New Lighter Inflatable Tent From Heimplanet

New Heimplanet Wedge looks more like a conventional tent than its predecessory albeit with interesting external air beams.

Side-on view. The interlinked beams and all in one construction means it pitches in minutes.

The original cool-looking but less practical Cave model.

Large original pump to fore, new lighter one is lying on the ground behind.

The original Cave from Heimplanet was a mad-looking dome tent held up by fast-inflating air beams, it was impressively fast pitching, but a tad heavy and expensive, but now the surf-inspired Germans have a new lighter, slightly more affordable model called The Wedge.

We first saw the Wedge briefly in Germany this, but copped a proper look at OTS this week. First obvious difference is that it's shaped more like, well a wedge-shaped tent really, though like the Cave it wears its inflatable beams on the outside and can be pitched in a minute thanks to interconnected beams with a single pumping point.

Once the beams are inflated, you can isolate them using valves, so it one suffers from a hedgehog attack, it's not game over for the entire tent. And speaking of inflation, there's a new, lighter, more compact pump instead of the original fat-bodied version.

Lighter And More Compact

That together with the reduced pack size and a weight of 'just 3.2 kilograms - the Cave is nearer 5.5kg - means that while it's not exactly an ultra-lightweight backpacker's dream, it is at least within the bounds of portability particularly given that it sleeps two.

The tent itself incorporates a conventional porch for cooking and gear storage along with familiar internal pockets. Although it's a two-skin tent with an inner tent and fly, it pitches all in one, which with the rapid air beam system means it should go up ultra-fast.

The bad news is that while it's cheaper than the Cave, it's still set to retail for £470 when it launches in March 2013.

More about the brand at www.heimplanet.com.