[Author note: This is one of our holiday gift guides, which is a service we’re doing to help everyone with their end-of-year shopping. This post also contains some affiliate links, which means we might get paid a commission if you buy something listed here or, usually, anything else on one of the sites. We won’t do this often, but it’s a way to support the site if you’re so inclined.]
Coleman 6-Person Dark Room Tent
I’ve said it a few times, and I’ll say it again: I normally hate sleeping in tents. I used to love the experience; being all connected to nature and having a portable home that fits in any car’s trunk. But as I continue to beat myself up on Gambler 500 after Gambler 500, a rough night in a tent is no longer appealing. However, my U-Haul camper isn’t ready yet, so I’m still sleeping in tents. Thankfully, my wife has figured out how to make a tent a blast to sleep in. One critical element is the tent itself. We’ve had many tents over our relationship, but my favorite are the two Coleman tents that we have right now. One is a huge 6-person dark room dome tent with a screen room (above), and the other is a similar 6-person dark room tent, but without a screen room (below). There are three things that I love the most about both of them. The first is that there are few parts to put together. The boxes for either tent say that setup takes “a few” minutes. Sure, maybe if you put tents together for a living. In reality, it takes more like 10 minutes for the one without a screen room and 15 minutes for the one with the screen room. I like the one without the screen room for its ease of pitching. You just slide the two main poles through the tent, a secondary pole through the rainfly, then secure it all down. You can definitely do it solo! While the one with the screen room is a little harder, having that screen room is great because I can keep muddy shoes outside of the tent interior. My next favorite feature is the fact that I can stand up in either tent. I’m one of those weirdos who don’t like getting dressed while sitting, so not having to hunch over in a tent is fantastic. And lastly, my absolute favorite feature is the fact that both of them are dark room tents, and they live up to the advertising. When these tents are all zipped up, they’re pretty dark inside, even when the sun is out. Some reviews for these tents suggest that some units may have defects that cause them to leak in storms, but both of ours have been fine. I should also probably note that Coleman’s “6 person” sizing seems to be a stretch, unless those six people include kids or they’re all cuddling.
Mr. Heater MH15C
I love tools and gear that serve more than one purpose, and the Mr. Heater MH15C has it in spades. This little radiant heating device has dual functions. It can provide you necessary heat in the cold, which is awesome enough. But flip it over, slap the grate on it, and you can also use it as a camping stove! It emits up to 15,000 BTU. Best of all is the fact that it has a built-in regulator, and can be used with a big 20-lb propane cylinder. I’ve been using one of these for over four years and I don’t go camping without it.
Mr. Heater Big Buddy
Now, that little heater is good, but you probably shouldn’t use it indoors. If you need a heater with more coverage and safe for indoor use, I recommend the Mr. Heater Big Buddy. It emits up to 18,000 BTU and like the smaller one, can be fed by a 20-lb propane cylinder. What it does a lot better is radiate heat in a manner that warms a greater area. It heats up to 450 square feet and if tipped over it’ll shut itself right off. It’ll also shut itself off if there isn’t enough oxygen. I’ve had one of these before and used it to keep a rusty cargo van warm in a cold Michigan winter. It did the job so well that I rarely had it set to full power. Not even air wafting in from the van’s huge rust holes overcame the Big Buddy.
EcoFlow Delta Mini
Here’s another gadget that I never go camping without. You know what often sucks about tent camping? You don’t have electricity. If you’re lucky, you might have an inverter in your car, but I’ve never found that to be a good solution for tent camping. The EcoFlow Delta Mini gives you 882Wh of capacity, a max output of 1,400W (1,800W boost), and outlets for up to 12 devices. This will not be able to power a space heater for very long, but it can power a coffee maker, power tools, or even a toaster. Keeping this in mind, it’s a fantastic way to get residential-style power in the middle of nowhere. Also, you can charge it in a number of ways, from solar panels that plug into the back to even the 12V socket in your car.
Where to buy: From EcoFlow for $749.
Intex Pillow Top Air Mattress With Headboard
Here’s one that you don’t necessarily need, but one you’ll be thankful to have if your body no longer likes sleeping on the ground. I jokingly like to say that an air mattress is for when you want to sleep on the ground, but not right now. Sheryl and I have tried a number of air mattresses, and they rarely make it a night without needing some help. Well, here’s one that’s finally working for us. We’ve found the Intex able to stay up through the night, sometimes even keeping inflated through two nights. Additional things that I like are the integrated air pump (runs at just 50 Watts!) and the headboard. I thought that the headboard was just a gimmick, but after sleeping in the bed I loved it. In fact, I’ve never had a better night’s sleep than when we paired this bed to the Coleman tent.
