Don’t you just hate it when the zipper of your camp tent breaks or your tent rips from the middle while setting up? We do, too, because we’ve been there.
Flimsy, badly manufactured gear can ruin a camping trip. Investing in high-quality camping gear ensures a safe trip. Getting durable camping gear is a must for your camping trip, whether you plan on roughing it out in the wild or relax in your backyard. To make sure the gear you get is useful and durable, go for items manufactured by known brands.
To help you in this regard, we have compiled a list of the top camping brands. These brands provide campers with the best tools for tough tasks like climbing mountains and help campers deal with rough conditions like difficult weather.
List of Top Camping Brands
1. Big Agnes
Big Agnes started as a niche camping brand based in Colorado 20 years ago aiming to provide people with the best camping gear. The company later became an award-winner camping brand. Big Agnes received a Backpacker Magazine Editors’ Choice award for their Insulated Air Core in 2004.
The brand aims to encourage people to go camping and enjoy the backcountry. Since the company is located a few minutes from the mountains, they test all their camping gear there. The brand’s mission has evolved, allowing them to produce innovative camping gear and explore new routes and camping sites.
Big Agnes not only provides campers with durable, lightweight camping gear, but they are also environmentally friendly. Big Agnes provides campers with all the camping gear, including sleeping bags, tents, sleeping pads, backpacks, apparel, camping furniture, and tent accessories.
2. Jetboil
The camping experience is incomplete without fun camping meals. Jetboil is a backpacking company that produces lightweight, portable cooking gear for camping. The brand is based in New Hampshire and was founded in 2001.
Jetboil’s purpose is to help people cook meals in places like parks, river banks, and even mountaintops. The brand wants people to get the most out of their camping trips by eating delicious food.
Jetboil was the first brand to introduce an all-in-one stove system. This top camping brand has since been producing innovative, reliable, lightweight camping cooking gear. Jetboil not only produces cooking systems but also provides separate cooking gears. Some of the products on their websites include stoves and stove systems, stove fuel, camp accessories, cooking accessories, spare parts, and cooking utensils.
3. Mountain Safety Research (MSR)
Mountain Safety Research, commonly known as MSR, is another top camping brands. Based in Seattle, the brand was founded in 1969 by mountaineer Larry Penberthy. Initially, the brand’s purpose was to improve mountain climbing equipment’s safety. Later, the brand grew into one of the best camping brands famous for its cutting-edge engineering.
The brand initially produced ropes, stove fuels, ice axe, and other essential climbing tools. Larry began collecting donations to fund his field test and produce new equipment. The resulting products helped the company’s popularity to skyrocket. Now, it has become one of the leading camping brands in the industry.
MSR aims to produce safer, more reliable equipment to help campers have a safe and fun trip. The company offers camping and mountaineering tents, camping gear, cooking utensils, portable stoves, snow camping accessories, etc. Additionally, the brand also offers various gift guides for fellow campers.
4. Sea to Summit
Sea to Summit is a well-known Australian camping brand that was founded in the 1990s by outdoor enthusiast Roland Tyson. The brand’s founder started to work on it from his bedroom, creating outdoor gear on his sewing machine. Later, Roland was joined by Penny Sanderson, who used to work for Australian Geographic. Their love for the wild and travel grew the brand into one of the top camping brands.
Sea to Summit is famous for its high-quality, durable products. The brand was awarded outside gear of the year in 2020 for its sleeping bags. Their product line includes tents and tarps, sleeping bags and pads, outdoor gear, storage bags, and cooking accessories.
5. The North Face
The North Face is a camping brand based in Denver founded in 1960 by Douglas Tompkins and Susie Tompkins Buell. The company started as a mountain traveling brand and became well-known outdoor apparel and accessory brand.
Today, The North Face is famous for its outdoor apparel. The brand offers high-quality jackets, pullovers, bottoms, footwear, and tops. Their products are designed keeping outdoor activities like camping, hiking, mountaineering, skiing, trail running, and snowboarding in mind.
The North Face’s bestsellers include Wawona and Bastion. These tents are designed to protect the campers from harsh environments. Due to their durability and utility, these dome-like tents are often seen at mountains and high-altitude campsites. Besides apparel, the brand offers hiking and camping equipment, including tents, sleeping bags, and travel bags.
Black Diamond
Black Diamond is a Utah-based skiing and climbing company that offers high-quality, four-season tents and shelters. The company was founded in 1965 by Yvon Chouinard and his friends. Their tents are waterproof and perfect for remote areas. However, the products are heavy on the pocket, while the quality and durability of the tents make spending worth it. The tents are designed to protect travelers from harsh weather, making them ideal for use in cold climates.
The brand’s purpose is to make the most delicate mountaineering equipment and promote the future of mountain sports. They cater to wild campers and people mountaineering in harsh weather. The brand is famous for its incredible skiing, climbing, and hiking equipment. Additionally, Black Diamond earned the title for Bestselling Climbing Brand and topped the list for Hardware and Harness in SNEWS’s 2020 Retailer Survey.
Besides climbing gear, Black Diamond offers outdoor footwear, tops, bottoms, jackets, tents, sleeping bags, and other camping accessories.
Our Final Thoughts
Well-designed, well-produced camping gear and tents have made camping an easy and doable activity for most people. We hope our list of the top camping brands helps you choose the best quality tents, cooking systems, outdoor apparel, and camping gear.