Safer than a tumbling mat and more durable than a trampoline; any air track for sale in this in depth review will provide the following: a safe cushion to stick or break your landing, a rebound identical with competition tumbling floors, and a surface to practice your pass on.
After having hands on experience and speaking with coaches and parents to find the best air track for sale, we recommend the EZ Glam Inflatable Tumbling Track. We found it provides both safety and a size manageable enough to fit inside a home to practice floor skills.
Top Pick: EZ Glam Inflatable Tumbling Track
Our core metrics in this review were safety, size, portability, and cost. EZ Glam’s air track ties ibigbean in all aspects at a lower cost with equal quality.
Finding the best air track for sale
As a former gymnast and gymnastics coach, having knowledge about what equipment qualities are useful not only for a gymnast, but for their parents as well.
The process started by searching through articles that covered topics related to tumbling. What came from this was plenty of information about safety of gymnasts, and equipment that is acceptable to support floor conditioning.
Afterwards, we dug up recent reviews on online and only included air tracks with an average rating of 4 or above. Then we jumped into recent reviews to see what people enjoyed and disliked the most about their inflatable tumble track.
In order to narrow down our recommendations, we had to search all over the web for second, third, and fourth opinions.
THAT was difficult to find. It seems there aren’t many gymnastics websites that have reviewed any air track for sale.
We went on to gymnastics forums like Chalkbucket to see how other parents, gymnasts, and coaches felt about our choices. Though they admitted some of the best air tracks available are in the price range above $500, we found options of the same quality for half that price.
We tested models that closely resemble the rebound height of a real tumbling floor that are used in competitions. However, we tested a wider variety of sizes that are manageable to use indoors while still being portable enough to take outdoors, or store conveniently for later use.
Overall, it is important to look for easy transport and assemble, size, weight, and most of all durable. Keeping gymnasts safe while practicing what they love to do is our top priority so we want to offer the most reliable options to achieve this.
Taking all of the above into consideration, here are the inflatable tumbling mats, air tracks, and inflatable tumble tracks that made it into our top 4 recommendations.
4 Best Air Track For Sale
If you are looking for foam tumbling mats, check out our review of the Top 5 Tumbling Mats For Home Use in 2021.
Air Tracks versus Tumbling Mats
It can be hard to know the difference between a traditional tumbling mat and an inflatable tumbling track if you are first starting off.
The most identifiable difference is that the traditional mats are padded inside instead of being filled with air. While both inflatable and padded mats can be folded and easily stored, the padded mats take up more room in storage.
Storage space is often sacrificed since padded mats are generally significantly less expensive than the inflatable options. Not only that, but parents and gymnasts often feel more comfortable knowing that their safety isn’t at risk if the mat gets punctured.
One aspect that many people overlook when considering these two options is the rebound height. Air tracks rebound height have a close resemblance to gymnastics spring floors whereas the padded mats actually absorb the rebound. Reason for this is because they are often used to break the landing when a gymnast fails to complete the skill they are practicing..
Consider the following while looking
Convenience
Portability is arguably the most important factor when choosing an air tumble track for sale. Gymnastics equipment takes up a lot of space to begin with, so finding a mat that’s easiest to store could be exactly what you’re looking for. We found that CNSport has mats that will be the easiest to store based on the size they offer.
Additionally, convenience is also going to depend on its weight. Of course, the larger a mat is the more it will weigh. Here is average weight by size.
- 10 feet/25lbs
- 20 feet/60-80lbs
- 30 feet/90-100lbs
- 40 feet/150lbs+
- 50 feet/225lbs+
You can see that they get pretty heavy, but each one can be folded up and put into a medium sized box.
Size
If you are going to be heavily practicing floor passes I would suggest a more expensive, but higher quality model. Finding options that are not just long enough to support a tumble pass, but wide enough to correct mistakes for a low price is a feat on its own.
Here is what we found.
First off, the average tumbling pass, excluding the running, is 10 feet, give or take. The LOWEST price 10 foot air track for sale is by CNSport. Though FBSPORT’s 9.84′ model comes very close, it still doesn’t precisely reach 10′ and is still a few dollars higher.
The EZ GLAM models, when inflated, all reach a height of 4 inches and for younger gymnasts the 4 inch models work just fine for them, generally the least expensive route to boot. However, we found that FBSPORT have similar options in length for much less. In order to save you potentially hundreds of dollars, it’s important to know that these are best options for supporting most tumbling skills of gymnasts under 12.
If you are looking for an extremely durable mat to comfortably support multiple gymnasts of all ages, ibigbean have similarly sized mats except they have 8 inch height options which is perfect for this situation. This also means that your rebound is slightly more exaggerated, which is meant for practicing purposes, compared to gymnastics floor.
Placement & features
Before you can even take your air track for sale out of the box and lay it down, clear the area which it covers of any glass or flammable objects. Any sort of padded ground is going to be your best bet, alternatively on carpet or grass works.
The PVC drop-stitch material that all 4 models are made out has everything to do with its durability against several flat floor types including water (100% waterproof). So go ahead and try using water as a surface to tumble on, but I don’t believe it will get you far!
Assembly isn’t as big of a pain as you might think considering each of option comes with an air pump. However, ibigbean is the only air track for sale that does NOT come with an electric pump. Which means it will need air pumped through it the old fashioned way, with some good ole elbow grease.
Are air tracks safe for home safe?
