Camping Lights

The type and range of camping furniture that you need for your camping trip very much depends on the the type of camping you will be doing.

If you are going to be hiking and only camping at night, then you will only want minimal lightweight furniture. Though lightweight is a good idea for any type of camping.

If your camping is as a base for a family holiday you will probably want a few more ‘luxuries’ as the equipment will most likely be transported only once in the back of the family wagon and set up for the duration.

These days the range and quality of camping furniture is enormous. Let’s have a look at the main items.

Camping Chairs

Folding aluminum tubing chairs have the advantages of being light, strong and won’t rust. The all fabric chairs offer comfort and support  essential when sitting round the camp fire at night enjoying a good feed.

Look for fabric arms, they are more comfortable than wood or metal. Many camping chairs these days have pockets and drink holders, more satisfactory than standing your drink on the forest floor.

You should find that most of these chairs fold up quite compactly and come with storage bags making it easier to pack into the back of the wagon.

Sleeping

At the very basiclevel you’re on the ground in a sleeping bag or maybe not in a sleeping bag! That maybe OK for commandos but not for today’s sophisticated camper or hiker.

At the very least you need a groundsheet to protect you from the cold and damp. Then maybe a sleeping pad to add some comfort or an air mattress. These items would be considered the very basics of sleeping outdoors.

Most campers these days would be going for lightweight foldable cots. Apart from providing a greater level of comfort, they get you off the ground, away from crawlies, reptiles and rodents.

Camping cots come in a variety of styles and features with handy accessories like storage pockets. Hikers are amply catered for with tent cots a cot and tent all in one. These come in all shapes and sizes from singles to doubles. The camping tent cots fold up into a compact unit which can be carried on the backpack without too much noticeable weight.

Camping Tables

If you thought you had choices before, wait until you see the range of tables available for camping.

They come in all shapes, sizes and construction. So a big part of the decision here is based on transport. How much space can you give to the camping table?

There are totally collapsible Nylon topped tables. The table top just rolls up and with the collapsible frame takes up no more space than the camping chairs. Obviously, you have to sacrifice sturdiness for the convenience of it’s collapsibility. Probably OK for eating off but a bit risky for food preparation.

A more sturdy alternative is the wooden roll top tables. Still with a highly collapsible frame but using a wooden slat table top gives you a much more sturdy surface. The wooden slat table top rolls up but does take up more space than its nylon fabric counterpart.

For the instant dining area there are the picnic sets. A table and generally, four seats all in one, reasonably compact unit. Most of these have an amazing folding mechanism that results in the seats disappearing inside the table top, which then folds over to form the semblance of a very slim suitcase. As such these can usually be packed flat on the floor of the wagon.

Cooking area

As with every other aspect of camping there is a huge variety of equipment available and again it all depends on your style of camping.

For instance hikers will want  small, light weight equipment, similar to the old Primus stove.

If you are setting up a more permanent camp as a base for your holiday then you can afford to be more generous with the equipment providing you don’t have to carry it anywhere on your back.

In this situation your choices are huge. There is available an amazing range of collapsible kitchens with sinks, preparation areas and of course somewhere for your cooker to go.

Personal Care

Although not strictly furniture a lot of these items will be set up as part of your camp site. Things such as a camping shower and camping toilet. No longer is it necessary to suffer cold water showers and bathing when out in the wilderness. There are many types of instant water heaters powered by LPG and even solar. The days of the toilet being ‘the second bush on the right after that big ole tree over there’, are also long gone. The facilities available today are better than the pioneers found even when they made it to town.

Best Buy

Time after time we’ve checked site after site only to find that the cheapest Camping  Furniture is to be found at Amazon.

Other sites may discount a few dollars, but this is lost (and more besides) after you add delivery charges on top.

As well as that, many other sites may offer a lower price, but they never have any in stock. In most cases they hope to lure you in with one product they don’t have, in the hope you’ll purchase something else from them while you’re there.

Our advice? Stick with Amazon for your cheapest camping furniture. They really are, consistently the cheapest source of camping furniture. In almost every case, products purchased at Amazon qualify for super saver and include free delivery. Certainly if you buy a couple of other things besides, they are one of the best online sources for all camping gear.

This is why we almost exclusively select Amazon as our best buy stockist, and why you can still get the cheapest camping furniture from them.

Stan Craigie is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.