7 Pieces Of Camping Gear Worth Buying From Costco (And 5 To Skip)

It's not uncommon to make a Costco run before hitting the dirt track for a weekend of camping. The warehouse store has everything from water by the pallet to more s'mores supplies than you could safely consume over a long weekend. In addition to filling the cooler, Costco has a wide range of camping and outdoor products. With the right plan and a sufficient budget, you could nearly outfit an entire camping trip without going anyplace else.

The question then becomes one of confidence. Can you fill your cart and head for parts unknown, safe in the knowledge that your products will come through for you when you need them? More than many other stores, Costco makes an effort to validate the quality of its products and limit its selection. The idea is that consumers may have fewer options at Costco, but everything on the shelves should be worth considering. While that's largely true, there are still a few things at Costco you can probably safely leave off your camping shopping list.

If you've got a camping trip or some outdoor time coming up (and if you need help finding somewhere to pitch your tent, there's an app for that), here are seven products you should consider and five you can probably leave on the shelf.

Since time immemorial, critters of all kinds have spent at least some of their time looking for somewhere to rest. As far as we know, only humans have invented chairs. When you're out for a little rest and relaxation, it's nice to have somewhere to put up your feet.

This set of director's chairs from Timber Ridge features a lightweight, aluminum frame that folds up into a compact package for storage. Each chair has its own fold-out side table that can hold your phone, a book, snacks, and other small objects. There's also a built-in cup holder and storage compartment to prop up your phone, tablet, or other small electronics. And there are two of them, so you'll have a place for a friend to sit, or a backup chair for yourself.

The side table is made of plastic but has a faux-wood finish. The seat is made of durable polyester, and it holds up to 300 pounds with a seat area of 20.87 by 14.96 inches. A carrying handle is attached to the frame, so you can transport it briefcase-style when it's folded up, and it weighs about 8 pounds, roughly the same as a gallon of water. So, it's not too heavy to carry from here to there.

Getting out into the great outdoors is wonderful, but the great outdoors is where they keep the bears. That's probably why humanity has spent so much time and effort putting walls between itself and the rest of the wild world. That's at least part of why camping can be so much fun: It's a way for us to put ourselves outside some of those walls and closer to the natural world, with all of its beauty and all of its potential hazards.

If you're entering bear country and you don't want to enter the food chain at the same time, bear spray is a worthwhile investment, but it should be only part of a safe hiking plan. When you arrive at your campground, check the visitor center for updated wildlife information.

Bears usually avoid humans if they can help it, so make noise while you're hiking to announce yourself. If you see a bear, keep your distance. If you stumble onto a bear in close proximity, talk to it in calm, low tones. Stand your ground while slowly waving your arms to make yourself appear bigger. Bear spray can be helpful as a last resort. This UDAP bear spray two-pack has a 40-foot range and contains 2% capsaicinoids measured at 3.3 million on the Scoville scale, even higher than Pepper X, the world's hottest pepper.

There's debate about whether trekking poles or walking sticks are actually beneficial. Some hikers say they feel encumbered by poles and prefer to keep their hands free, while others say trekking poles are a game changer. The science, surprisingly, supports both sides of the argument.

A review of several studies published in the journal "Wilderness Environmental Medicine" found that, overall, poles provide better balance, reduce stress on your joints, and facilitate a faster gait with less perceived effort. In short, you can move faster and more easily, and you feel like it takes less energy. The surprising part is that actively using poles actually increases your caloric burn by about 20%. That's good news if you're hiking to exercise or lose weight, but it does mean you're doing more work than is strictly necessary.

Costco offers a double set of trekking poles (four poles in total) from Cascade Mountain Tech. The poles are made of carbon fiber, but the handles are made of cork with EVA foam grips to help prevent slips when your palms get sweaty. Each pole extends up to 54 inches long, locking into place with a quick-lock mechanism, and compresses down to 26 inches for storage. The set also comes with a few accessories, including four rubber tips, four boot tips, four mud or sand baskets, and four snow baskets.

If you're tired of using disposable tanks for your gas camping grill, a 5-pound refillable tank could save you the headache, give you a steadier supply of gas, and reduce your garbage footprint by eliminating single-use tanks.

Costco offers an empty 5-pound propane tank from Flame King with an overflow protection device valve and a built-in gauge. The cost to fill the tank will fluctuate depending on the current price of propane and where you go to fill it. Some places have additional fees or a minimum purchase, so you might end up spending more than the cost of propane. Many Costco warehouses and other places, like Tractor Supply, will refill propane tanks at their fuel stations, where you only pay for the cost of fuel.

