I am often amazed by the range of useful and unusual outdoors kit that I come across. While researching for a recent article on camping I spotted a camping kettle, the Outwell Collaps, that handily collapses when you’re not using it. Further research revealed a range of dog bowls that also collapse when not in use. Not only would these be useful for a camping trip with your favourite mutt but also when heading out for day walks.

The Ruffwear Bivy Bowl is light and portable enough to fold up and fit neatly insode a rucksack or even a back pocket. When opened up it provides a watertight bowl for your dog’s water. The Kurgo Collaps-a-Bowl is another clever gadget. It collapses to a slim .875 x 6 inches and expands to a 3.5 x 6 inches

This I like as well. The PowerTraveller PowerMonkey Extreme that can recharge devices up to %V, such as an iPhone six times over.

The tiny Tatonka Alchol burner stove is cute and cheap at £6.99. Simply fill up the spirit, ignite and your food can be heated up and prepared right away. Burning duration is around 40 minutes per filling.

Howe about a Zeiss pocket-sized monocular instead of normal binoculars? Both are very handy when out and about in the great outdoors, but the smaller the better for ease of carrying.

The other item I like the look of is the Vango range of tents that have inflatable poles. Instead of a rigid pole, the Airbeam tents are put up by inflating tubes. Lightweight and oh-so-simple!

What have you come across in the outdoors gadget world that you like?!