Palatial Camp Tent Inflates in Minutes: Rise Outdoor AirNEST Review

Rain was imminent, maybe 20 minutes away, and I’d just arrived at camp. With no time to waste, I upended the stuff sack and unrolled the tent — not a single pole or stake to be found.

Instead, I plugged in an automatic air pump, flipped the switch, and as it whirred to life, I watched my Rise AirNEST tent steadily stand itself up. With time to spare, I walked into the entryway without crouching and then laid out on the built-in air mattress.

The first drops just started to patter on the rainfly outside. Time for a nap.

I got an early testing sample of the AirNEST from Rise Outdoor and hit the hills, ready and eager to see what this thing could do. It’s big enough for anywhere from two to four people and is all one integrated piece. The brand even advertises that this tent floats.

I test a lot of tents, but this seemed like a truly unique piece of camping equipment. Looking at the webpage, it looked a bit like a bouncy house. And who wouldn’t want to camp in one of those?

In short: The Rise AirNEST ($1,100) is a single-piece inflatable tent for car camping. It sets up quickly with the included Rise Airbank, stays fully inflated, and is both wind- and waterproof. It’s very spacious inside, has plenty of pockets and storage space for organization, and even includes a built-in clothesline. For families that camp together, this is a fun, durable, easy-to-use inflatable tent that adds some fun flair to any campsite.

Rise AirNEST Inflatable Tent Review

Inflatable tents aren’t new, and GearJunkie has reviewed them in the past. They’re still a novelty in the camping world, but they seem to be growing in popularity. They use air to create stability and tension instead of a rigid pole structure.

There are benefits and drawbacks to this design, though. On the upside, inflatable tents are fast and mostly hands-free to set up. There are also fewer parts and pieces to lose or break. Inflatable tents are also strong in windy conditions, as they can flex and bend more easily than rigid poles, which can bend or break.

The Rise AirNEST claims to be more than just your standard inflatable tent, though. It’s described as a “fully integrated outdoor shelter system” because the mattress is built into the floor of the tent, and there’s no detachable rainfly or footprint. It’s all just one big unit. You simply remove it from its duffel/backpack carrying case, unroll it, hook up the Airbank pump, and let ‘er rip.

Materials & Construction

Rise Outdoor used 50-denier, 3,000HH (meaning it could withstand a column of water 3,000 mm high) SilPoly for the waterproof fly. The ribcage-like airtubes that give the tent its structure are made from 420-denier puncture-resistant Oxford nylon and 210-denier Dacron. It’s both abrasion- and puncture-resistant. When you hold the materials in your hand, they feel pretty bombproof.

All seams are fully taped, and the zippers are water-resistant. The doors are double-layered, with a waterproof outer layer and a no-see-um mesh.

Rise Outdoor used Halkey-Roberts (HR) valves on both the tent and the mattress. These are the same valves used on SUP boards.

Setup

The Rise Outdoor website claims that the AirNEST can be completely set up in just 2 minutes. That might be true once you’ve done it a few times, but expect the first inflation to take a little bit longer.

I made the mistake of not checking all of the HR valves my first time. I ran the pump for about 10 minutes, waiting to see something happen, before I realized I hadn’t closed all of them. Once all of the valves were closed, it went up pretty quickly.

The Airbank pump fills the AirNEST in two stages. The first is volume. The pump fills the whole tent to 0.9 psi, evenly distributing air. Then, it kicks into a higher gear (you can actually hear the pump start making a different noise when it does).

From there, the tent takes shape quickly. At 4 psi, it should be standing upright. In cold or windy conditions, the directions suggest filling it to 5 or 6 psi. However, it notes never to fill it more than 7 psi. Once the tent is inflated, you use the same pump to fill the mattress. The directions recommend 2 psi, but I like a firmer mattress, so I filled mine to 3 psi.

Integrated Design

Most of the tents I test have a body, a rainfly, and a footprint — all separate pieces. Then there’s your sleep system, which is sold and assembled separately. The beauty of the AirNEST is that it’s all a single piece (minus your sleeping bag and pillow). There’s no rainfly to attach or footprint to place down ahead of time. You just throw the tent out, fill it up, and you’re ready to go.

Having 37 square feet of built-in sleeping space is pretty rad. The entire floor of the tent is taken up by the built-in (but removable) mattress, so my partner, dog, and I all had plenty of space to sleep, roll around, turn over, and spread out. The inflatable mattress held up to the dog’s traipsing around, and with an R-value of 4, it insulated us well from the cold, wet ground.

The built-in rainfly worked as advertised. Initially, when it started dumping rain, I felt some trepidation. But over the course of a very wet 3-day weekend, I gained a lot of confidence in the waterproofing. There were no issues with leakage or seepage.

