The Ultimate Outdoors 2.0: Five Essential Technologies
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GearCrave has the ultimate five technologies available now that will turn your camping adventure into a high-tech retreat. From solar power storing tents to water-purifying water bottles and more, check out our ultimate Outdoors 2.0 gear guide.
The Eureka! solar tent absorbs sunlight by day so you can see at night. The bright LED gives a full eight hours of night-time illumination great for reading, treating your poison ivy, or sizing up your fellow campers for a Donner party-style midnight snack. This tent sleeps six, and the supports are made of ultra-light fiberglass.
Buy for $239.99
Continue reading the Ultimate Outdoors 2.0!!
Leave it to the Swiss to create a water bottle that can save your life. What’s the problem with drinking right out of that stream, pond, or river? All the microbes and other invisible nasties, that’s what. With the Katadyn Extream water purifying bottle, you get all the living organisms filtered out. Just fill it, and drink it.
Buy for $42.70
After the water, you are probably going to want some fire. Go for broke with the Brunton Helios stormproof lighter, which is made to withstand 70mph winds, and gives a whopping 30 thousand lights. You could build campfires for years with one of these. Never mind those matches, this is the flame for you.
Buy for $52.11
The great outdoors does not mean “cut off from civilization” anymore, thanks to theVoltaic solar powered-backpack. The solar panels store up the sun’s energy so you can charge up laptops, the iPhone, and any other rechargable device you carry. The Voltaic comes with eleven different adapters including a cigarette lighter-type adapter, so none of your gadgets are left out in the cold. If you can get a mobile broadband or cell phone signal out there, you can stay connected even when you’re rouging it with the same pair of underwear over and over again.
Buy for $244.95
Jetboil is an ultra-compact butane cooking system that boils two cups of water in two minutes. It’s extremely fuel-efficient, lightweight (15 ounces!), and the burner and cookware are in a single package. It holds a full liter and can cook pre-packaged camping meals, that roadkill you found, or canned food. Not to mention the obvious morning pick-me-up; if you remembered to pack a box of those teabag-style coffee singles, get the Jetboil running and you will be wide awake in no time.
Buy for $71.96.
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Wednesday, October 17, 2007 2:34PM
That solar powered tent light is a fantastic idea!
Friday, January 11, 2008 6:59AM
[...] Camping can be made a lot easier with some great gadgets but sometimes you need to take it up a notch. DWR’s airstream lets you get your road-trip fix in style, taking an Airstream and giving it the interior designer touch, perfect in combo with the new Hummer HX concept. [...]
Sunday, January 13, 2008 8:08PM
I don’t find any of those technologies essential. I sleep under a tarp, filter through a 15 year old filter, with replacement element of course, carry a couple 25 cent lighters, cook over an alcohol stove made from a couple soda cans, and carry it all in a homemade backpack weighing just 9 ounces. The future is ultralight simplicity, not strap 100 lbs of microchipped electronics on your mule.
Tuesday, January 15, 2008 1:09PM
I agree Will Rogers. Backpack under 9oz with a tarp and stove? I think you meant under 9lbs. but your point is correct. Isn’t camping about getting away from it all? Plus, who wants to be a mule? All that gear does is break your back and your wallet.
John Muir traveled the Sierras with the clothes on his back, flour, flint, tarp and hobnailed boots and had a great time and survived.
Thursday, January 17, 2008 9:41PM
The future is doing what you want, where you want to do it, whether that is sleeping under a tarp in your backyard or blogging 50 miles from the nearest human.
Even if you are of the mindset that you need electronic gadgets in the wilderness, you don’t want anything on this list. The tent can be replaced by any tent you want and a $3 LED flashlight. The filter can be picked up anywhere for $25. If you’re in a 70-mph windstorm, you’re not going to get a fire started anyway. The backpack is interesting, but you can add a 12-volt solar panel to any backpack for ~$50 - look in automotive and RV supply stores. The best liquid fueld stoves are the “penny stoves” made from a couple soda cans and burning clean alcohol - they’ll boil 2-cups of water in about 2 minutes too, and they are a tiny fraction of the weight.