Air Tents with Blackout Bedrooms

If you are looking for the best air tents with blackout bedrooms, look no further. It can be quite challenging to find the air tent that does not just look good, but it’s big enough, with-stand all weather conditions AND is an inflatable tent with blackout bedrooms. I know…it does not help at all, that every tent-maker calls their bedrooms ‘Black out’ even though it is only a bedroom made of a darker material. Of course, it will be darker, but it’s far from being a complete blackout bedroom.

Click here for a chart of 50+ list of the most popular inflatable tents with info on the ‘blackout bedroom’ feature. If you have ever felt lost browsing on 13 different tabs, trying to compare features of different tents, you must take a look.

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If you haven’t already, you should have a look at the other episodes of this series:

Part 1: Best air Tents UK / US / AUS

Part 2 (this post): Best air tents / inflatable tents with blackout bedroom

Part 3: Best air tents with sewn-in groundsheet

Part 4: Best air tents in wind

The History of Blackout Bedrooms

The first tent-maker to introduce the term ‘BlackOut’ was Coleman in 2016. The word itself is patented to Coleman, this may explain why all the other manufacturers had to come up with different names for the same feature.
BlackOut Bedroom® blocks up to 99% of daylight from entering the sleeping area, helping you get a longer and more restful sleep – whatever time of day – says the strapline.

It was enough for Coleman to be the WINNER of the Camping Magazine’s 2016 Editor’s choice Awards in the Best Camping Innovation category.

The rest of the market had to keep up, so ever since you can see popping up words like ‘Lights Out Bedrooms’, ‘Midnight Bedrooms’, ‘Fresh & Black’ etc.; but even without the fantasy name, no new tent has a real chance on the market without ‘darkened’ bedrooms. So it seems. They might have used the very same bedroom fabric beforehand, but they had to start call it names…

Benefits of Blackout Bedrooms

Apart from medical conditions, or if you just sensitive to light, the obvious benefit is if you camp with kids. You can send them to bed earlier, and they wake up later. They can have a nap during the day. Better for the rest of the family. Or you can have a nap after lunch.

The other, less obvious benefit is that (sun)light means heat. By blocking out 99% of the light, we are blocking out a large portion of the heat as well. So blackout bedrooms can be really beneficial in keeping a steady temperature in warmer climate.

On the other hand, if the weather is cooler, the tent will less likely heat up ‘naturally’ when the sun does come out…

Different Types of Blackout Bedrooms

We already know that Coleman’s Blackout Bedrooms block out 99% of light (compared to normal tents).

What about the others? Most manufacturers offer ‘darkened’ bedrooms within their range, but there can be a huge difference between darkened and darkened. A lot depends on the color of the flysheet and the thickness / weave density of the flysheet. So a darkened bedroom of a light-color inflatable tent with thin flysheet can let much more light in than the ‘normal’ bedrooms of a dark grey tent, with a thick flysheet. Bearing this in mind, let’s have a look what you need to be aware of when looking for a tent with blackout bedrooms.

Vango air tents with blackout bedrooms

Vango has ‘Lights Out’ bedrooms. Although they call the blackout bedrooms differently now, you can still find stock of older models that are equipped with ‘Lights Out’ bedrooms. These don’t block 99% of the light out, so I’d only call them ‘darkened’

‘Nightfall’ is the new name for ‘Lights Out’. Similarly, they don’t fully block natural sunlight , but can be dark enough to enjoy some of the benefits of full blackout bedrooms.

‘Midnight’ bedrooms have been introduced by Vango in 2020. This is not just a fancy name for the dark grey fabric anymore. Midnight bedrooms offer a new tightly woven yarn fabric, blocking sunlight from pouring into the bedroom, ensuring a suitably dark bedroom for a brilliant nights sleep.

Quechua air tents with blackout bedrooms

Quechua marks their blackout tents with a ‘Fresh & Black’ sticker, and it actually means full blackout. Fresh & black tents use black fabric for the bedroom: it guarantees 99% darkness in your rooms.

