Best Inflatable Tent: Reviews, Comparisons, and Buying Guide

This four-person tent is one of the pricier options on our list. Nevertheless, it’s a great pick for families who have a lot of extra camping gear or just enjoy a little extra space.

In addition to a roomy sleeping compartment (63 ft.²) that can comfortably accommodate four adult sleepers, it boasts a giant 55 ft.² vestibule area that could host another 3-4 sleepers or be used as a dining area, storage garage, or chill-out area for bug-free evening card games.

The Meadowood is one of the most waterproof tents on our list, boasting a waterproof rating of 4,000mm. It also has a UV Guard 50+ sun protection rating, multiple vents to boost airflow, and uses “dark room” technology to keep the tent interior cool in warm weather and let you sleep long past sunrise in the morning.

While a little trickier to set up than other options on our list, the Meadowood can be transformed from packed to pitched in six or seven minutes if you have a strong pump arm!

If you’re in the market for a super-study tent that’s light enough to take backpacking but comfortable enough for car camping, the Heimplanet Fistral is an excellent pick.

There’s a lot to love about the Fistral, but we particularly like its two-layer design and two-layer air poles. While the former makes it breathable and highly water-resistant, the latter makes the structure virtually puncture-proof.

The inner layer is a 40D, 210T ripstop nylon fabric which is covered by a 100% polyester 40D, 240T ripstop rain fly. The rainfly has a waterproof rating of 2,500mm, so it’s a safe bet even in torrential rain.

The two-layer air beam is made from thermo polyurethane (TPU) and the outer layer of the air beam is made from a high-density polyester. The air poles are continuous, but they can be sectioned off once they’re inflated. It doesn’t come with an air pump, but it does come with adapters.

At only 5.5 pounds, this is one of few inflatables out there light enough to use as a backpacking tent. Despite this, its intelligent, high-volume architecture helps to make the vast majority of the 45 square feet of floor space, so it feels very livable and sleeps two people comfortably.

There’s no getting around the fact that the Fistral is pricey for its size. However, quality-wise, this is one of the best inflatable tents on the market, meaning it offers good value for money regardless.

This four-person tent is, in a few words, an absolute steal at the price. While it lacks a few bells and whistles and isn’t quite as high quality as others on our list, it costs a (very small) fraction of the price and packs enough performance for the needs of most occasional campers.

The Moose Outdoors 4-person has a 55.2 square foot sleeping area, 20 square foot vestibule, and a 50-inch peak height. So, in terms of livability, it’s up there with the top performers on our list. There are also a few interior pockets to help keep your gear organized and free up floor space.

While highly waterproof, the MO 4-Person isn’t quite as wind-resistant as its pricier competitors, mainly because the air beams are a little narrower. And because they aren’t covered with the same burly materials, they’re a little more likely to puncture.

Like all Heimplanet tents, the Cave isn’t going to win any prizes for affordability, but its super-sturdy build, solid waterproofing, and roomy interior mean it merits a place on our list nonetheless.

The Cave has a futuristic look about it, and on first impressions, you might think it would be a nightmare to set up. This isn’t the case at all. All of the crisscrossing tubes in the tent are inflated via a single valve, so pitching is an absolute cinch.

The Cave also has a “Multi-Chamber Safety System” that isolates the air tubes once inflated. This means that if you do get a puncture in one beam, all the others will remain fully inflated.

The other main selling points for the Cave are its performance in sub-optimal weather. The geodesic design allows it to withstand winds of up to 100 miles per hour (!) and its 2,500mm rainfly and 5,000mm flooring mean it’s waterproof enough to keep you dry in a deluge.

The Cave weighs in at 10.6 pounds, so is almost twice as heavy as the Fistral. It does, however, offer an extra 5 square feet of living space and has a slightly roomier feel inside because the walls don’t curve quite so sharply to the floor.

All told, a great airbeam tent if you don’t mind paying a pretty penny to get the best of the best.

