A family tent used to mean an afternoon of threading poles. Today many big tents stand up on tubes of air instead, pumped up in a few minutes, and the choice between an air tent and a pole tent is one of the first a buyer meets. Neither is better in every way. This guide explains how each one stands up, how long each takes to pitch, how they cope with wind, what they weigh and pack to, and what happens when a beam or a pole fails. It ends with which suits which kind of trip. If you have not yet settled on the size or style of tent, how to choose a tent is the place to begin.
How an air tent stands up
An air tent has no poles to hold up its main shape. Tubes are sewn into the tent, called air beams, air poles or air columns, and once they are pumped up firm they hold the tent up. You lay the tent out flat, peg the corners, connect the pump and fill the beams, and the tent lifts itself into shape. Then you peg out the guy lines. Taking it down is a matter of opening the valves and letting the air out.
Many of the air beams in the shop are PVC tubes, often inside a fabric sleeve that takes the wear and the sun. The Naturehike Village 6 air tent stands on PVC columns 12cm across. On many air tents each beam has its own valve and is pumped up on its own, so if one goes soft the others stay up; on some big tents several beams fill from one point. The largest inflatable cabin tent here has what its maker calls a Smart Valve for controlled filling and one-touch letting down.
The beams are firm, not hard. Each maker gives a pressure, and on most air tents it is around 5 to 7 psi, measured with a pump that has a gauge. Air expands in warmth and shrinks in cold, so a tent pumped up in the heat of the afternoon can feel softer by morning after a cold night, and a few pumps put that right.
Air tents still have a few poles
Not every rigid part goes. Many air tents come with one or two short poles for the porch canopy or a sun shade. The Village 6 air tent comes with two support poles, and the 4 to 5 person instant inflatable dome here comes with hall rods and iron pipes in its set. They hold up the extras, while the beams carry the tent.
The shop's air tents are in inflatable air tents and, filed by their frame, in air beam tents: family domes, cabin tents, a connectable tent with extra bedroom pods, porch awnings for caravans and a roof tent.
How a pole tent stands up
A pole tent stands on bendy, jointed poles. Each pole is a row of short sections with an elastic shock cord running through them, so it snaps together in your hands. Bent into place, through sleeves or onto clips, the poles hold the fabric up and tight. How they are arranged decides how the tent behaves.
- Dome tents have two or more poles crossing over the top. Most stand up on their own before you peg them, so you can pick one up and turn its door away from the wind. The BASTION 4-person family tent here stands on a four-pole crossing frame. See dome tents.
- Tunnel tents have hoops in a row. They give more usable room for their weight, but they only stand once they are pegged out at both ends. Many big family tents are tunnels with bedrooms at the back and a living area at the front. See tunnel tents.
- Tipi and pyramid tents hang from one tall centre pole, with the pegs round the edge holding the shape.
The poles are usually fibreglass on budget family and pop-up tents, and aluminium or aluminium alloy on backpacking tents, winter tents and many better family tents. Big family tents can have thick frames: one two-bedroom tunnel tent here stands on 16mm aluminium rods. The guide to tent poles goes through every material and how each one fails.
A third way: frames built in
Pop-up and instant tents are neither. Their frame is sewn or built into the tent, as springs, a hub that locks at the top, or folding arms, so there is nothing to thread or pump: you open it and peg it. They are the quickest of all to put up, though folding a spring frame back into its bag takes practice. See pop-up tents and instant and automatic tents.
Pitching: time, help and the pump
Speed is the main reason people buy an air tent, and it is a real difference. One large outdoor retailer gives a couple of minutes to pump up an air tent, about 5 to 10 minutes for two people to pitch a pole dome, and 20 to 30 minutes for a big family tunnel tent, with its guy lines and pegs. The figures from the makers here agree. The 4 to 5 person inflatable dome is ready in around 2 minutes with its manual pump. The two-person backpacking tent with aluminium poles says around 5 minutes for a new user, which is quick because it is small.
The bigger the tent, the bigger the gap. A family tunnel tent with two bedrooms has several long poles to thread, and a lot of pegging: the 5 to 8 person two-bedroom tent here comes with 10 or 14 wind ropes and 30 or 34 small ground nails, depending on the size. On a big air tent the pump does the lifting that would otherwise take two or three people holding hoops upright in the wind.
