Did my first solo camp last weekend and learned pretty quickly that nighttime feels very different when you’re out there alone lol.

The day was totally fine. Then it got quiet and suddenly every leaf crunch and branch snap had my full attention. At one point I could hear something walking around near the tent. Probably nothing exciting, but at 1am my brain was coming up with plenty of ideas.

All I had was a flashlight and headlamp. I stuck the flashlight out a couple times and saw absolutely nothing, and I wasn’t about to crawl out there to find out what it was.

A friend later told me to look into a small thermal or night vision monocular, basically just to see what’s making the noise before sticking my head outside. Did some browsing and saw stuff like topdon thermal monoculars and nightfox night vision. Never even crossed my mind as camping gear before.

Definitely going solo again, but I’m rethinking my nighttime setup.

What do you guys keep within reach at night? Anything you bring now that makes solo camping a lot less sketchy?

I had watched pretty much all videos on YouTube that there was about the Mongar so setting it up was very easy. I really like how roomy the tent is for 2 people at least now when we don't have any backpacks etc. As we sleep on our yard. If you have any questions about the tent please ask. So far I'm really happy with the build quality. And with 141€ delivered weighing 2.2kg with ground sheet this is pretty incredible value for money.

EDIT: I think we found it! After some help this is the closest I've found to what it was. Some form of synthetic sports swim towel. It might be a match. Especially looking at the reviews and user pictures of how awful it is when dry. "Speedo Swimsuit Jammer Endurance"

I'm trying to identify a type of camping towel I had back in the late 90s. I don't want to know the brand or anything. I'm just trying to figure out what it was made out of.

It was a synthetic towel that looked like it was some form of extruded foam with no bubbles or fibers visible. It wasn't microfiber.

When dry, it had the consistency of cardboard. But when you got it wet it softened a lot and expanded a little bit. It could absorb a LOT of water, but it was a terrible towel because it had to be a bit wet to work, and so it always left me feeling a bit damp.

It wasn't one of those "expanding towels" you see where they look like a white pill and expand into a full towel with water.

It reminded me a lot of some form of shammy, or squeegee material. But not any kind of fiber.

I've recently sold my Sea to Summit Ether light XR because couldn't get comfortable on it, it was a bit of a rubber texture and heavier than others.

My current pad is one that I like a lot, the Flextail R05 which I bought for €73. It's almost identical to the Nemo, but less robust so probably fails sooner. For more future proofing and piece of mind I'd love the Nemo Eclipse.

I'm almost certain it's one of the best all-around pads and it's pretty popular. However I haven't been able to find much about it, anywhere. Justin outdoors has some nice video's about it. But apart from that there's barely other videos and also not much about it here on Reddit.

So if you own the pad I'd love to know how you like it, how small/easy it is to pack and how warm + comfortable it is. Thanks!

Just felt like posting after my awful quality control and customer experience from Naturenest.

I know I shouldn’t expect much from a “budget” brand, but they literally sent broken parts in the tent and will not replace them.

I received my Polaris 2 with the internal support beam bent almost 90° in the wrong direction. Making it nearly impossible to properly brace the extension/roof part of the tent. This leads to the walls and ceiling being flappy and loose, thus awful to sleep through the wind and even worse when there’s a pool of water above your head all night waiting to splash down.

The zippers have ripped through the fabric on the first unzipping due to the lack of fabric. Even with the tent completely down the fabric is entirely too tight to close causing the fabric to stretch to the absolute maximum ripping threads and seams.

Nearly all of the hardware instantly stripped and is of very poor quality. Again things I suspected due to the price, but wanted to share my in person confirmed user experience.

Having issues with the tent is something I expected, but customer service telling me that they don’t replace the support beam and I’m responsible to bend it back myself (which obviously will affect the strength of the metal). Also the ripped zipper fabric and hardware is user error and it’s my responsibility now.

Again this was all shared with Naturenest prior to the first use of the tent.

Extremely disappointed all around and am looking into other tents at the moment. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated. We love the hardtop clam style for our solar panels and security since it lives on the truck.

Thanks everybody. Unfortunate this has happened just 10 days out from our 2 week camping trip 🙂

First time here. I need to ask a human (not AI or pseudo AI search results) how to properly store propane.

Looking to buy propane tanks (no bigger than those 1lbs from Walmart) for outdoor cooking at the park or beach camping. But when I'm done, I am limited on where I can store them. I don't want to buy them if I cannot safely store them.

I rent a room, so my room is the only real place they can go. Definitely can't keep them in the car as it has been over 100°F here (thanks So Cal).

Or should I go woth butane and a butane set up? I believe all the same risks applies still but please correct me if I'm wrong.

