�����ԹϺ���

If backpacking is a minimalistic pursuit, car camping is a celebration of excess. Thanks to trunk space and truck beds, racks and rails, campers have room for all the essentials—plus some luxurious extras. For outdoor enthusiasts with outsized toy collections, there’s no better way to travel.

Whether you’re chasing swell, singletrack, steelhead, or some other white rabbit, this top-rated, thoroughly-tested camping gear will ensure that you feel right at home no matter where you choose to park it.

Updated March, 2025: We added four new picks to our list and updated product information and pricing throughout.��

At a Glance

• How We Test
• Meet Our Testers

Helinox Beach Chair

Weight: 3.4 lbs (packed)

Pros and Cons:
⊕ Comfortable
⊕ Stable
⊗ Low to the ground
⊗ Cumbersome setup

After an embarrassing and painful incident involving hot pizza, an affable black lab, and a tippy camp chair, we’ve come to appreciate stability in camp furniture. Thanks to a low-slung design and wide, splayed feet for beachside buoyancy, the Helinox Beach Chair is stable and secure, even when you lean back.

The stout yet lightweight anodized aluminum frame is tilted at the perfect reclined angle for comfort and support. (It’s also crafted by the same folks who make your favorite tent poles, and rated up to 320 pounds.) The hard-wearing, 600-denier polyester fabric stretches between the four poles, cradling the rump and lumbar with hammock-like suspension. There’s even a headrest flap to turn your puffy into a pillow. In a word, we find the Beach Chair napable.

Demerits are few and far between.. Although the setup of the frame is painless, stretching the fabric seat into place requires some tugging. Additionally, the chair is so low and comfortable that it’s best suited for campfire lounging over mealtime or card games ‘round a camp table.

Xtratuf Riptide Unisex Sandal

Weight: 8 oz (men’s 8)
Sizes: men’s 4-14; women’s 6-16

Pros and Cons

⊕ Lightweight
⊕ Comfortable
⊗ Heel strap isn’t adjustable

A more streamlined and stylish alternative to the ubiquitous, crocodile-stamped clogs, Xtratuf’s Riptide Sandal is the car camping slip-on you never knew you needed. It’s so versatile, our testers continued to wear the Riptide well after testing was wrapped.

Pair it with a cozy sock, and it’s a comfy camp slipper. Walk the dog or go for a little hike, and the heel strap keeps your foot locked in place while the textured outsole provides a modicum of traction. The foam construction is comfortable for all-day use and floats, too, making these a welcome replacement for water shoes on paddle and rafting adventures. Hell, one of our testers did his first kickflip in over a decade wearing these things.

“They’re super lightweight, flexible, and comfortable. I use them for everything from my sandals on backpacking trips to a slipper for midnight bathroom runs when I’m camping in my van,” reported one Tahoe-based gear tester. Our biggest gripe is that “sport mode,” as it were, is permanently engaged. If you try to slip into the Riptide without pulling the heel strap in place, you’re inevitably stepping down on the strap, which isn’t comfortable for more than a minute or two.

Onwrd Supply ON2 Single Seat Organizer

Weight: 5.5 lbs

Pros and Cons
⊕ Modular design
⊕ Durable
⊕ Hidden laptop compartment
⊕ Adjustable components
⊗ Expensive
⊗ Patches felt unnecessary

Smart car campers stay organized and turn underused nooks and crannies into dedicated gear storage. Onwrd Supply’s ON2 Single Seat Organizer helps tick both of those boxes. The system is built around an adventure-proof, 900-denier base panel designed to hang over most driver and passenger seats (we also tested it by hanging it on the backdoor of a custom van build and the wall of a gear room).

The panel features a flat, stealthy zippered pocket for hiding your laptop or other valuables—a welcome and unexpected stash spot for the wary wanderer. The main attraction? Six rows of MOLLE-style velcro loops, which are designed to house and hold Onwrd’s ever-expanding lineup of modular components. The result, according to our test team, is a system that’s endlessly customizable.

