Last updated: September Choosing between the best sleeping bags for backpacking is harder than it looks, because the number on the front of the bag tells you very little about how warm you will actually be. A bag labeled 20F is often comfortable at 35F, a 3-season synthetic can be quieter and tougher than down, … Read more
The best double sleeping bags for couples solve one specific problem: the cold strip of tent floor that runs between two separate bags. We spent weeks reading thousands of owner reviews and comparing twelve queen-size and doublewide bags side by side, and the Kelty Tru.Comfort Doublewide 20 came out ahead for most couples. It is … Read more
The best cot for car camping is the Coleman Trailhead II, because it holds 300 lb on a steel cross-bar frame, folds to a 7.9 by 5 by 39.5 inch package, and has more verified owner reviews than any other cot we tested. If you want more cushion instead of raw value, the Coleman ComfortSmart … Read more
The best air mattresses for camping fall into two very different groups, and picking from the wrong one is why so many campers wake up stiff at 3am. Raised beds built around a plug-in electric pump give you a mattress-height surface and a stable coil-beam core, but they weigh 12 to 19 pounds and need … Read more
A thru hike is the longest test a backpack can get. You will carry the same bag up and down every climb for months at a time, through rain, sleet, desert heat and switchbacks, and the difference between a pack that works and a pack that fails shows up in your hips, your shoulders and … Read more
Most of us carry the wrong bag on a day hike. We grab the backpack we use for school or work, load it up, and spend four hours with a flat foam panel pressed against a sweaty back and the entire weight of the load hanging off our shoulders. A day hiking backpack is built … Read more
Shopping for the best dutch ovens for campfire cooking is harder than it looks, because almost every pot in this category is sold for stovetop and oven use first, campfire second. Some of the most heavily advertised Dutch ovens cannot safely sit over an open flame at all. We spent weeks comparing eight bare cast … Read more
The shower is the single piece of kit that turns a van from a vehicle into a home. A week of trail dust, a dog that rolled in something unspeakable, or a hair full of road grit will talk you out of the best campsite you have ever found, and a portable camp shower solves … Read more
The best electric cargo bikes for families are the ones that turn a 400-pound problem into a normal Tuesday morning. A loaded bike with two kids and a week’s shopping has to start from a standstill on a hill, brake hard in traffic, and still fit in a hallway. That is a much shorter list … Read more
Switching to tubeless means your pump now has two completely different jobs. It has to deliver a large volume of air in one burst to push the tire bead onto the rim, and it still has to finish at riding pressure afterwards. Most pumps on the market are built for only the second job, which … Read more