The 9 Best Vanlife Gifts For The Holiday Season (Jackery, DJI and More!)
Maybe you’ve got an extended budget for holiday gifts this year.
Maybe you’re pitching in with other family members to buy your loved one an epic gift.
Or, maybe you just feel like spoiling the vanlifer in your life (or yourself!)
The Top Vanlife Gifts By Vanlifers
We’ve come up with a list of the best vanlife gifts this 2021 holiday season, guaranteed to make their lives on the road easier! And, keep an eye out because we mention a pretty great sale that’s going on this Holiday Season.
After living in our current van for the past 4 years, I have had a lot of products come, and go. These are all products that have stood the test of time, bumpy roads and consistent use in our van. They are items that we previously put a lot of thought into purchasing with the intention of having them with us for years to come.
Many of these gifts are highly endorsed and loved by many other vanlifers. Our friends who also live on the road, swear by many of these products as well. We can’t recommend these enough after testing them for you firsthand!
1. Berkey Water Filter
First up, is the Berkey Water Filter. If you’re shopping for a vanlife health nut, this is for them!
Travelling on the road can often mean filling up on water from sometimes, questionable sources. While that water is great to wash dishes, it’s definitely not trusted for drinking. Berkey Water filters have the ability to filter out pathogens, chlorine, fluoride, lead, viruses, heavy metals, pesticides and MANY other things. And, while there are a ton of amazing under-counter filters that vanlifers install into their rig, you would be hard-pressed to find a semi-affordable under-counter filter with the capability that the Berkey offers.
My Berkey is hands down, the #1 most useful item in my van. I purchased the Berkey Travel which is the smallest of their filter sizes.
2. Drone – DJI Mavic
This one is for all the tech lovers and vanlife YouTubers out there. The DJI Mavic Drone is a really sweet piece of equipment to amplify your creative endeavours and ability to capture memories on the road. Plus, the Air 3 is the newest model from DJI’s line which boasts a few new upgrades in terms of flight capability compared to the prior models.
If you’re looking for more vanlife gifts ideas, check out our other article!
3. Jackery Solar Generator (Christmas Sale Happening!)
Having dependable power on the road is one of the top recommendations that we have for aspiring vanlifers. So, if you’re trying to think of great vanlife gifts, why not gift them the power source we guarantee they will love? Jackery Solar Generators are a great option for vanlifers who are trying to simplify their van’s electrical setup or, add a little extra juice to what they already have.
Jackery offers a wide range of power stations with different sizes and capabilities. And, with those power stations, they also offer Solar Saga Panels that are able to charge up the power station in turn, creating a solar generator. We have the Solar Generator 1000 and use it every single day.
Although we already have a pretty beefy electrical setup in our van, it’s nice to have the Jackery Solar Generator to give us an extra boost at times where we want to preserve our house batteries or the sun outside is looking a little dull.
Jackery’s Solar Generator: The Details
The solar generator 1000 kit includes the Explorer 1000 power station and 2 Solar Saga 100watt Panels. The Explorer 1000 is able to charge from empty to 100% in about 8.5 hours with both panels plugged in, in full sunlight. They also have smaller models, the Explorer 500 and Explorer 240.
We’ve actually partnered with Jackery UK on this article to share with you a bit about their UK models and to bring you some exciting details on their upcoming Christmas Sale! The Jackery UK model is everything that we have ourselves, except with the ability to handle 230v outlets instead of North America’s standard 120v.
So, when is this sale happening?! Jackery UK’s Christmas Sale begins December 11th and will run until December 16th. During the sale, their whole range will be up to 25% OFF !! Jackery UK has done their best to offer amazing discounts from December 11th -16th, just in time for the holidays. As they say, give the gift of power!
You can find the link to their UK Amazon store HERE.
4. WeBoost Cell Signal Booster
The Weboost comes highly recommended from us after months of working with terrible cellphone signals. A WeBoost is a cell phone signal booster that takes a 1 bar or more signal and amplifies it inside of your van.
This would be a great gift if you’re a little worried about a loved one keeping in touch on the road. Or, if you’re shopping for someone who has transitioned into working remotely from their van. We very often find ourselves with one bar of 3G and by flipping on the WeBoost, we easily have 3 bars of LTE service. Its the extra little boost needed to be productive at work while travelling.
5. Sodastream
This is a fun gift that I doubt many would expect or ask for. However, if the vanlifer you’re shopping for is a lover of carbonated water (or soda!), it’s a great choice. The beauty of having a Sodastream in a van is the fact that they don’t require power to be used. Pair that with the fact that they produce minimal waste, and don’t require a lot of storage space, and they are the perfect addition to a vanlifers already tiny kitchen.
6. MaxTrax
Shopping for someone who likes to take off-roading? This is a great choice the list of gifts for vanlifers. MaxTrax are the top recovery boards on the market. Designed to be wedged under tires whenever a sticky situation arises. They create traction and get you, and your vehicle out safely. They have been rigorously tested and tried in some extreme scenarios by the tens of thousands who swear by them. This other article of ours shares a great off-grid vanlife gifts idea!
7. Portable Battery Starter
Having a self-powered, portable battery starter is a great addition to a vanlifers toolbelt. It’s not often that one wakes up at a remote campsite only to find their vehicle battery is dead. But, when it does happen, the Portable Battery starter is guaranteed to get them on the road quickly. It’s not a tool that will get a lot of use, but that’s for good reason.
8. Garmin In-Reach
Having an emergency plan for your loved one to get in contact even when out of cell service is imperative. The Garmin In-Reach is an amazing solution for that issue. It is a satellite communication device that allows whoever has it to maintain off-grid connection with the world. It also has the ability to send SOS messages to emergency services nearby if need be.
This is a great choice for parents who want to stay in touch while their kid is on the road. Also, especially important if the vanlifer you’re shopping for spends a good amount of time off the grid.
9. Caframo 12v Sirocco Fan
Lastly, this Camco 12v van is a lifesaver. Summertime in a van can be super stuffy and sweaty. That’s why we love this Caframo Sirocco fan. It is able to point in any direction you desire making it perfect for small spaces. It has a variety of timer settings plus it barely pulls any power, something we vanlifers value.
Vanlife Gifts: Parting Words
Vanlifers are those who choose to live life to its fullest. Maybe that means climbing a mountain a day. And for others, that means being parked up in a city in order to have the weekends to explore. Either way, every single item in a vanlifers home has a purpose and gets a lot of use. That’s why we think it’s important for every item to be high quality and functional in a tiny space.
All of the items we share in this article are just that, purposeful. They may cost a little more than the cheap alternatives on the market but we guarantee they will last a lifetime longer.
If you choose to purchase a vanlife gift for someone from this list, it’s something they can take with them through the rest of their life. And after all, isn’t that the point of gifting? To give something to a loved one that they will have forever that is looked at with a grateful eye, whilst still being uber useful!
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