Kampa air tents with blackout bedrooms

Kampa call them ‘Sleep-Tite’ bedrooms (I’m not kidding…), but these are only darkened bedrooms and don’t block out light. Kampa themselves say that “the Sleep-Tite system helps prevent too much light penetrating the bedrooms, without making them too dark”. Funnily, the Sleep-Tite system was introduced by Kampa before 2015 (if I am correct) but they discontinued it in 2016. Good timing…but now it’s black back again.

Outwell air tents with blackout bedrooms

Outwell simply call them bedrooms with ‘Dark Inners’. This means that the bedrooms of the Outwell air tents have a dark roof panel and sides to reduce light penetration thus improving sleep quality. So these are not ‘full’ blackout bedrooms, don’t block 99% of natural light. But they are very dark, and Outwell uses dark grey and dark green flysheets most of the time anyways.

On older models such as the Woodburg 7A, they call the bedrooms simply ‘Darkened’ because of the darker ceiling, but the new ones are much darker.

Outdoor Revolution air tents with blackout bedrooms

You can come across the name ‘Twilight’ when looking at Outdoor Revolution tents, especially on newer models. Twilight means a ‘darkened grey’ breathable fabric. It’s quite tricky with Outdoor Revolution because of the different ventilation system and the light-grey flysheet fabric they use. While the flysheet cuts out heat, Outdoor Revolution tents are quite bright in general. So if its broad daylight and you leave the ventilation flap open in the inner bedrooms, some light will come in, no matter what.

Twilight is actually a new feature and it is darker than the fabric they used in previous years. So if you are looking for an Outdoor Revolution inflatable tent with darker bedrooms, go for the newer models.

Zempire air tents with blackout bedrooms

Good luck! I could not find a Zempire air tent with blackout bedroom, not even a darkened one. The do say that their bedrooms use a material that defuse light, which is probably true, but its far from being darkened. Not to mention the unique ventilation system that – if the flaps are open – expose large surface of the inner bedroom walls.

True Blackout Air Tents

Despite that almost every manufacturer emphasizes on the their darkened bedrooms and call them ‘Nightfall’ for example to make it sound better, inflatable tents with ‘true’ blackout bedrooms are not that many.

The budget option is Quechua, they come in every size, but you must take into account the non sewn-in groundsheet. I liked the Air Seconds 6.3 very much when I tried it, but there was only 3 of us and the dog in a 6-men tent…so quite understandably I enjoyed the huge living space.

Mid-range option are the Coleman FastPitch tents, they come in 3 sizes. The WeatherMaster air tents are a bit pricier but they are very good quality air tents with more innovative solutions such as the hinged doors.

The Elite Series Vango air tents are the luxury models with 3 polycotton tents on the palette. The smallest in the range is a 5-berth tent (comfortable for 4) while the biggest one is comparable in size to a studio flat.

1. Coleman Fastpitch Air Valdes Series inflatable tents
   1. FastPitch Air Valdes 4
   2. FastPitch Air Valdes 6
   3. FastPitch Air Valdes 6XL
2. Coleman WeatherMaster Air Series inflatable tents
   1. WeatherMaster 4XL
   2. WeatherMaster 8XL
3. Vango Elite Series inflatable tents
   1. Anantara II TC 650XL
   2. Anantara II 650XL
   3. Tahiti II Air 850XL
   4. Ventanas Air 650XL
   5. Kapalua Air TC 550XL
   6. Mulia Air 550XL
   7. Utopia II Air TC 500
4. Quechua Air Seconds Fresh & Black inflatable tents
   1. Quechua Air Seconds 3.1 Fresh & Black
   2. Quechua Air Seconds 4.1 Fresh & Black
   3. Quechua Air Seconds 4.2 Fresh & Black
   4. Quechua Air Seconds 5.2 Fresh & Black
   5. Quechua Air Seconds 6.3 Fresh & Black
   6. Quechua Air Seconds 8.3 Fresh & Black

Most popular air tent models with / without blackout bedroom

See below a selection of inflatable tents. You can use the Search bar below to filter it down to any brand. If you are not sure about something, just leave a comment!