Help
One adult can usually pitch an air tent alone, even a big one, and that is a real advantage if you often camp as the only grown-up with children. A big pole tent is much easier with two: one to hold, one to peg. A small pole dome is easy for one person.
The pump
Check what pump comes with the tent before you buy, because they differ. Most air tents here come with a hand or manual pump, one comes with an electric pump, the inflatable roof tent has a manual pump with an electric one as an option, and on one large tent the pump is an optional extra. A hand pump fills a family tent in a few minutes; an electric pump saves your arms on a big one but needs power. Use a pump with a gauge, fill each beam to the maker's figure, and do not pump until a beam feels rock hard, because a beam over its pressure can split at a seam. Keep the pump in the tent bag: an air tent without its pump will not go up.
Practise first
Whichever you choose, pitch a new tent in the garden or a park before the first trip. You learn where each pole or valve goes, you check every peg is there, and you do not learn it in the rain at dusk.
Wind and weather: how each copes
The two kinds of tent deal with a gust in different ways. A firm air beam flexes and then springs back, a little like a shock absorber, so the tent rocks and recovers. A rigid pole holds its shape until the load is too much; aluminium then bends, and fibreglass can crack or snap. Some sellers say air tents are the stronger in wind, and some campers say the same after a stormy night, but one side-by-side test by an outdoor magazine found little to choose between a well-made tent of each kind. Most of the claims either way come from people selling one kind or the other.
What makes far more difference than the frame is how the tent is pitched:
- pitch with the narrow or low end into the wind, so it slips over the top rather than pushing on the side;
- peg out every guy line, not just the corners, because the guy lines carry the wind down to the ground for both kinds;
- keep the fabric taut, so it does not flap and work at the seams and joints;
- use pegs made for the ground you are on, and carry spares. See tent pegs and guy lines.
Two points are particular to air. First, check the beams on the first evening and the next morning, because a cold night lowers the pressure, and a soft beam bends more in wind. The 4 to 5 person air dome here says its PVC columns are designed to hold pressure in changing temperatures and wind, but a gauge is the only way to know. Second, a big air tent is a big tent, with a lot of fabric to catch the wind, so its guy lines matter as much as any pole tent's.
Rain is the same for both. The waterproof rating of the fabric and taped seams decide whether you stay dry, not the frame. The air tents here that state a rating are rated 3,000mm to 5,000mm.
Weight and packed size
As a rule, an air tent weighs more than a pole tent of the same size, because the beams, their sleeves and valves weigh more than poles, and because the tent is one piece. A pole tent can be split up: one person carries the fabric, another the poles and pegs. That is why nearly every tent made to be carried on your back is a pole tent, and why the lightest tents in the shop, under a kilo, all stand on poles or on walking poles. See backpacking and trekking tents.
At family size, the shop's own figures show the rule in action, and one exception to it:
- BASTION 4 person pole dome. Size: 247 by 225cm, 165cm high. Weight: 6.0kg. Packed: 54 by 20 by 24cm.
- 4 to 5 person instant inflatable dome. Size: 220 by 220cm, 170cm high. Weight: about 7kg. Packed: 76 by 20 by 30cm.
- Naturehike DUNE 7.6 pole dome, 2 to 4 person. Weight: 7.5kg with its accessories. Packed: 62 by 30 by 22cm.
- Naturehike Village 6 air tent. Size: 260 by 230cm, 180cm high. Weight: 10.7kg, or 12.6kg for the Flagship version.
- Naturehike Village 6.0 Deluxe, ridge-frame automatic tent. Size: 260 by 230cm, 180cm high. Weight: 14.7kg. Packed: 98 by 25 by 26cm.
So the air dome is a little heavier and packs longer than a pole dome with a slightly bigger floor. But the same-sized Village tent is lighter as an air tent than as an automatic tent on a built-in frame, so it is worth comparing the actual figures rather than assuming. Air tents get heavy quickly as they grow: the connectable MOT-Q500 weighs about 13kg, a four-season cotton air tent with one bedroom 29.5kg, and the largest inflatable cabin tent here, 420 by 513cm and 330cm high, 95kg. Those are tents for the car and a pitch you can drive close to.