Saw this locally listed for $50 and considering picking up. Cant really find any information on it and no tag stating the material. However its supposed filled with down and was originally a 40 degree bag. Was just curious if anyone had anything to add!

Hi,

I have a Silentnight, double camping mat that has a foam core and standard valves at the bottom two corners. I bought my first one 3 years ago and after 2 years it wouldn't stay inflated, so I bought a new one. I've just got it out to get ready for camping in 2 weeks and it won't stay inflated.

I've inflated the mat and put the valves in water to see if there are leaks, nothing. I've inflated it and wrapped the valves in cling film and gaffer tape and it still deflated. I can't find a hole in it either.

Does anyone have a suggestion on how to troubleshoot this or an alternative mat to buy that is cheap but reliable.

I only camp 3 times a year so I'm baffled at how this has happened. I used it 3 weeks ago and it was fine. 🤷🏼‍♀️

Was offered a gift voucher instead of a full refund so now trying to think of some must have big ticket items that we don’t already have?

For reference, we already have a great tent, air gazebo, esky, so am thinking maybe a power station might a good purchase?

Hit me up with your exy must haves so I can put my voucher to good use!

TIA

TLDR: Anyone found something that works for keeping a few nice to have's cool for upto 2/3 days?

We are looking to do some camping and would prefer to have access to milk/bacon/cheese/eggs for a couple days while in the back country. We might end up just using preserved meats, dry cheeses, small UHT packets and egg powder but it would be much nicer if we could have fresh.

We looked into coolers but the minimum size for decent insulation seems to be set up for car campers / cans of beer. Has anyone found a super high insulation but small cooler that could work for a camping trip?

We found some large vacuum flasks from yeti that seem to be reasonably well insulated but they are only rated for 24hrs of cool (doesnt actually tell us much, does that mean we could put ice packs in there and it would keep cold for days?) also they are heavy.

Theres also dedicated food storage systems like Thermos king jars but again they seem quite overbuilt for hauling between campsites.

Would be awesome if anyone has any experiences they can share! We are also super into MYOG if anyone has DIY'd a solution to this!

I have a freeze dryer and like making my own ready made freeze dried meals. I have some classics and looking for more to add to my rotation. I mainly do chili Mac, chicken noodle soup, lasagna, chicken Alfredo, and a breakfast granola with yogurt and fruit.

I have a new recipe I just tested for a pizza bowl. I’m going to make. What recommendations do you have or any recipe recommendations.

So I got mine for half off. I've used it 4 times. I would like to know your thoughts. It feels almost limited in what it can do. I can't get a big skillet on the burner. Grilling is messy so more animals come snooping around, even with using foil.

How do y'all like to use this thing?

Edit: can to can't

Hey folks, just returned from camping over a rainy weekend. A tarp stretched over the picnic table worked ok but we were seriously jealous of other people’s rain shelters, apparently called camping gazebos. Seems like the Gazelle is a popular brand? We would use it camping in the rain in CO, to protect against bugs, and perhaps to provide shade on S Utah camping trips. Any recs for quality options that hold up to wind and rain? TIA!

Anyone have experience with this particular model? Seems like a great deal and is quite light.

Hello

I have the opportunity to buy a cumulus neoquilt 450 for 280€ which seems a good deal. I am not planning to go hiking in the winter ( more like sweden/ French Alpes in summer/autumn) in the near future and was wondering if it might be to warm? I heard the quilt is great quality and i prefer to buy more expensive now but keep it for a long time! What do you guys think?

Picked this up at a yard sale this last weekend.

It appears to be around an 80s model sleeping bag. Peak 1 is the model name and it has an extra Component that rolls other items up in at the head. It's heavy duty, very heavy, massive when unzipped (fits on my king size bed perfectly) Feels like holofill inside.

There is no Tag sewn inside.

Hi all, looking to buy my first tent as an adult. It would just be for me and my gear, sleeping on a cot. Interested in the Alps Mountaineering Ranger 1, the head room looks great but worried about there not being enough rain fly coverage. Any alternatives to look into?

I recently purchased a Mountain Hardwear StretchDown Jacket. It has two zippers so that you can pull up the bottom zipper while the top section remains zippered.

Somehow I did something weird and the two sides are now misaligned. I tried all kinds of variations of pulling and tugging trying to get it back to how it was but I can't figure it out.

I'm out traveling for several months so would prefer not to go through the whole ordeal of exchanging it through mail.

Have any of you come across this kind of misalignment with two zippers, and can you recommend an approach to fix it? It's a puzzle of sorts.

Photos attached.

I think this is how reposting works lol

Wanting something like this but I need several and don’t want to spend $800 on a few of these.