Inflatable tents with blackout bedrooms

A selection of air tents with and without 'Blackout' bedrooms and information on the groundsheet.

Brand	Model	Blackout	Groundsheet
Airgo	Air Genus 400	No	Linked
Airgo	Air Genus 800	No	Linked
Berghaus	Air 4	No	Sewn-in
Berghaus	Air 4 XL	Darkened	Sewn-in
Berghaus	Air 6	No	Sewn-in
Berghaus	Air 6 XL	Darkened	Sewn-in
Berghaus	Air 6 XL Polycotton	Darkened	Sewn-in
Coleman	Fastpitch Air Valdes 4	Yes	Sewn-in
Coleman	Fastpitch Air Valdes 6	Yes	Sewn-in
Coleman	Weathermaster 4XL Air	Yes	Sewn-in
Coleman	Weathermaster 8XL Air	Yes	Sewn-in
Eurohike	Air 400	Darkened	Sewn-in
Eurohike	Air 600	Darkened	Sewn-in
Kampa	Brean 4	No	Sewn-in
Kampa	Croyde 6	Darkened	Sewn-in
Kampa	Dometic Brean 3	Darkened	Sewn-in
Kampa	Dometic Wittering 6	Darkened	Sewn-in
Kampa	Hayling 4	Darkened	Sewn-in
Kampa	Kielder 5	Darkened	Sewn-in
Outdoor Revolution	Airedale 6	Darkened	Sewn-in
Outdoor Revolution	Airedale 7.0SE	Darkened	Sewn-in
Outdoor Revolution	Airedale 8.0	Darkened	Sewn-in
Outdoor Revolution	Cruiz 4.0	Darkened	Sewn-in
Outdoor Revolution	Cruiz 6.0TXL	Darkened	Sewn-in
Outdoor Revolution	Edale 7	Darkened	Sewn-in
Outdoor Revolution	Kalahari PC 7.0	Darkened	Sewn-in
Outwell	Hartsdale 6PA	Darkened	Sewn-in
Outwell	Lindale 3PA	Darkened	Sewn-in
Outwell	Lindale 5PA	Darkened	Sewn-in
Outwell	Reddick 4A	Darkened	Sewn-in
Outwell	Roseville 6SA	Darkened	Sewn-in
Outwell	Woodburg 7A	Darkened	Sewn-in
Pavillo	Sierra Ridge Air (Pro) 4	No	Linked
Pavillo	Sierra Ridge Air Pro X6	No	Sewn-in
Portland Outdoor	Alfa 5	No	Sewn-in
Quechua	Air Seconds 4.1	No	Linked
Quechua	Air Seconds 4.1 Fresh & Black	Yes	Linked
Quechua	Air Seconds 6.3 Fresh & Black	Yes	Linked
Sprayway	Valley M	Darkened	Sewn-in
Sprayway	Valley XL	Darkened	Sewn-in
Vango	Alton 400 Air	Darkened (Nightfall)	Sewn-in
Vango	Celino Air 400	Darkened (Lights Out)	Sewn-in
Vango	Icarus Air 600	Darkened (Lights Out)	Sewn-in
Vango	Icarus Air Vista 600	Darkened (Lights Out)	Sewn-in
Vango	Lomond 450 Air	Darkened (Nightfall)	Sewn-in
Vango	Longleat II 800XL	Darkened (Nightfall)	Sewn-in
Vango	Odyssey Air 600	Darkened (Lights Out)	Linked
Vango	Odyssey Air 600 Deluxe	No	Sewn-in
Vango	Portland 400	Darkened (Lights Out)	Linked
Vango	Rivendale 500XL	Darkened (Lights Out)	Sewn-in
Vango	Valencia II 650XL	Darkened (Lights Out)	Sewn-in
Vango	Vango Tahiti II 850XL	Yes (Midnight)	Sewn-in
Vango	Ventanas 650XL	Yes (Midnight)	Sewn-in
Zempire	Any	No	Sewn-in