Best camping gadgets 2021

Camping has remained an enduring and fun way to escape, and thanks to advances in modern technology it can be (almost) as comfortable to stay in a tent as it is to stay in a hotel. But, what kit do you really need and what should you pack in the car? That’s where we can help.

Here, we round up the best kit that we’ve reviewed recently that you can take with you to turn your camping into a luxury and more comfortable event. From tents and lighting to portable speakers and projectors, here’s what you need.

The tent

We borrowed a Vango Air Capri 500XL from Taunton Leisure to sleep in. This model uses Vango’s AirBeam system, so you inflate the supports rather than needing to insert traditional poles. The result is that it goes up faster and whose structure is more stable, with the thicker beams providing better support than more traditional thin poles.

Vango’s tent uses a smart valve system, where removing the provided pump doesn’t allow any air to escape. Once up, the tent provides two sleeping compartments and a sizeable living area, with enough head height to walk around.

Food and drink

Going camping means that much of what you’ll need for your time away will go with you. You’re not going to have enough power to run a fridge, so passive cooling is is the way forth. This will come by way of a cool bag or box; we tried the Red Original Waterproof Cooler Bag. We went for the Large, 30-litre model, which can hold up to 54 cans.

It’s designed for paddle boarders, so is waterproof inside and out. As such, you can fill it with ice and, as it melts, the cold water will be contained inside. We dropped a large freezer block into the bottom, put in some cans and beers, then filled up the remaining space with ice.

After 24 hours, the contents were still fridge-cold; after 48 hours, the content of a Coke was a cool 13ºC – not bad considering that no powered cooling was used and the cooler bag was kept in a hot boot – and then a tent where daytime temperatures were hitting 28ºC.

The Vaya Tyffyn 1300 is designed to keep food hot or cold for up to five hours. The model we tested came with four internal containers, each with an optional sub-divider and a lid. There are three smaller tubs (around 280ml) and one larger tub (around 370ml), which stack on top of each other.

A vacuum-insulated stainless steel container slips over the top of the unit and is designed to keep things cold or warm for up to six hours. Two clips hold the top in place, ensuring it’s spill-resistant – although not watertight! The lid jams on firmly and is a little hard to get off at first, although it loosened after a few uses.

We filled ours with a selection of cold deli items including olives, mozzarella, peppers and artichokes, and left the unit in the fridge before transporting it.

Three hours later, lifting the lid off of the Vaya Tyffyn, the individual boxes were noticeably cold to the touch, with the contents sitting at 11ºC. While the system won’t keep your food cold overnight, it’s handy for initial transport or for a picnic while you’re away.

Provided the weather stays good, there’s nothing quite like a chilled glass of wine – but how do you keep it cool? The Hydro Flask Wine Bottle takes a full 750ml bottle of wine, offering double-wall insulation; it kept our test bottle of wine chilled all evening. The bonus of the flask’s air-tight screw-cap lid is that you won’t lose any of its contents if the bottle is knocked over. It can be paired with the Wine Tumbler, which is also insulated and can hold a large glass of wine. The lid on the latter isn’t watertight, but it does stop the flies from contaminating your well-deserved drink.

Entertainment

Not liking the idea of a “digital detox”? Then decent internet will be a must. It makes sense to carry a portable 4G router, since it means you won’t be draining your phone battery by using a hotspot. Plus, to a degree you’ll be able to position the router for the best reception.

We used a TP-Link M7350 with an EE data SIM. The M7350 takes a full-sized SIM, although it has adapters in the box for micro- and nano-SIM cards. These are impossibly fiddly; my SIM kept falling out, taking a good few attempts to get it to slide into place.

Once charged, TP-Link says that the battery should last for up to eight hours. After testing, using the M7350 for streaming Netflix movies for just over three hours, we had 50% battery life left.

The M7350 uses 2.4GHz 802.11n networking (UK products aren’t licensed for use outside on the 5GHz band), and we found that we achieved similar download speeds using the router compared to my iPhone X, which is also on EE. In the middle of a field on the outskirts of London, we were achieving download speeds of  around 9Mbps, which is sufficient for HD Netflix.

A Bluetooth speaker is a must. If you’d rather stick with a system that you use at home, the Sonos Roam is an excellent choice. This Bluetooth speaker integrates with the Sonos app but gives you Bluetooth on the move, letting you choose your playlists but ditching the need for a Wi-Fi network.

You can check out our other recommendations in our Best Bluetooth speakers guide.

Something for watching a film on is a good idea, and what’s better than a portable projector? The Nebula Capsule Max is decent for the price, but the XGIMI Halo is even better, as it has a Full HD resolution and is much brighter than most of the competition (800 Lumens).

It runs Android TV, so you get access to the Google Play Store, although you’ll find that Netflix doesn’t work and you don’t get all of the apps you need. You can always plug in a media streamer if you need it.

More importantly, this model has excellent speakers, so you won’t need to hook up an external Bluetooth speaker as well. When it’s bright outside, you can get around a 50-inch picture; at night, you can go much bigger: up to 300in.

There’s a built-in battery that lasts for up to four hours: it’s enough to get you through a film of your choice.

If you want to go bigger, then the XGIMI Horizon is for you. This has no battery (see below for options), so has to be mains powered. It’s very bright and has excellent speakers. Check out the guide to building an outdoor cinema for some tips.

