside the tubes are pretty flexible and robust when it comes to overinflation (much like a bike's inner tube). The greater danger of overinflating your tubes will be the pressure that it puts on the stitching to the material which encases the tubes - it's not going to require more than a couple of PSI over the designed limit to start splitting seams - especially locally, if the tube bends or flexes in the wind. You're right that a pole repair is easier, and way cheaper, than replacing a punctured bladder if you can't patch it; but patching it is a doddle. A fibreglass pole might need a pole splint (which is about the only spare I'd carry). The real difference is the way that the two poles fail; a slow leak on an airbeam is a bit of a pain as the tent will need pumping back up every few hours if you have a slow leak, but a fibreglass pole can cause serious damage to the tent fabric when it goes. I'd have given that one to the airbeam, but as you say it's very close; IF the pole breaking doesn't damage the fabric, it's a point in favour of the pole tent; otherwise I'd give it to the air tent. In terms of strength, I'd make two observations. The first is again the failure mode; in high winds both are liable to collapse, but the pole tent is at risk of a catastrophic failure - the air tent is likely to pop back into shape. Second, I'm sometimes a bit wobbly on my feet - I can grab or lean on an airbeam for support and know it's going to hold me up; with a fibreglass or alloy pole, something's going to break. As you say, the real decision is down to cost and to space, versus the convenience; I have a *smallish* 4-person airtent, and it's as big as I can comfortably carry (and anything larger would also not fit in our small car); but there's just the two of us using it; I can carry it and pitch it on my own, and for that I was willing to pay the 50% price premium. When weight and space are at a premium, as they are when I'm bikepacking, then it's a small poled 2-man tunnel tent I reach for. Which cost the same as the small family air tent, but when I bought it I was paying for small, strong and light (which never make for cheap bedfellows). It's a "guy line", not a "guideline" BTW. The number of UA-cam campers/tent reviewers that get this wrong ... were you lot never in the Scouts??
Thanks for your insights, some really good points. Both have their own advantages and some points like you say are a close call. It comes down ultimately to your circumstances and needs. Not sure how ‘guidelines’ got in the video, I’ve made loads of tent videos and use the proper term, will have to check my edits more closely. Thanks for watching!
That was very interesting and a very balanced narrative. I would like to mention one thing i noticed that so many show air tent being put up with manual air pump but these days who wants to use one of those when an electric one battery driven are so convenient. Also i noticed on this brand that there are a lot of separate air channels and means multiple reconnects for the air pump some models are superior that they just need one connection and go up in 15/20 mins from flat. frankly that approach seems the best for an air tent to me but i can see that the UK market is very price focused and not necessarily looking at the tent as something that they will have for a long time but more of a throw away item so this maybe why the channels are separate.
Thanks for the insights, I have heard of tents with a single fill point but yet to see one. Thank for your comments, I tried to be as objective as possible and glad it came across like that. Thanks for watching!
I would have thought that it’s better to have completely distinct tubes. That way if something leaks, identifying where the leak is is easier. With a single inflation point, all the poles have to be connected so if there’s a leak, I would have thought they’d all go down
Great pointers for both pole versions, and I do agree on all pointers except for the maintenance part which should be in my opinion a slight preference to the air tent, as the fiberglass poles are more likely to break for almost nothing in the pitching phase. The probability of changing three fiberglass poles if not more before changing even one air tube pole seems so much higher. Been there done that too 😜 Nevertheless, both aired beams and fiberglass poled tents hold just fine once they're up, even in strong winds. I had a fiberglass poled tent, Easycamp 600 Palmdale, during the summer storm, Hans, last summer in Sweden. The storm was a nightmare with a lot of strong winds and rain. The fiberglass poles was holding the storm without any issues, but the rain on the other hand was too much, so it started dripping rain inside from the ceiling and some water also came through the groundsheet. So a new tent upgrade with higher water pressure resistance became unavoidable where we ended up with a new air tent, Outwell the Forestville 6SA, with no regrets on that decision, but we do need a small trailer now just because of the size of the tent package. Anyways, just my pointers on the beam topic and thank you for making this video with very good pointers which are all spot on for any happy tent campers out there🙂
Thanks for your comments, this subject can often divide opinion and some are very passionate one way or the other so I tried to be very subjective and honest here. I agree that fibreglass plies are more likely to have issues than an air beam, but for me I have only had one pipe break in 5 years with two tents, and some gaffer tape kept it going for a year so that’s why I went for pole for maintenance, but I completely understand your comments and that some might give that point to air, it’s all very much personal preference. Thanks for watching!
