New Tent, New Year, and Other New Gear

Coleman 8 Person Tent

http://a.co/2fqodMq

The Clemmers got a huge tent for Christmas this year! We definitely enjoy our space while we camp, so we decided to go with the Goliath of Coleman tents. This beauty is 16' X 7' and we are excited to utilize all of that space. My little boy keeps asking us if we can go camping, so we decided to pull the tent out of the garage and give it a test run in the house.

I have set up many tents in my life and this one was very easy and straight forward to put up! I quickly glanced over the instructions, and just decided to dive in. Many people on Amazon left reviews stating that this tent takes anywhere from 15-45 minutes to set up. I threw it up in my awkward little front room in 12 minutes, add a few minutes for staking and I would be right around the 15 minute mark. Outside with more space and a helper over the age of 3, I could set up in half the time. I have to say that this tent is absolutely great, and I really look forward to spending a lot of time in it this year!

I plan to do a full tent set up and give a video walk through soon. I'll show you all of the cool specs of the tent and talk about why I ultimately decided on this one. I have a few items headed in the mail my way right now to help polish off the little details. Stay tuned for an inside look at how our set up will look for 2018.

I've got a few more toys I would like to share with you that I have recently picked up. I haven't had a chance to use them properly so at this time I don't have a review yet. However I wanted to share the with you some of the specs and what led me to getting these products.

Suboos LED Lantern

http://a.co/0lkoXop

I have been looking for a decent lantern for a long time. I have done the gas powered lanterns as well as the disposable battery lanterns and I just wasn't a fan. While researching I found myself torn between a solar lantern and a lantern with rechargeable batteries. After searching for a good solar lantern I decided that for a reasonable price, you just can't get a great product yet. I finally decided on a lantern with two rechargeable 18650 batteries packing 5200 mAh. I love how bright this lantern is and I love the fact that you can also use double AA's to power this if your 18650 batteries lose their charge. You can also use this as a USB power bank to power things like a gopro camera or a phone.

Suboos LED Tent Lantern

http://a.co/1EKLI11

I hate climbing into a pitch black tent after sitting by the fire. Usually I'm half asleep and I spend a good 5-10 minutes tearing bags apart looking for a flashlight. This lantern is my solution for that problem. I love the small sleek design and the fact that it also has two rechargeable 18650 batteries. I was happy to see that my tent already has an a place to hang this up so this is all ready to roll. It has three settings, bright, dim, and red. I can't wait to throw on the dim light for putting the kids down for sleep. You can also use this guy as a USB power bank.

Teton Sports Leef Ultralight 0 Degrees F Mummy Bag

http://a.co/4PvHt3q

I have yet to receive this sleeping bag because I just ordered it! I have spent a lot of time looking for a nice mummy bag and I think I have found the one. I was looking for a mummy bag to use for winter camping and cool backcountry nights. As with any camping gear you get what you pay for but I didn't want to empty the bank with this purchase. I also didn't want to get something that would fall apart while I was 20 miles in the backcountry so I went somewhere in the middle. I plan to do a short overnight backpack trip next week in the snow so I will give you a full review of this product after it keeps me nice and toasty in below freezing temps. I was just too excited about this buy to keep it to myself for another week and a half. One thing I was hesitant when buying this was that this bag is right around 4 pounds, I was really hoping to find a bag around 2 pounds, but for the cold rating I could not find many bags that were under $100 and under 3.5 to 4 pounds. I figured it was fine, and I'll find other ways to lose a few pounds. A good sleeping bag is definitely in the top 3 if not the most important thing when backpacking or sleeping out in the snow. The good thing is that this bag is supposed to be very compact with a decent compression storage bag.

Fiskars X7 14" Hatchet

http://a.co/1gVzRzv

After my last camping trip of 2016 I began to look for a nice hatchet. That trip, we used wood on site the entire time and no one had a proper hatchet. This was actually a gift that was given to me and I was very surprised that I never came across this product. Fiskars products are always fantastic. I have a Fiskars push mower and it does such a nice job cutting, and I have had no problems whatsoever with it. So when I received this hatchet I was blown away. One thing that really stands out to me right away is how simple and perfect the blade guard is. Go spend time reading reviews about hatchets, and the the two things that everyone writes about are the terrible blade guards and the blade coming off. Two problems I can tell you right now, I'm not going to have a problem with.

Well everyone, I just wanted to share a few cool products that I plan to use this year. I will most definitely revisit these products and give a proper review. I would love to see what camping gear you received for Christmas or gear that you have recently picked up. Leave me a comment either here or on facebook, or just send me an email.

Thanks for stopping by Creekside today!

-Mike