Skip to main content

Qube tent lets you build a larger space by linking lots of smaller ones

Qube Tent - Connect Anytime Anywhere with the Quick Pitching Connectable Tent
If you love camping but sometimes wish your accommodation was a little larger, one option is to buy a really huge tent. Alternatively, you could go for the Qube, a modular offering that lets you build a space as large as you like.

Designed by Brit inventor Jason Thorpe, the Qube will connect with any other Qube — whether it’s the two-, three-, or four-person design — allowing you to create a floor plan that suits both you and your fellow travelers.

The Qube can apparently be set up in less than two minutes, which sounds great if it’s your swear words that can often be heard drifting across the campground every time you struggle to set up the same tent you’ve had for the last 10 years. And with generous headroom of at least 215 cm, there’ll be “no more stooping over or doing ‘the dying fish’ while you try and get your jeans on,” Thorpe says.

A nice touch is the Qube’s black lining, which guarantees a total blackout for sleeping so you won’t be rudely awakened by early morning sunlight pouring in through one of its four windows.

It also features a ventilation system, a “special material treatment process” that claims to reduce condensation, and strong rain protection. Constructed from heavy-duty nylon, the Qube should last comfortably for many years.

Fortunately — and importantly — the tent is easy to pack away, too, “so you won’t need to be an expert in origami to try and get it back into the bag when you’re ready to come home.”

While the Qube could certainly pave the way to a fun social camping experience with your buddies at a festival, it could also offer some much-needed privacy and space for larger families on the verge of a nervous breakdown after three days or so at the campground in close quarters.

Downsides? Starting at 32.65 pounds for the two-person Qube, it’s not light, so you won’t want to be carrying it far in a backpack. Or at all. Also, if it’s your buddies you want to go Qube-ing with, you’ll need to persuade them that forking out for the tent is a really good idea.

Speaking of money, the Qube is available via its Indiegogo page starting at $250 for the two-person design. With its funding goal already smashed by a factor of more than 10, shipping to the U.S., Europe, and South Africa is set to start in July, 2017.

Trevor Mogg
Contributing Editor
Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…
Goodbye, coolers. The EcoFlow Glacier doesn’t need ice — it makes it
The EcoFlow Glacier is a fridge shaped like a cooler with its own battery,

Every cooler operates on borrowed time. It leaves for your camping trip brimming over with crisp produce and ice-encrusted beer that looks straight out of a Super Bowl commercial, and returns with a soggy block of foil-wrapped cheddar cheese floating in a pool of mustard water. Mother Nature always wins.

Perhaps that’s why I was so enamored when I saw the EcoFlow Glacier at CES 2023. Less a cooler than a mobile battery-powered fridge on wheels, the sleek electric Glacier not only obviated the need for ice, it would make ice for me in 18 minutes. My home fridge can’t even do that, and I didn’t even know I wanted it to until just now. When EcoFlow offered to let me try the Glacier, I envisioned sipping a perspiring glass of whiskey in the tropics and accepted the occupational hazards of my job.

Read more
I was wrong. E-bikes are so practical, they’re a transit cheat code
An Aventon Level 2 ebike sits outside a grocery store.

Confession: Despite loving both bikes and gadgets, e-bikes never excited me. Compared to my bicycle, e-bikes seemed unfair. Compared to my motorcycle, they seemed slow. Compared to my car, they seemed impractical.

But with $1,500 federal e-bike rebates potentially on the horizon at part of E-Bike Act, I decided it was past time to reconsider. Not just because 30% off would make them way more accessible, but because the entire idea that e-bikes could be worthy of a rebate changed the way I looked at them: less as toys, more as transit. Had I written off an entire way of getting around because I was looking at it the wrong way?

Read more
Upway launches one of the best marketplaces for certified e-bikes, new or not
Man holding ebike from Upway in a field, lifestyle image.

This content was produced in partnership with Upway.
It wasn't too long ago that e-bikes were a rare sight, but all of that has changed, and rightfully so. Electric bikes are all over the road these days, and there are many brands either venturing into the technology, to launch their own versions of the sustainable transportation option or reiterating existing and traditional designs. From Aventon to Schwinn, or RadPower to Momentum, with so many opportunities, the prevailing question is, where do you go to find the best deals and the best information about these brands and their e-bike models? The answer is Upway, the number one certified electric bike provider and an official partner to many of the aforementioned brands.

What is Upway, exactly? It's a marketplace, specializing in e-bikes, featuring an inventory that's sourced from some of the best brands in the world. There are American brands -- like Specialized, Cannondale, and RadPower -- and European brands -- like Riese, Muller, and VanMoof. The best part is the discounts, offering up to 60% off retail, for a plethora of brands. Upway is on a mission to make sustainable mobility affordable for everyone. It's also one of the best places to go for a new or pre-owned e-bike, and here's why:

Read more