Vango Joro Air 450 Sentinel Eco Dura Package review: a great family shelter from the air tent pioneers

Scottish camping gear brand Vango changed the game in 2010, when it unveiled its AirBeam technology, ushering in the age of air tents. Rather than using traditional poles, air tents use inflatable air beams to provide structure, making large, family tents quicker and easier to pitch. Other brands quickly joined the party, but Vango remains one of the leading manufacturers of air tents and its range is impressive.

In the Joro Air 450 Sentinel Eco Dura Package, Vango has crafted a 4-person tent that’s ideal for family camping vacations. It’s part of the brand’s Earth Collection, as it features the proprietary Sentinel Eco Fabric, which marries sustainability and durability thanks to its use of recycled, single-use plastic waste. The tunnel design features a large awning, spacious living area and twin blackout bedrooms, perfect for a family of four.

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First impressions

List price: £850 (UK)
Sleeps: 4
Weight: 24.2kg (53.4lb)
Materials: Sentinel Eco Fabric: 70D recycled polyester
Packed size: 80 x 42 x 42 cm / 31.5 x 16.5 x 16.5 in
Maximum height inside: 2.05 m (81 in)
Waterproofing: 4000mm HH
Compatibility: Family car-camping vacations

This is no ordinary tent for four. The Joro Air 450 is designed to be lived in as well as slept in, meaning that, with a bit of an investment in camping chairs and the like, you can create an experience akin to glamping once you've hooked it up to the power grid. It also weighs a lot more than a standard four-person tent, at 24.2kg (53.4lb), which makes its carry sack quite an effort to lug around, even getting it from storage out to the car.

I loved pitching the Vango Joro 450, finding the AirBeam system really straightforward to work with. Once up, it’s superbly spacious, with loads of headroom, and I even had the option of creating a master bedroom by removing the partition fabric between the two blackout bedrooms.

Sustainable fabrics

One of the big selling points of the Joro Air 450 is its use of Vango’s Sentinel Eco Dura Fabric, which as its name suggests is both eco-friendly and durable. Constructed from recycled yet tough 70D polyester, it boasts an impressive 4000mm hydrostatic head , enough to keep downpours at bay, while all flysheet seams are factory taped to provide that all-important, watertight seal. As it’s a family tent, it’s not designed for extremes. Vango state that ‘storms and extreme weather should be avoided’.

Even the best tents ’ colors have a habit of fading over time, which is why Vango has treated the fabric with its ColourLok technology, which aid color retention from UV light. This not only retains the tent’s aesthetics but also increases its lifespan. It’s early days in terms of my own test, so it will be interesting to see if the Joro Air 450 is still as bright and bold in five years’ time. As you’d expect, the fabric also meets the ISO standard for fire retardancy.

Easy-peasy pitching

Vango can not only boast about being the pioneers of air tents back in 2010, but the brand also introduced single point inflation in 2021. On most air tents, each beam has to be inflated separately, which takes longer and isn’t as convenient. Here, the AirSpeed S.I Pro valve enabled me to inflate the structure from one point with the included pump. Pretty neat. This makes setup a doddle; Vango quote a pitching time of 10 minutes.

With a bit of practice, I was managing to get everything inflated and the most important pegs into the ground in this kind of time. However, if you’re using the additional footprint, adding the front vestibule’s groundsheet and pegging in all the guy lines, I’d say setup takes around 15 minutes. Still, pretty impressive for a shelter of this size.

The foot pump comes with a pressure dial and its own carry bag. It’s wonderfully easy to use and it slots into the AirBeam valves like a dream. It takes a fair bit of effort to pump up the beams to 7psi, but it’s a load more convenient than assembling poles and threading them through the tent.

Despite inflating together, once in play the air beams are isolated from each other. This means that the shelter’s structure remains intact should the worst occur, and you suffer a puncture. The beams are pre-shaped, providing an arch-like structure that creates steep walls and maximum living space.

High visibility guy lines provide additional support, while extra secure storm anchors at the front and rear can be deployed when the weather turns. Speaking of which, the tent comes with a Tension Band System, which braces the structure at three separate points, reducing sideways movement. When not needed, the system is simply stowed away.

The main groundsheet is fully sewn into the flysheet, which stops draughts and bugs in their tracks. Then, there’s an additional groundsheet protector, which is designed to protect and extend the lifespan of the tent. I really love the fact that this footprint is included, as it makes pitching even easier and should mean the tent is still in top-notch condition for many years.

Take down is just as easy and quick as setup. To deflate the AirBeams, all I had to do was remove the valve cap and push and turn the valve’s spring inwards. It puts one in mind of a bouncy castle being deflated, which is usually a depressing sight, representing the termination of enjoyment. However, here, it's a positive sight, as it means you can be on your way relatively quickly.

The main challenge after this was rolling it into a small enough unit to fit back in its carry bag. However, after a bit of a struggle first time around, I had it down to a fine art on subsequent takedowns. The carry bag has a couple of straps that can be deployed to compress and hold the folded tent in place before you zip it all up.

Living space

This is a tent in three sections, the front awning, the main living space and the bedrooms. You get 205cm of headroom, comfortably enough for most to stand up, while the bedrooms are 210cm long.

A huge door opens into the awning and can be tied up and away when the weather’s playing ball. There’s also a side entry door straight into the living space, while the opposite wall boasts a cable entry point for electrical hook up. Overhead, the Skytrack flexibile hanging system allows for versatility when choosing where to hang a lantern, while it can also be used to keep electric cables off the floor.

For hotter days and nights, the living room doors feature integrated mesh, providing ventilation while keeping the mozzies and midges out. Privacy is supplied by the tinted windows, which can be blocked off all together with a sheet of fabric.

Camping with kids is often a magical experience but it can also be a tiring one. The last thing you want is your little cherubs waking with the first light of dawn, unless you’d planned a sunrise hike. The Joro Air 450’s bedrooms feature a blackout fabric to assist the slumber of both kids and adults alike.

The size of each bedroom can also be adapted by adjusting a wall of fabric separating the two rooms, providing flexibility depending on numbers. It’s not the most robust barrier and it’s easy to slip through the side between the two bedrooms, which is good if you want to check on the kids, not so good if you want a lie in come the morning. This can be removed entirely if required, creating a large, master bedroom. There are storage pockets for valuables and hanging points for a camping lantern or similar.

The camping experience

Camping in the Joro Air 450 is a pleasure. Pitching is wonderfully quick, the design is well thought out and the use of blackout bedrooms means everyone is able to sleep soundly. A fair bit of light does, admittedly, seep in through the mesh ventilation, but I’d rather this than wake up in the wee hours with condensation dripping on my face. When divided into two, the bedrooms are a little snug for two adults, but then it's not like you'd be using them to store anything, as you would in a backpacking tent.

I like the way the tent can be customized depending on the weather. Every door, window and mesh panel can be tied back out of the way when its warm or zipped up tight when the conditions take a turn. The option of adding a groundsheet to the front awning is also welcome when camping in damper conditions.

Speaking of which, the Joro Air 450 stood up to all the rain and winds the British springtime could throw at it. This is often the aspect of air tents that people who haven’t tried one first ask about: “What? Air beams instead of poles? Won’t it collapse in high winds?” While I wouldn’t recommend setting this tent up in a gale, it was perfectly sturdy and was able to cope with strong gusts.

Weighing 24.2kg, it’s certainly not the lightest 4-person tent around and it’s very much a car camping tent. In its carry bag, it’s a bit of a struggle for one adult to carry alone, though obviously not impossible. Still, I’d say moving it any considerable distance is a job for both parents.