As every travel enthusiast knows, camping gadgets aren’t just for geeks. If you love nothing more than taking to the open road, soaking up new sights and sounds and you enjoy a few comforts while you’re at it, there’s a cool camping gadget out there for you.
So, if you’re on the lookout for some new tools and tech for the year ahead, you’re in the right place. We’ve put together a list of some great options to suit a variety of travellers including eco-friendly products to help you reduce your impact on our precious planet. In fact, all of our recommendations have been carefully selected for their durability so you can enjoy them on your holidays, and long into the future.
Let’s take a look at some of the best camping gadgets for 2024.
Knister reusable grill
Cooking your dinner under the stars is one of life’s true joys. If, like us, you hate the horrifically wasteful grass-damaging disposable BBQs, and want a grill that is produced in an environmentally-friendly way then look no further than the Knister reusable grill.
This cool camping gadget cooks food for three to four people beautifully and it packs away to half its size. It can even be mounted comfortably to the handlebars of a bike or carried easily by hand. With a slick retro design outdoor cooking never looked so good. Now it’s down to you to not burn those bangers.
Find out more and buy the Knister grill.
Luci Outdoor 2.0 Pro Inflatable Solar Light
A robust light is a must for every camping trip. If you’re going to invest in a torch or lamp and would like it to be fully waterproof, lightweight and durable then the Luci Outdoor 2.0 Pro Inflatable Solar Light is a very safe bet. Retailing at around £25 and packing down to a teeny one-inch this handy camping gadget more than earns its place in your backpack.
Four settings give you good control over brightness and all are more than enough to illuminate even the largest of tents or motorhomes. It’s super simple to inflate and deflate and an adjustable bottom strap allows you to attach it to a variety of places without a hook. It's completely solar powered, charging in just seven hours in direct sunlight, is fully rechargeable and lasts up to 24 hours on the lowest setting.
Find out more and buy the Luci Outdoor 2.0 Pro Inflatable Solar Light.
Goal Zero Nomad 5 Solar Panel
While it's great to be off-grid it’s also a pain when your phone dies or your torch runs out of power. Step forward the Goal Zero Nomad 5 Solar Panel! This highly-portable 5 Watt monocrystalline solar panel weighs just 360g and measures a wee 9.9 x 7x0.8 inches, has a USB output of 5V, up to 830mA (5W max) and is durable and hard-wearing. It is also surprisingly affordable, retailing at around £50.
The Goal Zero Nomad 5 Solar Panel comes with a handy kickstand so you can put it up on a variety of surfaces and get the angle just right. It stores away easily and has an exterior attachment point so you can strap it to your pack or hang it in your motorhome. All of the above make it one of the best camping gadgets for 2024 in our book.
Find out more and buy the Goal Zero Nomad 5 Solar Panel.
BioLite CampStove 2
Harness the power of pine cones with this innovative camping stove. Simply gather twigs, sticks and other available burnable biomass, fill the stove and light it and you’re in business. This ingenious camping gadget boils one litre of water in 4.5 minutes and generates 5V of power through a USB Output which is more than enough to charge a couple of phones.
You can control the temperature by changing the fan speeds with the push of a button which not only gives you a better chance at saving those bangers from an untimely cremation but also feels like a more authentic campfire cooking experience.
The BioLite CampStove 2 is easy to clean and weighs around a kilogram. It cools down nice and quickly and reportedly holds the battery charge for around six months. The LED dashboard even tells you how much charge you have left.
Find out more and buy the BioLite CampStove 2. You can also buy the BioLite CampStove 2 with a complete cooking kit.
ENO DoubleNest Hammock
Hammocks encapsulate many of the wonderful things about a motorhome or camping holiday. That feeling of just melting into the fabric, suspended in space and no doubt looking over an awe-inspiring vista… it really is hard to beat.
The ENO DoubleNest Hammock makes our list of recommendations for the best camping gadgets for 2024 for a number of reasons. Unfurling at 9' 4" x 6' 2" it is super spacious (share with your loved one or just sprawl out, it’s up to you!), it's amazingly durable, packs away to a very modest 5”x5” and weighs just over 500 grams.
Add to this the fact that it dries quickly and comes in a variety of vibrant colours and you’ve got a hammock to brighten up any holiday.
Find out more and buy the ENO DoubleNest Hammock.
Grayl Geopress water purifier
If you’re still using single-use plastic water bottles, stop this instant! We humans use around 1.2 million plastic bottles per minute and approximately 91% of plastic is not currently recycled so why not do your bit for the environment and invest in a great reusable water bottle?
As you’ll know there are plenty of excellent non-purifying options on the market but if you are going to be heading into the wilds without a reliable water source consider investing in the Grayl Geopress water purifier.
Retailing at around £85, this camping gadget is on the pricier end of what you might think of paying for a water bottle, but hear us out. This fabulous innovation uses electroabsorption media technology in the purifier cartridge to catch unwanted contaminants including pesticides, chemicals, heavy metals and microplastics as well as waterborne pathogens like cholera, salmonella and dysentery.
You can take your water from a lake, tap, river or any water source in the outer bottle and push it through the inner bottle forcing the dirty water through the purifier. Within ten seconds the resulting ion exchange binds any viruses and bacteria while the activated carbon soaks up any chemicals, and unwelcome flavours and odours. They look pretty slick, too.
Find out more and buy the Grayl Geopress water purifier.
So we reach the end of our picks for the best camping gadgets for 2024. As you can imagine we could have included at least five dozen other recommendations for tech wizardry and gorgeous creature comforts to make your holidays even more memorable and fun. But we had to stop somewhere.
While we have deliberately chosen products that don’t take up too much space in your backpack or vehicle we all know that the stuff you need and want for your camping trip really does accumulate. The good news is, if you have your own campervan or motorhome you benefit from that bit of extra space to put those cosy blankets, handy cooking tools, journey-enhancing contraptions and so forth. If you don't have your own vehicle why not head on over to our motorhome-for-hire listings and find your dream travel companion today?
Next, check out the best gifts for motorhome owners and other road trip enthusiasts!
