Your Camping Gear Could Be Smarter
Not everyone is born for camp. I participate due to peer pressure from friends and a dog who are all outdoor enthusiasts. Whether you love the outdoors or just tolerate it, there are plenty of smart gadgets to make the experience even better. While it may seem counterintuitive to use smart technology while camping, the right technology can make the outdoors more accessible, safer, and even more comfortable.
Smart tent
Even those who venture along the Pacific Coast Trail take technology with them (according to hikers I follow on TikTok, which hits close to home). This technology needs energy, and your tent is a passive way to collect it. Although there were many concept products, it seems that only a few of them made it to the consumer market. Green Origin has two for sale (below) with a flexible solar panel that can be attached to the tent itself. The Dragon V1 Solar Tent was successfully funded on Kickstarter and should be available soon. It also has a solar panel, but it is built into the tent itself. In the future, even these flexible panels will likely become obsolete; fabric with energy harvesting technology woven into the fabric itself will be used to make tents as well as clothing .
Smart refrigerators
Refrigerators used to be a race against time, managing chilled and frozen food with ice cubes. Many refrigerators now have built-in power, meaning they can keep the refrigerator at a temperature that allows food to be handled safely and without ice control. In some cases, these coolers can also act as chargers or speakers, or allow you to control the cooler through an app. The ability to designate each section as a refrigerator or freezer means you can use the power you need and keep your food at just the right temperature.
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Anker EverFrost 50 Refrigerator ($949.00)
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Bodega 48-Quart (45-L) Cooler with App Control for Car Refrigerator ($299.99)
Smart lighting
When you’re gathering with friends in the evening to cook, eat, or just relax, you’ll probably want some light—and you have a few options. There are many solar lanterns on the market that simply need to sit for a day to recharge. But for a little more ambiance, bring a power bank and attach some LED lights, as they require less power to operate than other lights.
Wi-Fi on the go
We usually think about having Wi-Fi everywhere we go, and when it’s not available, we fall back to a cellular signal. If you don’t want to lose your wireless plan, you can rely on a backup device that provides a signal over a 4G network and you pay as you go.
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RoamWiFi 4G LTE Mobile Hotspot Router ($143.99)
Power for everything
Going off the grid has really changed now that there are so many portable power stations that give you the ability to charge while you’re away from the solar panel. 1000W units are powerful enough to power most of the devices you’ll use away from home, while still being light enough to move around.