If you have had enough of the Air Genus 400/800 or Eurohike Air 400 and the rest, I am completely with you. While they are cheap, and some of them are actually not bad at all, they are not for everyone.

If you are out and camping regularly, and on the look for inflatable tents for camping through the summer months, those cheaper models may not be for you. You need something reliable, tried and tested.

They are entry level air tents, and there are lots more 4-person air tents on the market that are far more superior in sturdiness, build quality, weather resilience, reliability, innovative solutions and so on.

In this post I have picked 8 mid-range 4-person air tent models. I say 4 person, but you’ll see that they are rather 4 to 5-berth models, ideal for small families or couples. These inflatable tents are recommended for regular campers: the pegs won’t bend, the flysheet won’t rip, and water won’t seep through the groundsheet…well, less likely anyways.

If you are looking for slightly bigger inflatable tents, you can find the best models for 2020 in this post. I’ve covered everything from the entry level 2-man tents to the high spec inflatable tents for 8.

How Did I Review Them?

I’ve grouped them into 2 categories according to their sale price – rather then going by the RRP I wanted to put them in the bracket according to the price you can expect to pay at the tills.

As you can see, it is really dense around £500, some of them are just under, most of them are under this mark with their sale price only. £750 is my chosen upper limit, it is entirely up to debate but above £750 you’ll start to find poly-cotton 4-berth tents. In my mind, those are the high-end models of this category, so I drew the line at £750.

Prices as of 2019.

Still Under £500

• Outdoor Revolution Airedale 5.0
• Vango Airbeam Lomond 500
• Outwell Elmwood 5A
• Coleman Fastpitch Air Valdes 4

£500-£750

• Kampa Kielder 5
• Sprayway Valley M Air Tent
• Zempire Aero TM / TM Lite Air Tents
• Berghaus Air 4XL

4/5-berth Air Tents Under £500

Outdoor Revolution Airedale 5.0

Let’s start with the Airedale 5. I was researching the Cruiz air tents (see my article on the Cruiz range here) when I came across the Airedale 5, and I was blown away by its specs and features, packed into a ‘tiny’ package in terms of the price tag. I actually said it at the end of that post that despite the qualities of the Cruiz tents, the secret tip was the Airedale 5.

You’d think, it is a 5-person inflatable tent; but frankly it has space for 4, and not more. If you look at the floorplan, the 5^th person could sleep in the middle by removing the divider between the two bedrooms, but in all fairness, the 280cm whole width would not allow for a 5^th adult. It may be okay with kids though…

The Airedale 5 has 3 Oxygen Air Frames, they are said to be the quickest and easiest to inflate on the market; equipped with intelligent frame relief valves. These pressure relief valves ensure that the air tubes do not over-inflate as the pressure rises, for example if the air inside gets hot under the sun and starts expanding. Pitching takes around 15 minutes.

The flysheet is a high endurance, 150D polyester with hex style print design; durable and lightweight (the whole tent weights 23.6kg packed up). The groundsheet is sewn in and extends to the porch as well, adding another 3sqm to the 6sqm living room.

You don’t need an extra vestibule to cover the porch (like on the Kampa Kielder 5), it is all included. Plus you can easily turn the double front doors into a large canopy with the fibreglass poles, to increase the useful space even further.

You also find large tinted windows, and high-quality mesh on the front and side door.

The Airedale 5.0 is truly a great air tent for small families or couples. It’s a shame that it seems it won’t be available any more, the Cruiz 4 and the Airedale 5.0S will likely take its place on the model palette.

Pros

High-end specs that normally cost £200 more.

What to look out for

Despite the 2019 model is slightly different from the previous models, those are still around and being sold under a different product code. Be sure to check that you buy the latest model.

Also, if you’d like any bespoke accessories, buy them in a bundle as those may not be available later.

Where to buy the Outdoor Revolution Airedale 5

Winfields Outdoors (cheapest)

Capital Outdoors

If you can’t find it anymore, make sure you take a look at the Cruiz tents, both the 4-berth and 6-berth version could have been mentioned in this post. (detailed review here)

 

Vango Airbeam Lomond 500

The Vango Airbeam Lomond 500 is slightly wider than the Airedale 5.0, but I still would not call it a true 5-person tent. There are two bedrooms side by side (a 2-berth and a 3-berth), but there is only 60cm allocated for one person. This means that the smaller bedroom is only 120cm wide – may be okay for the kids on a compact size inflatable mattress or in sleeping bags – and the full width of the master bedroom is 180cm. This is okay for 2 on a normal air mattress, with some space left for baggage.

The bedrooms are not proper ‘black out’ ones, but the inner fabric is dark.