The ON2 comes with six components, including a water bottle holder (which we also used as a mini trash can), an insulated soft cooler perfect for refrigerating gas station booty, an organizer that doubles as a briefcase and triples as a shoulder bag, a nifty tool roll, and a collapsible tote that saved us from having to buy plastic grocery bags on multiple occasions. The seventh is a patch kit that, honestly, we could’ve done without, especially if that kept the price more palatable. We care less about the aesthetic of a seat organizer than its gear-hauling abilities, but that’s the beauty of modular systems—to each their own.

Radius Outfitters Camp Seatback Laundry Bag

Weight: 1.5 lbs

Pros and Cons
⊕ Various hanging options
⊕ Breathable, odor-proof mesh
⊕ Versatile
⊗ Expensive

What to do with dirty laundry while camping? If the answer is to cram it in an airtight bag or bin, sealing it off like radioactive waste in a nuclear entombment facility, we have a less stinky solution: the Radius Outfitters Camp Seatback Laundry Bag.

Like all of the Radius Outfitters gear we’ve tested over the years, the Camp Seatback Laundry Bag is well-made and off-road-ready. A combo of thin yet bomber straps, g-hooks, and velcro allow you to hang the bag on seatbacks, grab handles, tree branches, and more.

The mouth of the bag is robust and rigid, while the mesh portion is collapsible. Crafted from a resilient PVC material, the mesh is strong and, most importantly on longer adventures, breathable and aroma-proof. There’s even a zipper down the center, so you can empty the guts from the bottom of the bag or access a specific item without digging through every sweat-soaked sock and garment.

For longer-term trips or full-time vanlifers, this useful accessory lets you stay on top of your laundry. But don’t let the word’s “Laundry Bag” fool you. This utilitarian accessory won’t be pigeonholed, and along countless road trips, we’ve also deployed it as a trash can, recycling bin, ski pole receptacle, you name it. It is, however, more expensive than the sleeping bag stuff sacks we’ve been using for camp laundry.

Nemo Double Haul Convertible Duffel and Tote

Weight: 3.1 lbs (55L)
Sizes: 30L, 55L, 70L, 100L

Pros and Cons
⊕ Multiple carry options
⊕ Wide range of sizes
⊕ Durable recycled polyurethane-coated nylon fabric
⊕ Mesh pockets helpful for smart camp storage
⊗ Soft-sided storage isn’t ideal for electronics

We tested plenty of gear boxes and bags last summer and fall, but Nemo’s Double Haul Duffel was a shoo-in favorite thanks to its brilliant design that transforms this bag from duffel to pack to tote.

“The options are outrageous,” commented tester and outdoor photographer Katie Botwin, who chucked her camera gear, clothes, watercolor supplies, and hiking essentials in the 100-liter version for a three-day trip in the Sierra and still had volume to spare. Her personal favorite hauling configuration was backpack mode: the comfy, cushioned straps made hauling the heavy pack a breeze and simultaneously freed up her hands.

Others preferred to unzip and prop the Double Haul open, converting it into a massive, rectangularly-mouthed tote. Thanks to the rigid trusses incorporated into the lid of the bag, the Double Haul stays open and doesn’t flap in transit, allowing you to pack heaps of gear in this thing when it’s in tote mode.

We also appreciated the interior and exterior organizational mesh pockets and included zippered storage sack, which doubles as a gear organizer for smaller essentials otherwise destined to disappear in a 100-liter duffel.

Testers agreed that the ability to sling the Double Haul over the shoulder like a traditional duffel or grab the reinforced handles when loading the rig only increased its utility for serious expedition use. “I’d happily use this for backyard car camping trips, international mountaineering trips, and everything in between,” summed up Botwin.

The Bluesign-approved, polyurethane-coated recycled nylon fabric was durable and weatherproof, according to Utah overlander and aircraft mechanic Emerson Bowling, who tested the 55 liter version on trips to Wyoming, Montana, and throughout his home state.

