5. Flashlight

When out in the wild and far from artificial light sources, the consequences of not having suitable means of lighting your way can be fairly extreme. While at home you may inadvertently stub a toe or headbutt a wall, in the great outdoors things have the potential to be a whole lot gnarlier. You could, for example, stumble off a cliff, get lost, trod on your camping partner, trod on a random stranger, lose your lucky teddy bear or snuggle yourself up in entirely the wrong tent. Having a decent flashlight will help you avoid all of the above problems and navigate freely in the dark without worrying about the battery on your phone dying when you’ve used up all its juice on the torch! Plus, who doesn’t want a badass tactical flashlight?

Best Use:

• Illuminating your face in the tent or around the campfire to scare the bejesus out of your camping partners
• All-in-all the perfect prop for bedtime scary storytelling
• For midnight pee-breaks in the dark: because your camping buddies would never forgive you for peeing on their breakfast/jacket/head
• Locating grub when seized with the midnight munchies
• Making sure the thing you’re about to shoot or scream at is actually a hungry bear and not your friend Susan

Why we love it:

As much as we like to kid on that we’re a hardy, tough, fearless bunch of outdoorsy types, for the most part we are terrified of the dark. Let there be light!

Staff Recommendation – Surefire G2X Pro ($70)

To make sure your chance at scaring your camping partners isn’t thwarted by technical failure, you’re going to need a flashlight you can really depend on at the crucial moment. The Surefire G2X Pro is just that. Not only is this tidy little giver of light ultra-compact and lightweight, it’s virtually indestructible thanks to its tough Nitrolon body, anodized aluminum bezel and polycarbonate window and is also entirely weatherproof.