Outwell air tents have not been in my focus until recently, simply because there are so many other great inflatable tents with a less hefty price tag. They are not easy get hold of either, or see them in person; so it has been kind of difficult for me to form an opinion on the Outwell air tents.

So what changed? Well I have spotted GoOutdoors’ ‘Brand Event’ which includes all Outwell products, so with a 20% off the retail price the Outwell air tents suddenly caught my attention.

Despite that GoOutdoor do not stock the latest models of Outwell inflatable tents (those can be ordered directly from the Outwell Website or from Camping World), the Outwell Greenburgh 7A, or the smaller ones (Ansley 6A, Elmwood 5A) not bad inflatable tents at all. Quite the contrary…

Outwell Greenburgh 7A

Who is it for?

For shorter trips / weekends away the Greenburgh 7A can accommodate up to 8 people, and has a living area as well that is big enough for the whole group.

However, in all honesty it can only sleep up to 5 in comfort. As a 5-berth tent – or I should say, 4+1-berth tent, – it is very spacious with lots of living space, making it ideal for longer holidays for smaller families or groups of friends.

Size, Layout

First of all, the Greenburgh 7A is very large. There are five air poles to inflate (an electric pump like this may come handy: just set the psi and watch the tent inlfate). The whole length is 745cm. This allows for 3 zones inside: the sleeping area, a wet room (porch) and a dry room (living room). Let’s have a look at them.

Sleeping Area

The main sleeping area consists of 2 darkened bedrooms side-by-side, 215cm long by 180cm wide each. This puts the Greenburgh 7A on the not so short list of air tents with the smallest sleeping area per person, having only 60 cm per head. This is enough room to chuck in a compact size double airbed and a compact single next to each other; but in all honesty if you’d like 3 people to sleep in one room, the best you can do is to sleep in bags. (GoOutdoors, for example, don’t have a big selection of these compact size airbeds…so you would have to get them from elsewhere eg. Amazon or Decathlon). A room of this size is more suited for a normal size double airbed, with some space for personal belongings on the side; or for placing single beds on the side leaving a small corridor in the middle for access.

You find mesh pockets inside the bedrooms for smaller items, plus they have two cable entry points (one each). The doors fold completely flat into a tiny little pocket, and there is no ‘threshold’ between the living area and the bedrooms. This is a great feature, allowing you to extend the living area into the bedrooms in a hazard-free manner.

The front bedroom is perfect for storage or as an extra bedroom, and by the way this is what makes the Greenburgh 7A a 7/8-berth tent. It is 215cms long and 120cm wide, so again, it might be a bit cosy for two, but it is not impossible to survive a few nights in there.

Living room and porch

The extra bedroom removes easily to increase the living space (or shall I say, to get the living space back). Anyways, it gives great versatility (and privacy). When removed, double zips let you open up the whole front, while a full mesh panel lets air flow but keeps bugs out.

As opposed to other tents that have an additional sleeping pod in the front space, thanks to the double-wing front door, you can maintain access through the front even when the extra sleeping pod is toggled in! So you don’t need to pack it up every morning if you want to enjoy full(-ish) access, this is a great feature.

In between the two, there is the ‘dry-room’ or living room, that is more than 10sqm of size (280cm long, 390 cm wide). It is big enough to  sit around a table if it is raining AND have all the gear/clothes dried AND still have some space for the kids to move around. There are two cable entry points on the flysheet on each side (and the cable can go inside the bedrooms too), and you can add an organiser as an optional extra. Access is through either a single side door, which is not meshed unfortunately; or through the porch.

The panel to the porch area opens up fully, so it is easy to maintain good access to the porch and the front entrance. The living room and the porch together can provide up to around 18sqm living space, fully protected from all kinds of weather, so it really is like a home-to-home family tent. (Not to mention the fold-flat bedroom doors, making the bedrooms an organic part of the living area.)

There is of course full stand-up height through the entire tent, only the back-end of the bedrooms start to drop slightly, only to 165 cm.

Windows

There are large, tinted windows that give you some privacy and help moderate the temperature inside the tent. The curtains are toggled.