This tank can hold about 1.2 gallons, so you could feasibly fill it for just a few dollars. By contrast, the pre-filled green cylinders hold about 16 ounces of propane. You'd need about 10 of them to equal what a 5-pound tank can hold. At the time of writing, a four-pack of pre-filled tanks costs $25.98 at Lowe's and a two-pack costs $11.98. The cost of 10 tanks would run you approximately $64 before taxes. Even with the $63 initial investment for the refillable tank and the cost to fill it, you'll pretty much break even right out of the gate. If you use propane often, in terms of cost and convenience, it's a no-brainer.

Often, getting away from home means getting off the grid, and that means letting go of certain amenities like electricity. A gas generator seeks to solve that problem by converting liquid fuel like gasoline into electricity. The Firman P03504 gas generator, available at Costco, offers 4,450 starting watts and 3,550 running watts of power. With its 5-gallon fuel tank, it can run for about 14 hours at half load.

The generator has enough oomph to power your portable toys for a weekend away (provided you bring enough fuel), or you can use it as backup power at home in the event of an emergency. To be clear, this generator spits out dangerous exhaust fumes and should never be operated inside your home or any occupied space. If you need to use it at home, park it at least 20 feet away from your home and follow outdoor generator safety precautions.

The generator has a 208cc engine with safety features like overload protection, low oil shutoff, and carbon monoxide shutoff. Additionally, getting it from Costco will save you about $300 on the sticker price (even if you're not already a Costco member, the savings could justify the cost of signing up), and Costco offers a four-year limited warranty compared to three years from the manufacturer.

If you have a lighter electrical load and want to take some portable power with you while avoiding a gas generator, the River 3 Plus might do the trick. From EcoFlow, a highly ranked maker of portable power stations, the River 3 Plus is a modular power pack with a capacity of 286 watt-hours.

When plugged in, it charges from 0% to 70% in about half an hour, and you can use it to power a wide range of household gadgets using three AC ports, two USB-A ports, one USB-C port, one 12V car port, and a wireless charging pad. You can plop your iPhone or AirPods down on the surface and they'll charge wirelessly.

While the River 3 Plus is compact and portable, it's not quite small enough to fit in your pocket, but there's a solution for that. Remember how we said this was modular? The system features a detachable 5,000mAh power bank that you can toss into a bag or your pocket. And it comes with a spare, so you can take one with you while leaving the other docked and charging.

If you're spending time off the beaten path, it's a good idea to be prepared for a medical emergency. A well-stocked first aid kit is the sort of thing you hope you'll never need, but you're glad to have if and when the need arises.

Costco offers a first aid kit from Rapid Care that contains more than 250 pieces of first aid equipment, including adhesive bandages, butterfly closures, gauze pads, tape rolls, wound dressings, eye wash, thermometers, safety pins, examination gloves, scissors, tweezers, a tourniquet, ointments, disinfectants, and more. There's enough in there to treat the minor injuries of dozens of people with supplies left over. There's stuff you'll hopefully never use, and there are things you can use more regularly for scrapes, splinters, and other minor bumps and bruises.

It can be hard to think straight in an emergency, so everything in the kit is organized, labeled, and color-coded. Once you familiarize yourself with the contents, things should be relatively easy to find. It also has a smaller travel kit with a subset of medical supplies. So, you can leave the larger kit in your car or back at the campsite, and take the smaller kit with you, just in case.

This isn't your ordinary camping cooler. The Trinity stainless steel cooler is more like a mobile bar cart. It comes in two different sizes, with either an 80-quart or 100-quart capacity. Either way, there's a built-in towel rack, bottle opener, and cap catcher mounted to the sides, along with a drain to let melted ice escape.

The whole thing is raised off the ground and supported by four small caster wheels, and the stainless steel exterior makes it feel more at home inside a professional kitchen than out on the unbeaten trail. We're not saying it's a bad product. In fact, user ratings and reviews suggest the opposite; it just isn't appropriate for camping. Glamping, maybe.

It's the sort of thing that might be really nice out by the pool or during a backyard barbecue, but it's not really designed for rugged terrain. It's too top-heavy and too shiny to really imagine lugging it around the woods or dragging it down the beach the way you would a more conventional cooler. Despite being advertised in Costco's camping gear section, if you're actually heading off the beaten path, you're probably better off with something made of hard plastic and designed to take a beating.