Having had a Pole tent for years we took the plunge and went for an air tent. Rest assured i will never go back to a Pole tent. Air beam tents are superb and let's be honest unless you proactively take a knife or sharp object to the air beam getting a puncture is very unlikely. One other point they are quieter tents in the wind especially at night. They just don't generate as much noise as Pole tents do.
I thought that air tents were supposed to be stronger but camping last night, ours got absolutely battered by 50mph winds, it lost sll of its integrity and completely collapsed. However, almost every other camper on the site was using pole tents and none of them had a problem.
I think when the winds get really bad it doesn’t make much difference which you have, but interesting the pole tents survived at your camp site. Thanks for watching!
Good point, I see a lot of comments with people struggling to get all the air out of air tents and get them in the bag, so maybe poles are easier! Thanks for watching!
Actually i've seen some punctured air tents in Wales coastal camping (55MPH wind)... Damaged pole tents as well... My fibreglass tent survived in same weather - just with small tear on stitch but with poles intact. Duct tape fix this problem within seconds. Biggest problem (weak point) in fibreglass poles are "angle-joints". In some tents they bent or broke first because bad design, and whole pole loose it's strenght. In my tent there is no "angle joints" just curvature of fibreglass make a shape (but this design has less room inside) So, all depends on constuction, quality and direction of wind. And strongest one is still: POP-UP (classic) - nothing can beat this beast ;)
@@cyclingn8I think it depends on comparing like for like. I’ve just got a Wild Country Citadel XL and I was sold on it thanks to the 9 month trial Wild Country did where they left one pitched in the Peak District against 60mph winds, snow and rain (you can find the video on here). It has (very heavy) 25mm steel poles and is as solid as a house.
When comparing hi gear to berghaus it’s like comparing renault to rolls Royce…it’s just unfair. Berghaus will always be more expensive because of the quality.
You may not be aware but Berghaus are go outdoors own brand tents, the simply license the Berghaus name for them. So Hi Gear also being a go outdoors brand, the difference between them is not huge, Berghaus is no Rolls Royce. A better comparison would be VW to Audi, both made by the same company but Audi has some more bells and whistles, and a ‘posher’ brand. The main difference between the two is Berghaus uses 6000mm material and hi gear 4000mm. It’s also very difficult to find direct comparison tents, so I work with what I can, although with Berghaus making some pole tents now I was able to make some more direct comparisons between very similar tents of the same brand. Thanks for watching!
Well one's a Rolls Royce by name aka berghaus, and the other is a KIA by name aka Hi-gear, so yeah the KIA will be cheaper not that hard to work out for anyone with a brain cell
Berghaus and Hi-Gear are both own brand tents produced for the Go Outdoors group so a better car analogy would be saying an Audi will be cheaper than a Volkswagen 😀 Are we also to disregard the Berghaus v Berghaus price comparison made in the video?
Go Outdoors licence the brand name to use on their tents, hence you will not find Berghaus tents in stores not part of the Go Outdoors group. If you have a look at the Hi Gear tents you will see they share many features with Berghaus tents, most notably the nightfall bedrooms. The Berghaus Adhara 700 is basically a smaller version of the Hi Gear Hampton 8, very similar design. The Berghaus tents do have some improvements in places but they are not worlds apart from the Hi Gear tents.
Top class review, very fair. My conclusion goes with yours Sir. Rubber dinghy's, paddling pools, anything that blows up with air does not last. Thank you for this video..
Thank you for your comment, I tried to be as objective as possible so glad you thought it was a fair review. Thanks for watching!
Very nicely conducted review - having clearly identified and explained criteria up front is important, as is the observation that the criteria don’t carry the same weight for all people.
I was interested in the maintenance aspect, as that had been a factor that disqualified air tents for me. Poles are so easy and cheap to repair provided you prepare yourself for it, but I did not realize that air beams are also relatively easy.
Thank you, I tried to be as objective as possible and cover all the points I thought to be important. Yes air beams are relatively easy to change, as long as you can get the right tube. Thanks for watching!
excellent video, lots of detail and comprehensive. Biggest differences are package size vs ease of pitching.
Thank you, ease of pitching is the factor that pulls most people to an air tent I think, not always realising how big the packs can be! Thanks for watching!
In terms of extreme heat, the gas laws tell me that a 20 degree rise in the temperature (which is about as much as you can reasonably expect) leads to a rise in the pressure of less than 7%. If air beam tents have burst because of this in the past, I suspect that it is something that has long been engineered out - that the bladders inside the tubes are pretty flexible and robust when it comes to overinflation (much like a bike's inner tube). The greater danger of overinflating your tubes will be the pressure that it puts on the stitching to the material which encases the tubes - it's not going to require more than a couple of PSI over the designed limit to start splitting seams - especially locally, if the tube bends or flexes in the wind.
