The Outdoor desk
Outdoor Gift Ideas: Gear Built for the Second Trip
Explore the best tech gift ideas for gadget lovers, gamers, students, parents, and anyone who enjoys smart, innovative gear. From everyday essentials to cool new gadgets, these picks are great for him, her, and anyone who appreciates useful, modern tech.
From the editors
Outdoor gifts have to earn the trip back into the car. The test we use: would this thing still be in their bag on the second trip, or would it be "oh yeah, I forgot I brought that"? A cheap headlamp might make one weekend. A quality one shows up for years.
The gifts here skew toward durable, packable, and specific. A cooler that actually keeps ice frozen for a weekend. A backpack that fits a day hike and carry-on simultaneously. A mosquito repeller that doesn't make you smell like a tire fire. Small, high-use items that make the next trip better without needing the recipient to learn anything.
What we skip: hyperspecific gear (fly rods, skis, tent upgrades for someone with a 6-month-old tent), survival kits that imply you think they'd die without help, and anything battery-dependent for people who camp in places without outlets. Simple, real outdoor gifts almost always beat tactical novelty.
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$$$$Garmin inReach Mini 2
My brother-in-law does multi-day solo backpacking trips in the Sierras, often miles from the nearest cell signal.
$$$Anker PowerCore III Elite
My phone died at a trailhead two hours from the nearest town, and I had to navigate back using paper trail markers like it was 1997.
$$$$DJI Mini 3 Pro
The first time I watched a friend's drone footage from a weekend camping trip, I thought he'd hired a professional videographer.
$$$$Garmin Instinct 2 Solar
I once watched a coworker check his Apple Watch battery percentage three times during a day hike. By mile six, he was in low power mode.
$$JBL Clip 4
I keep a JBL Clip clipped to the outside of my shower caddy, and it's been there for over a year.
$$$Osprey Talon 22
I spent years hiking with a cheap 30-liter pack that dug into my shoulders and turned my back into a swamp by mile two.
$$$JBL Flip 6
There's a JBL Flip in every friend group. It's the speaker someone pulls out at the barbecue, the beach house, the tailgate.
$$$$GoPro HERO11 Black
Last summer I strapped a GoPro to my handlebars for a mountain bike ride and ended up with footage that looked like it came from a Red Bull…
$$Thermacell E55 Mosquito Repeller
Last July, I hosted a backyard dinner party that nearly got ruined. The food was great, the weather was perfect, and the mosquitoes were…
$$Squirrel Buster Plus Bird Feeder
My parents have been at war with squirrels for as long as I can remember. Every spring, my dad would try a new feeder, a new baffle, a new…
$YETI Rambler 16 oz
I've lost count of how many travel mugs I've owned. Most of them leaked in my bag, lost their lids, or started smelling weird after a few…
$Adidas MLS Club Ball
My neighbor's kid knocked on my door last summer holding a half-deflated ball that looked like it had survived three seasons of street…
$$$$Goalrilla Striker Soccer Trainer
When my cousin's kid made the travel soccer team, the whole family was excited.
$$$$YETI Roadie 24
I used to think spending $250 on a cooler was absurd. Then my buddy brought his YETI Roadie 24 on a fishing trip and pulled out ice-cold…
$Foxgloves Gardening Gloves
I used to garden barehanded. Not out of some toughness thing, but because every pair of gardening gloves I'd tried felt like oven mitts.
$$$Bose SoundLink Micro
I have a friend who clips a tiny speaker to his backpack on every hike. I used to think that was annoying until I realized how nice it was…
$$$$Garmin Instinct Solar
Charging a watch feels like it should be a solved problem by now, but most smartwatches still die after a day or two.
$$Hydro Flask 32 oz
You know that feeling when you wake up at 3:00 AM and your mouth feels like it’s filled with cotton balls?
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