Amazon Prime Day 2021: 27 Best Outdoor and Fitness Deals (Camping, Hiking, and More)
Get out! Outside, that is, since the weather is beautiful and pandemic restrictions are loosening nationwide. Amazon’s Prime Day comes early this year, so take advantage of the fact that this past Sunday was the first official day of summer. Now is the time to stock up for a season of outdoor running, camping, and biking with these deals.
Note: We regularly update articles and strike through items that sell out or rise in price as of publishing, and mark discounts based on recent product pricing or average price, not MSRP. Be sure to check discounts for yourself. Our picks come from research and our extensive experience reviewing products. You’ll need an Amazon Prime subscription to get most of these deals.
Updated: We struck out some dead deals, such as the Coleman cooler and Coleman lantern string lights. We also added four new deals, including an exercise bike, carry-on luggage, and hiking gear.
Table of Contents
Camping and Backyard Deals
Whether you’re planning your campsite getaway or sticking closer to home, take a moment to read what we thought of the Best Camping Stoves, Best Camping Gear, and Gear to Make Your Backyard More Fun.
Coleman Wheeled Ice Cooler
Photograph: ColemanThis two-person tent is ideal if you’re a solo hiker who wants to bring your gear inside at night or if you don’t mind cuddling somebody at night during your camping trip. It takes only 10 minutes to set up and can withstand 35-mph winds.
Goose down is known for being warmer and lighter than synthetic insulation and for packing down smaller, given the same weight. This is a good chilly-but-not-freezing-weather sleeping bag that’ll work in cooler climates during the summer and in most North American climates through the fall.
This sturdy, basic table packs up reasonably small, and the aluminum slatted top makes it well suited for cooking. Put your stove on this, and leave the picnic table free for eating.
Jackery Explorer
Photograph: JackeryIf you need a portable power station to run a fan or charge your devices, this Jackery strikes a good balance between ease of use, power, and capacity. If you just want a small battery to keep your phone topped up at the campground, check out our guide to portable power banks.
Neither does this battery-powered LED lamp. It’s adjustable from 100 to 390 lumens, more than enough to light up a campsite. It uses eight D-cell batteries that will last from 85 to 299 hours, depending on how you set the brightness.
Deck out your camping space with these whimsical strings of 10 mini Coleman lanterns. They’re powered by three AA batteries, so you won’t need to be near an outlet.
This insulated cooler doesn’t go on sale very often, and especially not for this much off. It has a flip-up handle and 6-inch wheels to save your back from carrying it everywhere. The lid has cupholders and doubles as a seat that’s able to support up to 250 pounds.
Hiking Deals
Confused by outdoor clothing and all the rules that govern it? Take a read through our Outdoor Clothing Layering Guide and our Best Reusable Water Bottles Guide. Don’t forget, too, that outdoor navigation apps are quite good these days. And if you’ll be shopping for another hiker this Prime Day, check out 25 Gifts for People Who Hate Being Inside.
ExOfficio Synthetic Boxer Briefs
Photograph: BackcountryI (Matt) am a convert to synthetic underwear for hiking and general outdoor strenuous activity. Cotton undies become horribly uncomfortable when sweaty, and they take forever to dry out. Polyester dries out so much faster that I wear these boxer briefs exclusively while hiking and climbing. The men’s version isn’t on that great of a deal right now; it’s usually $20 or less anyway, Prime Day or not, but the women’s version is on a good deal.
I (Matt) largely gave up on using handkerchiefs and scarves to shield my neck from the sun while hiking. The Buff, a tube of UV-blocking fabric open on both ends, does the job much better. I wear mine no matter where I am, from deserts to glaciers. It never needs tying, can be pulled up around your mouth and nose to keep them warm, and can even be pulled up over your head to form a sort of balaclava.
The Reflect model, available in either brushed or polished stainless steel, is largely the same as the Classic model, but with a unique cap made partly of bamboo. I (Matt) have been using the non-insulated version of the Reflect heavily for years, and it’s held up to a lot of abuse.
Ah, LifeStraw, stalwart of emergency gear caches and overseas travel bags. It filters over 99.99 percent of bacteria (including E. coli and salmonella), parasites (including giardia and cryptosporidium), and microplastics from 1,000 gallons of water, as well as sand, dirt, and other impurities that cause cloudiness.
CamelBak Bottle
Photograph: CamelbakSharing water bottles can get gross quickly. The Reign is designed to squirt a narrow jet of water so that lips never have to touch the lid. There’s also a shower setting on the lid, in case you just want to cool yourself off, and a locking position so that it doesn’t leak in a gym bag.
This lightweight base layer hasn’t had this big a discount since last year. It’s 100-weight, meaning it’s a particularly lightweight clothing layer designed to be worn next to the skin without overheating you. As I (Matt) explain in my outdoor clothing layering guide, I prefer lighter base layers than heavier ones. You can always add warmer clothes, but you won’t strip off your base layer if you get too hot. Note that the discount varies by size and color.