You're right that a pole repair is easier, and way cheaper, than replacing a punctured bladder if you can't patch it; but patching it is a doddle. A fibreglass pole might need a pole splint (which is about the only spare I'd carry). The real difference is the way that the two poles fail; a slow leak on an airbeam is a bit of a pain as the tent will need pumping back up every few hours if you have a slow leak, but a fibreglass pole can cause serious damage to the tent fabric when it goes. I'd have given that one to the airbeam, but as you say it's very close; IF the pole breaking doesn't damage the fabric, it's a point in favour of the pole tent; otherwise I'd give it to the air tent.
In terms of strength, I'd make two observations. The first is again the failure mode; in high winds both are liable to collapse, but the pole tent is at risk of a catastrophic failure - the air tent is likely to pop back into shape. Second, I'm sometimes a bit wobbly on my feet - I can grab or lean on an airbeam for support and know it's going to hold me up; with a fibreglass or alloy pole, something's going to break.
As you say, the real decision is down to cost and to space, versus the convenience; I have a *smallish* 4-person airtent, and it's as big as I can comfortably carry (and anything larger would also not fit in our small car); but there's just the two of us using it; I can carry it and pitch it on my own, and for that I was willing to pay the 50% price premium. When weight and space are at a premium, as they are when I'm bikepacking, then it's a small poled 2-man tunnel tent I reach for. Which cost the same as the small family air tent, but when I bought it I was paying for small, strong and light (which never make for cheap bedfellows).
It's a "guy line", not a "guideline" BTW. The number of UA-cam campers/tent reviewers that get this wrong ... were you lot never in the Scouts??
Thanks for your insights, some really good points. Both have their own advantages and some points like you say are a close call. It comes down ultimately to your circumstances and needs. Not sure how ‘guidelines’ got in the video, I’ve made loads of tent videos and use the proper term, will have to check my edits more closely. Thanks for watching!
Love the Harry Hill and Street fighter reference, very funny 🤣
Thanks for watching!
Just picked up the Berghaus Air 400, Superb bit of kit!
That’s a great tent, did a review about a month ago. Thanks for watching!
Same I’ve just got the 400xl and trying it out this week can’t wait 🎉
@@ScouserStreamzhappy camping!
That was very interesting and a very balanced narrative. I would like to mention one thing i noticed that so many show air tent being put up with manual air pump but these days who wants to use one of those when an electric one battery driven are so convenient. Also i noticed on this brand that there are a lot of separate air channels and means multiple reconnects for the air pump some models are superior that they just need one connection and go up in 15/20 mins from flat. frankly that approach seems the best for an air tent to me but i can see that the UK market is very price focused and not necessarily looking at the tent as something that they will have for a long time but more of a throw away item so this maybe why the channels are separate.
Thanks for the insights, I have heard of tents with a single fill point but yet to see one. Thank for your comments, I tried to be as objective as possible and glad it came across like that. Thanks for watching!
I would have thought that it’s better to have completely distinct tubes. That way if something leaks, identifying where the leak is is easier. With a single inflation point, all the poles have to be connected so if there’s a leak, I would have thought they’d all go down
Very comprehensive, thank you for the info
Thanks for watching!
ive had both and ill choose the air tents every time
Thanks for watching! What factor is it that makes you choose Air over pole?
We were told by decathlon not to use an electric pump
Interesting, maybe they have worry about over inflation. I’ve seen plenty of people use them on campsites. Thanks for watching!
Great pointers for both pole versions, and I do agree on all pointers except for the maintenance part which should be in my opinion a slight preference to the air tent, as the fiberglass poles are more likely to break for almost nothing in the pitching phase. The probability of changing three fiberglass poles if not more before changing even one air tube pole seems so much higher. Been there done that too 😜
Nevertheless, both aired beams and fiberglass poled tents hold just fine once they're up, even in strong winds. I had a fiberglass poled tent, Easycamp 600 Palmdale, during the summer storm, Hans, last summer in Sweden. The storm was a nightmare with a lot of strong winds and rain. The fiberglass poles was holding the storm without any issues, but the rain on the other hand was too much, so it started dripping rain inside from the ceiling and some water also came through the groundsheet.
So a new tent upgrade with higher water pressure resistance became unavoidable where we ended up with a new air tent, Outwell the Forestville 6SA, with no regrets on that decision, but we do need a small trailer now just because of the size of the tent package.
