Sea to Summit Gear Review: 59 Products Tested

Quick picks: the best Sea to Summit gear we’ve tested

Best cookware: Detour Pan (10 Inch)

The Detour Pan is the pan we use for almost every meal at camp. It’s 10 inches of 304 stainless steel with a three-ply base, which spreads the heat of a small butane stove across the whole pan, and the Click-Safe handle is very stable and folds away to pack. It cooks a full meal for two and works on gas and induction.

At 880 g it isn’t light, and it’s a pan for the car rather than the pack. The Detour Pot nests inside it, which makes the two a compact cook set; for hiking, the Frontier Ultralight Pan is the one we grab for quick sausages and eggs.

Best bowl: Detour Collapsible Bowl

The Detour collapsible bowl is the camp bowl we’d buy again. It holds 915 ml, the stainless steel inside keeps it sturdy, and it collapses into a flat dish that we use as a plate. Two of them stack flat in the back of the car, and after more than a year they still look like new.

It’s heavier than the silicone Frontier bowls, which weigh 63 and 79 g and fold to 1.7 cm, so those are the ones for a pack, or as a side dish next to the Detour. The Frontier UL Dinnerware set puts two bowls and a cup together at 197 g.

Best mug: Detour Collapsible Mug

The Detour mug is the best camp mug we’ve used. It holds 475 ml, it’s sturdy when it’s open, the stainless steel inside doesn’t hold flavours, and it collapses to a 3.1 cm disc that nests into the Detour bowls.

For a lighter cup, the Frontier collapsible cup weighed 52 g on our scale for 400 ml, and the X-Cup folds to a 1.5 cm disc, though at 250 ml it’s small for a big coffee.

Best cutlery: Frontier UL 3-Piece Cutlery

The Frontier UL 3-piece set is our favourite camp cutlery: a full-size fork, spoon and serrated knife in hard-anodised aluminium that weigh 24 g together on our scale. They’re thin without feeling flimsy, but they cost more than plastic and they don’t go in the dishwasher.

For quick meals we grab the Frontier spork and knife, and the long-handled Frontier spoon and spork reach the bottom of a meal pouch. The Detour cutlery is very solid stainless steel but much heavier at 135 g. In the kitchen drawer we also use the folding spatula and the folding serving spoon.

Best sleeping mat: Camp Mat SI

The Camp Mat SI is a light self-inflating mat that’s very easy to set up: unroll it, open the valve, add a few big breaths and it’s ready, and it rolls back into its sack just as easily. It weighs 780 g in Regular and has an R-value of 4.2 for cold ground, and we carried it to a campground we could only reach on foot.

At 3.8 cm it’s comfortable enough but not super thick, which is the trade-off for 780 g, and the foam makes it warmer than the much thicker air pads we’ve tested. The Pillow Lock patches keep a Sea to Summit pillow in place, as we explain in how Pillow Lock works.

Best pillow: Foam Core Pillow

The Foam Core Pillow is for campers who put comfort first. The foam core and soft stretch-knit cover feel like a pillow from home, it keeps its height all night, and it rolls into its own pocket. It locks onto Sea to Summit mats too. At 474 g it’s the heaviest pillow here.

If weight matters, the Aeros pillows are inflatable: the Aeros Premium packs to the size of a lemon, the Aeros Ultralight weighs 60 g, and the Aeros Down adds a layer of duck down on top. For the plane or the passenger seat, there are two neck pillows: the Aeros Premium Traveller and the Aeros Ultralight Traveller.

Best liner: Reactor Fleece Liner

The Reactor Fleece was our favourite of the four Sea to Summit liners we took around the south-east. It’s a mummy-shaped grid fleece liner that adds up to 8°C to a sleeping bag, and on mild nights it almost works as a summer bag on its own. A side zip makes it easy to get in and out.

The Reactor Extreme adds up to 6°C and the Reactor Lightweight up to 4°C, while the Comfort Blend is the one for warm nights: it keeps you cool rather than warm. Our sleeping bag liners guide compares them with the other brands.

Best dry bag: Big River Dry Bag (13L)

The Big River is the dry bag to strap down and knock about. It’s extremely durable 420D ripstop nylon with a 10,000 mm waterproof rating and taped seams, an oval base that doesn’t roll, sturdy lash loops and a white inside that shows what’s in it. The buckle can be replaced if it breaks.

