Air Beam tents

Hi anybody used Vango airbeam tents and if so what problems has anyone found.

Derek

I just watched a few vids on YouTube and they seem to be ok. The only problem I could see was due to air being used to pump up areas of the tents in high winds the tent can become unstable, there was even a good picture of a tent mid air, but I expect that it was not pegged down properly. After a search they are not all that cheap in comparison to some other tents but they are a decent size if odd colour. All seem to come with the usual tent gear and a host of "tent technology".

TJ

Never heard of this before. See, the forum does work!

'ave a butchers - www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKASfTvpyfU

Looks good, but the question has to be ...

"How easy/hard are they to puncture?"

and (okay, so it's 2 questions)

"How easy/difficult is it to repair?"

and (yeah, I know, made a rod for my own back)

"what if the puncture or rip is on a seam, can it be repaired at all?"

Conclusion: Nice idea but could be a costly mistake.

Not anything new as we made air shelters as kids, we used lorry innertubes cut in half and the cut ends were stuck with bike puncture rapair kit glue, we used bike pumps to inflate them.

Both fair questions Tom what if the users are smokers for example, or someone with something sharp falls into them, the tubes are merely coated fabric so may need regular treatment to ensure they remain airtight, or at least leak very slowly so you dont end up in a tent sleeping bag in the morning.

System is not new. Already 25 years for sale in Holland (Karsten Tenten). Big difference are the materials used. This is lighter. For instance the Dutch tents use firehose for inflating and heavy cotton fabrics. The tents weigh about 30 kg for 3 x3 meter tent.
They last however a lifetime.
I'm using the OZ tents myself, very fast building and packing.
edit: Looked at their site, tents are not that light afterall

Nice one Jaap - 25 years!

Really don't see how Vango's system will survive the test of time, given that anything I've ever bought that inflates always leaks or punctures at some point.

30 kg????? My inflatable's far lighter than that!

And if it leaks you can put it down to natural occurences.

Tom, you shouldn't use air for something like that, Doesnt feel right. Just fill up with warm water.

cadarn wrote:

Tom, you shouldn't use air for something like that, Doesnt feel right. Just fill up with warm water.

cadarn wrote:

Tom, you shouldn't use air for something like that, Doesnt feel right. Just fill up with warm water.

Spoken like a true expert! Well, you know what these Dutch are like.