Protection from the elements

The flysheet is made of a fabric called OutTex: a hard-wearing, good quality, 100% polyester that addresses key expectations for fabrics ideal for regular general camping. It is fire retardant and has a double PU-coating that provides a 4,000mm HH waterproof rating. It is also very different from other tent canvases, as it is a taffeta style fabric, which is much smoother than a ‘normal’ tent canvas; giving a real luxurious feel to it. It is also light and warm-toned, lets plenty of sunshine in through the roof which creates a bright, cheerful internal ambience.

The groundsheet is fully sewn in, but it only extends as far as the ‘dry-room’, the porch has no groundsheet. (Which also means that the additional bath-tub style bedroom sits on the ground). As an optional extra, you can add a bespoke footprint.

All the seams are taped, and there is a panel over the length of the whole zip, to protect against rain.

The air beams inflate separately, and they are shaped and designed in a way to maximise inner space and stability. It is called ‘gothic arch’, and although not unique, it is not that common either to see almost vertical sides, and close to flat ceiling on air tents.

As for ventilation: there is a big air vent in the rear of the tent, and you can moderate airflow through the front and side door – don’t forget that only the front door is meshed. This is not the best or the greatest I have ever seen, but at least you can create an airflow across the tent to keep the temperature in the summer as low as possible.

 

Other notable features

I love the reinforced guy line hook-up points.

What you must also consider is that how far you are going to carry the Greenburgh if you carry it by hand; and if you have a large boot on your car. The packed size of the Greenburgh is 106 x 54 x 54cm, so it takes up a lot of space. It weights 28.1 kg, which is about average for a tent of this size, but it is not something you would want to pack up and carry every other day.

Footnote: Outwell Ansley 6A

The Ansley is only a slightly smaller than the Greenburgh, however it has a different bedroom layout that may work better for some families.

The width of the tent is the same, 390cm measured outside, but the there are 3 different size bedrooms:

• 100 x 210 cm
• 120 x 210 cm
• 140 x 210 cm

The widest one is in the middle. The 100 cm wide is for children at best, or can be used as storage; and leave the two wider rooms for the smaller and bigger members of the family. The 140 cm of the main bedroom is just wide enough to put a normal size double inflatable mattress in it.

The living area is slightly smaller than in the Greenburgh 7A, ‘only’ 7 sqm which is still plenty of space. The panel to the porch opens up fully, that adds another 9 sqm to our useful space.

Conclusion

As I said, what makes them interesting for me more than anything else, is the price tag. Yes, they are brilliant inflatable tents, but they normally cost more than a grand.

To be honest, for the full price I would not forgive things such as the lack of mesh on the side-door, or the size of the bedrooms. The Greenburgh is simply not comfortable for 6 (or 8) over a longer period (it may be alright for shorter holidays), not even according to Outwells’ own principles. So who is it for then? Is it a 4-person tent? For the original price tag, you could buy 2 decent 4-person tents…

The successor to the Greenburgh 7A, the Woodburg 7A (see details here) has a retail price of £1125, as opposed to £720, the reduced price of the Greenburgh 7A.

The only difference is that the Woodburg’s groundsheet extends to the porch. Not sure it is worth the extra £400…So the Greenburgh is a good deal at the sale-price, and compares quite favourably to other brands in terms of price / quality (just check out my post on the Vango 600 series, you’ll be surprised)

As for the Ansley 6A…again, not sure if Outwell was serious about the 100cm wide ‘double’ bedroom. At best, with all good intentions it is a 5-berth tent. Using the discount at GoOutdoors you can expect to pay around £600 at the checkout for the Ansley 6A.

But again, it would be hard to justify the original retail price of £950 for a 5-berth tent, when any other reputable brand sells them around £600-700 or well under.

If you like the Greenburgh 7A or the Ansley 6A, go, quick, get them at the sale price while you can…

Where to buy them: GoOutdoors.co.uk

If you are still undecided, see a few posts below that may help you find your next inflatable tent:

• Vango 600 series air tents part 1
• Quechua Air Seconds 6.3
• Outdoor Revolution Cruiz range air tents
• Top 5 Inflatable Tents For Camping With The Family
• Top Quality 6-Man Inflatable Tents
• Eurohike Air 600
• Airgo Air Genus 800

Got any questions? Comments? Please don’t hesitate to leave a message below!