Quick Easy Tent Heater

This baby from Cabela's [USA] is....are you ready for this? $499.99

Did I see you choke? But then again....what is it used for and by whom? Not that I really care.

 

I really like the rocks in a bucket idea. I wonder if you could cover the bucket instead of inverting it.

I always use a hot water bottle in my sleeping bag. (I do that in the house, too, to make my bed comfy in winter.) Using reflecting tarps - tarp on one side and silver on the other side - inside the tent helps, too.

One thing I am getting ready to try is a tent in a tent to conserve heat. I have a 4 person Coleman InstaTent and just got a KampRite Insect Protection tent to use inside on top of my cot.

 

That's it.

If you plan to use a piece of equipment for a period of time - I tend to go with quality +. There are brand names and then there are brands names. The items I'm looking for are not found in Walmart territory; nor should they be. I'm looking for a whole range of specialty products.

 

What makes the difference for me in the final analysis is that my sleeping bag is warm. Yep...I will use a hot water bottle to. And for hot rocks? I have used a bed warmer - more as a fun thing - but I have used it. But only in real cold conditions like early spring, late fall and winter.

 

@campforums, I was responding to 2sweed's first post, where she was talking about warming up a tent with NO floor. Her suggestion is to heat the rocks, put them in a bucket, turn the bucket over to dump out the rocks on the ground, When you do this, it turns the bucket into a radiant heater.

If you have a good cover for the bucket, you could do that , I suppose; but it might not be good for your bucket if the rocks were really hot, because the rocks will be right against the sides and bottom of the bucket. When you dump the rocks out on the ground, they will heat the bucket, but not be close enough to warp it.

 

Ha Ha - that's what happens when we get a whole lot of different messages at once. True - that what not be something that I would be doing. I have other equipment that I would be using for safety sake. Always good to try other methods though.

 

That's really funny! A light is a light is a light....or something like that.

 

High tech flashlights are used by the military, police, firefighters and search and rescue groups. For those applications, the need to turn night into day easily makes sense. For the Average Joe? I can't see it. I dropped $60 on a Fenix flashlight and it's blinding enough at 200 lumens. I thought that was over the top extravagant, but that leads me to the other side of the coin. The quality that goes into the machined aluminum housings (that also contributes to their being supremely waterproof), the positive feel of the on/off clicks and other details make you feel like you have a real tool, not a hunk of plastic that could break if it gets knocked off a table or something.

 

@MacGyver it seems to me that were are like minded when it comes to our practical sense about purchasing sound equipment. I have a notion that we are just about the same level of skill and knowledge too. Now, how is it that two genus's could end up on the same site?

I use the Princeton Tec Vizz headlamp. I shoots out about a 300 foot light on the high beam. Costs about $50.00



The high beam throws a 90M light range [about 300 feet] and costs about $50.00
Very powerful, light weight, easy to use. It has the infrared. the low beam and the high beam.
It's great not to have to use my hands at night.
Well within practicability, cost, and sense but more especially it suits my needs just fine.
If you use the high beam a lot it is prone to burning the batteries out.
It does have a red flasher to tell you that the battery life is low.

 

I've seen those zippo hand warmers around but I've never used one. There are countless numbers of hand and feet warmer packs for sale everywhere. I've never used them either.

If all goes well I'll be out next week end at Camp Barber - just told recently of the site change. I have a hot water tank that joins my wood stove so I'll be using a hot water bottle to get things warmed up before I bed down for the night.

Another tent warmer? Sort of? Well if you are winter camping or camping in cooler seasons the recommendation is: No coffee or liquids an hour or so before bed. And to get warm? It is suggested that you have an energy bar. It gets the body warmed up.

 

I think that is why I haven't used the chemical packs - they are throw away.

I'm looking forward to next week; for one reason, I have to be doing winter stuff to claim that I am a four season camper. In fact I'm just now revising my inventory list - I always seem to leave something off.

 

I never liked the throwaways either. I have two Jon-e-Warmer versions of those Zippo heaters. I was sorry to see that they no longer make their own brand of fluid for them. I don't know what the formula was, but it didn't have the same odor as the Zippo which is naphtha based, if not pure naphtha. I still use them, but I have to wash whatever clothes they come in contact with when I get home.