TENTS | Vango AirBeam Solaris 500 Tent Review

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Vango AirBeam Tent
What We Tested

Vango Solaris 500 AirBeam tent

Where to buy

Technical Details

  • AirSpeed® Valve system to inflate your AirBeams with even less effort.
  • 4,000mm with fully taped seams.
  • Flysheet and Inner Pitch Together.
  • Tension Band System ensures that your tent performs in adverse conditions.
  • 3000mm HH Flysheet.
  • Lights Out Inner Tent.
  • Inner Pockets.
  • Diamond Clear Windows.
  • High and low level ventilation panels.
  • AirBeam Pump- a double action pump that will rapidly inflate your tent/awning.
  • Cable Entry points and Tidies.
  • Lantern Hanging Points.
  • 10,000mm HH waterproof fully sewin-in groundsheet.
  • Vango PowerFlex® fibreglass poles.
  • Pre-Attached Sun Canopy.
  • Easypack Carry Bag.

The Lowdown

Vango say that the beams in an AirBeam, create a strong and rigid tent structure combined with a very easy and quick pitch time, so we couldn’t wait to put the Solaris through it’s paces and see how it performed for ourselves.

Vango AirBeam Tent

Having never pitched an inflatable beam tent before, we found the Vango valve system incredibly easy, and inflating the tent was indeed very fast. When we pulled out the pump on the first inflated beam, we’d failed to lock it in place however, and the whole thing deflated on us. We didn’t make the same mistake again!

Whilst Mr. CWS inflated the beams, I set about pegging out the guy ropes, and we found that the whole process was indeed quick.

There are a good number of guy ropes all around the tent, which made the tent feel nice and secure, the tent incorporates Vango’s internal tension system too, giving the tent extra stability in high winds. Once the beams were inflated, they were surprisingly rigid and didn’t take up as much internal space as I’d feared they might.

Vango AirBeam Tent

We tend to go for very large tents usually as a result of our hobby, because we have a lot of costume, props and accessories to take along with us when we camp at events. Having looked at the dimensions, we weren’t convinced the Solaris would be big enough for our usual needs, and expected it to only be suitable for short weekend trips. We were pleasantly surprised however and found the tent extremely spacious.

The tent worked very well for us, and even with our usual furniture, camp kitchen and so on, the tent never felt at all cramped. I previously owned a Vango Icarus 500, with an additional extension, which I used happily for many years, and the Solaris is an ideal, slightly bigger replacement. The addition of the front porch is brilliant, and effectively added to the amount of overall usable living space, and the height of the tent is great too, helping it to feel nice and big.

Our Verdict

The addition of the front porch provided extra living space, perfect for summer evenings. It’s also a great place to retreat to away from the hot sun, and from rain showers too; and we experienced some real extremes in weather over the weekend, and were incredibly grateful to have a covered outdoor area. The manufacturing quality is excellent, as you’d expect from Vango, and we loved the abundant clever design features (see our pictures below).

After using the Solaris, we are absolute converts to AirBeam tents, and certainly won’t be sad to see the back of pole tents (apart from our beloved bell tent of course!). The Solaris is ideal for when my health doesn’t allow me to help with pitching too, as the AirBeam tent is super easy for one person to put up on their own.

We think the Solaris is perfect for anyone wanting to invest in a high quality AirBeam tent, and it provides ample space for couples who glamp, or for smaller families. This is definitely much more than just the weekend tent we thought it would be, and we’d have no hesitation in using this for our longer camping trips.

The Solaris is a truly excellent tent, and we’re already looking forward to camping in it again!

Vango AirBeam Tent

What We Liked

  • We loved the oversized bag, which made packing the tent away easy.
  • Pack size of the tent and pump is good.
  • Super fast pitching time and pumping up the AirBeams was lots of fun.
  • Cable entry points made using our HUBi solar charger effortless.
  • Internal storage pockets.
  • Excellent head space
  • Much bigger inside than the tent looks.
  • Internal storm straps to give the tent extra stability in high winds.
  • Lots of well thought out design features, like pockets to stow doors into, bedroom dividers and hanging points.
  • 2 doors and plenty of windows, make the tent bright and airy.

Anything We Didn’t Like?

  • We’d have liked mesh on the large front door, apart from that though, the Solaris has everything we look for in a quality tent.

We love this!

More pictures of the tent

Vango AirBeam Tent

Pitching the AirBeam

AirBeam

Vango tent review

Vengo tension straps

Vango Tension Bands

Air Flow Vents

Venting to allow air to flow through the tent

Inside the tent

The kitchen/living area inside the tent

vango-airbeam-solaris-tent-review04

One of the AirBeam’s inside the tent

Clever internal pockets

Clever internal door pockets

Vango AirBeam Tent

Inside the bedroom pod. The tent sleeps 5, our pictures shows a single campbed and a twin airbed

Large vango Windows

Large side window

Vango tent

Venting inside the bedroom area

Clever tent features

More clever features, the tension straps tidy away in these pockets

Lantern hanging point

Lantern hanging points inside the tent

Cable entry point
Cable entry point used for the HUBi solar hub

vango-airbeam-solaris-tent-review07
Vango AirBeam Solaris 500 tent

 

DISCLOSURE | Thank you to Vango who supplied the Solaris tent for us to test. We were not paid to write this review.

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Shell Robshaw-Bryan
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