The best camping gadgets for your next outdoor adventure

The PowerLix Sleeping Mat is the best ever because, boy, oh boy, does it make sleeping outdoors more comfortable. I’m not a 19-year-old infantryman anymore, and I appreciate comfort. A mat like this keeps you off the cold, possibly wet, ground and allows you to avoid the pokes and prods of nature. Any mat can do that, but the PowerLix does it while being easy to use, easy to carry, and plenty comfy.

When wrapped up and folded, the PowerLix measures 11 inches long and four inches wide. It weighs 1.32 pounds, which is about the same as a water bottle. When inflated, it’s two inches thick and about six feet two inches long — a little short for me, but probably fine for 99 percent of the population.

Inflating is easy. Capture air in the inflation bag. Seal it. Plug it into the PowerFlix bag and squeeze, and it fills up the mat without needing to get red in the face blowing it up. The hexagonal shapes fill with air and provide a comfy surface for whatever angle you find comfortable. I’d love a pillow portion built in, but at this point, I’m acting spoiled. It’s the best ever camping gadget because who doesn’t love their sleep?

The BioLite Campstove 2 is a high-tech means to the caveman-era woodfire. It’s a camp stove that uses a fan powered by an internal battery to create an ultra-hot fire in a matter of minutes. This heat then recharges the battery and allows the user to charge their small electronics, be it a cell phone, flashlight, or GPS unit.

The fans and stove design help keep the heat high, and the stove can boil a liter of water in five minutes. That’s fast and hot. BioLite produces a number of attachments, including a KettlePot and coffee press, and a grill to make cooking small meals easy and fun. The latest Camp Stove isn’t just handy, it’s versatile, too.

The Campstove 2 makes life easy and keeps things safe. Lots of sections of public lands restrict the means to build a campfire to prevent wildfires, camp stoves often being the exception. The BioLite stove doubles its versatility by offering an internal battery and USB charger to give you a versatile choice for the best camping gadget.

It’s a little heavy and requires some dry stick hide-and-seek. It might not be for hardcore hikers, but family trips are made better by it. From roasting marshmallows to keeping the tablet charged for a movie night under the stars, the BioLite Campstove 2 makes things better. The BioLite Campstove 2 ensures you get a hot, efficient, versatile, high-tech, and safe camp stove for all your camping needs. The Campstove 2 just makes camping easier.

A multitool is a must-have for most outdoor activities, camping included. The Signal offers you 19 tools, with three that excel for camping and outdoor use. You get a fire-starting Ferro rod, a diamond sharpener, and an emergency whistle which is a nice just-in-case tool. Being able to sharpen your blade and start a fire without matches is nice to have.

The Signal allows you to easily open each tool with a single hand. Once opened, they are locked in place, and you have no worries about them slipping or sliding. Leatherman produces a number of bit kits that also work with the Signal and can be lifesavers when you can’t bring a toolbox with you.

You can also choose from a number of colors when ordering the Signal. I’d probably go with a high-visibility color to make it easy to find. If the wire cutters wear out, they are replaceable, which is really handy when you use your multitool often.

The downside is that the Signal does a few things to increase access to the tools and decrease weight. This includes a skeletonized frame that doesn’t offer a ton of protection to the internal tools and joints. You’ll need to make sure they stay clean, and I’d suggest getting a good belt case. The Leatherman Signal is the perfect tool for your next camping trip and can pull double-duty as a solid EDC. You don’t need a good tool, you need the best tool.

Car camping has exploded in popularity with the rise of van life and overland as a hobby. Along the way, a number of camping gadgets have popped up to support the four-wheeled adventurers. The MoonShade is an awning system that attaches to the side of your vehicle and provides instant shade and coverage.

Unlike other vehicular awning systems, this doesn’t require any kind of permanent mounting. It pops up onto your vehicle with ease. The kit uses suction cups to secure the MoonShade to your vehicle, along with a set of adjustable height poles. You get nine by seven feet of coverage, and you can mount it any which way you choose.

Storage always seems at a premium for car campers, and the MoonShade breaks down into an eight-pound package that is 28 by six inches — not too bad for a portable awning. The awning material is a tough 420D ripstop polyester, and the inside has a reflective coating to make the most out of your camp light at night.

The seams are not waterproofed. Users can waterproof the seams, and MoonShade shows you how. However, why not just waterproof it from the factory? Luckily, car campers can just climb in the car when the rain falls. The MoonShade allows you to enjoy the great outdoors with a little overhead protection.