Ozark Trail 52-Quart Cooler
This neat cooler is nearly a Yeti cooler, but not for a Yeti price. So, you may be wondering why would you buy a cooler like this when you can buy those little red ones dirt cheap from anywhere? The party trick of these coolers is that they keep ice as ice for a very long time. You may have to refill the ice in one of those little red coolers daily, sometimes twice daily. But one of these can keep ice for perhaps a whole weekend. It’s not a game changer, but it gives you one less thing to worry about.
This cooler is easy to drain and is easy to handle. It’s made from one-piece, roto-molded plastic and has a stainless steel locking hoop to keep animals out of your goodies. There really isn’t much to say about this little guy other than it just works. I wouldn’t say that it’s a must-have, but it does make the quality of camping a lot better than those cheap coolers from the general store. Where to buy: Walmart for $114.
Dometic Go Water Jug And Faucet
Having running water at your camp isn’t just something for comfort when cooking, drinking, or washing up, but sometimes necessary. I wrote about this pairing recently and my wife, Sheryl, explained how having an autoimmune disease makes running camp water necessary. Sheryl and I do not have one of these setups but we definitely want one. The responses to our post were great, with some people offering cheaper alternatives that require just a little DIY to get what Dometic offers out of the box. Essentially, these cheaper ideas are electric pumps meant for large water jugs, but shoved into whatever water source you have. So I’ll offer you both. The Dometic Go system pairs an 11-liter water jug with a battery-operated faucet. The faucet can either sit on top of the jug or anywhere you can get it to stick. Thus, it also works with just about any water source. If tinkering isn’t your thing, this is the ticket. Where to buy: The Dometic Go water jug and faucet for $170 from Dometic’s site. Or
Mountain Hardwear Bishop Pass 30 Sleeping Bag
Sometimes you can’t carry an entire air mattress and a bedding set with you, and that’s fine. Thankfully, there are options for getting some comfortable sleep on the go. Last year, I went on a three-day off-road camping trip through some of the best that Utah has to offer. My vehicle for that trip was a Can-Am Commander side-by-side, and my gear was limited to a tent, sleeping pad, pillow, and sleeping bag. The highlight of this gear for me was the sleeping bag. The pillow that I bought kept slipping out from under my head, and the sleeping pad was too small for my big frame. But this sleeping bag? It was my rock. This sleeping bag is rated for 30 degree temperatures, though has been tested down as low as 19 degrees. It comes with 650-fill-power fluorine-free down. That down is said to be certified to the Responsible Down Standard, which means that the down didn’t come from animals abused with force-feeding or plucking. I can confirm that this sleeping bag is comfy, even at below 40-degree temps without a heater. Add in that propane heater and I bet you’ll be cooking in there. Where to buy: These can be found at Mountain Hardwear with a left-hand closure (men’s) or a right-hand closure (women’s). Prices start at $176.25.
Ivation Portable Outdoor Shower
Here’s another one that I don’t have, but want to try. Having that aforementioned faucet would be great for washing hands and cleaning up after accidents, but not so much for a shower. This is where this device comes in. There are tons of outdoor showers on the market, but this one is tantalizing because of its low cost. You just need a bucket or some other water source, this outdoor shower head, and boom, you can take a shower anywhere.
This product does have some noted flaws like a short hose and the pickup side of the device is quite thick. But it’s also a fraction of the price of other outdoor showers.
That’s it for this year! Hopefully, you now have a gift or a few for yourself or a loved one. If you have your own suggestions for camping gifts, I’ve love to read them below!
Take the money you save by not buying heaters, showers, electrical supplies, and fancy water dispensers and put it into a better tent.
Coleman Northstar Propane lantern – not really as useful as much now with cheap LED lanterns but nobody complains when I start mine and have a huge amount of nice warm light.
Coleman dual fuel sportster stove – couple of pumps and you have hot water in the morning. Works great in the cold, runs in the wind no problem. Mine has been ultra reliable, even used gas a few times in a pinch. I’d say this is absolutely superior to anything else I have found. Difficult to buy new though.
