Darche’s Air-Volution tents and swags have no poles, relying instead on inflatable tubes or ‘air-poles’. Unfortunately, they wouldn’t lend us a tent to test.

The units are simply unrolled and erected using a low-pressure, high-volume hand pump that’s supplied with each unit.

Pack-away time is said to be around one minute and set-up time depends on how aerobically fit you are when using the supplied air pump!

The standard flysheet can remain permanently attached.

Like you, we were concerned that  a hole in one of the air-poles could be disastrous, but the makers claim that each air-pole is made of very tough material that is further encased in a protective sleeve and that assembly fits inside the tent material.

There are four-person and six-person tents that weigh 17.4kg and 26.7kg, respectively. Much of that weight comes from a heavy-duty PVC floor.