Bizarre Camping Tents and Sleeping Bags Are Everywhere Now. What’s the Deal?

This week, South Korean brand Helinox — known for its ultralight weight and packable designs — unveiled new additions to its so-called Tactical Collection. The Tactical Cot Tent series is precisely what it sounds like in some ways. 

It includes three variations of cots topped with a built-in shelter. One utilizes standard tent fabric, creating a personalized sleeping pod sheltered from the elements and raised off the ground. Another version features mesh fabric for added breathability and visibility. The final version seems to offer the best of both worlds at the cost of some added complexity. The cot base features a mesh topper but the kit also includes a separate rain fly for weather protection and some additional sheltered floor space for storing gear. 

The Helinox Tactical Cot Tent Solo Fly combined a mesh tent cot with a rainfly for added weather protection. Helinox

In a weird nostalgic way, they all remind me of my Boy Scout summer camp days stuck in the bug-filled jungles of the south, sleeping every night under a mosquito net hung above my bunk on a makeshift PVC pipe frame. 

All the designs are also arguably very functional for sleeping outdoors, at least for specific types of excursions. Helinox also isn’t the first to company to make tent cots, either.

Unconventional takes on shelters and sleeping solutions are seemingly everywhere now.

The category certainly solves the problem of packing a separate cot and a tent. Sleeping off the ground is also notably better for temperature regulation. It allows air to flow underneath you in hot climates and removes you from the cold ground in the winter. 

But I’ve also always had questions about these designs, too. Where is your gear supposed to stay? Under the cot? On your chest? And is figuring out how to consolidate a cot and a tent really the biggest problem we’re facing camping these days? If so, we’ve clearly come a long way as a species.

Porsche sells its own rooftop tent for $5,000+ that’s compatible with a wide range of the company’s cars. It was originally released in 2022.Porsche

Putting this recent tent cot example to the side, though, unconventional takes on shelters and sleeping solutions are seemingly everywhere now.

Last week, Nike unveiled a so-called Metamorph Poncho as part of its experimental iSPA line, which stands for Improvise, Scavenge, Protect, and Adapt. In the most blunt terms, it’s a comically large one-size-fits-all poncho that transforms into a sunshade.

I’ll always celebrate attempts to challenge the status quo in product design. But my cynical side also can’t help but question if there’s another factor at play here.

And last year, Eddie Bauer launched an insulated and ultralight Downclime Alpine “sleep system” comprised of a down jacket and less than full-sized sleeping bag that zip together to provide warmth and coverage while sleeping. Poler helped popularize a more straightforward take on the wearable sleeping bag concept over a decade ago with its Napsack line.

Pop-up rooftop tents have also exploded in popularity with overloading and car camping’s rise. You can pay over $5,000 to sleep on the roof of your Porsche 911 or $3,000 to sleep in the bed of your Cybertruck. There are hammock tents and inflatable tents. And sauna and floating tents too. 

I’ll always celebrate attempts to challenge the status quo in product design. Experimentation breeds innovation and progress over time. So, I won’t begrudge any company for pushing a new idea out in the wild. It’s also not like our primary sources of shelter — our homes — conform to one single design approach, either. 

These two didn’t just finish paratrooper drills. They’re wearing the Nike Metamorph Poncho which can transform into a sun shelter. Nike

I can also understand how, for some needs, the old-school notion of packing a tent and sleeping bag is far from ideal and may even be impractical, especially for more intense outdoor pursuits like climbing and ultralight backpacking. Multiple items mean more weight and space in your pack. 

Setting up most traditional tents is an annoying hassle, too, no matter how well designed they are. And taking care of high-quality sleeping bags also requires more work than most campers realize.

There are only so many ways you can make and improve a typical tent or sleeping bag.

But my cynical side also can’t help but question if there’s another factor at play here, fueled by the modern challenges of getting attention. 

There are only so many ways you can make and improve a typical tent or sleeping bag before distinguishing one version from another boils down to minutia that the average consumer can’t easily grasp — at least online. And that’s assuming your target customer even sees your new traditional tent or sleeping bag in the first place. 

In an information era where swarms of new products launch daily, another standard tent or sleeping bag release can easily get lost in the shuffle.

The idea of Halo Products — a more consumer-focused riff on the broader Halo effect — has been a part of the corporate strategy books for ages to help drive brand awareness and improve customer sentiment. 

In the best-case scenario, a customer’s positive vibes from knowing about usually advanced, luxurious, or competent halo product will influence how they feel about a company’s broader product lineup, which they’re much more likely to buy. 

There have alway been more traditional examples of halo products for those who follow the outdoor gear space closely — take Patagonia’s blackhole duffle for instance or Chris Reeves Knives, for instance. But I wonder whether these wilder takes on shelter and sleep gear, are at least in part, a new Trojan horse for an outdoor industry struggling to catch the eye of attention strapped consumers dealing with a fire hose of information who know little about outdoor brands.

Let me curl up in my space cocoon and sleep on it.