Outdoors and Camping

Forget Westfalia or Winnebago. Some of this year's most striking, innovative camper vans came not from dedicated RV manufacturers or small conversion garages but from much bigger household names: the automakers themselves.

We've seen a few inflatable mattress kits tailored to Rivian's R1S SUV, but Hest has evaded inflation and launched a set of plush foam mattresses to turn the full-size electric SUV into a sleek, simple all-terrain micro-camper.

We've seen camper kits for vans, 4x4s and crossovers. But pickup truck owners have long been left to build their own. Roadloft bucks that trend with a pickup camper kit that becomes a truck lounge, dining area, mobile office, kitchenette and bedroom.

Tiny flashlight, tiny output, right? That's not always the case. The PicoTorch twists out over 200 lumens and burns for up to two hours a charge while dangling from a keychain. With a magnetic base, it doubles as an effective work light.

Believe it or not, the Winnebago Revel camper van was less than $135K when it debuted in 2017. Now, it's $254K. Winnebago reverses course and rolls Revel pricing back a bit with the new/old 2025 Revel Sport, a lighter version of the adventure camper.

Unlike camper manufacturers that keep their gaze fixed upmarket, Boreas has long been just as committed to delivering more affordable composite trailers. Its newest is the simple but robust Ultra-Base, a blank adventure canvas that starts under $15K.

The new Mercedes-Benz Marco Polo Horizon debuts as the sleekest member of the Marco Polo camper van family. It's classy enough to feel comfortable pulling up to valet parking but ready to transform into a cozy lodge at a moment's notice.

Looking back, 2024 had some exceptionally cool knife and multitool launches, from ultra-sleek, reimagined pocket knives, to modular multitools with limitless customization, to hypnotizing folders that you can't help but deploy over and over.

Nissan's MyRoom light camper concept moved to full-on production earlier this year and has now spawned a smaller version, the NV200 MyRoom. The new camper vanette rolls the homey tranquility of the original MyRoom into a tiny mini-camping package.

Tonke not only shows the first actual pop-up roof with bed we've seen installed on a VW ID. Buzz, it puts a unique spin on the concept. Its roof mashes together a sideways orientation with a rooftop tent-style design to increase sleeping space.

We expect the occasional bicycle RV launch, but Grounded has released something we weren't expecting at all. Its T1 micro-camper is a live-in e-trike-powered tractor-trailer with standing height interior, panoramic windows, and space for two.

Campervan Co has been building efficient campers for years, but it's outdone itself with its latest. Designed for both camping and daily driving, the new Eco Escape puts a 5-seat/4-sleeper interior in a hybrid Toyota Estima MPV with electrified AWD.