camping gear, camping tentOf all the camping gear that I consider absolutely necessary, perhaps this one tops the list. Each of the family members has their own flashlight and once I discovered the INOVA 24/7, 7 Function LED Light System, I decided we had to have at least one of these for our camping gear. It has more functions than just lighting the campsite at night. This LED light will send a signal light, it flashes, it has both red and white lights, and runs on medium or high light settings. It's powered by a 123A Lithium cell and since these are energy wise LED lights, the battery lasts a long time.

We can't have enough light at night when we're camping. It helps light the path to the rest rooms, helps us navigate our tents after dark, and should we eat a late dinner, helps us see what we're eating. We even use this unit at home when the power goes out, typically after a big storm in the summer. I bought our INOVA LED lamp at KE Active Lifestyle at http://kayserenterprises.ispeedway.com, a site with a lot of good products for camping gear.

I learned a long time ago to buy good camping gear. It really makes a difference in how much fun we have when we're out camping. Over the years that we've been going camping, we have assembled some really good products, including our camping tent, which is second on the list for critical camping gear. This spring we're going to add another camping tent because the kids are old enough to be in their own tent and my husband and I are looking forward to everyone having their own space for their camping gear inside their tents.

Along with having their own camping tents, we're going to suggest that they start packing their own camping supplies, too. We bought color coded tubs for our camping gear and keep the tubs packed in the garage. Since they are color coded, it's not difficult to tell where they belong when we unpack when we get to the campground. The red tub contains the cooking gear, the green one contains our nonperishable food, and the blue ones have our clothes and toiletries in them. So we know whose is whose, we let the kids use permanent markers to write their names on them or make a design. It simplifies camping considerably so if the urge to head for the mountains strikes us, it's easy to pack up and go, and we're always unpacked by dusk, but in the rare event we aren't, we have our wonderful INOVA LED lamp to help us get our site together.