What celebrates Freedom so much as buying stuff? Never mind, don’t answer that. But REI is having a Fourth of July sale, which means if you’ve just discovered that your backpack straps or camp chairs have rotted away, it’s time to stock up on hiking and camping essentials without paying full price.
Several other retailers are also having Fourth of July sales, including Backcountry and Public Lands. We’ve highlighted some of our favorite deals on gear we’ve loved over our years of testing. There’s something for nearly all our favorite summer activities—tents, stoves, sleeping bags, and plenty of outdoor apparel. Be sure to look at our guides to outdoor gear, like the Best Tents, Best Sleeping Bags, Best Sleeping Pads, Best Rain Jackets, Best Merino Wool, and Best Binoculars.
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WIRED Featured Deals
Pack, Tent, and Sleeping Pad Deals
See our guides to the best tents, best sleeping pads, and best sleeping bags for more details, along with our testing experiences.
Photograph: Backcountry
My son saw much of the early part of his life from this Deuter pack, which is one of the most comfortable kid-carriers I’ve worn. There’s a decent bit of storage, and it stands up on its own when you set it down. If you’ve got a little one and want to hit the trail, this is the best I tested. It’s almost never on sale either, so grab it while you can.
Mystery Ranch was once a little-known pack company with a cult following. That’s probably going to change now that Yeti has acquired it, but at least I’ll be able to assume everyone has heard of Mystery Ranch and skip intros like this. I have been testing this pack for over six months now, and it’s very close to the perfect daypack. It’s comfy and roomy, and you get the three-zip system that made Mystery Ranch a legend.
I traveled around the world with an earlier version of this Osprey pack, living out of it for almost a year. It stood up well to the abuse of overland travel—more than once, I watched a bus driver tie it to the roof of a bus by cinching it down with a rope, pulling with all his weight right down the middle of my pack, like a cheese cutter. The Farpoint survived, and my gear inside did as well thanks in part to the thickly padded sides which provide considerable extra cushioning.
Photograph: MSR
Our favorite family camping tent, the Habitude is strong and light. It fits easily on a canoe or paddleboard and is easy to set up—the design is simple and the poles are color-coded. There’s plenty of floor space for sleeping pads and sleeping bags to keep two adults, two toddlers, and a large-ish dog warm at night. It also has storage pockets, places to hang lights, and a vestibule.
The Base Camp is a light, airy car-camping tent with room for 4. It’s not super light at 15 pounds, but it’s not too bad to carry if you’re at a walk-in site. It’s got dual doors for great airflow, and it’s very easy to set up, thanks to the color-coded pole system. There’s also a sold-separately vehicle canopy that looks interesting, though we have not tested it. If you need a bit more room, the Base Camp 6 is also on sale for $384 ($165 off)
The Wonderland 6 takes the place of the old Kingdom 6 in REI’s big-tent lineup. I did love the Kingdom 6, but the Wonderland 6 is a capable replacement. The layout and design is very similar, with an optional two-room interior, plenty of large storage pockets, and dual doors. What’s different is the new pole design, which features a forked middle pole for greater stability.
Photograph: REI
Your kids might not need a kid-size pad, but if you want to save some weight and your children are under 60 inches, this pad is excellent. It has an R-value of 4.5, and we’ve tested it as low as 30 degrees Fahrenheit and still had comfortable, happy children. The separate valves for inflation and deflation make it easier for little kids to understand so they can help set up.
Camp Deals
Be sure to read through our other relevant outdoor guides for more great camping gear, including the Best Tents, Best Hiking Gear, Best Camp Stoves, and our Camp Cooking guide.
Photograph: REI
This headlamp is indestructible. I have had mine for more than 20 years now. While I’ve had to replace the strap twice in that time, it otherwise works as well as it did the day I bought it. Grab some rechargeable AAA batteries and you’ll have light for many years.
I am currently converting a school bus into an RV, and my sole source of power thus far is the Goal Zero Yeti 1500 ($1,300). That’s slightly more powerful than this one, but for weekend camping, where you’re probably not running a circular saw and shop vac, the Yeti 700 should provide more than enough power. This pairs well with Goal Zero’s portable solar panels too, so it’s easy to stay topped up on power.
I’ll confess I’ve never used this as the trash can it’s supposed to be. It’s too nice. I use it as a laundry bag. It’s made of 600-denier nylon, and the inside is lined with a 1,000-mm polyurethane coating, which makes it easy to clean with a hose. Spray it down and hang it out to dry. The roll-top closure is similar to a dry bag. It isn’t fully waterproof, but it will keep your trash from spilling.
Photograph: Aeropress
The AeroPress Go (9/10, WIRED Recommends) is a great camp coffee solution for big groups. Everyone can brew their own cup, in whatever strange and exciting AeroPress method they love. Even if not everyone loves it, no one is going to hate it. Well maybe Steve will, but he complains about everything.
Our favorite way to avoid the green propane bottles is this gas growler. This model gets you a 0.9-pound propane tank with a nice padded/insulated sleeve and a handy strap for carrying, and it makes your camp setup look much nicer than a bare tank. It also saves your shins during those inevitable run-ins with cold hard steel that come from lugging around a big propane tank. This size is the equivalent of four green propane bottles.
This chair is the coziest way to hang out around camp. It is somewhat huge, heavy, and awkward to fold up and carry, but it’s all worth it once you cram everyone you love on it in front of a fire.
Photograph: Biolite
Biolite’s FirePit+ is our favorite high-tech hibachi. It’s a sleek, portable, mesh box with removable legs, a hibachi-style grill, and an ash bin. It has a rechargeable 10,400-mAh battery that can power 51 air jets for up to 26 hours. This allows you to precisely control the flame and, to some extent, the heat of the fire. It’s Bluetooth-compatible, so you can tweak the airflow—and how high the flames go—on your phone. The FirePit+ can burn charcoal or wood, and, thanks to the fans, you don’t need a charcoal chimney, and you’ll never struggle to get a fire burning.
Bike and Apparel Deals
Photograph: Darn Tough
Darn Tough socks are, ahem, darn tough. I am the merino wool guy around these parts, and I have tried dozens of merino socks, and the Darn Tough have held up better than anything else. There are some very comfy merino socks out there, some of which have a higher merino count (these are 60 percent), but none that have outlasted Darn Tough.
Our review is forthcoming, but not only does REI make reasonably priced commuter bikes, the company will also build them in-house and offers a year of free adjustments. This is reasonably priced for all the commuter essentials, with a 250-watt motor on a step-through frame. It does offer a little less torque than you might need if you live in a city with a lot of hills, however.
I like the Trailmade as a jacket to leave in the car as part of my perma-hiking kit—stuff that’s always there and ready to go. This is not the greatest rain jacket. It will not keep you dry in Thailand’s monsoon season rains, but it’s good enough for the afternoon thunderstorms that pop up in my neck of the woods, and it’s an excellent windbreaker. I mean, come on, it’s $35 for a decent rain jacket.