Vango Ventanas II Air 650XL Review – Is This Huge Family Air Tent Worth It?
When it comes to family camping, we’ve always believed that a little extra space makes a big difference. After all, when you’re taking two children, a dog, enough camping furniture to furnish a small house and Scott’s collection of things to moan about, you need somewhere to put everything!
So, after years of using our trusty Vango Casa Lux poled tent, we decided it was time for an upgrade.
Enter the Vango Ventanas II Air 650XL, an enormous inflatable family tent that promised plenty of room and a much easier pitching experience.
We purchased ours from Attwoolls Outdoors for approximately £1,350, including the footprint and carpet bundle.
But was switching from traditional poles to inflatable air beams really going to make camping easier?
Well, our first attempt at pitching it certainly suggested otherwise!
How Big Is the Vango Ventanas II Air 650XL?
Let’s start with the most important thing you need to know about this tent.
It’s absolutely enormous.
With a footprint approaching eight metres long and six metres wide, this isn’t a tent you can squeeze onto just any campsite pitch.
Before buying one, we’d strongly recommend checking that your favourite campsites can accommodate something of this size.
For our first trip, we headed to Globe Vale Holiday Park near Redruth in Cornwall, where we knew there were pitches suitable for larger family tents.
And size isn’t the only consideration.
Our tent weighed approximately 51kg, which made getting it into and out of the trailer something of an event.
We drive a Volvo XC60, which isn’t exactly a tiny car, but there was absolutely no chance of taking this tent and all our usual camping equipment without a trailer.
If you’re considering a large inflatable tent, storage and transport are definitely worth thinking about before handing over your money.
Our First Attempt at Pitching an Air Tent – 12 Minutes? Not Quite!
One of the main reasons we decided to buy an air tent was the promise of easier pitching.
Our previous Vango Casa Lux was a brilliant family tent, but with its traditional poles, it usually took us at least an hour to put up.
The Ventanas had a rather appealing advertised pitching time of around 12 minutes.
Fantastic, we thought.
What could possibly go wrong?
Quite a lot, apparently.
We laid out the footprint, positioned the tent, started pegging it down and prepared to inflate the air beams.
There was just one small problem.
We didn’t really understand how the pump and valves worked.
In fact, we spent approximately 20 minutes managing to deflate things rather than inflate them!
By the time we’d worked everything out and finally got the tent standing, our supposedly quick setup had taken almost 90 minutes.
Not exactly the time-saving miracle we’d imagined.
To be fair, much of that was down to our complete lack of experience with air tents. Once we’d figured out the system, we could see how it would become easier with practice.
But if you’re buying your first inflatable tent, don’t assume your first pitch will be as quick as the time printed on the bag!
Inside the Vango Ventanas – Now This Is Camping Luxury!
Once we’d finally got the tent up, we immediately understood why we’d chosen it.
The amount of space was fantastic.
The tent felt incredibly tall, airy and spacious, with plenty of room for our family of four and Roxy.
There were three entrances, including a large front opening and two side entrances, all with fly mesh to help keep insects out.
The sleeping area featured darkened bedroom inners, which could be divided into three sections or opened up into one larger sleeping space.
We chose to open ours up, giving us plenty of room for the beds.
One feature we particularly liked was the carpet supplied with our bundle.
Unlike carpets we’d used in previous tents, this one had Velcro fastenings that wrapped around the inflated air beams.
Such a simple idea, but it made a huge difference.
No more carpet constantly moving around or looking untidy. It stayed neatly in place throughout the holiday.
It’s the little things that sometimes make the biggest difference!
Extra Storage and Clever Features
Another feature we really appreciated was the additional side compartment.
For us, this became the perfect place to keep the children’s portable toilet, safely tucked away from the main living area.
It meant we didn’t have to sacrifice valuable lounge space or have the loo on display.
The tent also had Vango’s SkyTrack hanging system, which made installing our Vango Flexi Lights straightforward.