A good tent is a key element of just about any camping experience, but it's important to choose the right tent for your needs. While this six-person tent from Core might be suitable for casual outings, it seems to miss the mark in a few key areas.

Here's what the tent has going for it. Users say it's easy to set up and it's decently sized. When set up, the interior floor measures 10 feet by 9 feet, with an arched dome that stands 6 feet tall at the center. That's large enough to fit two queen-size air mattresses side by side, with room to spare. Ditch the beds and it comfortably sleeps three people and their gear. Without gear, you can sleep up to six people in sleeping bags or other compact sleeping arrangements. There's also an overhead light and a slot to run an extension cord. The tent's made of polyester with fiberglass poles, and it weighs just 17 pounds, making it relatively easy to transport.

It's spacious and has some neat features, but multiple consumers have complained of the tent collapsing in relatively minor winds. The general consensus is that it's a fine shelter as long as the weather's mild, but it may not be reliable in inclement weather. A tent's main job is to protect you from the elements, and any failure to do that is a pretty significant deal-breaker.

It should be said up front that a telescope or a good pair of binoculars can make an excellent addition to a camping trip. Getting away from city centers and the associated light pollution can give you access to a version of the sky many of us rarely get to see, and a telescope can give you access to a literal universe of natural wonders. It should also be said that Celestron is a trusted maker of telescopes, binoculars, and other astronomical equipment, but we still think you can probably skip this particular telescope.

As beginner telescopes go, this one is fairly middle of the road. It has a pretty lackluster accessory kit in terms of lenses and filters, and users complain that the telescope drifts after you've locked it into position. That's a pretty big problem when you're trying to sight objects that are literally light-years away. Even a fraction of an inch of drift can move your target object out of the viewing field.

The smartphone adapter is a fairly common telescope accessory, and it can be effective if used correctly. That said, even with the adapter, it can be famously difficult to get your phone camera lined up with the telescope eyepiece. Typically, it's only really useful for taking photos of the Moon and maybe a planet or two if you're patient. This scope isn't advanced enough to really please a veteran and there are better beginner scopes out there.

Unless you have a pretty compelling reason, it's probably best to stick with a DEET-based insect repellent. There are decades of research supporting the efficacy and safety of DEET when used as directed, and there's not really anything else on the market that reliably compares.

Oil of lemon eucalyptus (OLE), the active ingredient in products like Murphy's Naturals lemon eucalyptus oil mosquito and tick spray, is growing in popularity, and some studies have shown that it does have an effect, but it's generally not as effective as DEET. There's some variability from product to product, but you typically need to reapply more often.

It's also worth clarifying that lemon eucalyptus essential oils are not effective; your bug spray needs to have an effective concentration of PMD (para-menthane-3,8-diol). And while the current data suggests it does help keep mosquitoes at bay, the safety data isn't as well documented as DEET. If you're itching to try something new, this insect spray will probably do an okay job, but you're likely to get a slightly better experience with the insect sprays you're used to.

Bug Bite Thing purports to minimize the pain and irritation associated with bug bites and stings. It's basically a plastic tube that you place over the site of the insect attack. When you pull up a plunger, you create a vacuum that ostensibly removes insect saliva, stingers, and other irritants.

Allegedly, if you use the product quickly enough after a bite or a sting, you can avoid much or all of the discomfort caused by the body's reaction. However, there aren't any real efficacy studies, and even the company itself has no published data demonstrating whether Bug Bite Thing works or not.

Many people swear by the product, but pretty much all of the reports are anecdotal. You're probably better off using an effective insect repellent, wearing appropriate protective clothing, and ditching the gimmicks. Then again, there's something to be said for the placebo effect, and if it makes you feel better, maybe it's worth a few bucks, whether it works or not.

Costco offers dozens of products that might be useful on a camping trip, but that doesn't make them camping gear. To be included on the list, a product had to be sold by Costco and either be listed in the company's Camping or Outdoor sections or have a demonstrable camping application.

To make the list of things we recommend, a product had to be supported by at least 100 user ratings and have a minimum score of 4 stars. Where possible, recommended products are also supported by experienced reviewers at SlashGear and other trusted publications.

The items we're suggesting you skip may have missed the cut for one or more reasons. In some cases, they're inappropriate for camping (despite being listed as camping gear). In other cases, they don't hold up to the elements, they aren't as good as alternatives on the market, or they lack reliable data to back up their claims.