“It got rained on for about eight hours when I left the bag outside overnight after a few too many campfire beers with some friends. Luckily, everything inside was completely dry after my dumb mistake.”

Rux Waterproof Bag

��

Weight: 1.2 lbs
Volume: 25L

Pros and Cons
⊕ Inner liner unfurls into a roll-top dry bag
⊕ Heavy-duty
⊕ Waterproof
⊗ Expensive

At first glance, Rux’s Waterproof Bag looks like an overpriced tote. But this sack is burly, crafted from a waterproof, resilient, 840-denier TPU-coated nylon, and sports sturdy handles and lash points. The best feature? A hidden liner that unfurls into a roll-top dry bag, boosting carrying capacity, increasing camping utility, and justifying the price tag. “If James Bond had a tote bag this would be it,” said one tester. “Technical yet simple, rugged yet sophisticated.”

Impressed by the two-in-one bag’s durability and waterproofing, testers also used this bag for hauling wet surf gear. “Never went to the river surf wave without it,” commented one. He appreciated that he could count on the bag to keep his change of clothes and personal effects dry while he was surfing, then stash his wet gear on the way home.

“It’s ideal for vanlifers, car campers, and everyday adventurers—you can use it tote-style to haul groceries one day and as a dry bag the next.”

Radius Outfitters Tool Roll

Weight: 2.5 lbs

Pros and Cons
⊕ Construction is rugged, easy to clean
⊕ A variety of pockets and sleeves
⊕ Cinching straps ensure any tool stays put
⊗ Pricey

The Radius Outfitters Tool Roll is “a great way to keep your vehicle tools organized,” according to Utah overlander and aircraft mechanic Emerson Bowling. “You can carry a surprising amount of tools for how small this packs,” he reported, noting that if you do carry a smaller kit, the roll’s cinching straps still allow you to batten down the hatches and ensure a rattle-free ride.

That said, Bowling filled it to the brim, and he was subsequently appreciative of the three stacks of tool sleeves–his go-to for stashing wrenches, adjustable wrenches, a ratchet, and a pipe wrench that he joked doubles as his hammer. He also loved the multiple zippered pockets: In the two narrower pockets, he carries a screwdriver with interchangeable apex tips, sockets, wire stripper-crimper tool, and hex key set, while the massive main zippered compartment holds consumables like wiring, connectors, duct tape, and other bits and bobs.

Although the simple yet well-executed design earned two thumbs up from Bowling, it’s the roll’s construction that makes the piece worthy of trailhead show-and-tell with fellow off-road-trippers. “The materials they chose for this are top-notch,” said Bowling, referencing a durable Cordura exterior fabric and easy-to-clean PVC interior. “They’re nice to the touch yet hold up well to heavy use, and tools don’t mar up the inside at all.”

Gregory Alpaca Gear Wagon

��

Weight: 28.8 lbs
Volume: 140L

Pros and Cons
⊕ Collapsible construction
⊕ Heavy-duty build and 8-inch wheels
⊕ Can handle 250-lb load
⊗ Can get bogged down on sand
⊗ Pricey

While Gregory is best known for its backpacks, its new Alpaca Gear Collection of totes, gear boxes, and storage solutions is a slam-dunk. Our favorite piece of Gregory camping gear? The collapsible 140-liter Gear Wagon, which sits on beefy, eight-inch, all-terrain wheels, can haul 250 pounds of gear, and folds up to fit in a relatively easy-to-store carrying case. “It collapses small enough that we can easily pack it car camping in our Subaru Outback,” noted outdoor photographer Katie Botwin.

While recovering from back-to-back shoulder and knee injuries, Botwin relied on the wagon heavily, whether she was packing for a camping trip, unloading groceries, or organizing equipment for a photo shoot. It makes camping easier for everyone else, too.

“If you’re tent camping, and the site is a short walk from the car, or you’re heading to the beach for a picnic, the wagon will save you time and energy–and maybe save you from an injury of your own,” said category manager Drew Zieff, who appreciated this wagon’s ability to navigate especially rugged terrain.