The living room is 4.8 sqm and you can access it through the side door, sadly it is not meshed. You do have a decent size canopy over it though… The front door takes you to the porch area that is 2.5 sqm big and fully covered by a canopy.

The groundsheet does not extend to the porch, but it is fully sewn in to keep water out from the rest of the tent. A Sentinel Active – a strong and highly waterproof polyester fabric – flysheet protects the tent from rain (4000mm HH rating), but I ought to mention that you are protected from thunder and torrential rain as well. The Lomond 500 features Vango’s inner tension system, that increases the stability of the tent dramatically, so it can withstand force 7 winds (60mph).

Pros

Outstanding weather resilience, inner tension system

What to look out for

Make sure you register for the extra year of warranty with Vango (on the top of the 2 years standard warranty.)

Where to buy the Vango Airbeam Lomond 500

Exclusive to Winfields Outdoors: https://www.winfieldsoutdoors.co.uk/vango-airbeam-lomond-500-air-tent

 

Outwell Elmwood 5A

Same size sleeping pods as before, but much larger living room (8.5sqm) and porch (4.3sqm) in a simple 4 beam tunnel design. The bedrooms are darkened, split by a zipped divider. The part meshed access door folds flat to the side and the bedrooms are level with the groundsheet. This creates a spacious feel of the inner tent, the bedrooms are much more part of the living space than in other tents, there is no threshold that separates them from the living room.

The large tinted windows let plenty of daylight in, but also help the tent stay cool in the summer. The side door is not meshed, and there is no canopy over it either, so the Elmwood 5A keeps it simple and light (weighing only 20kg).

As for protection from the elements, the Elmwood 5A comes with an Outtex 4000 flysheet. This is a polyester taffeta fabric with 4000mm HH waterproof rating. The groundsheet is fully sewn in, double-coated poly-ethylene but it only extends as far as the living room. This turns the porch area into a wet-room for mucky gear.

Interestingly, while the Outwell Elmwood 5A is not more than a decent 5-berth (4-person) tent with a large living space, its bigger siblings sold by the same retailer don’t offer much more. The Ansley 6A is supposed to be a 6-berth tent, but you won’t chuck 6 people in it unless you really hate them. The Greenburgh 7A, supposedly a 7-berth tent, is comfortable for 4, or 5 at best.

All three are old models, but frankly, their successors kept the same layout of the sleeping area. Out of the three, the Elmwood 5A is the cheapest, but as a 4-men tent, the Ansley 6A and the Greenburgh 7A could serve you really well too. If you’d like to read more about them, click here for my Outwell Greenburgh 7A review.

Pros

Largest air tent under £500, more than 12sqm living space.

What to look out for

Outgoing model, so the stock may be limited. Having said that, with the Discount Card at GoOutdoors the take-home price is £399. The new model, the Broadland 5A’s RRP is around £750.

Where to buy the Outwell Elmwood 5A

Currently on sale by GoOutdoors:

https://www.gooutdoors.co.uk/15909012/outwell-elmwood-5a-inflatable-tent-15909012

Coleman Fastpitch Air Valdes 4

The Coleman Fastpitch is a really interesting tent, as it does not want to appear more than it is. You get what’s on the tin: a 4-berth tent for 4 persons. The full ‘Black Out’ bedrooms are in the back of the tent, 140 cm wide each, which is just about enough for a double air mattress.

It is also interesting because the Fastpitch Air Valdes 4 has a different idea of where people like to stay while on a camping holiday, and what you need the ‘living room’ for. Well, in this case the living room is more like a covered storage area for your equipment, or a place where you can change clothes etc than anything else, as it carves out only 4.5sqm of the entire footprint of the tent. You can put a couple of chairs / table inside, but it is far from the size some other tents on this list have on display: the Air Valdes 4 is actually smaller than the Vango Lomond 500, in terms of the size of the area covered by a sewn-in groundsheet.

On the other hand, you have almost 6 sqm of porch area under the tunnel of airbeams, protected from rain and wind. The flysheet features WeatherTec polyester, which is PU coated to provide with 4500mm HH waterproof rating, and SPF50 UV protection.

Now the name says Fastpitch, but nowadays pitching of the Coleman Valdes 4 is not any faster than other air tents. It takes around 15 minutes despite the signature air-poles and the high-pressure air valves.

Pros

Large porch; WeatherTec flysheet

What to look out for

Think twice about the size of the living area: the size of the footprint of the Air Valdes 4 suggests a large tent, but if the weather turns cold it may prove a bit tight for 4 people.

The side door has no mesh or a canopy.

