Vango Ventanas II Air 650XL Review | Are Air Tents Worth The Money?

Join us as we test and review our brand-new air tent, the Vango Ventana II Air 60XL. A huge family air tent. We purchased this tent from Attwoolls Outdoors for approx. £1350 and it came with the footprint and carpet bundle.
So how did we find it?
Are air tents any good and would we recommend this tent for any other fellow campers?
Things to note: 1) The foot print for this tent is large, with it coming in at nearly 8 metres by 6 metres, so before anyone does head off to buy one, ensure you know campsites which will allow tents of this size. For our first trip we took it to Globe Vale Holiday Park in Redruth, Cornwall, as we know they have pitches that accommodate tents of this size.
2) And this tent weighs the same as small elephant at 51kg. We have a Volvo XC60, not the smallest car, but without a trailer this trip would not have happened.
We also need to point out that this is our very first air tent. We purchased it on the basis that air tents are easier to pitch than the standard pole tents. When you see us pitch it, you will see that is not exactly correct.
We previously had a Vango Casa Lux, a great family tent, with plenty of space, but it was poled and normally takes us at least an hour to pitch. We did not want a smaller tent, and after much hunting the Vango Ventanas II Air 650XL, was the one we decided would be the perfect replacement (it is actually bigger than the Vango Casa Lux).
After unloading the beast, from the trailer we proceeded to start pitching, down with the footprint, in with the initial pegs and then the air. We did not have a clue what end of the pump to use, how the valves worked and as a result wasted a good 20 minutes deflating as opposed to inflating.
We think these teething problems were the reason our initial pitch, instead of it being 12 minutes!, as advertised on the bag, actually took us nearly 90 minutes. But…we have to say that when it was up, it is a beast of a tent.
There are 3 entrances, 1 main at front that opens right up, and 2 on the inner sides, all with fly mesh!
It comes with great black out inners on the bedroom areas, which we opened up as one, but can be split into 3 if wanted. The other great thing we found was that the carpet in this Vango Ventanas came with Velcro fasteners – and what a difference they made, simply wrap around the inflated air pillars and it stays in place. This made the whole tent look tidier during our camp. Other points to note about the specifications for this tent are it is made out of Sentinel Exclusive 150D Fabric with Colour Lock (5000mm HH), the beams are very sturdy when inflated and apparently are meant to mimic villa construction? That being said we did notice it is a very high tent, with lots of room. We had purchased some Vango Flexi lights which were easily fitted in this tent due to it having skytrack hanging points.
It has an additional side compartment that for us allowed us to store the kids Portaloo, out of site and mind, which just gives it that extra bit more room in your lounge area. Now if you really wanted there is a font extension you can purchase for this model, which would probably push the length of the tent to in excess of 10 metres, but we can say that for 4 of us and a dog this was sufficient.
We were staying in Cornwall for 7 nights and during this time we encountered all sorts of weather, mostly the unpleasant type, but it did let us test the Vango Ventanas in the rain and wind (lots of both). No leaks and the air beams are so solid it hardly moved, which made a huge difference to poled the Vango casa Lux, which did sway and flap quite a bit in the wind.
It can also be noted that this tent does come in a polycotton version. So, wind noise and temperatures would be a lot easier to bear, but that does come at a price - approx. £1850 instead of £1350. How much that weighs we would dread to think...

After our week away - struggling to pitch, and as you will on the video, struggling to pack away, what did we think of our new air tent?
The room this tent gave us, along with all the other little extras i.e. plenty of doors, fly nets, great bedrooms. All more than compensated for the struggles we encountered.
So, if you are thinking of getting an air tent, we would say YES - Definitely worth it. And if looking for a big family air tent, you will not go wrong with the Vango Ventanas 2 Air 650 XL.

#vangoventanasIIair650XL #airtentreview #familycamping #familyairtent #areairtentsanygood

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