Outwell Avondale 6-Person Air Tent review: we test the five-chambered family tunnel tent

This generously-sized six-person tunnel tent has lots of living space - perfect for larger families

Outwell Avondale 6-Person Air Tent

Tunnel tents are an interesting proposition: there’s less space overhead, but they can be ideal for offering separate living chambers nevertheless. Here’s how the Outwell Avondale Air Tent stacks up as temporary home for six people.

Key specs:

Sleeps: 6

Main material: polyester

Bedrooms: 3

Weight: 30.4kg

Pitch time: 40 min

Pros

A whopping three bedrooms

Great quality

Easy inflatable pitching

Cons

Bulky and heavy

No bedroom standing height

Review

The search is over – we reckon Outwell’s Avondale Air tent, new for 2022 and sleeping six, might just be the perfect all-rounder tent for larger families with three or four kids.

Bigger families need bigger tents – and at 30kg this design is on the heavy side for one person to manage, and is large and bulky.

You’ll need to check it’ll fit in your car boot, and that you have two adults available to carry and pitch it – we’d have preferred a carry bag with wheels for this reason.

Once you’ve chosen your camp spot, though, it’s pretty simple to get the Outwell Avondale pitched and ready to use – this is an ‘air’ tent, so you simply inflate four separate tubes in turn, then pitch the tent out using colour-coded guy ropes.

Bedroom and living space in the Outwell Avondale Air Tent

The Avondale is a ‘tunnel’-style tent, with two living rooms leading on to three bedrooms. Once pitched, you’ll find a very generous amount of living room inside, with standing room even for the tallest camper to move around comfortably.

The living area can be separated into two rooms using a mesh door, but we reckon most campers would use this tent set up with just one large living area.

On test we found that there was ample room to set up a camping table and chairs, with space along the side of the living quarters to stash all your kit. If you’re a family of four you could also use one of the bedrooms to store clothing and cooking kit, making this tent a very roomy option indeed.

Is the Outwell Avondale good for families with small children?

Many tents that claim to sleep six people realistically only have room for four campers – but the Avondale boasts three separate bedrooms, each easily fitting two camping mats or a double air bed inside.

This is ideal for families with three or four children, or for families of four with teenagers who want a bit more space and privacy than a smaller tent might offer.

The middle bedroom is the largest, obviously designed for two adults to share, with children sleeping in the adjoining rooms, but the bedroom dividers can also be removed, creating two large bedrooms or even one enormous room according to who is coming camping.

The main bedroom has great magnetic doors for easy access – it’s a pity all three rooms don’t have this handy feature. The bedrooms are all lined with blackout material, though, so you can sleep in on holiday without bright dawn light waking you up super early.

None have full standing height – you’ll definite be doing most of your hanging out in the living rooms instead of the bedrooms.

Head back out through the main door of the Avondale and there’s a really well-designed canopy complete with sturdy side panels (many tents just have a canopy roof), so you’re protected from wind as well as sun and rain if you fancy sitting outside with a beer.

The main living room also boasts two side doors for easy entrance and exit, and both have insect-proof mesh covers, so you can let the breeze in but keep bugs out on hot summer nights.

This tent has clearly been designed to make using the available space as easy and intuitive as possible – perfect for making longer camping holidays comfier.

Is the Avondale good in rainy or windy weather?

Rain is always a factor to consider on summer camping adventures, but the Avondale is sorted on that front, too. The outer material is waterproof enough that the light rain we were able to test it in beaded right off, and with a decent Hydrostatic Head (this the measure of how much water a tent can repel) of 4,000mm, it should withstand the worst weather a British summer could throw at it.

Like most bigger tents, this model does take a while to dry before you can pack it away, but once rolled up neatly it’s not too much faff to squeeze it back into its carry bag before you head for home.