Where to buy the Coleman Fastpitch Air Valdes 4

Winfields Outdoors: click here — 5% off for new customers

Ultimate Outdoors: click here

Leisure Outlet: click here

Outdoor Gear: click here

4/5-berth Air Tents Between £500 and £750

Kampa Kielder 5

The Kampa Kielder 5 is very similar to its smaller sibling, yet very different. Unlike other tent makers, Kampa did not just simply made the 4-berth model a bit wider and called it a 5-berth tent, no. The Kielder 5 is one category up, both in size and in price.

So we have 4 air-beams, one more to inflate, but pitching time is still well under 20 minutes. The 4^th airbeam allows for a much bigger living area, it is 9 sqm now (size of a decent double bedroom), the porch area has grown to 3.5 sqm. The two are separated by a large entrance door and two ‘Crystal Clear’ PVC windows, the door is fully meshed.

The living room has three large windows and a fully meshed side door. If it was not enough to make a nice draught across the tent, there are high- and low-level air-vents as well. Detailed review of the Kampa Kielder 5 Air tent here.

The polyethylene groundsheet is fully sewn-in under the living room, loose under the porch. It is 130 g/m² thick and to make sure that water won’t get through it has a 10,000 mm HH rating.

The darkened bedrooms are located at the back of the tent, side by side. The smaller bedroom is 130cm wide (for 2 persons), the master bedroom is 195cm wide (3-berth). Note that the space allocated for each person in the master bedroom is 65cm, so it is quite possible for 3 adults to sleep in this bedroom. However, it is most likely will be a large bedroom for 2 persons. You can also create one large bedroom by removing the toggled divider.

The full stand-up height across the tent, the plenty of room and the light ceiling panels of the 150D 6000mm HH waterproof flysheet create a very relaxing atmosphere inside the Kampa Kielder 5.

Pros

Luxury size bedrooms; huge specs

What to look out for

The groundsheet could be thicker, so I do recommend the bespoke carpet to protect it.

The vestibule – like a 2^nd front entrance that can be attached to the porch – must be bought separately.

There is no canopy over the side door.

Where to buy the Kampa Kielder 5

It may be exclusive to Winfields, as I could not find it anywhere else.

Winfields Outdoors: https://www.winfieldsoutdoors.co.uk/kampa-kielder-5-air-tent

Sprayway Valley M Air Tent

I was a bit reluctant to include the Sprayway Valley M Air Tent in this review, as it is just under my theoretical red line of £750, without any accessories. On the other hand, it has some features that I have not seen on any other air tents in this category, and it demonstrated Sprayway’s attention to detail and to their customers.

Firstly, the darkened bedrooms are 140cm wide and extra-long (250cms), so it is a 4-berth tent for real people with gear and equipment.

Secondly, rather than a thin polyester sheet hung between the sleeping pods, you have a proper storage between the bedrooms.

The bedrooms can be removed separately, so the Sprayway Valley M could be a large luxury tent for a couple with A LOT OF GEAR, or a big family tent.

The living room is 8.5 sqm large, and the only reason that there is not a 2^nd side door is that you have a side annex. This could be another storage area, private washroom area or anything else.

The front door opens to a 4sqm large awning, this can be fully closed by double-wing doors. The front door is not full-mesh, but ¾ of both wings are meshed.

The flysheet is Oxford polyester 150D/130T. As for waterproof rating, the number is 5000mm HH, all seams are taped. The flysheet has got a layer of coating protecting from UV rays as well.

The groundsheet is fully sewn-in. It is a 150g polyethylene with 3000mm HH rating – I recommend an extra footprint or a carpet to make sure that it keeps intact long enough.

Despite its size, the Sprayway Valley M has 4 airtubes only, plus additional aluminium frames for the side annex and the porch. Pitching time takes around 20 minutes.

Pros

Large; large; large.

What to look out for

Quite understandably it weighs a lot, 34.5 kg.

Where to buy the Sprayway Valley M Air Tent

Same as before, Winfields is your best bet. Campingworld stock other Sprayway tents, but not this particular model.

Winfields Outdoors: https://www.winfieldsoutdoors.co.uk/sprayway-valley-m-air-tent/

Zempire Aero TL Lite Air Tent

I could have picked a lot of other tents from the Zempire Aero range. The old models are on sale at Winfields and you can get a 2017 model Aero TM Classic air tent under £450 (this is the smallest), or a TXL Classic for £699 (this is the extra long model). But I wanted to pick one from the newest range of aero tents, the TL Lite seemed to be the middle ground.