Pockets, Organization, Vestibule

I’m a sucker for well-designed pockets in a tent, and the Rise AirNEST didn’t disappoint. Inside, there are six separate pockets of differing sizes that you can store keys, wallets, phones, flashlights, and bigger items like blankets, extra layers, and even the Airbank and hand pump that the tent comes with.

The vestibule offers two more large pockets, for a total of 14. There is no shortage of space to stick your things in this tent.

The AirNEST’s vestibule is one of my favorite elements of this tent design. It offers almost 40 square feet of space to store duffel bags and backpacks. You could also set up a couple of camp chairs under it, cook a meal, and enjoy some beverages while staying sheltered from rain and sun.

The vestibule door has two vertical zippers on either side, so it can be opened up, rolled, and fastened out of the way.

Packability & Transportation

The AirNEST comes with a duffel bag that doubles as a backpack. Altogether, the tent weighs about 23 pounds, which, though heavy relative to most two- and three-person tents, isn’t outrageous. While a backpacking trip is probably out of the question, you could still comfortably carry this tent a ways from your car to set it up.

The duffel bag is rectangular, and I found it to pack easily into the back of my truck with all my other camping gear. It’s an easy Tetris piece to fit in.

It Floats?

Yes, it floats. Why? That’s a better question. I’ve seen a few inflatable tents that float over the years, and I just can’t fathom a reason why anyone would want to sleep on and wake up in the middle of a lake or pond.

For one thing, you need a boat to get to land and make coffee in the morning. That’s an added barrier between me and my morning Joe that seems unnecessary.

Then, what happens if you lose air overnight? Sure, the AirNEST seems pretty airtight, but stuff happens. If you spring a leak or otherwise lose air overnight, waking up inside a sinking tent would be a terrifying experience.

That’s all to say, the AirNEST can float. I did not test this feature, but others might be more inclined.

Rise AirNEST Inflatable Tent: In the Field

I set my AirNEST up in my backyard the first time, just to get a sense of how it worked. Then, during a particularly rainy stretch of August, I took it on a 3-day camping trip in Twin Lakes, Colo. So admittedly, I don’t have long-term testing impressions to relay.

That said, I was really pleased with its performance over that long weekend. When the wind picked up, the tent didn’t bend, buckle, or fold over on itself. The rigid inflatable tubes that give it its structure held strong and retained their rib-cage shape. When it rained, water beaded easily off the waterproof exterior without penetrating even once.

Hanging out in this tent was a treat compared to the much smaller backpacking tents I often test. There was ample head and shoulder space to kneel, sit up, and move around inside. We played games in the tent during the rain, and it was so spacious I could lie sprawled out while we did.

Rise also included a clothesline that runs down the center of the AirNEST. After a hot spring swim, we hung our bathing suits up, and they dried while we slept. That also served as a useful place to hang our nighttime lantern.

Both doors close fully, but also have a no-see-um mesh layer. You can leave the mesh doors up for a nice cross-breeze without insects getting inside. Or, close the doors completely for more privacy, to keep the wind out, and retain more body heat inside.

At first, I might have been skeptical about using this tent on a windy, rainy weekend in Colorado’s high country. But after my experience, I feel totally comfortable using this tent three seasons a year, rain or shine. Honestly, it was nicer having this tent on a rainy weekend because it offered so much space to hang out inside, sheltered from the storm.

Room for Improvement

While the 3,000HH waterproof fly is very effective at keeping water out, it doesn’t expirate quite as well. The last night we camped in this tent was chilly, and I zipped up both doors completely. I woke up in the morning to a drop of water splashing on my forehead, and then another. When I sat up and knocked the side of the tent, a shower of condensation droplets fell on both of us. Without fresh air, this thing builds up some real condensation.

My only other gripe had to do with the vestibule’s skirt. It’s cut in such a way that it flaps a lot in the wind. The first night, it sounded like a flag whipping around outside, and I got up and weighted it down with a bunch of rocks. That solved the issue, but a more permanent solution from Rise would be to make that skirt smaller or consider a different shape.

Rise AirNEST Inflatable Tent: Who Is It For?

This tent would be amazing for family car camping trips. It easily fits two or three people (four might be a squeeze). There is ample storage space, it’s pretty hassle-free to set up, and it’s a lot more fun than a standard rigid pole tent. I would have absolutely loved this thing as a kid.

I love it as an adult, too. My partner and were extremely comfortable over the 3 days we camped in the AirNEST, and we’re planning on using it for the rest of the summer and into fall whenever we go car camping.

Obviously, the weight and size rule it out for most backpacking trips. But with the backpack duffel carry system, it would still be feasible to carry this thing a ways from the car and set it up.

There are some small design quirks that Rise still needs to work out, but overall, this is the coolest, most durable, and stable-feeling inflatable tent I’ve interacted with. I’m genuinely excited to use it again next time.