You may not need much more than a sleeping bag and some matches to spend a night under the stars, but an array of modern, futuristic and sometimes strange gear would certainly make the experience more like being at home. Whether you’re a camping minimalist or the type who totes along an entire kitchen, you’ll find something among these 13 fancy gadgets that could make your experience more stylish, convenient and fun.
WrapStove Heats Pots & Pans
No worries about extinguishing flames in dry, windy conditions with the WrapStove, a cool flexible device that wraps around pots and pans to heat them up. Tiny magnets in the sleeve help it cling to the cooking vessel, and you set the temperature via touchscreen.
Implement Six – Spoon, Fork & Cheese Grater in One
It’s a spoon. It’s a fork. It’s a cheese grater. Compact and lightweight, the ‘Implement Six’ by Scott Graham takes the good old spork one step further, in case you find yourself in dire need of a little grated parmesan while out in the woods.
Vertigo Self-Heating Food and Beverage Container
Kind of like a microwave you can take mountain climbing, the Vertigo makes cooking so easy, all you have to do is pour some soup or chili into a container and press a button. A sensor-triggered LED light indicates when the food or beverage you’re cooking reaches the optimum temperature.
Multi-Mat Keeps Sandy Campsites Clean
Keeping sand out of your tent and living areas while camping on the beach, the desert or in other sandy areas is usually a losing game, but the Multimat by CGear virtually eliminates that problem. The dual-layer design traps sand, dirt and dust, so particles fall through from above, but can’t come back up through the mat.
BioLite Stove: Cooks with Wood, Powers Gadgets
Almost any kind of biomass fuel – including scraps of wood, mulch and pine cones – can be burned in this stove to produce heat for cooking food, which is then turned into electricity to charge your gadgets. The BioLite Stove is a clever gadget that makes use of energy that we’re already creating when camping, eliminating the need to carry liquid fuel for portable cookstoves or extra gadget chargers.
Kumzit Social Cooking Set
Stacking components fit inside a main unit that can be used as either a grill or a surface for various types of pots and pans. The ‘Kumzit Social Cooking’ set includes cast iron pans, pots, long forks and a carrying bag.
Portable Backyard Shower
It’s always nice to be able to shower while camping, and while most of us can make do with a simple solar shower, this portable backyard shower holds 12 liters of water, features an electrical pump, and looks kind of cool (albeit heavy).
Cooka Rubber Tabletop Cooking Mat
Flexible and highly portable, the Cooka mat uses silver’s conductive properties to create a fast-heating cooking surface with three burners. The mat cools down as fast as it heats up, and can be rolled up and stowed away when not in use.
Portable Luxury Kitchen is an Oversized Egg
Here’s a weird one: An all-in-one mobile kitchen concept with enough space for a water tank, a chamber for cooking gas, a sink and a burner. It’s got a glossy egg-shaped metal body that makes it cool looking, but probably hard to strap to your car as pictured.
Camelbak All-Clear Microbiological UV Water Filter
With almost zero added weight, the Camelbak All Clear Ultraviolet water filter uses a UV lamp attached to a screw-on cap containing electronic and battery parts to kill viruses, bacteria and cysts.
Intelligent Lantern is Packed Full of Function
Most camping lanterns don’t do anything other than their obvious function – illuminating an often small section of your campsite. But the Intelligent Lantern definitely pulls its weight in your pack, with an audio-in jack for mp3 player, speakers, a digital clock and an AM/FM radio tied to local weatherbands.
Air Mattress with Built-In Speakers
While not exactly high-tech, and certainly not stylish, this Coleman mattress has a fun bonus: built-in speakers. The Coleman Quickbed inflates automatically and has an input jack for your mp3 player.
Wrist Mosquito Repeller Gadget
At just $8.50, the Wrist Mosquito Repeller gadget claims to keep mosquitos away without smelly oils or chemicals. How does it work? The maker, Hong Kong-based Brando, doesn’t really say, but one can only assume that it uses ultrasound technology. Wouldn’t it be nice if this clunky bracelet were all we needed to prevent a rash of itchy bites after spending time outdoors?

