Camping is so much fun, but boy, putting up and dismantling the tent can be a real drag. All those confusing tent poles, connections, straps and ropes. If you’ve ever fought with your tent on a dark, damp evening out in the wilds with a wind blowing, you’ll know exactly what we mean. But hey, put that smile back on your face, because the good folk at Kelty have come up with a brilliant solution.

The Kelty Mach 4 AirPitch Tent is part of a range of tents which have eliminated the tent pole altogether, in favor of a new technology which uses ‘AirPoles’. These are inflatable supports which hold the tent up just as well as glass-fiber poles, and more importantly the whole tent can be erected and taken down literally in a few minutes. No more wrestling in the mud!

https://youtu.be/AyOCVS3isac

The tents offer all the usual features and functionality you’d expect, with vestibules, noiseless zip access and the rest, but also come with a full on hand pump to hasten the erection process. It would be a little tricky if you had to use personal puff to do the job. The Mach 4 for four people is available in Spring next year for $389 and there’s a Mach 6 (which sleeps six people) for $499.