Testers’ sole complaint was that the wheels could be overwhelmed in deep sand, especially when the wagon load was imbalanced toward the rear.

Therm-A-Rest Honcho Poncho Kids

Weight: 11.5 oz

Pros and Cons
⊕ Comes in kids-specific sizing
⊕ Available in rad colors and animal prints
⊗ Expect it to get covered in sticky s’mores

Last year, we included the adult version of Therm-A-Rest’s Honcho Poncho Down—a campfire cloak that’s admittedly silly, but extremely comfortable. This year, the brand released a kid’s version that’s stuffed with synthetic, hollow-fiber insulation and designed to fit most five to 10-year-olds. If our adult testers loved the Honcho Poncho, our kid testers were borderline elated.

According to one Bend-based tester, her 7-year-old kiddo loved the snug, warm poncho during afternoon thunderstorms and late-night meteor showers on a road trip to Montana. “It was uncharacteristically cold and wet in southwest Montana, so this poncho got more use than expected,” she reported. “We probably wouldn’t have stayed up to see the Perseids meteor shower if it wasn’t for this poncho—it added the warmth and fun factor needed to stay up late.”

Mom’s one gripe? The Poncho’s “billowy sleeves” will inevitably get spattered with s’mores. “After a few weeks of use, we definitely have several marshmallow goo stains.”

UCO Flatpack Smokeless Firepit & Grill

��

Weight: 14.9 lbs

Pros and Cons
⊕ Rugged construction
⊕ Packs flat, easy to store
⊕ Firepit doubles as a grill
⊗ Sharp metal can cut your fingers

This is a packable, multi-purpose fire pit primed for any car camper or vanlifer who enjoys a contained campfire, has limited trunk space, and prefers an open-flame char.“It’s perfect for sunset beach hangs with friends,” reported a vanlifer and gourmet chef who took the UCO Flatpack Smokeless Firepit & Grill on a circuitous California-to-Colorado road trip. He loved that the flat-packing design was easy to set up, take down, store, and clean.

Durability was excellent, which our tester vetted by chucking the firepit off a 40-foot cliff at San Onofre, confirming “it’s still sturdy as a rock” after retrieving it from the ravine. He happily noted that the pit fit several full-sized logs, and nerded out over the double-wall construction and smoke-siphoning air channels.

“The design allows the sediment to flow down and not accumulate, and there’s good airflow, which is ideal for the burn,” he reported.

Luno Packable Camp Pillow

Weight: 2.8 lbs

Pros and Cons
⊕ Comfy
⊕ Compressible
⊕ Easy-to-clean, two-sided pillowcase
⊗ Pricey
⊗ Smaller than your pillow at home

Smaller and more compressible than your average pillow at home, at 24-by-13-by-6.5 inches (flat), Luno’s Packable Camp Pillow is a worthy addition to any camping setup. “I was asleep within six minutes of unboxing,” reported one tester, a Sierra hut keeper and snowboard guide.

A shredded memory foam filling makes it soft; those scraps are also removable, enabling campers to customize firmness to taste. The pillow also comes with an easy-to-clean two-sided pillowcase: one side is a polyester jersey blend meant for warmer weather, and the other is a polyester spandex blend best employed on chilly nights.

Dometic GO Area Camp Light

��

Weight: 1.2 lbs

Pros and Cons
⊕ Area light, hanging lantern, or flashlight
⊕ Color and brightness settings help find lost gear, set the mood, or banish bugs
⊕ Removable, replaceable light diffuser
⊗ Pricey
⊗ Bulky

This 400-lumen lantern sports four brightness settings, eight color settings (including an amber option that doesn’t attract bugs), and a hook and handle combo for a multitude of carry and campground possibilities.

Category manager Drew Zieff, who took the Area Camp Light on a van trip down Highway 1, loved the misted plastic light diffuser, which softens and spreads the otherwise brilliant bare light. “When I’m trying to keep a low-profile camping in a residential neighborhood, the diffused glow comes in clutch–plus, it’s easy on the eyes, whether you’re having dinner at camp, reading before bed, or putzing around at dawn, looking for a bar of surf wax while your partner sleeps in,” reported Zieff.