Anyways, just my pointers on the beam topic and thank you for making this video with very good pointers which are all spot on for any happy tent campers out there🙂
Thanks for your comments, this subject can often divide opinion and some are very passionate one way or the other so I tried to be very subjective and honest here. I agree that fibreglass plies are more likely to have issues than an air beam, but for me I have only had one pipe break in 5 years with two tents, and some gaffer tape kept it going for a year so that’s why I went for pole for maintenance, but I completely understand your comments and that some might give that point to air, it’s all very much personal preference. Thanks for watching!
Having had a Pole tent for years we took the plunge and went for an air tent. Rest assured i will never go back to a Pole tent. Air beam tents are superb and let's be honest unless you proactively take a knife or sharp object to the air beam getting a puncture is very unlikely. One other point they are quieter tents in the wind especially at night. They just don't generate as much noise as Pole tents do.
Thanks for your extra insights, the noise factor is not one I had considered before. Thanks for watching!
Good Video but you’ll have to do another on the difference between steel poles and fibreglass now !!
That is another interesting topic, will try to put it together. Thanks for watching!
I thought that air tents were supposed to be stronger but camping last night, ours got absolutely battered by 50mph winds, it lost sll of its integrity and completely collapsed.
However, almost every other camper on the site was using pole tents and none of them had a problem.
I think when the winds get really bad it doesn’t make much difference which you have, but interesting the pole tents survived at your camp site. Thanks for watching!
Think another section on taking them down would be good. Assume pole tents win!!
Good point, I see a lot of comments with people struggling to get all the air out of air tents and get them in the bag, so maybe poles are easier! Thanks for watching!
it is a tuff call. I am looking to replace a 8 man pop up tent and have no idea which to go for
A close contest and I think it ultimately comes down to your circumstances. Thanks for watching!
In heavy wind the family pole tent will snap easily where as a air tent will handle any conditions .
The strength advantage is definitely with the air tents. Thanks for watching!
Actually i've seen some punctured air tents in Wales coastal camping (55MPH wind)... Damaged pole tents as well...
My fibreglass tent survived in same weather - just with small tear on stitch but with poles intact. Duct tape fix this problem within seconds.
Biggest problem (weak point) in fibreglass poles are "angle-joints". In some tents they bent or broke first because bad design, and whole pole loose it's strenght.
In my tent there is no "angle joints" just curvature of fibreglass make a shape (but this design has less room inside)
So, all depends on constuction, quality and direction of wind.
And strongest one is still: POP-UP (classic) - nothing can beat this beast ;)
Thanks for your insights, I would definitely agree pole tents without angle joints are the strongest. Thanks for watching!
@@cyclingn8I think it depends on comparing like for like. I’ve just got a Wild Country Citadel XL and I was sold on it thanks to the 9 month trial Wild Country did where they left one pitched in the Peak District against 60mph winds, snow and rain (you can find the video on here). It has (very heavy) 25mm steel poles and is as solid as a house.
When comparing hi gear to berghaus it’s like comparing renault to rolls Royce…it’s just unfair. Berghaus will always be more expensive because of the quality.
You may not be aware but Berghaus are go outdoors own brand tents, the simply license the Berghaus name for them. So Hi Gear also being a go outdoors brand, the difference between them is not huge, Berghaus is no Rolls Royce. A better comparison would be VW to Audi, both made by the same company but Audi has some more bells and whistles, and a ‘posher’ brand. The main difference between the two is Berghaus uses 6000mm material and hi gear 4000mm. It’s also very difficult to find direct comparison tents, so I work with what I can, although with Berghaus making some pole tents now I was able to make some more direct comparisons between very similar tents of the same brand. Thanks for watching!
Well one's a Rolls Royce by name aka berghaus, and the other is a KIA by name aka Hi-gear, so yeah the KIA will be cheaper not that hard to work out for anyone with a brain cell
Berghaus and Hi-Gear are both own brand tents produced for the Go Outdoors group so a better car analogy would be saying an Audi will be cheaper than a Volkswagen 😀 Are we also to disregard the Berghaus v Berghaus price comparison made in the video?
@@cyclingn8 Berghaus is not a go outdoors brand tho
Go Outdoors licence the brand name to use on their tents, hence you will not find Berghaus tents in stores not part of the Go Outdoors group. If you have a look at the Hi Gear tents you will see they share many features with Berghaus tents, most notably the nightfall bedrooms. The Berghaus Adhara 700 is basically a smaller version of the Hi Gear Hampton 8, very similar design. The Berghaus tents do have some improvements in places but they are not worlds apart from the Hi Gear tents.
@@cyclingn8 Never knew that guess every days a school day!
It’s very clever of them to licence the Berghaus name because you would not expect the tents to be their own brand. Thanks for watching!