We loved being able to create a comfortable living area with proper lighting, furniture and plenty of room to move around.
The Ventanas was already large enough for our needs, although an optional front extension was available for anyone wanting even more space.
Personally, we couldn’t imagine needing anything bigger.
For two adults, two children and a dog, this was more than enough!
How Did the Vango Air Tent Perform in Wind and Rain?
Now, anyone who follows The Hadwins will know that we have a rather special relationship with the British weather.
We go camping.
It rains.
Scott moans.
And the cycle continues.
Our seven-night stay in Cornwall was no exception.
We experienced plenty of rain and some fairly strong winds, which gave us an excellent opportunity to test the tent properly.
And this is where the Vango Ventanas II Air 650XL really impressed us.
Despite the unpleasant weather, we experienced no leaks during our stay.
Even better, the inflatable air beams felt incredibly sturdy.
Compared with our old Vango Casa Lux, which could sway and flap quite noticeably in windy conditions, the Ventanas remained impressively stable.
The tent fabric we purchased was specified as Sentinel Exclusive 150D with ColourLok technology and a 5,000mm hydrostatic head rating.
While those specifications were reassuring, it was actually spending a week inside the tent during wind and rain that convinced us we’d made a good purchase.
We felt comfortable, protected and surprisingly relaxed, despite the weather doing its best to ruin another Hadwins holiday.
Is the Polycotton Version Worth the Extra Money?
When we purchased our tent, there was also a polycotton version available.
At the time, this was approximately £1,850, compared with the £1,350 we’d paid for our model and bundle.
Polycotton tents can offer advantages in temperature regulation and reduced fabric noise, although performance varies between models and conditions.
For us, the additional cost was difficult to justify.
And considering our existing tent already weighed around 51kg, we dreaded to think how much more we’d have to carry!
We’re perfectly happy with the version we purchased.
Packing Away – Another Learning Experience!
After seven nights in Cornwall, it was finally time to take everything down and head home.
Surely packing away an air tent would be easier than dealing with traditional poles?
Well, in theory.
As you’ll see in our video, packing the Ventanas away was another interesting experience.
Deflating the air beams was one thing, but folding such a huge amount of fabric and getting it neatly back into its bag was quite another.
It certainly wasn’t the effortless experience we’d imagined.
However, just like pitching, we suspect this is something that becomes much easier once you’ve done it a few times and worked out the best technique.
At least that’s what we’re telling ourselves!
Our Verdict – Is the Vango Ventanas II Air 650XL Worth Buying?
Despite the struggles we experienced pitching and packing away our first air tent, we absolutely love the Vango Ventanas II Air 650XL.
The amount of living space is fantastic, the bedrooms are comfortable, the entrances are practical and the additional storage areas make family camping much easier.
Most importantly, it performed brilliantly during our week of wet and windy Cornish weather.
There are a few things we’d encourage anyone to consider before buying one.
You’ll need a large campsite pitch, plenty of storage space at home and a suitable vehicle or trailer to transport it.
And if you’ve never used an air tent before, allow yourself plenty of time for that first pitch!
But once everything was set up, we genuinely felt that the benefits outweighed the initial frustrations.
Would we recommend switching from a poled tent to an air tent?
Absolutely.
Would we recommend the Vango Ventanas II Air 650XL for families wanting a large, comfortable tent?
Without hesitation.
It’s a beast of a tent, but for us, that’s exactly what makes it so good.
Watch Our Full Vango Ventanas II Air 650XL Video Review
Want to see just how big this tent really is?
In our YouTube review, we show you the entire pitching process, take you inside the tent, demonstrate its features and share our experiences after seven nights camping in Cornwall.
You’ll also get to see our attempts at packing it away, which were almost as entertaining as putting it up!
As always, this is a tent we purchased ourselves and tested on a real family camping holiday.
No showroom demonstrations or perfect conditions. Just The Hadwins, a massive tent, some classic British weather and Scott wondering why everything takes so long!
