5 Reasons to Own an Air Tent

April 25, 2023 Matt McIvor Comments

If you aren’t a proud owner of an air tent yet, here’s five reasons why it’s a smart move to get one!

1. Exceptional wind performance

Don’t worry, they’re not bouncy castles that will fly away when the wind picks up! Social media content coming out of New Zealand last summer showed firsthand how Zempire air tents handled the cyclones that hit the country’s east coast.

A lot of wind performance is down to the tent’s shape and how aerodynamic it is. However, when you compare an air tube that is 10-15cm in diameter with a fibreglass pole that is 8mm in diameter, it’s obvious which will create the more robust structure to handle wind. In extremely high winds, Zempire air tubes are known to bend when under severe stress, then bounce back into shape. There’s absolutely no risk of snapping a steel or fibreglass pole or even bending it out of shape permanently (both which could also damage your tent’s fabric).

Setting up in windy conditions is also easier, especially with Zempire air tents that feature a single point inflation. There’s less disruption from the wind when you don’t have to thread poles through sleeves and Zempire air tents also have their fly’s attached too, which makes them a lot easier in comparison to tents that have this detached. Pack-down is also much easier in high winds given that the tent simply collapses in a matter of seconds to then be folded, rather than having to pull poles through sleeves with the tent flapping around.

EASY TIP - You can increase your wind performance purely by pointing the front of your tent away from the prevailing wind.

2. Quick set up & pack away

You’ll be amazed at the time you save not having to refer to an instruction manual every few minutes to check what pole goes where! The fastest inflation time we’ve recorded with a Zempire air tent (our Pronto 4 V2) is 17.33 seconds! Pumping up an air frame instead of solving a poles puzzle saves a huge amount of time and brain power, due to the air tubes being already attached to the tent. Even some of our largest polyester tents, like our Evo TXL V2 which can sleep up to 8 campers, can be inflated in under 2 minutes.

Packing away is even faster. Just undo the boston valves or air release taps and watch the air tent collapse in a matter of seconds. Ever been in a situation where you spent a bit too long at the beach & feel like the rain is coming in? An air tent’s simple deflation process takes the stress out of pack away and gets you on the road much faster. More than anything, the extremely quick set up and pack away processes that Zempire air tents offer will get your camping holiday off to a good start and makes getting everything back in the car seem a lot easier.

3. Simple and convenient – you’ll go camping more often!

The majority of Zempire air tents are a one-person task to set up and you don’t need to be a camping expert… although there are plenty in our ‘Zempire Family’! It’s literally as simple as rolling the tent out, pegging it down then pumping it up. The hardest part may be choosing whether you want to manually pump it up or use an electric pump like our Supercell to do the work for you.

So, if you’re camping with your family, an adult can look after the kids while another can solely take care of setting the tent up. Or if it’s raining, only one person needs to step outside to pitch an air tent while the rest stay dry in the car… how convenient right?

You’re supposed to relax on camping excursions and Zempire air tents make it easy to do just that. You’ll naturally go camping more often, feel more confident and enjoy your time in the outdoors even more.

4. Durable and easy to maintain

Don’t you hate opening a tent bag when loads of different pieces fall out? Not only do you then have to figure out what each one is, you also must solve what goes where. You have the option to choose a Zempire air tent that only has two other bags inside the tent bag. These simply feature the pump and the pegs.

This massively decreases the risk of you losing any equipment that is crucial for your campsite and makes it easy to maintain. You may need to remove some dirt off your pegs, but you will avoid having an endless supply of poles to clean too! If you need to dry your tent after a camping holiday, it’s a lot easier to do this with a Zempire air tent since they’re so fast to inflate. Taking care of your tent to increase its life is easy, meaning you’ll camp in comfort for years to come.

Not only are Zempire air tents easy to maintain, they also feature highly durable materials so you can camp with confidence knowing they’ll hold up in less than ideal conditions. The lowest waterhead rating on a Zempire polyester air tent is 3,000mm and it only goes up from there.

5. They’re fun… and are known to save relationships!

We hear time and time again from our Zempire Family that our air tents have saved relationships and marriages! While we take it with a grain of salt, it’s true that there is less time and reasons for campsite arguments when you have an air tent in comparison to more traditional models. They’re also fun, so technically that’s six reasons! There is a unique novelty to seeing an air tent pop up when being inflated and collapse upon deflation. We’ve also found that most kids jump at the chance to have a turn at pumping up air tents and are quick to put their hand up to deflate them as well! It never gets old undoing the boston valves to see the tent deflate quickly with a flick of the wrist.