Camp Seating
Coleman Camping Chair Review: 3 Seasons of Weekend Use
After three camping seasons and more campfire nights than I can count, here is the honest truth about this $35 chair.
We almost skipped the chairs and used the truck tailgate. Turns out that decision would have changed the whole weekend.
After three camping seasons and more campfire nights than I can count, here is the honest truth about this $35 chair.
One costs five times more. The other has 60,000 five-star reviews. Here is the honest side-by-side so you spend your money in the right place.
Most campers obsess over tents and sleeping bags and forget the one piece of gear they will sit in for six hours a day. Here is why that is a mistake.
We almost skipped the chairs and used the truck tailgate. Turns out that decision would have changed the whole weekend.
Back pain and bad posture ruin more camping weekends than rain does. Here is the exact setup I use to stay comfortable from Friday dinner through Sunday breakfast.
The listing page tells you about the cooler pocket and the side table. It does not tell you the chair is bigger than most people expect, or that the arm is on a fixed side, or what that cooler pocket actually does in 90-degree heat.
I loaded 20 lbs of ice into the Igloo BMX, drove to a site with no resupply, and left it in 85-degree heat. Here is exactly what happened over five days.
The Yeti Tundra costs roughly three times more than the Igloo BMX. We ran both on the same camping weekend to find out if you are paying for ice retention or just a logo.
Soft coolers leak, go limp on the second day, and lose ice by noon. Here is what I learned after switching to the Igloo BMX for every camping trip.
We drove 6 hours to a remote site with no resupply option. Here is how the Igloo BMX held up when warm food was not an option.
The ice dies on day two. You lose the steaks, the milk goes warm, and someone drives to the nearest gas station for a bag of cubes that lasts six hours. It does not have to go that way. Here is the exact packing method I use on every trip to stretch ice from two days to four or five.
After a full camping season with the Igloo BMX, here is the unfiltered truth: the quirks, the limits, and the one thing that surprised me most.
I ran the Lepro 1000LM LED lantern on every camping trip from April through October. Here is what held up, what surprised me, and the one thing I'd change.
The Lepro LED camping lantern costs half what the Black Diamond Moji does. We ran both on the same campsite to see if the name-brand is worth paying for.
Still buying D batteries for your camp lantern? Here is what you are paying for, what you are losing, and why the Lepro 1000LM rechargeable changes the math entirely.
Eleven years of filling propane canisters, cleaning mantles, and smelling like fuel every camping trip. It took one Friday night to end all of that.
A practical guide to setting up reliable campsite lighting using a rechargeable LED lantern, so you stop buying D batteries and start actually seeing what you are doing after dark.
I took a lumen meter and a stopwatch to the Lepro 1000LM LED lantern. Here are six things the product listing does not tell you, plus the one number that actually matters for a weekend trip.
After twelve months and at least eighteen overnight trips on the Sleepingo inflatable sleeping pad, here is the honest, unfiltered truth about what it does well and where it falls short.
The Therm-a-Rest ProLite costs four times more than the Sleepingo. We tested both on the same trip. Here is what we found.
Sleeping on hard, cold ground wrecks your mornings. Here is why a proper inflatable sleeping pad fixes that and makes everything about your trip better.
Three trips of waking up stiff and sore had me convinced camping was not for adults with bad backs. Then I tried the Sleepingo inflatable sleeping pad and stopped making excuses.
Bad sleep ruins camping trips. Here is the exact setup we use with an inflatable camping sleeping pad to wake up rested on even cold or uneven ground.
After using the Sleepingo ultralight pad on cold-ground, rocky, and sandy sites, here is the unfiltered truth, including the valve problem nobody mentions in the listing, the inflation reality, and exactly who this pad will and will not work for.
I have carried this 7.1-pound brick on 14 weekend camping trips. Here is everything it has done well, everything it has not, and who should actually buy one.
Both sit near the same price point and both claim 300W. Here is what actually separates them after a full season of weekend testing.
Between dead phones, flat air mattresses, and medical devices that need a plug, a portable power station solves problems you did not even know gear could solve.
A baby monitor, a white-noise machine, and a phone charger. That is all we needed. The Jackery Explorer 300 made it work in the middle of a National Forest.
No electric hookup? No problem. A portable power station changes what is possible at a primitive site. Here is the exact setup I use every weekend.
We ran the Jackery Explorer 300 through real camping loads: a fan, LED lights, phone charges, and a 12V tire pump. Here is the unfiltered truth about what 292Wh actually gets you at a campsite, and the two situations where this station will let you down.
After three camping seasons and more campfire nights than I can count, here is the honest truth about this $35 chair.
The listing page tells you about the cooler pocket and the side table. It does not tell you the chair is bigger than most people expect, or that the arm is on a fixed side, or what that cooler pocket actually does in 90-degree heat.
I loaded 20 lbs of ice into the Igloo BMX, drove to a site with no resupply, and left it in 85-degree heat. Here is exactly what happened over five days.
After a full camping season with the Igloo BMX, here is the unfiltered truth: the quirks, the limits, and the one thing that surprised me most.
I ran the Lepro 1000LM LED lantern on every camping trip from April through October. Here is what held up, what surprised me, and the one thing I'd change.
I took a lumen meter and a stopwatch to the Lepro 1000LM LED lantern. Here are six things the product listing does not tell you, plus the one number that actually matters for a weekend trip.
After twelve months and at least eighteen overnight trips on the Sleepingo inflatable sleeping pad, here is the honest, unfiltered truth about what it does well and where it falls short.
After using the Sleepingo ultralight pad on cold-ground, rocky, and sandy sites, here is the unfiltered truth, including the valve problem nobody mentions in the listing, the inflation reality, and exactly who this pad will and will not work for.
I have carried this 7.1-pound brick on 14 weekend camping trips. Here is everything it has done well, everything it has not, and who should actually buy one.
We ran the Jackery Explorer 300 through real camping loads: a fan, LED lights, phone charges, and a 12V tire pump. Here is the unfiltered truth about what 292Wh actually gets you at a campsite, and the two situations where this station will let you down.