The Best New Camping Gear at REI (2026): Tents, Coolers, Bikes, More Leave a comment

Ask most individuals what they love about tenting, and so they most likely received’t let you know about how straightforward it’s to arrange their tent or how lengthy the ice lasts of their Yeti. Sure, your tent ought to go up shortly, and your cooler ought to preserve issues chilly, however then ideas of substances ought to fade away as you deal with having fun with paddleboarding, mountain climbing, or studying in a hammock.

The key to success is gear you may set and overlook. REI’s newest tenting gear guarantees to just do that—and does so with out costing a fortune. The co-op’s 2026 line of tenting and mountain climbing gear provides some new merchandise, together with updates to outdated favorites. I’ve spent the previous couple of months placing most of the REI’s objects by their paces, and the next emerged as my favorites.

A Sturdy, Household-Pleasant Automobile Tenting Tent

The Westward 6 is a spacious, family-friendly tent for three-season tenting. It has a cross-pole design and comfortably sleeps two adults, three youngsters, and one canine. It might theoretically match six adults, although that will really feel crowded. Setup is comparatively easy, due to the color-coded poles. After you’ve accomplished the method a couple of times, you’ll be capable of arrange your tent in 10 minutes flat. One caveat: In the event you’re anticipating inclement climate throughout your tenting journey, you need to spend the additional time to stake the tent, particularly the guylines on the rainfly. However even with this additional step, setup is about so simple as it will get.

The 77-inch peak peak means you received’t must crouch as you progress round inside, and the massive entrance vestibule offers area to retailer soiled gear, which helps preserve the tent’s inside clear and fewer cluttered. There are many storage pockets across the tent for stashing gear, plus a clip suspended within the heart that may assist a heavy-duty lantern. With two doorways, every of which additionally has home windows, there’s loads of air flow while you want it, and the tent’s mild blue shade retains issues comparatively cool, even in direct daylight. The bug-proof mesh paneling on the partitions, doorways, and home windows additionally helps with temperature management, permitting heat air to vent out the highest of the tent quite than turning the entire thing right into a greenhouse. For smaller teams, there’s additionally the Westward 4, which is basically the identical nice tent, only a smidge smaller.

A Luxurious Tenting Pad for Much less

REI’s Westward Dreamer Self-Inflating Mattress is the perfect deal round for a luxurious camp pad. My prime decide camp pad, the Therm-a-Relaxation MondoKing, is barely higher at insulating warmth (having an R-value of seven to the Dreamer’s 6.7), however for summertime use, the $60 cheaper Dreamer is the higher purchase. This up to date model (it was beforehand known as the REI Camp Dreamer XL) now features a restore equipment and an improved valve system, which makes fine-tuning its inflation degree a lot simpler. (Professional tip: Don’t overinflate these outsized pads, as they’re extra snug once they have some give.)

The Dreamer conveniently comes with a duffel-bag–model stuff sack that makes it simpler to hold round (and gathering it into the bag isn’t too powerful). The included inflation sack is among the larger and higher choices you’ll discover in a pad like this. It requires about 4 luggage stuffed with air to get the pad to a pleasant agency begin, which you’ll be able to then alter to your choice by letting out air till it’s at your very best degree.

A Heat Sleeping Bag

My favourite sleeping bag for automotive tenting, REI’s Siesta Hooded 20, is an impressively versatile bag, due to its double zipper system. There’s a full-length zipper, which implies you may flip it right into a quilt on hotter nights, and there’s additionally a second partial-length zipper on the opposite facet, so you may have extra airflow while you need it. The Siesta’s 20-degree-Fahrenheit ranking makes it heat sufficient to be used in three seasons in most locations. And in contrast to most rectangular luggage, the Siesta has a hood, which helps on these chilly nights.

Because of the Siesta’s heat and wider form, you may skip shopping for a restrictive mummy bag for a visit to your native campground. Why cramp your self if there’s no want? The Siesta’s rectangular lower makes for a a lot roomier, extra snug bag. The Siesta is manufactured from recycled polyester all through, with a polyester filling. Regardless of that, the liner on this bag is noticeably softer than many others we’ve examined.

