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 Topic: Air Tent vs Pole Tent
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24/7/2018 at 6:19pm
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Joined: 15/4/2017 Silver Member 
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I’m sorry to hear that gilsausage. In what way did the valves fail?
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24/7/2018 at 10:43pm
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I feel your pain, I’m on my third Outwell Vermont 7SA in 12 months. First one had a manufacturing fault on one beam so it wouldn’t pump up. The second tent let water in. The third tent is the current model year and seems fine.
I have to say the retailer have been faultless and accepted the returns without quibble, none of this nonsense that the tent has to be checked in Denmark or Norway before they will replace it - I read this somewhere else earlier today. That has made it much easier for us to deal with and the new tent seems great so we are happy campers 😁
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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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25/7/2018 at 10:49pm
Location: Yorkshire
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I agre with everything Jim has said. We've been camping for many years in every possible unit (except motorhome, though we did have a Dub Tub many moons ago). It's important - no, vital - for us to have complete faith in our camping unit (which is nowadays a tent). I wouldn't trade our Biscaya for any of the inflatables currently on offer by mainstream manufacturers and am not even sure I'd go the Karsten route (had one once, didn't take to it because we prefer an inner and more windows. Karsten have now resolved the window issue by offering the option of one in the front door but not yet addressed the bedroom inner issue). That said, the quality of the Karsten is unquestionable and I didn't doubt the air beams for a moment; their successful history speaks for itself.
It astonishes me that people are ready and wiling to hand over big bucks for what is still apparently iffy technology. A good tent (Cabanon / Karsten type of quality) should last 20 years if properly looked after. That's not to say anyone would or should keep any tent for that length of time, but it surely illustrates the quality and dependability of the tents. How long will these new mass-produced inflatables last? More to the point, how long are they intended to last? I suspect the manufacturers actually want customers to return every 2 or 3 years, spending still more money.
Go with whatever you feel comfortable with. Nobody can make that decision for you.
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29/7/2018 at 9:33am
Location: Suffolk
Outfit: Very variable
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Quote:
It astonishes me that people are ready and wiling to hand over big bucks for what is still apparently iffy technology. A good tent (Cabanon / Karsten type of quality) should last 20 years if properly looked after. That's not to say anyone would or should keep any tent for that length of time, but it surely illustrates the quality and dependability of the tents. How long will these new mass-produced inflatables last? More to the point, how long are they intended to last? I suspect the manufacturers actually want customers to return every 2 or 3 years, spending still more money.
Go with whatever you feel comfortable with. Nobody can make that decision for you.
Absolutely...you've only got to read all the posts about airbeams collapsing or folding.
One of my tents that I use, albeit occasionally, is over 60 years old......
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