The Ultimate Guide to Blackout Tents

While none of us wants to waste daylight hours on a camping trip, sometimes you deserve to hit the snooze button.

While none of us wants to waste daylight hours on a camping trip, sometimes you deserve to hit the snooze button.

Unfortunately, once daylight has broken through your tent fabric, it can be hard to catch those extra zzz’s – especially in the bright light of summer. Luckily for late risers, there is a solution. Blackout tents. A growing trend in tent technology, blackout tents have been designed to help solve one of the oldest camping problems – getting a good night’s sleep!

Want to learn more about this technology? Keep reading our guide to camping blackout tents below to find out what they are, how they work, and which ones are available to buy…

What is a blackout tent?

Sometimes also known as ‘dark rest’ or ‘dark room’ tents, a blackout tent uses a specific fabric that has light-diffusing or light-absorbing qualities. The purpose of this is to keep the inside of the tent as dark as possible, so you don’t have to wake up when the sun does.

Top tip: blackout tents are especially ideal for those camping with babies and children, but also for anyone sensitive to light when trying to get to sleep.

Typically, tents have always been a lighter colour to help keep them cooler inside. However, thanks to innovations in ventilation and climate control fabric, the temperature inside blackout tents can still be kept comfortable.

This means brands have more freedom with which to make better sleeping areas for you to enjoy. Whilst some, like Coleman, use a fully blacked out fabric, others simply feature a dark coloured fabric to block the light. This also means that while the most heavy-duty blackout tents claim to block out up to 99% of daylight, others tend to only promise reduced morning light or glare.

Another thing to be aware of is that certain outdoor brands also have their own specific term for a blackout tent, such as Vango’s ‘Lights Out’ tents. This is especially true for Coleman, who have trademarked the term ‘BlackOut’ for their tent technology.

Note – we will be using the term blackout to describe many tents throughout this blog, as this proprietary term has evolved to cover the whole category (like Hoover, or Cellotape). However, only Coleman tents are strictly ‘BlackOut’.

Are blackout tents worth it?

Are blackout tents worth it?

While blackout tents have been around for a while, they were mostly used by festival-goers and partiers who knew they would have a sore head the next morning. However, they are now becoming a more regular feature across all ranges of tents.

And, if you already have a tent without blackout fabric, you may be wondering if it is worth buying one.

For those who often wish they could get a better or longer night’s sleep on a camping trip, it is definitely worth considering a blackout tent. Plus, if you have young children, they are very handy to have – many are even dark enough to allow for afternoon naps if your little ones are particularly tired out!

Remember, it’s not just the sun that can disturb your sleep either. Clear nights with full moons can also light up thinner or flimsier tents, as can passers-by with torches or car headlights and light pollution. If you are new to camping and planning to buy your first tent, tents with darkened bedrooms are the best option – especially as you don’t want your first camping trip to be a sleepless nightmare…

Alternatively, if you don’t have any issues sleeping, then it may be best to focus your next tent upgrade on something else. How about making pitching quicker and easier with a new inflatable tent?

What blackout tents are available to buy?

Due to technological advances and improvements in fabrics, blackout tents are becoming increasingly popular and many of the best brand names all have their own version of tents with darkened bedrooms. 

Discover the range of light-tight and blackout tents available at Winfields Outdoors, as we take you through some of the leading outdoor brands and their options…

Coleman Blackout tents

Coleman blackout tents are perfect if you want to make your tent as dark as possible inside. Their BlackOut Bedroom™ tents block out 99% of daylight from their sleeping areas, so light disturbance should never be the reason for your waking up again. This technology also improves the overall climate control and temperature management of your tent, which can keep your bedroom up to 5°C cooler in the day and up to 1°C warmer at night.

Fun fact: once the door is closed, your BlackOut tent is completely dark on the inside, with glow-in-the-dark zips to make sure you can find them when you need to. Plus, there’s a zipper stopper part way around the door to make sure your kids can reach the zips – perfect for after an afternoon nap.

We have a great range of Coleman blackout tents, ranging from four to six-person tents (or more). Take the Coleman Weathermaster 8XL Air BlackOut Tent for example. Designed for maximum comfort, the BlackOut Bedroom™ has plenty of room for six people to sleep well – even in the dawn light. With the option of a removable two-berth inner to bring your total up to eight people, this is the perfect tent for a family or friends camping trip. This Coleman blackout tent is also cleverly laid out to maximise the internal space and offer you plenty of storage and relaxing space.

Ideal for families, you should definitely check out our Coleman range for your new blackout tent.