Lighting

No power means that rechargeable LED lamps will be useful to take with you. We went with a variety of lighting options. Inside the main tent, we had a Fatboy Bolleke, which can be tied up pretty much anywhere. This large ball (20cm diameter) produces a warm white (2700K) light and will last for 20 hours on the lowest setting – which was bright enough to light up the main living compartment. It’s charged via the USB-C port on top.

Outside, we had the Mpowerd Luci Solar String Lights from Soda Says, which give you a string of 10 lights that you unwrap from the circular box that holds the solar panels. There are four light modes, lasting up to 20 hours on the low setting, and the set takes 12 to 14 hours to charge via the sun. There’s a handy USB port at the end of the lighting chain, so you can charge manually if you prefer. Draped across the opening awning, the Luci lights made it easier to see the tent and get in and out.

The Nowlight is another excellent accessory to take with you. This light can be charged via USB, solar panel or using the pull cable on the front, so you can use it anywhere that you want, even where there isn’t traditional power. It does need somewhere firm to hold it, so that you can use the pull cable without damaging anything else.

Finally, we took the Coast Dual Colour LED Head Torch from Flightstore.co.uk. It’s surprisingly comfortable and easy to adjust, and even has clips to attach to a hard hat. It has a standard white LED, with the three AAA batteries lasting up to 13 hours on low. There’s also a bright mode and a less intrusive red mode.

While head torches are never a cool look, at least you’ll be able to wander around and have your hands free – and also put up your tent in the dark.

Looking for something a bit funkier? The Philips Hue Go is the light for you. This gives you all of the features that you’d expect from a Hue light, including colour-changing, but you control it via a Bluetooth connection, while the built-in battery means that you get the light that you want without having to have a power socket to hand.

Security

Tents are super-easy to break into, so how do you protect your kit? How about with a security camera? The Arlo Go is a little expensive, but it uses 4G to connect to the internet (you need to provide a data SIM). It can record to a built-in microSD card, too. The flexible stand means that you can place the camera inside or out, and even screw it into something nearby.

Video quality is pretty good at 720p and alerts are sent to your phone. While the product can be stolen easily, if you place it in your tent when you’re away, you’ll get a notification immediately and can see what’s going on. Alternatively, place it in your car to monitor that.

A safe can be handy, too. The Master Lock Portable Safe is big enough to hold a couple of phones, and has a clip-in metal strap that you can wrap around something that’s hard to move. That’s not so easy in a tent, but you should find a suitable anchor in your car. Even in your tent, unwrapped, it provides somewhere to store valuables against a casual thief wandering in – although the entire safe could be lifted.

If you can’t remember where you pitched your tent, then a Tile Pro or Apple AirTag is a handy way of being able to find it. The app shows you where you last saw the Tile and, when you get close, you can sound the siren to help you aim in.

This is particularly useful if you’re at a festival, surrounded by similar-looking tents. And, you can always stick a Tile inside your safe, just in case it does go missing.

Comfort and safety

If you need power when you’re away then there’s nothing better than the Anker PowerHouse II 400. This massive battery has a regular AC power socket, so you can run anything up to 300W from it: we ran the XGIMI Horizon projector for 2.4 hours, and we also used our plug-in pump for airbeds. It has a load of USB outputs for phones and the like, too.

If you’re sat around the campfire, how do you deal with the smell of smoke on your clothes? That’s easy: the Bosch FreshUp. This £249.99 device is built to destroy odours in clothes with a quick swipe over the fabric. It is expensive but it really does work.

How do you carry everything? The Master Lock Crossed Carry Strap is the answer and it offers excellent value. Just put your stuff into boxes, then wrap the straps around your items (you get one strap at 2.5m and one at 5m), locking them into place. The carry handle on top gives you grip and makes it much easier to move things.

If there’s one thing that we don’t like about camping, it’s having to sleep in a sleeping bag: they either constrict your movement or, when open, don’t keep you warm enough. The Duvalay Luxury Sleeping Bag is different. It’s effectively a memory foam base with a fold-over duvet on top (there’s no zip), so you get freedom of movement while keeping warm.

There are many options available, but we went with the 5cm of Freshtec foam (designed to keep you cool by not retaining heat) and 66cm wide model. You can use a camp bed or other surface, but we used the bag on the floor and it was the most comfortable sleeping bag I’ve ever used. If there are two of you, you can reverse the side that the bag opens to place two side by side.

The downside is that the memory foam makes the Duvalay Luxury Sleeping Bag quite big, so it isn’t a product for those looking to travel light.

Nobody wants to get hurt, but it’s worth taking a medical kit with you just in case. To save space, we took the Ultralight and Watertight Medical Kit 7, which weighs just 227g, from flightstore.co.uk. It comprises antiseptic wipes and butterfly bandages, a mini-duct tape roll, Die-cut Moleskin plus Skin Tac for blisters, pain medication, and wraps and bandages.

Tents can get extremely hot as soon as the sun comes up, but the Meacofan 260C Cordless Air Circulator (one of our best fans) is a great tool to take away. This battery-powered fan can last for up to 14-hours on a single charge, although you can have it plugged into a battery pack or USB power adaptor for continuous power. Although battery-powered, this model has the cooling ability of many plug-in models, definitely able to keep you cool while you sleep in your tent.

Are there any other items you take camping with you? Let us know @TrustedReviews