Tents

Camping in the twenties

A lot has changed in the world of camping in recent years. Barely five years ago, the real breakthrough with the inflatable tents were air tubes that you inflate within half a minute with a normal hand pump. A few years on, more than half of all the headroom tents we sell have air tubes instead of poles. Lightweight sleeping mats are so light these days that you almost wonder how you ever carried a sleeping mat in your backpack that weighed more than a kilo. And for the comfort seekers, there are now sleeping mats with a thickness of 15cm, which are better than the average hotel mattress. Here is an overview of the developments in the design of tents at the beginning of the twenties.

Lightweight camping

First there was the race for making the most lightweight tents. Eventually, these tents reached weights of under a kilo. The result is that we have many options nowadays, from ultra-light tents with less comfort (less ventilation, less height in the inner tent, thinner zippers) to lightweight tents with more comfort, which may please many holiday cyclists. A long distance walker can choose a little more comfort in a tent in exchange for a little more weight or opt for pure weight gain with an ultra light tent.

As mentioned earlier, sleeping mats are also made a lot lighter. When the outdoor temperature allows, you can sleep well on a Thermarest Uberlite for 250 grams. And when the temperature goes slightly below zero? Then the Exped Synmat HL is still super lightweight with barely 100 grams more and a packing volume of just over a liter. Add a Chair Zero from Helinox for 490 grams and you can enter the backcountry with unprecedented comfort.

Adventurous camping by car

The inflation revolution in the design of tents offers a great advantage in set-up and dismantling time of tents. Setting up an inflatable tent can be done quickly (actually you can set up all the inflatable tents within 20 minutes, without much effort). Dismantling the tent is very simple. Open the valves, the tent falls downward and the folding can begin. The size of the tent and it’s weight do not offer any advantages over tents with poles, it is purely the speed of the set-up and dismantling that makes a difference. It makes the inflation tents very suitable if you want to spend your holiday in more than one place. So you no longer need to bring a lightweight tent if you want to explore many different regions by car.

Blackout bedrooms

Most family tents today are equipped with dark sleeping cabins. The inner fabric of these cabines really blocks out daylight. If you are close to a lantern at the campsite or the sun comes up early, the darkening fabric ensures a much darker sleeping area and a longer night's sleep. A few years ago, the blackout bedroom was a novelty, now it can be found in almost all comfort tents.

Tipis and Outback tents

Camping in your own style, that's the thing with the tipis and outback tents. The main point of this group of tents is not speed or comfort, but appearance. And the choice is wide. Classic tipis with one pole, but also tipis with a front awning, a covered entrance, a folding side wall and various A-frame tents have been added to the group of tents. This makes you want to go camping just because of the looks of the tent.

And then there is nightfall

Every camping day comes to an end and then you crawl into your sleeping bag. But who would have thought that you would ever lie in the tent on a super thick 15 cm mat? That is also an option with camping in 2020. Lying comfortably on the box model sleeping mat with a soft stretch cover of no less than 15 cm thick. From 3 cm thick in the prehistoric times of the inflatable mattresses to 15 cm now, the comfort is truly unprecedented. The packing volume of these luxury mats is decent, but still manageable. And who wouldn't want to fall asleep on their holiday on such a wonderfully soft mat?