Coleman steel belted coolers – like the propane lanterns probably not much reason to buy these anymore with the YETI style coolers but they are light, indestructible and work good enough. Mine gets shoved between two dirt bikes in the bed of my truck so it gets trashed by footpegs but still is fine after many, many years. Plus a green cooler with lots of wear and stickers looks infinitely cooler than any modern rotomolded plastic thing.
Bigfoot? Don’t be silly. It’s ManBearPig you need to worry about.
(Or just bears)
Intex makes the best air mattress I’ve ever slept on. Wife and I have a queen with the integrated pump, and it even has a mini fan to keep it inflated (provided it has access to power) and it’s never let us down. We used it for a 4 night camping trip and only had to lightly re-inflate it on night 3 due to temperatures dropping a bit too much (summer sleeping bags with 30 degree OAT was rough)
Instead of buying all this stuff you go and get a hotel room.
[points at head dot gif]
Actual camping isn’t for everyone. ????.
I hate camping and sleeping on the ground. I would rather get a 4×4 Super C or a good class A as I am more in tune with bring the vacation home with me.
If people want to sleep in a tent, go for it. If you want to glamp, go for it. It is not for me to say who is right and who is wrong.
Additionally, it’s best to not store your sleeping bag compacted in the stuff sack long term. The theory is that it can compress the down and that lofty air gap it provides is where it gets a lot of it’s insulating properties. (assuming you’ve just hauled out the compressed bag for the photo above)
The 18000 btu (5000 watt?!) heater seems overkill, my 750 watt electric heater can heat our vw california just fine.
We camp on European campsites, power is no problem there, at least 4 amps, lots of times 10 amps (at 230V)
Sleeping bags; mummies models are great for warmth but it can feel tight. Think about getting 2 rectangular ones which zip together to form a 2 person sleeping bag. Great for sharing your cold feet with your partner. And think about lower but also upper temperature, in summer you will sweat out of your -10 ‘C rated sleeping bag.
Those Ozark Trail coolers are a great deal, but an even better cooler sold by Walmart are those from the Lifetime brand. With coolers, the two greatest factors for ice retention are: thickness of the walls; total interior size. A 70 liter cooler will keep ice a lot longer (days longer) than a 20 liter cooler with the same wall thickness. Pro tip: instead of using bagged ice, freeze water in milk jugs or rectangular containers made for food storage–the ice will last longer and there will be no water sloshing around in cooler bottom.
I have a Mr. Buddy heater, and it works, but with these caveats: a strong breeze will blow out the pilot; it consumes propane at a voracious rate; burning propane produces a great amount of water vapor (which results in condensation). For true luxury winter camping, a portable wood stove such as the ones from Winnerwell are fantastic–but remember, firewood doesn’t grow on trees.
Never store a sleeping bag (either down or synthetic fill) in its stuff sack. You’ll kill the loft, which is what insulates you from the cold. Also for the cold, don’t sleep on a cot or on the ground without a pad with the highest R rating you can get.
Can confirm. Just make sure not to fill it too much or the act of freezing might rupture the container.
As a bonus the meltwater stays clean and can be used for drinking or cooking later.
Besides the water vapor, you get Carbon Dioxide which is not good for you, and your body will react to high CO2 levels,headaches, etc.
But that with perfect combustion, which you won’t see in the ‘Real World’ since Air has more than just O2 in it You get incomplete combustion. That’s bad. C3H8+4O2 > 2CO+CO2+4H2O plus some others that get you Nitrogen compounds
that Carbon Monoxide: your body won’t notice, and it will kill you in even low levels So use venting, even when it lets that heat out.
Having said that, each item considered separately has worth and with careful planning you could come up with a combination that would work for camping out of a small hatchback.
As a military guy for over 30 years I can say that the most important thing to spend money on is your sleeping bag. Don’t buy anything with less than a zero degree bag. You can always leave it open for cooling things off and will still have that nice margin of safety/comfort. Again, buy the best!
The emphasis placed on water delivery systems leaves me scratching my head. Cleaning “dirty” water for health is very simple. Today’s chemicals are not nearly as nasty as the first ones. Once you have a quantity of safe water, how you care to carry it and dispense it is a simple matter picking the container that best works for you, be it a quart canteen or a 5 gal jug.
As to heat your suggestions are on the mark! The smaller of them would be perfect.
- As a kid I made the mistake of drinking unfiltered stream water on a hike up from the valley floor to Glacier point in Yosemite. It was a blazing hot day for which we had brought far too little water of our own. It didn’t take long at all for that stream water to work it’s magic. Ugh!! Never again!
