Christmas is coming and it’s time to drain the bank account in pursuit of the annual present binge. If you have an adventurer type in your life, we have compiled a list of niche kit that we love – or would love to have – to help give you a bit of inspiration.
If you’re going to buy anything off this list, we would be very grateful if you used the actual links below. They’re affiliate links. They cost you nothing but mean we get a tiny percentage of each sale, which helps cover the costs of running this website and will start funding an expedition grant next year.
Thank you and seasons greetings to you all.
P.S. For more ideas try our Wild Swimming Reading List and Adventure Cyclists’ Reading List, as well as Tim’s Equipment Comparison articles. Of course, you might also like a signed copy of Tim’s book: How to Get to the North Pole (and other iconic adventures).
Top of the Range
for people you really like
1. Steripen
If you’re travelling in the sorts of places where the water is a bit dodgy, a Steripen is a convenient way of making sure it’s safe to drink, using ultraviolet technology.
Unlike using chlorine or iodine tablets, it doesn’t affect the taste of the water and not buying bottled water helps the environment by saving on plastic waste. We’ve used ours all over the world and can highly recommend them.
Search for Steripens on Amazon >>
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2. Brooks Saddle
If you’re a cyclist and don’t already have one of these beauties, get one.
We’ve cycled 20,000km on ours in the last few months – with no need for padded shorts – and they’re brilliant. They also look super stylish, if you care about that sort of thing.
Search for Brooks Saddles on Amazon >>
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3. Waterproof MP3 Player
Swimming is the latest craze for adventurers wanting to prove themselves, but it can get boring lying face down in the water for hours on end. Relieve the tedium with a waterproof MP3 player.
(And if they like swimming then they may like one of these books…)
Search for Waterproof MP3 Players on Amazon >>
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4. Hennessy Hammock
Widely regarded as the expedition hammock, we’ve been hankering after one (or two) of these for years.
You can get simpler, cheaper ones but these come with a mosquito net and built in tarpaulin for rain protection. They also have a clever diagonal sleeping design which means you can lie flat rather than banana-shaped whilst you smugly survey your surroundings.
Search for Hennessy Hammocks on Amazon >>
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5. GoPro Hero Video Camera
These are everywhere at the moment: small cameras, the size of a tennis ball, which come with a range of attachments for fixing to bikes, helmets, surfboards and more.
We were given one as a very thoughtful wedding gift and it’s perfect for filming adventures without needing any special skills.
Search for GoPros on Amazon >>
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Mid Range
for people you like a bit
1. Ortlieb Compression Dry Bag
Most adventurers we know love a decent dry bag. Take it to the next level with this compression bag: it helps squish your sleeping bag to a fraction of the usual size.
Tim’s written a full explanation of these bags and a review here.
Search for Ortlieb Compression Sacks on Amazon >>
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2. Opinel Knife
These folding knives are the best we’ve found for outdoors use. They are tiny, don’t cost much and stay sharp for ages.
Much better than our blunt pen knife and saves the other tools from getting covered in cheese.
Search for Opinel Knives on Amazon >>
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3. Ortlieb Folding Bowl (aka “kitchen sink“)
We are surprised how much we’ve used this folding bowl on our cycling trip around the world. We use it for washing dishes, clothes, our bikes and ourselves at least once a day.
Highly recommended for the camping cycle tourist.
Search for Ortlieb Folding Bowls on Amazon >>
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4. Sea to Summit ‘Ultra Sil’ Foldaway Rucksack
These rucksacks come in an integrated stuff sack which is about the size of a golf ball and weigh an absurd 68 grams.
We keep ours in our handlebar bags, ready for supermarket shopping. They are remarkably tough (they’ve survived 16 months on the road with us) and can take a surprising amount of weight. Great for any traveller.
Search for Sea-to-Summit Rucksacks on Amazon >>
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5. Sealskinz Waterproof Socks
If you cycle in winter, you’ll know the pain of cold feet. These socks are pretty amazing at stopping the wind and rain from getting in.
We used them in temperatures of -15°C and can highly recommend them for cold weather cyclists.
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Budget
for people you may or may not like, but are obliged to buy for
1. Fire Steel (aka “striker”)
This isn’t rocket science: just two pieces of metal which you strike together to create a spark that lights the stove.
It means you don’t need to bother with matches or lighters, and it doesn’t matter if it gets wet. They say they last for 10,000 strikes and, after over a year on the road, ours is still going strong.
Search for Fire Steels on Amazon >>
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2. Titanium Spork
Plastic sporks are hardly robust and we’ve probably snapped a dozen on this trip, usually trying to get peanut butter out of a jar.
Upgrade to a titanium one: they still weigh virtually nothing and will last you a lot longer than their plastic cousins.
Search for Titanium Sporks on Amazon >>
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3. Ortlieb Coffee Filter Holder
It might just be a piece of silicon shaped like a funnel, but it makes a pretty decent cup of coffee.
Unlike other campsite coffee makers, it folds flat so takes up virtually no space and weighs next to nothing. If you need coffee to get you going, this one is a great option.
Search for Ortlieb Coffee Filter Holders on Amazon >>
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4. Orange Survival Bag
These are old school bags made of tough plastic, recommended to carry for emergency use. We would also recommend them as an ultra-budget bivvy bag. They might be a bit sweaty but they’ll keep the worst of the weather out. Alternatively, they make pretty good sledging bags.
For more (luxurious/expensive) bivy bag ideas, see Tim’s popular Comparison of Bivy Bags article.
Search for Survival Bags on Amazon >>
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5. Nuun
These tablets are for adding to water so you can replace electrolytes lost through sweating. They taste pretty good too.
We reckon anyone into exercise would be grateful to receive these as a gift.
5 Comments
andy
Hi Guys!
Great list! If I may, I’d add an aeropress coffee maker with a metal filter. It makes kick-ass coffee and doesn’t require the paper filter; all you need are coffee grounds and hot water.
To boil water (for coffee) I’d recommend the MSR whisperlite stove because it is absolutely bomb-proof. After 16 months of heavy usage with all kinds of crappy fuel, it didn’t fail once.
Finally, Matt and I would probably gone insane and killed each other without our trusty Kindle ebook readers to while away those long evening hours in the tent…a library in your pannier! No use as kindling or toilet paper, though….
Enjoy the rest of your trip,
Andy
Tim Moss
Hey Andy, thanks for the recommendations. We saw someone use that AeroPress. It looks cool and even better if it’s small enough to carry around.
We’re both big fans of our Kindles. So good for cycle touring!
The Whisperlite’s a good stove. We used a Primus Omnilite (like the Omnifuel but titanium) and they’re really good because you can use gas canisters with them as well. Which was good for us and we never once needed to use petrol!
For anyone interested, here are some links:
Primus Omnilite Ti Review
Aerobie AeroPress Coffee Maker
Review of Amazon Kindle for Expeditions and Travel
Donna Price
thanks for the great gift ideas. Love to hear that the whisper lite is good choice as we are trying to assess which stove to use for a big tour. We have an old whisper lite that isn’t working well and a multi-fuel coleman that’s pretty bulky and heavy!
Would love to add a couple of these gifts to our stockings. do you have a US Amazon affiliate link?? Just one will do….
Tim Moss
Thanks Donna. I think all the multifuel stoves are pretty much the same and all decent. The Primus Omnifuel and Omnilite always win for me because they take propane/butane canisters too (which we found in every country we visited).
I do indeed have a US Amazon affiliate account, thanks for asking. It’s: http://www.thenextchallenge.org/amazonusa
Tim.
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