A Light-weight Sleeping Bag

When the Siesta could be overkill—as could be the case proper now, in the midst of July—the Campwell 30 is a superb choice. REI’s complete budget-friendly Campwell line proves that 1000’s of {dollars}’ price of substances and efficiency clothes aren’t stipulations for out of doors adventuring. Somewhat, you simply want stuff that’ll preserve you heat and dry. The Campwell 30 sleeping bag can just do that, dealing with your summer season tenting journeys, no drawback. It’s a lot heat—you may unzip it utterly to make use of like a double quilt, and it packs sufficiently small to avoid wasting you from worrying about area in your trunk.

The Cadillac of Coolers

Who doesn’t need a Yeti cooler? The model’s Tundra, the rotomolded Cadillac of coolers, has been on the prime of our information to the perfect coolers for years. I just like the Roadie for the wheels. What many individuals overlook is that these large coolers get actually heavy (the Roadie 60 weighs 68 kilos while you pack it with ice—and that’s earlier than you set in your meals), and with out wheels, they’re a headache. Get the wheels, belief me.

The wheels are unimaginable too. Even on bumpy floor, the Roadie simply rolls round easily. The Yeti is kind of merely one of the simplest ways to maintain issues chilly for all of your out of doors adventures, whether or not which means a day on the seashore, a week-long tenting journey, or a highway journey that lasts all summer season. In the event you don’t want the family-size capability of the 60, you can go for the smaller Yeti Roadie 48 or Roadie 32. All three fashions share the identical primary design with the deal with on the lengthy facet and an included basket to retailer dry items away out of your ice.

Summer season Solar Safety

I detest carrying sunscreen. So once I’m exterior, I ensure to put on a solar hoodie, like REI’s Sahara Shade hoodie. Or I used to, earlier than my daughter stole mine from me. Now she wears it whereas instructing crusing in the course of the summer season, since boats are usually quick on shade. The Sahara Shade makes use of REI’s ShadeFactor50, a UPF50+ cloth that’s additionally good, comfortable, and light-weight. It’s additionally stretchy, permitting a great vary of motion, and its thumbholes preserve the sleeves from driving up and exposing your arms.

The unique model continues to be accessible, however I believe this 12 months’s new kinds, which I chosen right here (regular-fit males’s and straight-hem girls’s), are a bit nicer. The thumbholes are redesigned, and there’s additionally now a ponytail gap within the hood.

Moar Energy

If you’re attempting to work from the highway—whether or not which means overlanding full-time or simply for just a few days—you want a dependable energy system that may deal with your entire private gadgets, a conveyable fridge, a water pump, a Starlink gadget, and extra. Aim Zero’s latest model of its Yeti 1500 transportable energy station has all the pieces you want: a battery, a cost controller, and a 2,000-watt inverter. It even has automated energy switching for those who do have entry to shore energy.

This is among the best-built and hardest energy stations I’ve examined. It’s stood up effectively to life in a automobile. It was particularly designed to outlive high-vibration environments, like residing in your van or off-road automobile. The battery makes use of lithium iron phosphate, which has an extended cycle life than different chemistries (Aim Zero claims 4,000 cost cycles to 80 %).

A Implausible Bike for Children

I’ve three youngsters, and through the years, I’ve purchased a complete of eight bikes for them. The Rev 24 is, fingers down, the perfect of the bunch. It’s a surprisingly well-designed, well-built bike for the worth, with a pleasant body, quite a lot of accessible colours, high quality Shimano and Tektro elements, and a modern look. With 24-inch wheels and a couple of.6-inch tires, the Rev 24 is a succesful bike for many 8- to 12-year-olds (it ought to match kids within the 4’2″ to 4’10” peak vary). I used to be just a little skeptical of the worth of two.6-inch tires on a 24-inch wheel, however my son loves that he can roll over surfaces he couldn’t on narrower tires. The Rev 24 has undoubtedly elevated his confidence as a rider, particularly on rougher terrain.

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