The SmartDevil Portable Camping Fan is literally one cool camping gadget. It’s a portable, battery-powered fan perfect for rejecting stale heat and getting some air circulating in your tent, car, RV, or wherever. The SmartDevil features a rechargeable battery that provides up to 11 hours of power to the fan, although that’s at the lowest setting of three. The base of the fan allows it to be positioned in a variety of places, and a hook allows it to be hung nearly anywhere, as well.

Besides being a fan, the SmartDevil can act as a portable battery to recharge your small electronics, like a cell phone, flashlight, or GPS unit. A little extra juice can be a lifesaver, and the power bank nature of the SmartDevil makes it a two-in-one device. Wait, maybe three-in-one is a better description — the SmartDevil also packs a light with two settings.

The fan head can be swiveled 180 degrees to get the fan and light positioned just how you want it. Combine that with the versatile base and hook, and you can put it just about anywhere and bathe in the glory of that circulating air. Only you can bathe in that air because this little fan doesn’t work well for groups.

The SmartDevil Portable Fan provides you comfort and convenience because camping doesn’t always have to be a hardcore roughing it.

The AeroPress Go is designed for camping, hiking, and getting a caffeine fix when you are embracing the great outdoors. It’s not exactly high-tech — it’s just well-thought-out and well-designed. The kit is made up of a mug with a lid, a plunger, chamber, scoop, filter, filter holder, and even a little folding stirrer. It all fits into the mug and weighs a mere 11.4 ounces.

The AeroPress Go can make American-style coffee, cold brew, and even espresso for those who need that shot of caffeine. Heat up some water with your CampStove 2, and you can get a nice warm cup of coffee to wake up with. Add the filter, the coffee grounds, and water, then slowly press the plunger down, squeezing all that brown goodness into an eight-ounce mug.

If you want to make coffee for more than one, it might take more than a minute. This is a single-serve device, and you’ll need to take it apart, clean it, then remount it and press. Not a big deal, but worth noting. At only forty bucks, it might be worth having more than one on hand for the caffeine addicts at your campsite. It’s a must-have camping gadget to avoid a cranky camper.

Night vision is a lot of fun, but it’s admittedly expensive. The Bushnell Equinox Z2 brings the cost down significantly and provides a simple digital monocular for those who have simple needs. This isn’t something you’d use for playing operator in the dark, doing security work, or trying to navigate in the dark. It’s an observation tool, and in that role, it works great.

The Equinox Z2 makes it easy to see animals in the dark up to several hundred yards away. This device will open the world up to you when the sun goes down. The powerful IR illuminator makes this a fairly clear device, especially for digital night vision. The clarity is surprisingly nice, and you can even stream from the device to your cell phone, so everyone can see what you’re seeing.

With the addition of an SD card, you can both record videos and take pictures to show off your finds at night. Seeing an owl and the IR light reflecting from its eyes creates a spooky photo that’s worth capturing. The Equinox Z2 has options for various magnifications, and I think the 3X model is the easiest to use and most affordable. Digital night vision has some limitations, and long-distance viewing isn’t one of its strengths.

Make sure you bring a few extra sets of batteries because it chews through them. The Equinox Z2 might not make you an operator, but it’s a ton of fun, especially for kids who’ve never seen the world after dark without a flashlight. The best camping gadgets should enhance your enjoyment of nature, and the Equinox Z2 does just that.

Getting kids out of the house and into nature can be a challenge, especially little kids. New sights, sounds, and experiences can be scary, especially when the sun goes down. The Olight Obulb is a very compact and affordable lantern to give kids a little control of their own light. Four modes allow for up to 55 lumens of light all the way down to a battery-sipping seven lumens.

The modes include standard and strobe, as well as a white and red light at high and low settings. At seven lumens, the battery will last for 56 hours, so it’s got potential as an all-night, all-weekend night light. The Obulb fully recharges in two hours and comes with a handy magnetic charger.

That charging port doubles as a magnetic mounting port as well. Stick it, click it, and boom, you have enough light to illuminate a tent. It’s only 55 lumens, and the Obulb is fairly small, so it won’t light up much more than a small personal tent. Olight seems to recognize the target audience and even makes something called the Obuddy which acts as a little robot that holds the Obulb.

The Obulb offers kiddos a small bit of light to bring them comfort. It’s affordable, easy to use, rechargeable, and doesn’t cast a blinding light that a kid will invariably shine in your eyes. For an adult, it might not be that useful, but for kids, the little light shines.