My airbeam tent arrived yesterday, and it is now set up in my backyard. It seems pretty nice. Comfortably sized, comparable floor space to my two-man two-pole dome, but the shape makes it feel a little taller and more spacious inside. Some of the reviewers claimed they'd put three people in this tent, but I think those reviewers must be from the same pygmy planet as the people who write tent specifications. Two would be comfortable in there if they don't have too much gear; add gear and it would get tight fast. It seems to ventilate reasonably well, but today is a perfect day for tents, sunny with a steady light breeze. I need a hot still day, a gusting wind day, and a frog strangler day, to truly test a tent.
It was confusing to set up, but I think it will be easier next time now that I know what goes where. In the past I have always just used a blue tarp for a ground cloth, but this time I bought the ready made footprint, which is nice, it attaches to the bottom so it will stay in place. It has good stakes - they are cast aluminum, less bendy than the cheap wire stakes that commonly come with small tents, and not so bulky as those yellow plastic stakes that come with big tents. They drove into the ground easily. I laid it out and staked it, and once I figured out how to get at them the airbeams pumped easily and lifted it right up. I didn't try to pump it up from inside.
The specifications said it packs down to 7" x 14", but it was more like 8" x 20" as it came out of the box. It came packed in a dry bag so it couldn't be compressed any more. Maybe if I pack it more carefully and put it in a different stuff sack I can get it down smaller.
I'll post a real review when I've actually used it. I'll be taking it out next Thursday.