It’s heavier than a lightweight dry bag. For inside the car, the Lightweight Dry Bag View has a clear window, the 1.5 L Lightweight Dry Bag kept our things dry in heavy rain at 35 g, and the First Aid Dry Bag is easy to spot in high-vis red. The Dry Bag Sling turns a newer dry bag into a shoulder bag.

Best for washing up: Camp Kitchen Clean-Up Kit

The Clean-Up Kit puts everything for the dishes in one small case: a 10 L folding sink that stands up on its own when it’s full, a scrubber with a scraper that clips around a bottle of biodegradable soap, a washcloth with a coarse and a soft side, and a little brush that turned out to be really handy. The whole kit weighs 259 g.

You can buy the parts on their own too: the Kitchen Sink in 5, 10 and 20 litres, the Pot Scrubber and Soap, and Wilderness Wash, one soap for dishes, body, hair and clothes. For water at the sink, the Pack Tap hangs 6 litres from a tree or the awning.

Best sleeping bag: Boab Sleeping Bag (-1°C)

The Boab is a lovely sleeping bag that packs away compact and easy. It has a comfort rating of 2°C and a lower limit of -1°C, a tapered rectangular shape with room to move, and a zip through the footbox that opens it flat into a quilt.

It weighs 1.4 kg and compresses to about 10 litres, and it’s much easier to roll up than most bags. At $215 it isn’t cheap, and the Regular is a bit snug to get into if you’re around 186 cm. On colder nights, one of the Reactor liners above adds a few degrees.

Best toilet kit: Ultra-Sil Outhouse

The Ultra-Sil Outhouse is an absolute keeper: a waterproof roll-top bag that holds a full-size toilet roll on a dispenser inside, hangs by its neck strap and lets you pull the paper out from below. It weighs 49 g, and it only takes one standard roll.

For a bush toilet, add the Pocket Trowel, which is light and packs to 14 cm but struggles in hard, rocky soil, and a pack of Wilderness Wipes for when there’s no shower.

Best packing cubes: Hydraulic Packing Cubes

The Hydraulic Packing Cubes are tough little cubes that keep the dust out: three sizes, 0.75, 1.5 and 3.5 litres, in TPU-laminated ripstop nylon with welded seams, an IP6X dust rating and a see-through panel on the front. All three weigh 125 g together.

They’re pricey at $80, they’re water resistant rather than waterproof, and even the biggest one is small. For the bathroom bag, the Ultra-Sil Hanging Toiletry Bag hangs from a hook, even on a car door.

How to choose Sea to Summit gear

Most Sea to Summit gear belongs to a named range, and the range tells you who it’s made for. In the kitchen, Detour is sturdy stainless steel for car camping and Frontier is ultralight for the pack. For sleeping, Aeros is the pillow range and Reactor the liner range:

• Detour

  Stainless steel

  Stainless steel bases and rims with collapsible silicone walls: sturdy and heavier.

  Best for

  Car camping, the kitchen drawer
  Like

  Pan, pot, bowl, mug
• Frontier

  Ultralight

  Anodised aluminium cutlery, a light non-stick pan and silicone bowls that fold flat.

  Best for

  Hiking, light packs
  Like

  UL cutlery, pan, bowls
• Aeros

  Inflatable pillows

  Light pillows that pack to the size of a lemon or an egg, with Pillow Lock for the mats.

  Best for

  Any trip, the plane
  Like

  Premium, Ultralight, Down
• Reactor

  Liners: +4 to +8°C

  Stretchy mummy liners that add warmth to a sleeping bag and keep it clean.

  Best for

  Cold nights
  Like

  Fleece, Extreme, Lightweight

About Sea to Summit

Sea to Summit is an Australian company. It was founded in Perth in 1990 by Roland Tyson and mountaineer Tim Macartney-Snape, and it’s named after Tim’s expedition that year, which started at sea level at the Bay of Bengal and finished on the summit of Everest. It’s still a family-owned company based in Perth.

That background shows in the gear: most of it is about packing small and weighing little without falling apart, and a lot of it uses the same ideas across the range, like the collapsible silicone walls in the kitchen and the Pillow Lock patches that hold a pillow on a mat.

