Has anyone got one of these air beam tents yet? Any recommendations?

[Karenthetoadslayer]

We have a very nice Outwell Bearlake tent, but it does take some time to put up (or may be the DCs and I are just camping novices ).

In recent stormy weather, I was really impressed how it held up and even though it was creaking in the storm and moving from side to side, it was absolutely fine.

A friend has got one of these air beam tents and it takes them under ten minutes to pitch which sounds fantastic.

Is it worth saving up for one of those? I can imagine if it only takes a few minutes to pitch, weekend trips would be so much more doable with the DCs.

Somebody has mentioned they may not be very reliable in stormy weather and we mainly head for the seaside, so that would put me off it, if this was the case.

I would love one but we only camp for 3 nights a year.
We watched someone put one up over the bank holiday. In minutes!
We were right by the coast and it was windy, not stormy.
The tent held up fine.
But, they are so expensive.

They cost a fortune! My friend did really well and got her almost new air beam tent on eBay from someone who had only used it once and decided that camping was not for them.

We stayed on two coastal campsites this summer and I did not see any air beam tents, but lots of Outwell tents with steel poles (ours has flexible poles).

Just saw this picture:

www.google.co.uk/search?q=air+beam+tents&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-gb&client=safari#facrc=_&imgrc=2B6jExfCcFMdnM%253A%3Bundefined%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.ukcampsite.co.uk%252Ftents%252Fuserimages%252F9053.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.ukcampsite.co.uk%252Ftents%252Fp%252FVango-Airbeam-Infinity-400%252F1949%3B800%3B600

Not so impressed now.

Not a tent but a caravan awning and it is brilliant - would never go back to poles it is so solid in high winds. Yes, it was expensive it is the Kampa 260
and I know people who have cheaper versions and are not so happy with them so if you want an air beam tent go with the best quality as you certainly seem to get what you pay for. They go up very quickly and easily.

We regularly camp with a family who have a Kampa Filey Air. It seems lovely: very quick to pitch. It still takes as long to fill with stuff/organise as any other tent though! It seems very stable in bad weather.
We have a lightweight but massive flexible pole tent and although they pitch more quickly than us we strike more quickly than them and it's less heavy to transport.
I din't think I'd go for one as a weekend tent as the whoel point of weekend camping is keeping it simple: save time by taking less stuff!

We have the Airbeam Exodus 800 from last year - as there are six of us, we need something reasonably sized.

It wasn't cheap but is a brilliant tent. Incredibly easy to put up and extremely stable - there are tensioning bands inside which help. The fabric is really good quality too.

It's much lighter to carry than a steel pole tent which was an added bonus for us.

Vango have been doing the inflatables longest so are probably the most reliable at the moment, I know Decathlon have started them too so might be worth a look.

I also saw some at Go Outdoors.
Slightly cheaper than Vango.

Someone on here made a very valid point recently that put me off a bit - that it takes a long time to get the air out again.
Depending on how many people you are, check out the Quechua Pop Ups. I'm sooooo impressed and I don't see how you could get anything up or down any quicker!

can confirm that it does not take long to get the air out of ours - a matter of 30 seconds or so. will say again, go for the very best you can afford - very good friend bragged how much they had saved with their air awning
and it is not stable and leaks !!

Well where do I start? Avoid the kampa filey 6, I know of four purchased this year that have had to be returned due to quality issues.
Kampa have admitted to me that their pump isn't upto the job, we used the tent four times with a new pump each time.
Poor seem finish, zips catching constantly, pooling of water at bottom of air beams.
We used the sales of goods act to get a full refund at point of sale.
We went for the Vermont xlp instead...highly recommend although huge lol!!

Takes two mins to put down - unscrew the valve and you're done. The first Infinity tents may have taken longer but the newer models are v fast, much quicker than it ever took us to get the poles out of our old one.

I saw some erected at a camping shop and they were very nice indeed. Not sure I'd notice them on a campsite as they didn't look much different from normal tents from the outside, unless of course they had a massive logo on the side!
Don't you have to be careful to let some air out in the hot weather in case they go pop?

MrsMot we are looking at an Airbeam Exodus 800 for next year. Would you recommend it? We have just sold our Vango Verona 800 and liked they layout but really want an airbeam now!

Not that I've noticed Pixel.

If you have the budget I'd say go for it. We love ours :)

We bought the HiGear Cirrus earlier in the year. We are completely novice campers and found it very easy to put up. It deflates really quickly as well, we had to roll it twice (MN tip!) to get it back in the bag but it was down and packed away in 10 minutes.

Our only regret was buying it so late in the season, we can't wait to use it a lot more next summer.

MrsMot what about this?

They do say that's for the older tents though, so maybe something to be aware of if anyone is intending to purchase second-hand.

We have a vango air beam - an older model that I was lucky to pick up ex-display with carpet for £350. Very impressed and it recently stood up to some heavy coastal winds and rain in north Norfolk.