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For me, summer means one thing: It’s camping season. Whether you’re a backpacker, casual car camper or serious overlander, REI has gear for you, and every year they have their biggest sale right before summer starts so you can snag whatever you need for the season at a pretty nice discount. This year the sale runs May 19-29. Here are some of the deals we love.
Coleman has been synonymous with camping for over 100 years. Their stove is a key piece of my camping cooking setup, and the six-person blackout tent has been keeping my family high, dry and comfortable at campsites in the Rockies for years. With this 25% off deal, you can snag everything from sleeping bags to lanterns to the highly rated Peak1 line of gear. The only exception? Fuel.
I first bought a Stanley mug over a decade ago when a trucker friend of mine showed me his banged up, dented mug that still did a better job of keeping coffee warm than my brand new insulated one. Since then Stanleys have exploded in popularity. Mugs aren’t the only thing Stanley makes. Their camp cookware ranges from $40 to $150 before the sale and will last you a lifetime, provided you take care of it. $28 for a lifetime’s worth of eating outdoors? Sounds like a steal to me.
If you’re interested in overlanding, you’ve likely heard of Dometic. Makers of what they call “ecosystems of outdoor living” the items in this sale range from high quality camp chairs, faucets, refrigerators and even toilets for your overlanding and camping adventures. High quality usually means expensive, so 20% is helpful. If you’ve had your eye on the $1,400 CFX3 95 Dual Zone Powered Cooler, you can save yourself nearly $300. Not bad.
I’ve been using BioLite power banks for years to keep my phone and camera gear charged while traveling and camping, most recently on a multi-day overlanding trip on the Mojave trail. In addition to power banks, the company makes fantastically rated headlamps, which are a must have while camping (I learned this after cracking open my head on a low hanging branch in Glacier National Park while stumbling back from the restroom at night) and wood-fueled, futuristic looking cook kits like the BioLite CampStove 2+.
A few years ago, my wife and I went on a camping road trip from our home in the Denver-area throughout the American Southwest. Coming from an outdoorsier family than I did, I falsely assumed she had been camping before, so I figured nine nights in a tent would be no problem. After four days, she let me know that this was, in fact, her first time camping and that in order to keep going she needed one thing: a shower. I don’t blame her. After miles of hiking in 100-degree weather, even the most robust wipes don’t give you that clean-all-over feeling. Thankfully we were at Grand Canyon National Park at the time, and a shower cost us just a few bucks. Since then we’ve camped out in a lot more remote areas where something like these NEMO showers would have come in handy. The black tank warms quickly in the sun, and since there is a pump attached you don’t have to find a tree to shower under. They also work wonderfully when doing dishes.
If you really want to get the most for your money, this is what you wait until this sale to buy. Short of buying one of these used, you rarely get Thule and Yakima accessories below MSRP and in the past few years a lot of this stuff has been long sold out. I myself bought my Canyon XT roof basket during this sale years ago, and I still say it is the best car accessory purchase I have made to date. Maybe I can top it this year. With nearly 300 different products discounted from these two manufacturers, there’s surely something to make your road tripping, car camping life easier on this list.
When you bring along a $6,000 power station on a camping trip, are you still camping at that point, or are you glamping? Honestly, who cares? Being out in nature, regardless of how you do it, is incredible, provided your electronics aren’t ruining other people’s good time. 20% off a power station that expensive means some serious savings, almost $1,200 off, so now is definitely time to buy if that’s been on your list.
Want a camping stove but don’t need a two-burner Coleman taking up precious space? Eureka might be your solution, with multiple one-burners available during this sale. You can also get a two-burner or a grill depending on what you think you’ll use most, with a selection of tents as well as other shelters on sale that can keep you dry in a bit of a drizzle.
The best deal at REI during this sale is, unsurprisingly, on REI branded gear, and there is a lot of it. Multiple tents, tables and chairs make up just a small part of this 80 item list of what is on sale. My personal favorite is REI Co-op Wonderland X Tent which has so many features that my editor would tell me I’m over the maximum word count for the post if I listed them here. Check it out, it’s nicer than some hotel rooms I’ve stayed in. Not all of the tents are four-figures. In fact, some can be found for two if you are solo camping. There are some really comfy looking camping chairs as well.
There are so many deals at REI that we’re just getting started looking through them all. Check back at Autoblog.com for more deals as the sale goes on.
