I don’t know what you think, but the weather is perfect right now and I can barely sit here in front of the computer until I get the OK to go running, hiking, or paddleboarding on the river (I live in Portland, Oregon, where doing all of this within walking distance of my house is a breeze.) (Plus, I might as well be doing it right now! You can’t tell where I’m typing this. You don’t have a drone.)
If you, too, find yourself daydreaming about the neighborhood party or camping trip you’re going to this weekend when you should be working, here are some of the best outdoor deals I found while you should be looking for something else. Be sure to check out our roundup of the best Prime Day deals and our Prime Day live blog for more discounts on our favorite WIRED-tested products.
We test products throughout the year and carefully select these offerings. We will update this guide periodically throughout the sale event.
WIRED Featured Deals
The best deals for outdoor activities
Photography: Simon Hill
“What are you doing force “Is it all about being outdoors?” you say to yourself dismissively. The joke’s on you, because my husband used one of these to inflate four paddleboards on the river the other day without breaking a sweat. This is the top pick in our guide to the best portable power stations, and as well as powering small inflatable motors, it also has a decent mix of ports so you can quickly charge your devices with its 2042 watt-hour capacity. It’s bulky and heavy, but it also has a telescopic handle and wheels so you can pull it out of the car and drag it around.
I’ve carried various versions of JBL speakers with me for several years, including earlier versions of the Go. I especially like to put one on my bike or in my backpack to encourage young kids to ride their bikes to the park or to play music (softly) at a time by the river. This one has IP67 water and dust resistance and has clear, relatively full sound. Sadly, not all of the fun colors are discounted, but the blue and red are, which are my two favorites.
Photography: Shokz
Shokz makes some of my favorite workout headphones. The OpenRun Pro (8/10, WIRED recommends) use the latest version of the company’s bone conduction technology, meaning they’re noticeably more comfortable and less noisy on the skull than some of the company’s previous attempts. They fit under a helmet and don’t block out ambient noise if you’re running. And if has to They are noise cancelling, you can actually put in a pair of earplugs and still hear your music through your skull!
The Nalgene gets an honorable mention in our guide to the best water bottles, which almost doesn’t seem fair because I’m an old hand who remembers that Nalgenes started this whole water bottle-as-accessory thing. Tritan Renew is a BPA-free material that’s made up of at least 50 percent certified recycled content. Nalgenes are lightweight, sustainable, and inexpensive. Buy a cute turquoise one, cover it in stickers, and clip it to the outside of your hiking pack with a carabiner.
Skratch Labs recently sent me several flavors of this blend and it tastes so good that my kids sometimes ask for it. Voluntarily! We’ve had several heat waves in Oregon lately. It hasn’t stopped us from getting outdoors (we like to splash around and swim when it gets too hot), but I was concerned about how to keep my family hydrated. This is an easy and now more affordable way to do that.
Photography: GoPro
As we say in our guide to the best action cameras, the best advice is often the simplest: just pick a GoPro. The Hero12 is reviewer Scott Gilbertson’s favorite pick, and the camera he chooses when heading out the door. It has good battery life and excellent stabilization, it runs much cooler than previous models, and you also get a free one-year subscription to GoPro Premium. GoPro’s subscription service gives you unlimited cloud storage, damaged camera replacement, and discounts on accessories (it renews at $50 per year).
We like pretty much everything Solo Stove makes—my buddy Parker Hall has the Yukon fire pit, and I currently have the latest version of the Solo Stove Pi (8/10, WIRED recommends). This is the portable, lightweight version of that instantly recognizable steel fire bowl. What makes the Solo Stove unique is that it has a double-walled design with airflow that creates secondary combustion, incinerating all those irritating little particles before they have a chance to escape the bowl. It does burn through fuel pretty quickly, though, so get a good supply ready before you start burning.
Photography: Specialized
Few non-cyclists will believe me when I tell them that $6,000 is a pretty decent price to pay for a mountain bike this good, even when… No It has a motor (and this one does). I really want an electric mountain bike (eMTB) so I can keep up with my wife and much fitter and faster friends on the trails around our house. The Turbo Levo Comp (8/10, WIRED Recommends) uses the same frame as Specialized’s iconic Stumpjumper, except it has a seamlessly integrated, custom-designed motor that allows people of all fitness levels to ride together.
This is the best blanket. I use it almost every day. I spread it out in front of our tent to keep dust and twigs out of our sleeping space; I take it to the river for picnics. It’s washable and has a waterproof base, so you don’t have to worry about wet grass getting soaked, and it’s heavy enough that the corners don’t lift in the breeze. Mine has lasted almost five years. Get one, get another, get another.
We’ll be posting our full review of the Cleary soon and including it in our guide to the best kids’ bikes, but my 9-year-old daughter has been testing it for a few weeks now, and I can’t wait to write about it. I really wanted my daughter to ride a mountain bike with me, but it was too big for a 20-incher and a little too small for many 24-inch bikes to fit comfortably. The Cleary’s bottom bracket is very low, so those with short legs can ride it comfortably. The seat moves back as you move uphill, so the reach is comfortable. You can also customize it as you go by adding a kickstand, front fork, and larger tires. It also has an internal gear hub, which means less maintenance for us Pacific Northwesters and our mud issues, but it also reduces the chance of the chain coming off.
You didn’t really think you’d get away with not mentioning Lifestraw at a sales event, did you? I’m a little embarrassed at how often I use Lifestraw products. I live in Portland, Oregon, the city with the purest and best tasting water in the entire country, which means that whenever I have to travel, my kids and I can’t stand water from anywhere else and we instantly become dehydrated. I use Lifestraw products. Go water bottle series when we travel, and we have recently replaced it with a smaller, more foldable one. Sip of life’s strawBut the most affordable is the personal water filter. Not only does it remove waterborne bacteria and parasites, but it also removes microplastics. Each filter can clean up to 1,000 gallons of water before it needs to be replaced.
