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The River Bank bridges the gap between a small power bank designed to charge your phone and a large portable generator made to power just about everything. It features two USB-C ports and two USB ports as well as a Qi wireless charging pad, so you can charge a laptop, phone, drone, or even jump-start your car. It holds its charge for up to six months and only weighs two pounds.
All you need to charge your phone and cook a camp meal are some sticks—not gas canisters—that’s the beauty of the Campstove 2. It features a 10,000 BTU burner that runs thermal energy generated by a small fire. The heat produced also feeds the on-board 2,600 mAh battery, which can store a full phone charge. We dig the LED dashboard that offers real-time info on fire strength and battery level.
This battery is just four inches long and weighs less than three ounces. It only has one USB port but carries 3,350 mAh of power that will charge your phone once on the fly.
This isn’t much bigger than the palm of your hand, but it puts out 350 lumens of light for up to 250 hours. It also serves as a power bank that can charge your smartphone up to four times. There’s an Android and iOS app that enables you to control the light from your phone.
This has a battery capacity of 1,425 watt-hours and the ability to power everything from your mini fridge to your laptop and camera. It’s incredibly easy to use (there’s an app to control it with your phone and a screen that will give you the estimated run time) and has outputs for every form of power you could think of. At 45 pounds, it isn’t light, but true off-the-grid power has its price.
The Charge 4 is a speaker-and-battery combination, delivering high-quality audio in a portable, waterproof package with 20 hours of playback time. It weighs more than three pounds, so it’s not the lightest speaker on the market, but it also has a 7,500 mAh battery that can charge your phone twice and still leave you with several hours of play time.
We recommended this merino base layer top as a worthwhile splurge item for hiking the PCT. “Having a set of dry, relatively clean clothes to sleep in will keep you warmer and your sleep setup from getting dirty,” wrote PCT hiker, Taylor Gee. Plus, the naturally odor resistant merino wool will keep you feeling clean after long stretches on the trail.
The Moonwalk is Nemo’s solution for bikepacking. The bag is compatible with Nemo’s insulated sleeping pads so it focuses its insulation power to the top, like a duvet. The bag is rated down to 30 degrees, but our tester used the bag in low 20s and said “it proved adequate if a bit underpowered.”
Our contributor Wes Siler recommended this harness as the best option for keeping your dogs safe in the car. The Load Up is “the industry leader when it comes to in-car dog safety,” he writes. It easily attaches to a seatbelt with a thick nylon loop that’s comfortable for your pup.
The Garmin InReach Mini weighs only 3.5 ounces and operates like a full-size Garmin InReach. According to our tester, “It retains the core InReach functionality (two-way messaging, location tracking, weather updates) in a package that is more portable.”
This hoodie takes synthetic insulation to a new level with Marmot’s Thinsulate Featherless insulation. The loose fill is quilted into small compartments to keep it from shifting and matches the performance of 700-fill-power down. But unlike down, this jacket will still keep you warm if it gets wet.
We found this rain shell ideal for travelers in our roundup of the best women’s rain jackets because it looks just as good in town as it does on the trail. The organic cotton and recycled polyester blend has a waxed coating to make it waterproof without a plastic feel.
The Mega Mat Duo is the most comfortable mattress we've used for car camping, hands down. It's a 10-centimeter-thick air pad with memory foam insulation. It’s pricey, but it’s the closest we've come to feeling like we were in our bed at home while camping.
The Turtle Shell can take a beating. It’s waterproof, shockproof, dustproof, and it floats. It comes with multiple strap and mounting options, so you can get boom-box quality sound on your raft, paddleboard, bike, or cooler. Plus, the high capacity lithium-ion battery provides 20 hours of music and acts as a power bank for your phone or other small devices.
The Sentinel AR was one of our favorite pairs of ski pants in our 2020 Winter Buyer’s Guide. With Gore-Tex waterproofing and 100-denier Cordura, they’re mega durable and designed to keep you dry. Plus, “The soft brushed insulation means they can be worn comfortably over thin or thick base layers,” we wrote.
We called the Field Shirt the “Swiss Army knife of utility layers” in our 2018 Holiday Gift Guide. Made from organic cotton twill, the shirt is soft against the skin and holds up to activities like hiking or yard work.
This hoodie is as high-tech as it looks. Packed with quality 850-fill down in the core, the Cerium LT Down has strategically mapped areas with synthetic insulation to resist moisture. You’ll barely notice it in your pack: it weighs just 10.9 ounces.