Camping

A good night's sleep, easy cooking and a cold drink by the tent: with the right camping gear, a weekend or holiday on the campsite becomes a lot more pleasant. On this page you compare tents, camping furniture, camp kitchens, cool boxes, sleeping bags and mats from well-known camping brands. For each product you see the key specifications and the current price at the shop. Boender Outdoor does not sell anything itself: you always order from the shop, with its own delivery and terms.

What will you find in this category?

• Tents: dome tents, tunnel tents, inflatable tents and tents you can pitch in a few minutes, from a light one-person trekking tent to a family tent for eight.
• Camping furniture: folding chairs, reclining chairs, camping tables, camp beds and camping cupboards.
• Camp kitchen: gas camping stoves, portable camping barbecues and cookware sets.
• Cool boxes: cool bags and passive cool boxes, thermoelectric cool boxes and compressor cool boxes.
• Sleeping bags and mats: rectangular sleeping bags, mummy sleeping bags, self-inflating sleeping mats and air beds.

Choosing a tent

Start with the number of people and add one extra place if you want to keep luggage inside the tent. A dome tent is compact and quick to pitch, a tunnel tent gives more standing height and living space, and an inflatable tent is put up with a pump instead of poles. Also look at the hydrostatic head, the packed size and the weight: on a trek every kilo counts, while for a holiday by car space and comfort matter more. Blackout sleeping compartments keep things darker and cooler for longer in the morning. It helps to think about how you travel and how long you stay in one place before you compare models, because that quickly narrows down the type of tent that suits you.

Cool box: passive, electric or compressor

A passive cool box or cool bag keeps food cool with ice packs or ice and needs no power. A thermoelectric cool box runs on 12 volts in the car and often on 230 volts too, and cools to a fixed number of degrees below the outside temperature. A compressor cool box works like a small fridge: it holds the temperature you set, even when it is warm outside, and many models can also freeze. Use the filters to choose by cooling type and capacity. Think about where you will use the cool box and whether you have power at your pitch, as that largely decides which type makes sense for you.

Sleeping: sleeping bag and mat

With a sleeping bag, look at the comfort temperature: the temperature at which you would normally sleep comfortably. For a summer on a campsite in the Netherlands, a sleeping bag with a comfort temperature of around 10 °C is often enough; in spring or autumn and in the mountains you choose a lower one. A rectangular sleeping bag gives you room to move, while a mummy sleeping bag holds warmth better and packs down smaller. The mat underneath determines how warm and soft you lie: a self-inflating mat or air mat insulates better than a thin foam mat, and an air bed is mostly comfortable in summer. A sleeping bag and mat work as a pair, so it is worth choosing them together for the season you camp in.

Cooking on the campsite

A camping stove with one or two burners usually runs on gas from a cartridge or a gas bottle. Check which gas the stove uses and whether you need a pressure regulator. Camping barbecues such as the Cadac Safari Chef and Carri Chef or the Campingaz Party Grill combine grilling and frying on one burner. Always cook outside or under an open awning, never in a closed tent. Set the stove up on a stable, level surface and keep it at a safe distance from the tent and anything else that can catch fire.

Comfort by the tent

A couple of good camping chairs and a sturdy table turn your pitch into a second living room. Choose chairs with an adjustable backrest if you sit outside for long periods, and a table with height-adjustable legs for uneven ground. Check the seat height against the table height, and look at the packed size so that everything still fits in the car alongside the rest of your luggage.

Brands

Here you compare brands including Coleman, Outwell, Campingaz, Dometic, Vango, Brunner, Bo-Camp, Therm-a-Rest, Sea to Summit, Nordisk, Robens, Westfield, Cadac, Primus, Mobicool and the camping chairs and tables from Lafuma. Use the filters to choose by type, brand, number of people, comfort temperature, capacity, cooling type, material and colour. Water bottles and thermos mugs can be found under camping and outdoor.