The convenience of size, weight, assembly, and other features could essentially mean nothing if the it isn’t safe to begin with. While I encourage everyone to think freely and make their best judgement, I feel an inflatable mat is no more dangerous, actually less dangerous, than a trampoline.
There’s common sense that accompanies using any product; an air track is no different. Here are some of the best ways to avoid injuries while still being able to safely practice.
Safety Precautions
Avoiding serious injuries is more than just being aware of how it is being used; it even starts from where the mat is placed.
Choosing a surface that doesn’t put anyone jumping and practicing on the mat at risk is going to eliminate half your worries. Rule of thumb: no hard surfaces (concrete, hardwood, etc.). Rugs, grass, and padded floors are perfect!
Refine familiar skills to perfect your form is most ideal for practicing on this equipment at home. We highly recommend doing skills you need a spotter for inside the gymnastics facility with coaches present,
Best Air Track For Sale
Without sacrificing safety and quality, cost is a major concern for parents, gymnasts, and coaches. It’s no wonder CNSport Inflatable Tumble Track is at the top of the list.
Listed as a top choice in air tracks, it is incredibly difficult to find one of this quality for a cheaper price. After inflating it with the air pump it comes with, the mat extends to 10 feet long X 3 feet wide X 4 inches thick. It is shorter than a full tumbling pass on competition floor, but it will help practice the skills used in your routine.
Waterproof & resilient: CNSport’s inflatable tumbling mat is made with environmentally conscious waterproof material. This airtight PVC is created with drop stitch material, which is what some water sport products like kayaks and paddle boards are made with to keep it 100% resistant to water.
Portable: If you were to deflate and fold up your air track for sale to store or take it somewhere, it would be able to fit into a backpack.
THAT is incredibly convenient, I’m sure most of you would agree.
Which is very useful for not just putting it away, but getting it out from inside the house where there is generally more room for tumbling (unless you have at least 3X the width worth of extra space around the track.
Budget air track for floor passes
Unlike our top option, FBSPORT mats have a wide range of application. Ten foot mats are only good for practicing one or, at most, two skills at a time. Our runner up offers sizes up to 19 feet for practicing an entire pass from one side to the other. Comparing to our remaining options, this is going to be the least expensive option for it’s size bracket.
The best way to stay focused during training is to not be interrupted. Disrupting the combination of floor skills makes it difficult anticipate the next move, something muscle memory plays a big part of. Any air track not longer than 10 feet is going to be a very tight fit for practicing a floor pass without stopping mid rebound so you don’t tumble off the mat. Sizes available for the FBSPORT are 9.84 feet (CNSport‘s 10 footer is priced lower), 13.12 feet, 16.4 feet, and 19.68 feet. Measurements are a little odd, it would be nice if they just rounded up or down.
Even though the sizes are unevenly mismatched, their prices definitely aren’t. We looked at the prices for each size then put them up against the equivalent competing sizes for ibigbean and EZ GLAM. What we found was that FB SPORT offers the lowest prices. However, the only size it doesn’t have the lowest price for is the 9.84′ model. CNSport is going to have the lowest price for this size out of all the other choices.
The double wall drop stitch material is implemented with this model, much similar to CNSport, making it air tight at the seems and 0.9mm thickness commercial grade PVC tarpaulin. The incredibly durable material holds air pumped in it by an electric air pump, comes with the purchase of the product, that takes less than a minute to inflate or deflate. For a mat near 20 feet in length, that is incredibly fast.
Runner up
Widely recognized as one of the top quality air track companies Air Track For Sale by ibigbean has more to offer than the widest range of sizes. If extra padding space to break falls and exaggerated rebounds for practicing floor skills is more your speed then you’d probably fancy this model.
Length isn’t the only measurement that matter, height has a huge influence that effects the results you receive. Ibigbean has 8″ height models for various lengths. Reason why this is helpful for floor routines is that this results in a higher rebound, which gives you much more room for error.
By now, you should recognize the drop stitch material as the bar for tightly reinforced inflatable tumble tracks, so of course ibigbean is made with it as well. Additionally, you are also able to put this in the water as it is 100% waterproof.
Other inflatable mat finalists
Finally, if you want the same length sizes as the ibigbean, EZ GLAM Inflatable Tumble Track is better priced comparatively. Comes with all the accessories necessary for a safe and simple assembly. With 8 different lengths available, you aren’t practicing just one or two skills at a time.
When put up against foam mats, EZ GLAM knocks them out of the water in more ways then one. First, just something as simple as the nature of the air track for sale is already ahead of a padded tumble mat. The rebound it delivers is made to replicate the spring floors used in gymnastics gyms, whereas the padded models absorb the shock from a rebound, giving you not a lot to work with.
Second, although padded options do fold up to put away, the air tracks take up significantly less space when deflated and folded up. Easily, it reduces to a size that can fit into a box in your closet, the trunk of your car, or in a bag to carry easily.
An air pump is provided upon ordering this model, along with a handle canvas bag, and a repair kit. Everything you need to maintain the quality of an air track comes with the EZ GLAM model.
Concluding thoughts
For something very low maintenance to practice one or two floor skills at a time, at 10 feet long, the CNSport model is going to be the most optimal option for this while remaining at a price significantly lower than any other.
Perhaps you need a longer track to practice a whole floor pass with no interruption, FBSPORT has 4 sizes priced lower than its competitors without losing quality. However, the only height sizes available are 4″, if you want sizes with 8″ in height, the ibigbean is the best option for this.