Packed size matters as much as weight in a car. Measure the boot before you buy a big tent, and remember the pump, the pegs and a carpet go in as well. Each product page gives the weight and packed size where the maker states them.
When something breaks: a beam or a pole
Both kinds of tent can be mended, and neither breaking is the end of the tent. What differs is how easy it is to mend on the campsite.
A pole
A bent or cracked pole can be splinted on the spot. A repair sleeve, a short metal tube a little wider than the pole, slides along it until it is centred over the break and is taped at both ends. With no sleeve, a tent peg taped along the break will do for a night or two. At home the lasting fix is a new section or a whole new pole of the same outer diameter and full length. The tent poles range has replacement poles from about 7.9mm to 11mm across and from 3.2m to 5.2m long, and an aluminium pole will replace a fibreglass one if those two measurements match.
A beam
If a beam goes soft, look at the valve first: a valve not screwed fully home, or with grit in it, is the most common cause of a slow leak. If it still loses air, take the tube out of its sleeve, pump it up a little and brush on soapy water, and bubbles show the hole. Patch it with a repair made for PVC or TPU, let it set, test it again and put it back with the valve in its socket. The tent repair kits range has clear TPU patches and tapes sold for inflatables. A leak along a welded seam of the tube cannot usually be patched, and the lasting fix is a replacement beam from the tent's maker.
A puncture in one of the main beams is more serious on the campsite than a broken pole, because the part of the tent it holds up comes down until it is mended, where a splinted pole goes straight back to work. On a tent where each beam has its own valve, the rest of the tent stays standing. Keep the repair kit, the pump and the valve tool, if the tent has one, in the tent bag, and pitch away from brambles, thorn hedges and sharp stones.
Which suits which trip
Start from how the tent travels and who will pitch it:
- Carrying it on your back or a bike. Choose: a pole tent, on aluminium or alloy poles. Why: lighter, packs small, and splits between two people.
- A family week beside the car. Choose: either. An air tent pitches fastest and with fewer hands; a pole tunnel or dome often costs less weight and boot space for the same room.
- Pitching alone with children. Choose: an air tent, or an instant tent. Why: one adult can put it up while the children wait.
- A weekend touring, a new pitch every night. Choose: an air tent or a pole dome. Why: both go up quickly; a dome stands before it is pegged, so it is easy to place.
- A festival or a night at the beach. Choose: a pop-up or a small pole dome. Why: quick to carry and pitch.
- A small car boot. Choose: a pole tent. Why: shorter, smaller packed size at the same floor area, as the figures above show.
- Very wet or windy sites. Choose: whichever you will pitch properly, every guy line out. Why: pitching decides more than the frame.
For a family, the layout, the bedrooms and the living area matter as much as how the tent stands up. The guide to family tents covers those, and the family tents range has big tents of both kinds.
Questions people ask
Are air tents stronger in wind?
Not clearly. A firm beam flexes and springs back where a pole can snap, but a side-by-side test of a good tent of each kind found little difference. How well the tent is pegged and guyed matters more than the frame.
Can an air tent go flat in the night?
It can lose a little pressure as the air cools, which a few pumps put right. A sudden collapse means a puncture or an open valve. On a tent where each beam has its own valve, one soft beam leaves the others standing.
Can I use any pump?
Use the pump that came with the tent, or one with a gauge that fits its valves. A pump without a gauge makes it easy to under-fill or over-fill a beam.
Are there small air tents for one or two people?
A few exist, but air beams add weight that a small tent does not need, so nearly every light one- and two-person tent is a pole tent. Most of the air tents here sleep three or more, and the smallest is a two-person roof tent.
Do air tents need pegging?
Yes, every time. The beams give the shape, but only the pegs and guy lines keep the tent on the ground in wind, the same as any pole tent.
Where to go next
- Air: inflatable air tents and air beam tents.
- Poles: dome tents, tunnel tents and, for the biggest, family tents.
- Neither: pop-up tents and instant and automatic tents.
- Spares: tent poles and tent repair kits.
- Read on: tent poles explained, family tents: rooms, layouts and awnings and how to choose a tent.
Delivery is included in every price and tracked to your door.
