Narrowed it to 2 tents - pole or air?

[Sausagis]

I've narrowed my selection to 2 tents and it's killing me. Vango Winslow II 500 pole tent, or Vango Odyssey Air 500 for an extra £100.

Husband says Pole tents tend to be more reliable in bad weather, and the Odyssey has some reviews of it leaking (and others say it doesn't). I want to be able to put this tent up with just my (teen) kids helping and I'm not a fan of putting up tents. WWYD?

(Both tents identical size and height)

Omg - after 2 horror stories involving air tents & shit pumps.

Pole.

However DM me if you want an air tent - used twice!

Bare in mind the packed size, storage space and boot size.Air tents are massive when packed. I know pole tents are too, put you can seperate out the poles and store them as two smaller bags.

I'd go pole; easier to fit in the car, a snapped pole is easily taped and they're lighter.

air tent - better in the bad weather. if the wind gets up a pile can break whereas with an air tent that's not a problem. our air tent stayed up through a force 8 gale once (although that was a bit 😬)

We had an air tent (different make), and didn't use it for two or three years. When we unpacked it the rubber tubes had perished and we had to throw about £800 worth of tent away that had been used maybe 8 times over three summers.
I am still cross.

So that's 5 for pole, 1 for air.

My brain knows you're right, it's just my heart imagining effortless pitching....

Poles- cheaper, lighter, easier to repair

Air- a lot easier and quicker to put up, generally better quality tents overall.

A pp said they had to chuck the tent as the tubes had perished, you can get replacements, sometimes free depending on manufacturer and cause.

Other factors to consider are the hydrostatic head, at least 3000, more is better, head height and layout usability.

Pole.

Because if you get to the campsite late and start pumping up your tent, the people on the pitch next to you will hate you.

(I may be tainted by a very specific experience, they also kept stopping pumping to snog 🤦‍♀️)

We switched to air after a bad storm flattened all the pole tents (including ours) while the air tents barely moved.

Haven't regretted it.

Pole. Purely based on size when packed. The difference is huge.

Air for me, for ease of pitching. I can put our 4 man air tent up by myself in about 15 minutes but I always find pole tents- even little kiddy shelter things- horrendously fiddly. Does occasionally deflate on one beam but it's easy to top up and a bit of washing up liquid on the valve has always kept it happy afterwards

I have a 5 man vango air tent and love it. DH doesn’t come camping so I needed something I could put up myself with a little help from my little ones. Easy and quick to put up. Takes up a lot of space in the boot though and is heavy. Have had it for 5 years and no problems so far.

Agree on this, check out the bags. Until 5 years ago everyone was fine with pole tents. Like, since desert dwelling nomads. No point being able to allegedly put the tent up alone if you can't move the bag.

Air if you have the space in the car for it. We switched a few years ago after 2 sets of tent poles broke in the same year. Air tent feels way more solid in the wind, and so easy to pitch. Love it!

@Bloodyhelldog I promise I have NEVER snogged DH mid-tent putting up. Possibly stopped to argue regularly a few times, and one memorable time stopped as next-door-tents completely unsupervised 1 or 2 year old had climbed into my car and wrapped my phone charging cable around his neck 😱. Remind me why I'm buying another tent?

It's a small 3 pole tunnel tent. There is literally no easier tent to put up!

@NotMeNoNo - hopefully, that's why I chose it!

poles. that type of pole tent is v easy to put up - the teens can do it while you have a cup of tea.

Right, I'm going pole. I'll probably curse that decision while putting it up (maybe I'll try @parietal suggestion and see if the kids can do it!)

I've watched 2 videos of people pitching it: first vid 2 men made it look really hard, then second vid a woman put it up by herself really easily 😂 Let's hope I can channel her.

Thanks for putting me out my indecision misery.

Enjoy your new tent

Pole absolutely..... so simple.....kids will definitely be able to put up if teens...
Can't fathom the air love...have seen them wobble horrifically in wind, had one go bang next to us in heat.. generally heavier, and more expensive...maybe slightly quicker up but by the time youve done the guys not much in it

That poled tent would be a doddle to put up on your own, without the help of teens.

Or any half way sensible teens should be able to put that up without your help.

Putting up a simple tunnel tent like that really is not hard.

Im a bit late to this thread but I just wanted to say we have a Vango Air Beam and it’s been heavy rain and wind for the last two nights (not forecast though!) - the beams were incredibly strong. The neighbours pole tent broke! We’re on an Atlantic facing cliffside campsite so the weather has been changeable and unpredictable!

The bags are huge though.

but I love it. No deterioration with the air beams yet and we’ve owned it since 2018! We store ours in the loft. The Vango pump isn’t too bad. But there is an air tent across the field and their pump sounded ridiculous - it made all the dogs bark 🤣

I can’t feel my fingers too well due to MS and I don’t think I’ll ever revert back to a pole tent.

I expect your husband thinks that air = lighter tent like it’s constructed out of balloons. Which is quite cute tbh! 🤪

Went with pole tent. First pitch was an utter, unmitigated disaster.

Turns out we had the poles the wrong way round. I would like to blame Vango for the worst instructions ever seen (and I've built my share of cheap flat pack furniture!)

Hopefully next time it'll be really easy 😂

Were the poles not colour coded? You might find it useful to mark the ends of the short one with tape. Hope your next outing is a breeze!