AIR VS POLE AWNINGS AND TENTS

Air tents are becoming a lot more affordable now than they were when they first came out. However, they are still substantially more expensive than the well known poled tents and awnings. So the question is, are they worth it?

Personally - Yes!

Now, we've only had our air awning for a year at the time of writing this post, and most of that year was spent in a national lockdown.. but we did get to use it a handful of times and that teamed with the past experience of owning poled awnings and tents we can honestly say we LOVE the air.

It's so much quicker to set up / down and can withstand strong winds with no broken poles!! and I imagine if you get a tear or puncture, then you can patch up with tape - but the material is so thick and robust you'd have to of given it some force to tear.

I'd love to say it's smaller and lighter than poled options - but our particular awning is not! (see images below) and you have to carry the bulky pump with you!

So if you're travelling light (back packing/trekking) I'd - for now - stick with poled! Besides, you'll more than likely be wild camping, so you'd need to be small and incognito and therefore low to the ground and less of a target for strong winds.

Below is a video of our poled awning getting a beating from some strong Scottish winds - two weeks after this trip - the peg loops broke and we had to attach tie wraps to be able to still use it until we bought our new one.

For more pictures and to read all about our new, and current air awning click here