This story is part of our end-of-year series This Year in Gear, rounding up the most notable releases of 2022. For more stories like this, click here.
The camping and overlanding movement has become an irresistible force. It caught fire before the pandemic, got a strong dose of accelerant during it and kept right on growing into 2022. The new product releases this year had something for everyone, from basic teardrops to million-dollar Unimog-based monsters and everything in between.
Here are our favorite campers and trailers we saw in 2022.
Airstream x REI Co-op Basecamp
The Basecamp is Airstream’s smallest camping trailer. They partnered with REI on a special edition version to emphasize sustainability with a solar power upgrade, fabrics and laminates made from post-consumer recycled materials and sustainable wood. You can also add on a composting toilet.
2023 Ford Transit Trail
Building out a custom camper van can be fun. Lifting the van yourself, swapping out the suspension and potentially voiding your warranty is not as fun. Ford offers professional and DIY custom camper van builders a hand with the new Transit Trail, which comes stock with a 2.25-inch suspension lift, all-terrain tires and the ability to be repaired as a stock vehicle at Ford’s vast dealer network.
WanderBox Outpost 35 4x4
Do you want a luxury apartment on wheels for your camper or a beastly overlander? WanderBox asks why not both with their new Outpost 35 4x4 overlanding vehicle. It’s built on an F600 chassis with massive 41-inch off-road tires. And you are prepped to leave the grid for a while with a 200-gallon freshwater tank, 2,800 watts of solar power and a 190 gallon diesel generator backup.
Winnebago Solis NPF
Winnebago updated its affordable Solis camper van with a National Parks Foundation package that includes an overland-style drawer system, all-terrain tires, a SumoSprings suspension and insulated floor and window coverings for multiple-season use.
Airstream Rangeline
The Airstream Interstate van is excellent, but pricey. Airstream unveiled a relatively cheaper camper van, the Rangeline, based on the Ram Promaster 3500 chassis. It doesn’t offer every feature you could want in a camper van — it has high-traction FWD instead of AWD — but it starts around $70,000 cheaper than the Interstate.
Go Sun x Camp365 Camping Trailer
Trailer builder Camp 365 and solar power products provider GoSun combined their efforts to build the “world’s first fold-out camping trailer.” The trailer is compact and light enough to be towed by just about any vehicle. It folds out to provide spacious accommodations. And the solar power won’t leave you beholden to an expensive campsite.
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Bowlus Volterra
Bowlus unveiled the Volterra, their first 100 percent electric production model. It doesn’t come with an electric motor, but it can hold up to 100 percent more power than their Terra Firma model and give an EV up to 65 miles of juice. And Starlink internet service will keep you tethered to your place of employment.
Winnebago Hike 100
That camping trailer life can be expensive and intimidating. Winnebago’s tiny Hike 100 aims to be anything but, offering all the comforts of home and gear storage you need in a compact, easily towable package that starts for less than $30,000.
Taxa Outdoors x Topo Designs Woolly Bear
When two brands we love combine, magic generally happens. Taxa Outdoors collaborated with Topo Designs on a special edition of their Wooly Bear camping trailer, which includes a Topo colorway for the trailer itself and comes preloaded with some custom Topo Designs bags.
Stone Offroad Design Rise 4x4
All-wheel-drive camper vans are great. But German builder Stone Offroad Design takes it a step further using a beastly Mercedes Unimog as the base vehicle. It sticks with the stock Unimog components, which include dedicated off-road gears, locking front and rear differentials and almost four-feet of water-fording capability. Price tag? About $1 million.
https://www.gearpatrol.com/cars/a39562507/signature-deluxe-ii-off-road-camping-trailer/
Signature Deluxe II
Two Aussie brands, Signature and Toytuf, collaborated on the 2022 Deluxe II camping trailer, which offers a revolutionary rooftop setup. Rooftop tent or rooftop cargo box? The Deluxe II offers both with an innovative storage cage that allows you to store gear or unwieldy items before mounting the tent on top.
Campravan Raptor XC
There are a lot of cool off-road camping trailers out there. But typically, the added capability to follow your off-roader into the great beyond forces you to sacrifice living space and amenities. A German company, Hunter Nature, resolved that problem with their Campravan Raptor XC — a slide-out, extendable camping trailer.
Ultimate Camper
Small camping trailers typically require a lot of compromises. But the Ultimate Camper from Ultimate Toys combines many of the best attributes of large and small camping trailers into one — we're not ashamed to call it adorable — package.
