Budget or quality camping gear: what a night outdoors really costs

Many first camping sets in the UAE are bought in one go: one shop, one basket, the cheapest version of everything. Sometimes that works. Often the first night is cold, the tent shakes in the wind, and the set ends up in the store room. This article separates two numbers that get mixed up, and shows where budget gear is fine and where it costs more than it saves.

Two different numbers

• Purchase cost: what you pay at the till, once.
• Cost per trip: the purchase cost divided by the number of trips the gear actually serves you.

Fuel, food and any site fee are spent on every trip, whatever gear you own, so leave them out of this comparison. The question here is only what the gear itself costs you each time you go.

The calculation that matters

Purchase cost ÷ trips used = cost per trip. Here is a worked example for two people, with round illustrative numbers rather than prices from our catalogue.

• Budget set: tent 300 AED, two bags at 100 AED, two pads at 50 AED. Purchase cost: 600 AED.
• Better set: tent 800 AED, two bags at 300 AED, two pads at 200 AED. Purchase cost: 1,800 AED.
• If the budget set lasts two trips before something fails: 300 AED a trip.
• If the better set is used three times and then stays in a cupboard: 600 AED a trip.
• If the better set is used six times a season for three seasons, 18 trips: 100 AED a trip.

Neither set is cheap or expensive on its own. The number of trips decides. Dubai’s own winter camping season runs from 1 November to 30 April; one trip a month is about six trips a season. Use your own honest guess, not ours.

The hidden costs of a bad night

The calculation misses what a failure costs on the night. A cold night can end with the family packing up at 2 am. In January 2025, when Jebel Jais fell to 1.8 °C, The National spoke to a visitor who had previously cut a trip short because her family was not prepared for the cold. The fuel and food were spent either way.

There is a second cost. If the first night is miserable, there may be no second trip, and then the whole set, budget or not, has cost its full price for one night.

Spend first on: the pad

New campers spend on the sleeping bag and forget what is under it. The ground draws heat from your body all night, and a thin pad lets it. This is the first place where better gear changes the night.

The Mistral SI is a self-inflating pad made for first-time campers: open the valve and it fills mostly by itself. It weighs under 1.4 kg in its stuff sack. The Waypoint SI is Kelty’s biggest, thickest and softest pad, and its stuff sack doubles as a pump. If you want a bed like at home, the Kush Airbed is about 15 cm thick and comes with a USB-rechargeable pump. On an airbed, put a blanket on top: the air inside cools down at night.

Spend second on: the tent

A tent has one job you cannot fix on the spot: staying up in wind. The wind tests the poles, the stakes and the guylines, so check those first. Look for attached guylines, a full rainfly and a simple frame.

The most expensive tent is not required. The Bodie 6P has Quick Corners, a large D-door, attached guylines and a vestibule, and Kelty describes it as comfort at an affordable price point. The Wireless 6P adds a second door and a second vestibule, useful when children are in and out all evening. For a full comparison, read How to choose your first family tent.

Third: a sleeping bag for the coldest night you plan

Buy for the coldest place you are likely to go this season, not for the average night. Khaleej Times suggests bags rated for 5 to 10 °C for winter camping; Jebel Jais needs more. The number in a Kelty bag’s name is its US rating label, not degrees Celsius: a bag labelled 40 is rated to about 4 °C. A rating is not a promise of comfort: the pad, your clothes and how warm you sleep all count. The Campground Kit is a starter bundle with a sleeping bag labelled 40, rated to about 4 °C, and a self-inflating pad in a shared duffel. The Mistral 40 is made to be affordable, with a hood, a roomy footbox and draft-locked zips. Our sleeping bag guide goes deeper.

Where basic is fine

• Chairs: any stable folding chair works for a first season.
• Table: a picnic blanket or the car boot will do once or twice.
• Cooking: pans, plates and knives from your kitchen, organised in a box.
• Blankets: bring the ones from home for the first trip.
• Lights: a basic head torch for each person, with spare batteries.
• Cool box: the one you take to the beach.

The logic: if a basic item fails, you are a little uncomfortable. If the pad, the tent or the bag fails, the night is over.

Your worksheet

• Write down how many trips you will realistically make this season.
• For the tent, bags and pads, add up the purchase cost of the budget option and the better one.
• Divide each total by your number of trips. That is the cost per trip.
• Ask whether the budget option would survive a windy, cold night. If not, count it as lasting one trip.
• After the first trip, note what you missed. That is your next purchase.