Okay, so you all know we have done a lot of camping and backpacking, right? That almost goes without saying if you read some of our stuff. We’ve bought and used plenty of gear and equipment. Some we liked and still use, other stuff, we just said no thanks and got rid of it. Over time, we have tried out a couple different tents mostly because we were looking for something quite lightweight and for a specific purpose. But in all our searching, I am going to admit right up front, that neither one of us had heard of blow up tents for camping.

At this point, we should probably thank Eliza for writing in and asking us if we could give her any pointers on buying one for her family of six. We got right to researching and decided that would be an awesome topic for a post. We could all learn together about the benefits of this new mechanism or technology. Not sure which? Although some of the ones we saw the manufacturers actually have proprietary technology on their models.

Three Minute Setup Blow Up Tent for Camping with Sunroom

Anti Snake Wind Resistant Blow Up Tent for Camping for Your Family of Four

Huge Blow Up Tent for Camping Including Waterproof Fly Inflatable Poles Easy Setup

Anyway, this is what we found out. The technology is not that old, thus the reason for us not really hearing about them before. I would guess that as potential users see others with them at campgrounds and such that the idea is spreading like wildfire through word of mouth. And I can really see why because they look like amazing structures with lots of the negativity taken care of.

One issue that newcomers to camping have said is they don’t like to or don’t know how to pitch a traditional structure with poles, ropes and stakes. It is both time consuming and tedious especially if it falls down after you have done all that work!

With the inflatables, though, the most you have to do is put in the stakes in four corners. That means you can get set up quickly and move on to making something to eat or exploring the surroundings. Another benefit is that there are sizes for two people all the way to eight. This makes these structures versatile and can be used for a variety of purposes such as change room, shelter in the rain, and sleeping, of course.

The superior models have partitions or separate beams that ensure different parts of the structure are inflated independently. This does give the structure better support and means that it can’t come down as easily as ones that are all inflated at once.

Although the jury is still out on this, it is thought that an air structure does better when it is windy because it is more flexible and since it doesn’t have poles, they can’t snap and break bringing the tent down.

Finally, it really can be done with one person. Too many products say they are easy for one person to handle, but in reality, someone needs to be at every corner or at the least on each side. These air structures truly require one person to set up. Although helpers are nice if the whole family pitches in!

Conclusion
Since we now think blow up tents for camping are amazing inventions and we would like to try one ourselves, we found a super video showing exactly how one company’s model works.

The best part about this presentation is it is done in real time which means nothing has been sped up. What you see is the exact time it takes to pitch this tent. So when they tell you a specific time, you know that is not just for the experts who have already tried them out. It shows that anyone really can set these up.