Hot New Camping Gear For 2016: Part 1

Most of the year, Friedrichshafen on the banks of Lake Constance is just another sleepy German town near the Swiss border.

But for a few days every summer it is transformed into outdoor gear geek heaven. Hundreds of exhibitors fill 12 enormous halls with brand new products, as they show off all the camping and outdoor kit they've got lined up for the following year.

This year was no different, and as always, the Camping team was there. Over a few swelteringly hot days in July, we saw hundreds of new products that will be in the shops in spring/summer 2016 - from tents to torches and everything in between.

There was plenty that caught our eye – a James Bond-style brolly; a zipless sleeping bag; a machine that creates custom insoles in minutes; socks made out of recycled fishing nets; solar powered tents; new technology that could extend the life of torch batteries for years and a super-luxury, inflatable canvas tent.

Many of the brands that fill the shelves on your local outdoor shop were there. Vango, Outwell, Coleman, Easy Camp, Robens, Snugpak, Craghoppers, Sprayway, Thermarest, Vaude, Campingaz, Life Venture, Karrimor, Berghaus, MSR, SmartWool, Hi Tec and Kozi Kidz, to name but a few.

So here's part one of our quick run-through of some of the family camping highlights of OutDoor 2015.

PART ONE

Vango, Coleman and Outwell are the three biggest names in the UK camping market and they had plenty of goodies on show at Friedrichshafen this year. Remember these products won't be available in the shops until the spring of 2016 at the earliest.

VANGO

The Revive sleeping bag has a removable inner that can be washed separately from the lining. One of the company's product developers came up with the idea after trying to wash their own sleeping bag and finding it wouldn't fit it into their washing machine.

We like any gear that has more than one use, which is why we like the new Transform pillow. As the name would suggest, this transforms from a regular pillow into a cosy fleece-lined blanket simply by unzipping and opening it out.

Vango like to bring the comfort of the indoors into the outdoors and that's the thinking behind the Hampton rocking chair, with its reclining back and gentle rockers. Perfect for a relaxing afternoon with a glass of something cold, the seat also folds down flat for easy storage and transport.

Another new chair is the Windsor DLX which has nine reclining options and a matching footstool for even more comfort.
 


Vango also revealed an interesting range of cool new lighting for your tent, including the Touchlight, the Star and the Rocket, which also operates as a mini speaker.



The new range of Vango tents won't be revealed in full until later in the year, but there were a few new models on display in Germany, including a new adventure tent designed for expedition leaders in schemes like the Duke of Edinburgh Awards, featuring a large living area. Vango continue to expand their AirBeam range of inflatable tents, including the Ravello 500 pictured here. The attached tarp is another feature that looks like being a major element in Vango's 2016 range.

COLEMAN

Coleman revealed some exciting new innovations for 2016, both in tents and accessories. On the tent side, they have developed a new range of Fastpitch tents, both pop-up and, for the first time, inflatable. Many of these include their new hinged doors - first introduced last year in their award-winning Cortes range of tents. The Cortes Octagon 8, winner of Camping magazine's Tent of The Year in 2015, also comes in a new green colour scheme, and there's now a funky new extension available.

However, the most exciting new innovation has to be Coleman's incredible new blackout bedrooms. Darkened rooms have been around for a long time, but this takes it to a completely new level. The black lining on the inside of the tent, plus the darkened material on the inner, literally blocks out all light - even with a huge floodlight blazing directly onto the tent. It's a direct response to the concerns of parents whose kids take hours to go to sleep in the late summer nights but then wake up as soon as it gets light in the morning. It also regulates the temperature, keeping it cooler in daytime and warmer at night.

There was more innovation on the accessories side, with the launch of the Battery Lock system across their new range of torches, head torches and lanterns. This allows you to disconnect the batteries with a quick twist, stopping  them from draining when not in use. It works with both traditional and rechargeable batteries and is a feature on the new Divide range of torches, the CXS+ 300R head torch and the rugged Twist+ 300R lantern, among others.


Keep an eye out too for the new Fyrestorm stove and Bungee chair and there a couple of new upgrades to the hugely popular Party Grill by Campingaz - the Party Grill 400 has a non-stick griddle/hot plate and a lid that converts to a wok, while the powerful 600 is freestanding and and has a lid that can be used as an oven.
 

OUTWELL

Like Vango, Outwell's new tents won't be revealed until later in the year but we did get a sneak peek at the new Tomcat 5SA, an inflatable tent which features a Gothic-style design with pre-angled tube designed for more headroom and stability.

Outwell's 2016 range of accessories includes the Conqueror single and double, a zipperless sleeping bag with no bits and pieces to get in the way of a good night's sleep. The luxurious new Centuple camp bed sleep system - available in single and double - features a removable foam insert and a fitted, quilted micro fibre cover, designed to give you the ultimate in campsite sleeping comfort. The Cimelia self inflating mat has a quilted micro-fibre cover with removable memory foam. The cover is also machine washable. The new Leonis and Sargas lights come in black, blue and green.




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Also see what products won the top prizes at the OutDoor awards 2015