These wool-synthetic blend hiking socks are coated with Permethrin, an insecticide (not a repellent) that kills bugs on contact to keep them from hitching a ride on your feet and legs. If you plan to to hike in tick country, they can keep ticks from crawling up your legs and hiding in, well, your nooks and crannies, as they like to do. The Permethrin will last for 70 washes. There are more colors and sizes, as well as men’s versions, available.
Bikes and Bike Accessory Deals
While you’ve got two wheels on your mind, check out our guides to Best Cycling Accessories, Best Bike Locks, and Best Electric Bikes.
Brooks B17 Leather Bike Saddle
Photograph: BrooksAs one of WIRED’s ebike testers, I (Matt) have cursed many cheap bike seats. This isn’t a great deal, since the B17 saddles used to be priced around $100 before the pandemic, but it’s still a great saddle. Brooks B17 bike seats have been around for over 100 years, and the B17 has long been Brooks’ best-selling model. There’s a break-in period, but it becomes oh-so comfortable and will last more than a decade. It’ll fit standard bicycle seat posts.
Segway’s foldable E22 electric kick scooter can tackle up to 15-degree hills, tops out at 12.4 miles per hour on flat road, and runs 13.7 miles on a charge. It also has electric and mechanical brakes and integrated front and rear LEDs.
Get your bikes up off the floor and free up some space. Simple, repurposed garage hooks have somewhat fallen out of favor with cyclists, who now tend to prefer purpose-built hooks like these that support the bike’s tires against the wall for better stability.
The Edge 130 keeps you on track by giving you turn-by-turn directions during your rides, and it does so accurately by combining data from GPS, GLONASS, and Galileo satellites. You can also track and analyze your cycling workouts through your Garminc Connect account.
Fitness and Wellness Tracker Deals
Stay on track of how today’s fitness trackers stack up by taking a look through our Best Fitness Tracker Guide and our Best Smartwatches Guide.
Apple Watch Series 6
Photograph: AppleIf you’ve got an iPhone, the Apple Watch Series 6 is the only wearable to score top marks on both our best fitness trackers and our best smartwatches list, which earned it an 8/10, WIRED Recommends.
The Charge 4 is one of the only fitness trackers that includes GPS without costing an arm and a leg. It’ll track your sleep habits if you wear it to bed and analyze your sleep quality. Senior associate editor Adrienne So liked it enough to give it a (8/10, WIRED Recommends).
Amazon’s new Halo wearable wellness tracker has a unique pitch. It has the built-in GPS you’d expect that can track and analyze your runs, but it also assesses your emotional state, as Adrienne So discussed in her review.
The IC Series connects with the Peloton and Zwift exercise apps so that you can follow along with their guided workouts, and it also connects with the Explore the World app that plays a moving first-person view of famous routes and trails through your phone’s or tablet’s screen, as if you’re really there. It also has 100 micro-adjustable resistance levels so that you won’t be stuck between a level too-hard and a level too-easy.
If you’d rather give your kids a few more years before introducing them to life in which everything has a microchip in it, we understand. But if you’ve come to terms with the benefits of a fitness tracker, check out the Ace 2, which is waterproof to 50 meters and analyzes their activity by gamifying exterion. They earn virtual “badges” when they reach their activity goals.
Garmin Fenix 6S
Photograph: GarminThis fitness tracker is so full of features, senior associate editor Adrienne So said it has “all the data collection and analysis you could ever want for every sport you can think of” and gave it a 8/10, WIRED Recommends. It has built-in GPS, support for viewing topographic maps, heart rate tracking, and fall detection, if you fall down while wearing it.
We have mixed feelings on DNA test kits, but if you’re aware of and comfortable with the data privacy considerations, you can pick up an expanded test kit that tells you not only your ancestry but also whether you carry the genetic variants that are markers for certain diseases or health conditions.
Travel Deals
Get ready to travel again with our guide to the Best Carry-On Luggage and our how-to on safely road-tripping during a pandemic, which, despite the heroic vaccine effort, is not yet over.
TravelPro Carry-On Bag
Photograph: AmazonThis is the ideal wheeled carry-on for most people, and I named it the best budget bag in my guide to carry-on luggage. It costs no more than the typical choices in a department store, but it’s built with better-quality wheels and zippers that don’t jam up or break as easily.
If you want a step-up in quality, take advantage of this great deal on the normally pricey bag that scored “best softside bag” in my carry-on guide. It has nicer telescoping handles compared to the Maxlite 5 (and other budget bags) and comes with an interior organizing system that gives you plenty of pockets for toiletries and dirty laundry. Some interior accessories are sold separately.
Briggs & Riley bags are expensive, but they’re long-lasting investments. Senior associate reviews editor Adrienne So has dragged hers around the world for more than 10 years without fail. This carry-on, two-wheeled bag contains a built-in garment bag that lets you fold suits, shirts, and jackets without as much wrinkling as if you’d just folded or rolled them up.
Keep your camera equipment safe and secure with a backpack designed to pad and organize all your gear. The BP200 model splits its interior storage 50/50 between camera gear and personal gear. It’ll hold a 13-inch laptop, a DSLR camera, and one or two spare lenses, along with smaller pockets for things such as travel documents and SD cards.
Retailer Sale Pages
If you’d like to check more deals yourself, here are some links to sales going on this week.
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