4 Ways To Upgrade Your Camp Site With Tech

Do you love leaving the noise of city life and escaping into the rustic outdoors but don't want to struggle to make a fire to cook your food or deal with getting eaten alive by mosquitos? There are products that can help elevate your camping experience, which allows time for the important aspects of the trip, like spending time with family or simply enjoying nature.

Everyone's idea of a great camping weekend is different, but there are certain experiences that come with spending time in nature that are considered universal. For example, cooking food outside or sitting around the fire swapping stories while surrounded by Mother Nature is part of the charm. Whether you're a seasoned camper or a newbie wanting to explore the outdoors, these tech products will surely upgrade your experience without taking away from the ambiance. Just remember to pack the essentials to help you stay safe in the wilderness.

Sitting out in the woods doesn't mean you have to listen to the crickets and stare at a fire. You can bring a wireless portable projector to help keep the family entertained. The PIQO mini projector is sure to do just that. However, the price isn't so mini, running at $799, but PIQO does offer frequent discounts. For example, the price was cut in half during its Black Friday sale.

This palm-size projector is compatible with Android, iOS, Mac, and Windows while also having Bluetooth, AirPlay, and screen mirroring capabilities. Its brightness reaches 200 lumens and can retain quite an impressive battery life—five hours of video playing and 50 hours of music playback. It is quick to charge, taking approximately 15 minutes to charge for one hour of video play.

What if you don't have cellular service where you're camping, though? The PIQO mini projector can store up to 16 GB of memory offline. Just don't forget the projector screen to show your movies on. 

What's better than having a rechargeable lantern on your camping trip that also doubles as a bug zapper? Coming in at $29.99 for the price of one, Zapout's mosquito lantern is lightweight and durable as it is both waterproof and weatherproof. In terms of where to use the lantern, you can either hang it from a tree with its attached hook or place it on a table, as the hook can lie flat against its base. Zapout's mosquito lantern also has a rechargeable 2,000 mAh battery that charges using a universal USB cable.

For its primary use, the lantern uses UV light to draw mosquitoes and bugs into its 1,200-volt grid that kills instantly. It offers a 200-square-foot protection zone and can last up to 12.5 hours. As a lantern, you have three LED settings to choose from, with the brightness going up to 200 lumens and an emergency flashlight. The battery will last up to six hours while using the 200 lumens option. That's not bad for such a small bug zapper. However, be aware that if you use the lantern and the bug zapper, the product's battery will die much faster than advertised. 

Having portable power is one way to level up your camping experience. Jackery's solar generator 300 plus with a 288wh battery capacity comes with two options for solar panels: 40w at $399.99 and 100w at $549.99. Keep in mind that the company does offer sales throughout the year for its products. The size of the solar panels you purchase should be based on how much you think you'll use the battery. For example, if you plan on bringing a laptop to charge, having more solar consumption may be worth the extra price, as laptops can use up to 200 watts per hour. 

The solar generator is small and incredibly lightweight at only 11 pounds, so lugging it around will be a breeze. The solar panels are equally as easy to travel with since they fold up into the size of a book. Best of all, it has an app to give you better access to the battery's information to see the draw and solar input. The app connects to the battery using Wi-Fi or Bluetooth.

It's important to understand that any device plugged into the solar generator cannot exceed 300w. If you need something bigger, though, Jackery does have higher capacity batteries from 500w all the way to 3000w.

Are you tired of having to set up a campfire just to cook a meal or heat up water for morning coffee? Coleman has a 1-burner butane camping stove that comes in at a reasonable price of $34.99 and is easy to use without having to smell like a fire pit. This simple design only requires an 8.8-ounce butane gas cylinder, which can be found either on Amazon or your local Walmart.

The way it works is you turn the knob to the desired temperature and then push down the ignition switch to start the flame. No lighters or matches are required to start cooking your food. The burner also comes with its own case, so you can carry it around without having to worry about components falling out or getting dirty. Although, you will want to wait until the stove cools off before stowing it away due to the carrying case being made out of plastic.