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Kickstarter: A Tent With No Tent Poles?


advrider

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GIGA-Inflatable-Tent.jpg

Often, the “adventure” in adventure motorcycling carries us so far off the beaten path, there are no hotels or motels around. Or, if you’re like me, you just love camping off your motorcycle.

That love of camping means I’m always low-key shopping for gear improvements. Here’s a Kickstarter tent that, as they say, could be meat, could be cake: the GIGA tent from Aerogogo.

It’s inflatable. That’s right—no tent poles. The supports are airtight tubes that self-inflate through a built-in, rechargeable pump. The pump runs for about three minutes to inflate the tent and shuts off automatically when it’s done. You can get mattresses, too, that fit into the tent – one “single” and one “double.” Those also have built-in rechargeable pumps.

The tent currently comes in just one size. The manufacturer says it will fit two adults and two children. Translation: it will fit you and your riding gear with a little breathing room. Or it will fit you and your beloved riding partner and all your stuff, and it will be cozy.

I Sum Up

Now, the Kickstarter page is … a lot, and seems written by someone whose first language is not English, so it’s a bit difficult to parse in places. Also, everything is in centimeters, so I’m going to do a little translation for the dumb Americans (myself included). There’s a lot of information there. But first, let’s talk about the thing that makes this tent different: no poles.

Inflatable Everything

You may, like me, immediately think of that inflatable mattress that put you on your ass at about 2 AM with no recourse and a full day ride to look forward to. If your tent springs a leak you may wake up in a smothering, suffocating panic.

But there’s a flip side to that: tent poles break, too. Ever been at a rally and had some drunk idiot trip and land on you and your tent, breaking the poles in the process? Unless you can manage some redneck engineering on the spot, in the dark, you are out of luck. The same could be said for an inflatable tent, though, and good luck finding the hole in the dark.

Here’s a quick video of some idiots camping. I think these are the same people from the infomercials who can’t use a knife, or crack an egg:

Maybe It’s OK

The creators say the inflatable “poles” have welded seams (like a drybag) and that the tent will remain inflated for a week. Also that, from a full charge, the pump will inflate the tent thirty (30) times. If these tents are well made, they could last for years, since there’s no real stress on the inflatable parts. So, again, done right, this could be a game changer.

What about wind? Aerogogo says the tents “can withstand level 7 winds.” If that’s the Beaufort Wind Scale, here’s what that means: 30kt or 35mph or 56km/h. More than that, and again with the smothering.

The Stats

Finally, answers to the questions every moto camper wants to know. The tent itself and its weeny little rain fly pack down to 50x20x20cm, which is around 20x8x8in. That’ll fit in any saddlebag. It weighs 3.55kg (7.8lbs) which is a little on the heavy side for a smallish tent, but not terrible. Its 2000mAh rechargeable battery takes five hours at 2A with a USB-C, and is probably not the kind of thing you’ll want to charge off your motorcycle, unless you ride a Gold Wing.

The double mattress packs to 17x17x30cm (6.7×6.7x12in) and comes in at 1.9kg (4lbs). The big rain fly/tent cover is sold separately and adds another 0.75kg (1.7lbs) in a 30x39x4cm (12×15.4×1.5in) package. Right now, with an early-bird special, the tent costs $229, the double mattress $129 and the single $99. Those prices will go up as the Kickstarter specials sell out. The project is fully backed, at over $52,000 reached of its initial $2000 goal.

Are you one of those backers? Will you report back when (if) you receive the tent, and let us know how it is?

Vezi sursa

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