Camping gear

It has been years since I have camping. I have always had access to others gear. I want to start collecting my own. I will be camping in a state camp area. I have some lights but I want a good lantern and camp stove. I will not be backpacking with this stuff any time soon. The issue I have is that most of the gear I see are cheap Chinese made crap. I would prefer to order from amazon but its not a deal breaker.

Find a camping store near you like REI, EMS, or something local if you need to see the stuff. Do some comparison shopping and you might see the prices are close but take into consideration the service (or lack of service) you are being given in the store you visit when comparing prices.

Ebay

If you have a REI locally that is the place.

As for a good lantern, my chose, is a Coleman, single mantel.
Propane.(unless your in really cold weather, propane works fine)
With an adjustable vaule. You will not want that lantern on high all the time.
I found that the single mantel used less gas.
And puts out more then enought light.
Now, you can also look for your camping gear at flea market or yard sales.
Yes they will be used, but they may not be cheap Chinese made crap!


Good Luck!

PITA45

You will not be backpacking with this gear.

So car camping?

Car camping to me means comfort.

I'd go for a Coleman 2 burner propane suitcase style stove. The ones you lift the lid, and fold out the sides. The ones currently being made are a lot thinner than earlier models. The new stoves are still getting good reviews, but I'd look for a used one on Craigslist, GARAGE SALES, or Ebay. You can find new in box stoves at garage sale quite often. Propane is about as easy as it gets. If you want you can get an adaptor so it can run on 20lb tanks instead of the pound bottles.

If you want more of a backpacking style stove I'd buy the MSR Whisperlite (light?) It's multifuel; liquid not canister. Once you learn how to get it going, it's easy and works great. You open your valve and fill up a small bowl under the stove until it heats up. Kinda un-nerving doing it for the first time...

For lanterns you could go with a Coleman propane or LED battery operated. There's a lot of great LED lanterns right now. Some are plugin rechargeable. They put out lots of light and run a decent amount of time

This, I find cheap Coleman stoves and lanterns at yard sales all the time.

My liquid fuel Coleman stove and lantern are over 20 years old and reliable, so if you can find those cheap at a yard sale, go for it. For the other stuff, definitely check out an REI store. They actually let you take stuff out of the packages and try it out (tents, bags, packs). Their clearance gear is pretty reasonable. You can also find camping gear on Craigslist, but make sure you know what you're getting - sometimes people think their gear is worth more than new.

You're an uptight douche if you shop at REI.

For a lantern, I suggest seriously considering battery powered. MUCH safer and the batteries weigh less and take up less room than fuel of any type, and everything costs less to boot.

You need to make a choice basically between propane and coleman fuel. For run of the mill car camping either will work fine.

You probably won't go wrong with a Coleman fuel stove. A duel fuel stove gives you extra fuel options.

On the other hand, WalMart and other discounters often have some very decent propane stoves that are low cost. Propane is probably a little more readily available than Coleman fuel.

Propane stoves in general cost less but the fuel costs a bit more.

I would stay away from backpacking type stoves for car camping.

I would suggest a two burner stove of whatever you get. You will appreciate the second burner at some point and for car camping the weight and space issues don't matter much.

I would start with Craigslist. You will be surprised what you can find on there sometimes. Sometimes good deals, sometimes not so good.

Depending on what you're planning to cook, look at Coleman propane stoves and lanterns so that you have same fuel for each ––- far safer than liquid fuel. If all you're going to do is boil water or reheat pre-prepared/canned food etc, take a look at the JetBoil stove and accessories, very compact and efficient, using a mixture of isobutane/propane in compact canisters, which can also fuel tiny SnowPeak lanterns. If you're adventurous and parsimonious (frugal, or even cheap), also look at an ingenious implement called the Kelly Kettle, a device for boiling water using "junk" fuel like twigs and pine cones or buffalo chips, etc. Get one of the larger sizes ––- all you need to quickly boil H2O for reconstituting freeze-dried foods or making coffee, etc.

If you want the same gear with less granola one of our site sponsors goinggear.com has all the same stuff plus they offer a discount to ar15.com members. Just look for their forum in the industry section for the code.

+1 for liquid fuel Coleman stove and lantern.

I have a single burner liquid fuel also that packs easily away and is great for cooking, eating, etc...

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