The lifetime warranty

Sea to Summit gives a lifetime warranty against defects in workmanship and materials, for the product’s intended life under normal use. It covers the original owner, with proof of purchase from an authorised Sea to Summit reseller, so gear bought second-hand on eBay or Facebook Marketplace isn’t covered. Products made for harsher use have a shorter warranty, and the period is marked on the packaging.

Normal wear and tear, misuse, accidents and neglect aren’t covered. When a claim is accepted, Sea to Summit can repair, exchange or replace the product, or give a credit, and you can still claim on discontinued gear. For sleeping mats, the claim needs the batch code, which sits inside the valve on air mats and on the footbox seam of self-inflating mats. On top of the warranty, you keep your rights under Australian Consumer Law.

Is Sea to Summit worth it?

Mostly, yes. Of the 59 products we’ve tested, 36 scored 9 or higher, and the gear we use most, the Detour cookware, the Frontier cutlery and the Camp Mat SI, is among the best we own. It’s rarely the cheapest option, but it lasts, and the warranty backs that up.

Not everything hit the mark. The Pocket Shampoo lathers thinly, the elastic keeper on the Bomber tie-downs stretches under a heavy load, and the Pocket Umbrella is a handy backup in the car door but less reliable in heavy storms. So check the review before you buy: the brand name alone doesn’t guarantee a 9.

Every Sea to Summit product we’ve tested

These are all 59, grouped by where they live in our kit, with our score. The highest-scoring ones come first in each group.

Kitchen (23)

• Detour Stainless Steel Collapsible Bowl · 9.5
• Detour Stainless Steel Collapsible Mug · 9.5
• Detour Stainless Steel Pan (10 Inch) · 9.5
• Detour Collapsible Pouring Pot (1.8 L) · 9.4
• Folding Spatula · 9.4
• Frontier UL 3-Piece Cutlery Set · 9.4
• Frontier UL Dinnerware · 9.4
• Camp Kitchen Clean-Up Kit · 9.3
• Folding Spoon · 9.3
• Frontier UL Spork and Knife Set · 9.3
• Frontier Ultralight Pan (8 Inch) · 9.3
• Kitchen Sink · 9.3
• Frontier Collapsible Bowl · 9.2
• Detour Cutlery Set · 9.1
• Pot Scrubber and Soap · 9.1
• Frontier Collapsible Cup · 9.0
• Frontier UL Cutlery Set · 9.0
• Spork · 9.0
• Camp Cutlery Set · 8.9
• Pack Tap (6L) · 8.8
• X Cup · 8.7
• Ultra-Sil Folding Bucket · 8.7
• Watercell X (4L) · 8.5

Sleeping (12)

• Camp Mat SI · 9.4
• Foam Core Pillow · 9.4
• Aeros Premium Pillow · 9.3
• Aeros Premium Traveller Pillow · 9.3
• Reactor Fleece Liner · 9.3
• Boab Sleeping Bag (-1°C) · 9.2
• Aeros Ultralight Traveller Pillow · 9.1
• Aeros Down Pillow (Large) · 8.9
• Aeros Ultralight Pillow · 8.9
• Reactor Extreme Liner · 8.9
• Reactor Lightweight Liner · 8.7
• Comfort Blend Liner · 8.5

Storage and carrying (11)

• Big River Dry Bag (13L) · 9.3
• Lightweight Dry Bag View (8L) · 9.2
• Carabiner (Small) · 9.1
• Dry Bag Sling · 9.1
• Hydraulic Packing Cubes · 9.1
• Lightweight Dry Bag (1.5L) · 9.0
• Evac Lightweight Dry Bag (5L) · 9.0
• First Aid Dry Bag · 8.9
• Heavy Duty Tie Downs · 8.8
• Ultra-Sil Dry Bag (8L) · 8.8
• Bomber Tie Down Straps · 8.0

Hygiene and camp (13)

• Ultra-Sil Outhouse · 9.2
• Wilderness Wash · 9.1
• Clothesline · 9.0
• Mosquito Head Net · 9.0
• Pocket Shower · 8.8
• Wilderness Wipes (XL) · 8.8
• Tek Towel (Large) · 8.7
• Ultra-Sil Hanging Toiletry Bag · 8.7
• Airlite Towel (Large) · 8.6
• Liquid Conditioning Shampoo (100ml) · 8.5
• Nylon 66 Pocket Trowel · 8.4
• Pocket Umbrella · 8.3
• Pocket Shampoo · 7.5