If you have cash to burn and a very large climbing crew, or simply won’t settle for anything less than the best of the best, the Heimplanet Mavericks is the tent you’ve been looking for.

This tent costs a small fortune, but in return for that princely sum, you get a shelter that can accommodate 10 people, withstand near-hurricane-force winds, keep you dry in biblical rain, and has every bell and whistle you could ask for.

The Mavericks offers a whopping 142 square feet of floor space and has a peak height of 6 feet and 7 inches, so it’s by far the roomiest tent we’ve reviewed. It also has three doors, which is a huge boon to livability when camping with a larger crew.

Thanks to the geodesic design, the Mavericks offers excellent stability in high winds (the manufacturers claim it can handle wind speeds of up to 110mp/h!). In wet weather, its highly waterproof fabric (5,000mm HH) has you covered, while those oversized doors and a series of air vents help to keep things cool when camping in warmer conditions.

Does this tent do enough to justify its price tag? We’re kinda on the fence on this one. While we have no doubt that this is an awesome tent and love the idea of camping with all our crew in one place, we’re aware that a better choice might be to buy 2 of the Quechua tent (below) and save ourselves a large handful of $.

If you’re looking for a large, reliable, waterproof tent for family camping trips, you should pencil this one in on your shortlist.

The Quechua is far from being the lightest tent on our list, weighing a mighty 55.1 pounds. However, it’s easy to pitch thanks to its all-in-one, quick-pitch structure, which has a pre-assembled bedroom and flysheet, and a 5.2-liter pump. Even moving slowly, two people can pitch this tent in 4-5 minutes.

In terms of livability, the Quechua is a standout. It offers 107.6 square feet of floor space, a peak height of 82.7 inches, and the sleeping area is divided into two separate rooms for privacy. It also has two enormous, walk-through doors and a huge vestibule for gear storage.

The Quechua brand is still “up and coming” in the US, but the quality of this tent shows why it has become so esteemed in Europe over the past decade or so. It oozes quality from every stitch and seam and is made with extra-burly, confidence-inspiring materials.

The tent fabric is made with extra-burly polyester and the inflatable poles have a two-layer design that uses a thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) air chamber in combination with a 600-denier polyester cover for added durability. The tent also comes with large steel pegs.

What we love most about the Quechua is its versatility – come good weather or bad, we’d be perfectly happy to make this our home for the night.

In wet conditions, the 2,000mm rainfly and bathtub floor have you covered. Quechua independently test their tents in labs subjecting them to 200 liters of water per hour per square meter for four consecutive hours, so you know this one’s a winner when conditions are ranging from wild to woeful.

The Quechua also has a few non-standard features that make it a standout in hot summer months. First up, its “Fresh & Black” technology blocks out 99% of the sun’s rays. This helps to keep the interior cool, lets you sleep in in the morning, and protects your skin from UV damage. The ventilated flysheet and mesh-covered air vents, meanwhile, allow ample airflow and stave off condensation.

To get your hands on this one, you’ll have to pay a little extra for shipping from the UK. However, Vango was one of the first brands to make tents with inflatable poles and to this day makes some of the best inflatable tents out there.

The Air 500 is one of the most liveable models on our list. In addition to a huge blackout sleeping area, it boasts a huge, 57-square foot screen room/covered porch area for late-night lounging or gear storage. It also has pre-angled beams and near-vertical sidewalls that maximize internal space.

The Air 500 also excels in all weather conditions. Its rainfly has a waterproof rating of 4,000mm hydrostatic head, while the large mesh-covered doors and high and low air vents combine to provide plenty of airflow in warmer weather.

Features-wise, the Air 500 is a bit of a standout. In addition to that huge vestibule, you get multiple interior pockets, a room divider to give you two rooms and more personal space, high-visibility guylines, a dual-action pump, and a cable entry point for hookups.

Other than the long time it will take this to arrive from the UK, the only downside is its weight – at nearly 41 pounds, you’ll get a good workout hauling it from your car to your setup point!