It is only a few pounds more expensive than its predecessor, and I wanted to write that its packed with loads of good stuff and features, but…

If you look at the numbers, the Zempire Aero TL Lite air tent is not at all impressive. But the fabrics and materials used are of excellent quality, and to some extent, it can justify the higher price. To some extent…

The blackout bedrooms are average (at best, less than 70cm per head), so it is unlikely it will be used as a 5-person air tent very often – more comfortable for 2-4 people.

The bedroom divider comes on and off by toggles – it is unique in a bad way in this price category.

The doors are only half-meshed, although there are a lot of upper- and low-level air vents to prevent condensation building up inside.

The Aero TL Lite is actually quite spacious, you can enjoy more than 10sqm of living area plus an additional 3 sqm porch. If you purchase the optional awning poles, you can pole out the front door creating a large shaded area. It is a shame that the awning poles don’t come with the tent as standard.

The polyester flysheet is 75D thick, the thread-count is 185T; however it has 5000mm HH water-proof rating and has been tested to withstand torrential rain. The seams are taped and to protect you and the fabric from harmful UV rays, the coating provides SPF50+ protection.

The groundsheet is fully sewn-in but only 120gsm thick, so a footprint and/or carpet is strongly advised to make sure it lasts long without rips/tears.

At least the Aero TL Lite really is light, it weighs only 24 kg.

Pros

Large; Eye-catching design; quality materials and fabrics; 2 years warranty

Cons

Slightly overpriced – there are tents within (and outside of) the Zempire Aero range that give more value for less. The old model may be better value for money.

Where to buy the Zempire Aero TL Lite

Honestly, I’m not doing it on purpose, but it’s actually harder to get hold of one than I thought. GoOutdoors and Winfields stock the TL Lite, but Campingworld for example only stock the TL Classic (the 2017 model). While the TL Lite is cheapest at GoOutdoors, TL Classic has a better price at Winfields. Hmm…

TL Lite (2019) at GoOutdoors: TL Lite (cheapest)

TL Lite (2019) at Winfields: TL Lite

TL Classic (2017) at Campingworld: TL Classic

TL Classic (2017) at Winfields: TL Classic (cheapest)

Berghaus Air 4XL (blacks, millets, ultimate outdoors)

Lastly, a really interesting one, but this time it is interesting because of its pricing. The full RRP is just shy of £900, and as I said it in the detailed review on the Berghaus Air 4XL (read it here), this tent simply does not worth that amount of money: 4/5-berth polycotton tents start at this price.

But the price you can expect to pay at the online tills, is £503, five hundred and three pounds only. Yes, it is aggressive, it seems that they are trying to get rid of it, but don’t forget this is the online price, the ‘normal’ in-shop sale price is around £630. If there is anything in the world worth buying online, then this tent surely is.

The greatest thing about the Berghaus Air 4XL is that the low price does not reflect the quality, quite the opposite.

It is large, both in terms of sleeping area (140cm wide blackout double bedrooms, two of them) and in terms of living area (8.3 sqm living room, 3 sqm porch) at full head height all along. The bedrooms come out separately, so you can easily increase the storage space to suit your needs.

Both doors are fully meshed and fold flat to maintain easy access.

The flysheet has a 6000mm HH waterproof rating, the seams are fully taped, and the groundsheet is sewn-in; so it is pretty sure that rainwater won’t leak in. The groundsheet is actually much bigger than the tent itself and rolls out in front of the porch making the useful space even bigger.

The canopy over the side-door has an inflatable brow (instead of the usual fibreglass pole) and looks big enough to effectively prevent rain coming in even if you leave the top of the side door open a bit.

Pros

Plenty of space; versatile

Cons

Quite heavy, 28.3kg but it comes in a wheeled carry-bag so it should not be an issue.

Where to buy the Berghaus Air 4XL

The Berghaus Air 4XL is sold by the Blacks / Millets / Ultimate Outdoors trio:

Blacks / Millets / Ultimate Outdoors

The last time I checked the extra 20% off coupon was offered at Blacks and Millets, but I suspect it changes from time to time.

Plus it’s always worth checking eBay, at the time of writing this there’s a further £100 off the official sale price.

Summary

If you are still reading this, I am much humbled (and please leave a comment so that I can say thank you for it. I’m not kidding!)

I know I omitted loads of 4/5 or even 6-berth inflatable tents. I could have easily recommended the Cruiz 4 or the Cruiz 6.0TXL by Outdoor Revolution, or any other Vango tent from the 500 or the 600 series. You can find those reviewed in different posts, so I though rather than repeating myself, I try to introduce more great 4-person air tents for you.

As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts, or just a friendly ‘hello’ down there in the comment box 🙂