This is always an exciting time of year – the sun is (hopefully) shining, and we’ve a whole season of caravanning ahead of us. It’s also a great time to take stock of the contents of your tourer and stock up on those gadgets that can help you get the most from your travels over the coming months.
In a piece of great timing, Amazon currently has its Spring Deal Days sale running (until 31 March), and there are some interesting bits of kit out there that I think are definitely worth caravanners taking a look at. I’ve had a trawl through, and you’ll find my picks below.
Keep in mind that some of the discounted products are lightning deals, so you will need to be quick to bag a bargain!
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Dometic PerfectCoffee MC 052 Five Cup Coffee Maker was £54 now £45.88
I do love my coffee in the morning when I’m away in the caravan – instant is handy, but doesn’t really cut it sometimes. So this 12V coffee maker from respected brand Dometic instantly jumped out at me – it can brew up to five cups and has a warming plate so your fresh coffee will stay hot. I particularly like the fact that it’s specifically designed for life on the road: the glass pot has a securing device to keep it safely in place, and the unit itself can be mounted onto your caravan kitchen’s worksurface using the supplied fixing kit.
TREKOLOGY Ultra Lightweight Compact Portable Chair was £59.99 now £23.29
There are a few of these types of compact portable chair available now, but this seemed like a good deal – when I checked, this version is at the lowest price it’s been for a while. Impressively, the TREKOLOGY chair weighs less than a kilogram and folds right down into a small, 36 x 15cm package. As a result it should be brilliant for packing in a bag to take on a picnic or walk – no more having to sit on damp, cold ground. The manufacturers claim that it can hold up to 135kg, and it comes complete with a carry bag, too.
Scratchable UK Map was £16.99 now £11.21
One of the nicest things about touring is being able to enjoy the memories when you’re back home – and I think this scratchable map of the UK is a great way to do that. It’s A2 sized and finished in smart gold foil; when you’ve visited a UK county or region, simply scratch off the foil using the supplied tool, to reveal a stunning nebula watercolour design. It also comes with a bag to store the poster in, as well as a mini magnifying glass and a cloth to catch the debris from the foil.
Jackery Explorer 240 was £259 now £169
I’ve got a Jackery power bank – it’s bigger than this one, but I love it when I’m out on tour. It allows me to power or charge multiple devices at once, and it’s really handy back at home, too.
So I think this is a pretty good deal – the 256Wh LiFePO4 Battery has a 300W output, and can be fully charged in an hour. There are one USB-A and two USB-C outlets, as well as a 300W AC socket. The unit is fairly weighty, at 3.3kg but, in my experience, should prove very handy no matter where you travel.
TomTom Go Camper Max was £299 now £236.99
No matter where you plan to travel, a good sat-nav with dedicated, bespoke caravan maps and routing can help provide real peace of mind against getting into tricky situations. That’s why this TomTom caught my eye – not only is it a decent price on Amazon at the moment, it also offers leisure vehicle routing that should help you avoid low bridges, narrow streets and more. Points of interest for those in a caravan, including campsites, as well as the ability to add profiles for different vehicles, are an added bonus.
AA Caravan & Motorhome Atlas was £16.99 now £11.87
Okay, so while it’s a good idea to have a sat-nav like the one mentioned above, we’d always recommend also carrying a paper atlas with you – if your sat-nav suddenly stops working for any reason, or you lose signal, navigating could become tricky.
This version from the AA looks like a good buy: it’s large, at A3 sized, and has a 2.5 miles to 1 inch scale for ease of use. The best thing, though, is its leisure vehicle-specific features, which include listings of 500 AA-inspected caravan parks with ratings, the locations of height-restricted bridges, service areas, tunnels, low emission zones and more. I also really like the 10 touring routes, which range from 96 to 480 miles.
Maypole 230V 10m extension lead was £34.89 now £17.85
We’ve all been there – pitched up on site, only to find that the mains hook-up lead is just a little bit too short to reach the bollard. You can help avoid this issue by carrying an extension lead, such as this one from Maypole, which is available for a good price during Amazon’s spring sale.
Because it’s dealing with electricity it’s important to choose one that’s safe, which is why we’ve gone for this one – it’s made by a well-known brand, and is NCC-approved for peace of mind.
Fenwicks Windowize was £10.99 now £2.19
Like having a mark on your eye glasses, scratches on your caravan windows are really irritating – so it’s good to have a solution to hand. This Fenwicks Windowize is a great product that can help remove scratches from acrylic and plastic surfaces, leaving your windows mark free and your view out uninterrupted. Okay, so there’s a P&P charge of £5.99, but I still think this is an okay deal – so take the opportunity to stock up now, ready to tackle any window scratches from trees and the like on your next tour.
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