Another tester took the lantern on a climbing trip in the Sierra and offered similar praise. He loved the vibe-enhancing color settings, “soft and pleasant” dimmable light, long-lasting battery life, and USB output. If your speaker or phone is running low on juice, you can plug into the lamp and charge up.

Yeti Loadout GoBox 60 Gear Case

��

Weight: 17.2 lbs

Pros and Cons
⊕ Removable divider and caddy
⊕ Built-in pockets in the lid
⊕ Durable
⊗ Expensive
⊗ Few included accessories

Yeti is famous for its bombproof coolers. But if you’re storing gear instead of beer, the uninsulated Loadout GoBox 60 Gear Case is cooler than any cooler. The cargo box is pricey (who’s surprised?), but our testers found the cost to be worth it. For one thing, the GoBox comes with multiple zippered storage pockets integrated into the lid, a removable divider, and a partitioned caddy. That made it easy to stay organized both in camp and on the road.

On a surf road trip from Canada to California, we filled the box with bulky gear like ratchet straps, a massage roller, and tools, and we organized smaller items—like fin screws, fin keys, and wax—in the compartmentalized pockets and caddy. Testers loved the organization system, but they did wish the GoBox 60 came with multiple caddies and dividers rather than just the one each. That said, you can always accessorize further by tacking on more pricey extras at checkout. (An is $15, a , $20.)

Testers found the hard plastic box quite durable. It meets IP65 and IP67 ratings—meaning it’s dust-proof and submersible to one meter for up to 30 minutes. It’s also quite sturdy. “A couple of days after filling the tub with tools, I found myself using those tools (and the GoBox as a step-stool) for an hour to fix a broken surf rack on the van,” reported category manager Drew Zieff.

He appreciated that the build was sturdy enough to hold his 155-pound frame, though later research revealed Yeti doesn’t recommend standing on the GoBox—perhaps because heavier folks can max out the plastic lid. It’s not a bad suggestion: the longer, skinnier dimensions of the box feel a little tippy, so it’s generally best deployed as a camp stool rather than a casting platform while fly fishing. But in our experience, the impact-resistant plastic was sturdy enough to take a bit of beating and show no worse for wear.

Nocs Provisions Field Tube

��

Weight: 8 oz.

Pros and Cons
⊕ Easy to use
⊕ Compact
⊕ Focus dial is smooth and intuitive
⊗ Too big or bulky for certain ultralight adventures
⊗ Pricey

The Nocs Provisions Field Tube is the definition of big fun in a small package. The fog- and waterproof monocular is five inches long with a 32-millimeter front lens, making it packable for road trips, day hikes, and car camping adventures. The simple, one-handed design is intuitive, too—just look through the eyecup, aim, and roll the smooth, outsized focus wheel to dial in sharpness and clarity through the multi-coated lenses.

The monocular boosts vision with either 8x or 10x magnification, depending on the version you choose, and provides crisp visuals. We found it handy for everything from scoping potential campsites to spontaneous bird- and whale-watching outings, although dedicated birders may prefer the , which we also tested and appreciated.

But for its price and convenience for most in-camp uses, the monocular won out. “I could watch fish rise from way down river in California, and check out waves from way up the beach on the Oregon coast,” reported one tester.

The North Face Base Camp Gear Box

��

Weight: 4.1 lbs

Pros and Cons
⊕ Sets up and packs down quickly
⊕ Folds flat for efficient storage
⊕ Duffle-style grab handles
⊕ Multiple compartments for smaller gear
⊗ Doesn’t hold as much weight as hard-sided storage cubes

From hauling ski boots to organizing climbing gear, The North Face’s Base Camp Gear Bins are infinitely useful. (We tested the 65-liter medium size, but the Base Camp is also available in a for $175 and a for $99.)�� “It’s like a picnic basket—but for gear,” noted one tester.