Zempire ‘Light Diffusing’ tents

Alternatively, if you’re looking for a spacious, high-quality air tent with plenty of space for all your supplies and room to relax, Zempire tents are hard to beat. Many within the range have extended awnings for relaxing in the sun (but still under cover), and dedicated internal living spaces to give you somewhere to spend time as a group. And, on top of all of this, Zempire uses ‘light diffusing’ fabric in the bedrooms to offer you a great night’s sleep – and help to prevent the early morning sun from stirring your sleep.

Whilst this isn’t a full blackout tent, the light diffusing fabrics help to soften the light to stop the harsh morning sun from penetrating their bedroom areas.

Here at Winfields, our range offers some fantastically spacious full-head-height light diffusing tents that are ideal for both families and groups of friends camping together. Plus, Zempire’s polycotton tents help increase breathability inside, and they all have top range ventilation panels, too.

Want an example? Try the Zempire Pro TL V2 Air Tent. With simple point inflation for easy pitching and two large side doors to give you multiple access routes, this is a top notch tent for a long weekend away. The light diffusing fabric can help you get a good night’s sleep after a long day of exploring the area – and the zip-out inners offer you the control to have one, two, or three separate ‘bedrooms’ for maximum privacy when you sleep.

Vango ‘Lights Out’ tents

If you’re an outdoor or camping enthusiast, chances are you’ve heard of Vango tents. Well-known for revolutionising air tents with their AirBeam inflatable tent technology, Vango continues to develop impressive technologies to help you make the most of your camping trip. Most relevant here of course is their blackout tent technology, which they’ve called ‘Lights Out’.

Using a darkened fabric in their sleep areas, Vango ‘Lights Out’ tents are designed to reduce early morning light encroaching on your sleep and disturbing your rest. Whilst this isn’t a full blackout, the darker fabric slows the onset of a bright sleeping area, helping you wake up naturally (and most importantly, when you want).

As an excellent example, why not explore the brilliant Vango Keswick II Air TC 600DLX Tent? Now exclusively available at Winfields Outdoors, this light-tight tent has plenty of features to make your next camping trip more comfortable. Alongside the important Lights Out inner tent, the Vango Keswick II includes their signature Sentinel polycotton fabric to enhance breathability, reduce noise, and further reduce light ingress. And of course, the iconic AirBeam technology means pitching this tent is a breeze – leaving you more time to relax and enjoy your camping trip.

Regatta tents with darkened bedrooms

If you’re planning a solo trip, are going backpacking, or need a light but durable tent, we have the answer for you. Regatta tents are a great option for budget camping, with functional designs that offer maximum space across a smaller tent footprint. And, for a comfortable night’s sleep, the bedroom areas feature a darkened fabric feature which reduces the amount of early morning light that gets into the tent – so you can stay well-rested for the duration of your trip.

For group backpacking trips, festivals, or a simple weekend away, the Regatta Kivu 4 V3 4 Man Dome Tent could be the perfect option to meet your needs. The strong, durable fibreglass poles are flexible and colour-coded poles to make this tent simple to pitch, whilst the mesh inserts maximise breathability (without letting bugs or insects into your sleeping area). 

There’s also a handy porch area to stash muddy hiking boots outside so you can keep the inside of your tent clean and dry. And, with a darkened bedroom, everyone can get a good night’s sleep and feel ready to tackle the day ahead. Plus, the compact carry bag makes it easy to transport between campsites – and means that everyone can take their turn carrying the tent on your trip.

Outdoor Revolution Tents with darkened bedrooms

When it comes to the ‘blackout tent’ discussion, Outdoor Revolution tents use what they call ‘twilight fabric’ to help cut out exterior light when you want to sleep a little longer. This material is an exclusive feature within the Outdoor Revolution tent range that helps to make sleeping areas up to 70% darker (than previous models) for a better night’s sleep for everyone.

Here at Winfields, we stock the Outdoor Revolution Airedale 6.0S Air Tent which is a superb example of using the Twilight fabric to make your sleeping area more functional and comfortable. But this tent has so much more to offer you – including the brand’s Vortex ventilation system which helps to combat condensation and regulate the internal humidity of your tent, and extra deep bedrooms to cater for airbeds.

There’s also additional mesh to help make the tent breathable while keeping the bugs out, and zip-up curtains to allow you more control over your privacy on a busy campsite. Capable of sleeping up to six people, we think it’s great for a family of four camping trip (with any extra room contributing to storage or relaxing room!).

Sleep better with blackout tents from Winfields Outdoors

When it comes to tents and camping supplies, we like to think you’re spoilt for choice when you choose to buy from Winfields. But, if you ever get stuck on what you should buy, we have plenty of advice and buying guides for you to check out on the Winfields blog

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