She added that she loved the multiple carry options. When loads are light, the ergonomic, duffle-style carry handles enable one-handed hauling from trunk to campsite. When you’ve got more cargo, the reinforced grab handles on all four sides of the box come in handy: they let us carry up to 45 pounds without issue

The Base Camp sports four internal mesh pockets, which let us organize small items like headlamps or sunscreen, and the water- and abrasion-resistant, TPU-coated polyester fabric features a transparent window so you can remember what you’ve stashed inside. The lid and base of the box are both padded, inspiring one tester to flip the empty box open and use it as a changing mat in gravel and concrete parking lots.

Aside from a trace of dirt and grime, the fabric is no worse for wear.�� The soft-sided box retains its shape thanks to a pair of foldable metal kickstands, which pop up or stow away in seconds. The resulting structure is sturdy enough to stack gear on top, though not sturdy enough to stand on.

How We Test

• Testers: 15
• Products Tested: 55
• Miles Road-Tripped: Approximately 17,144
• Highest Elevation Driven: 11,000 feet
• Longest Road Trip: A 2,500-mile, detour-stacked adventure down the California coast, through Nevada, Utah, and Colorado
• Longest Stint on the Road: Eight weeks

To find the best camping gear and accessories of the year, we enlisted a diverse crew of road-tripping testers, ranging from a wildfire-chasing podcaster in the Pacific Northwest, to outdoor photographers in California, to a Utah-based aircraft mechanic who works on his overland rig in Utah’s Uintas.

Road-tripping and car-camping rigs were similarly diverse. They ranged from the two-door Nissan Versa—an atypical adventure mobile that only turns heads when it’s putzing along in your blind spot—to a handful of double-take-worthy machines, including a well-loved 2000 Toyota Tundra with a platform camper bed; a 2006 Chevy Express with 30-inch topper and wood stove; a custom-built 2008 Sprinter 3500; a powerful 2021 GMC Canyon Diesel with a camper shell; a 2023 Ford Bronco Badlands; and more. One even included a Sprinter van made famous on the hit Netflix show “.”

We asked this squad to hit the road, put 42 products to the test, and report back. After road trips, surf chases, bike journeys, camping weekends, and more, they filled out review forms. Testers rated gear on a quantitative scale for aspects like durability and practicality, and dove deep on qualitative feedback, discussing everything from pros and cons to installation woes and favorite features. Finally, our category manager, Drew Zieff, sifted through these review forms, picked winning products, then penned the reviews on this page.

Meet Our Testers

Drew Zieff

is a Tahoe-based freelancer who writes for Backcountry Magazine, REI, Gear Junkie, and Forbes, among others. A regular �����ԹϺ��� contributor, he heads our snowboard gear coverage in the winter. A few years back, he and his partner turned a plumbing van into their dream adventure mobile. After a couple years of vanlife, the highlight of which was surfing from Canada to Mexico, the couple put roots down in Tahoe, though they still take van trips to the coast when there’s swell. Familiar with the needs of both weekend warriors and full-time road trippers, Zieff happily directs our camping accessories and camping kitchen coverage each summer.

Amanda Monthei

is a writer, public information officer on wildfires, and the host of the podcast. A former wildland firefighter herself, she applies knowledge gleaned from the front lines to educate the public. She’s written about wildfires and natural disasters for �����ԹϺ��� as well as NBC, The Atlantic, and The Washington Post. She’s also an avid angler, surfer, and skier, and she pens stories on a range of outdoor subjects. Monthei tested gear while camping for business and pleasure in her 2000 Tundra throughout the Pacific Northwest.

Cody Buccholz

is a professional chef who enjoys surfing, snowboarding, and adventuring in his 2008 high-top Sprinter with his pup, Jefecito. Even when he’s not slinging gourmet grub, you can often find Buccholz posted up in a beach or trailhead parking lot, whipping up savory meals for new and old friends. He tested a small mountain of gear while on a long, detour-filled road trip from California to Colorado.