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The REI 4th of July sale is a great time to get a deal on hiking, camping, and backpacking essentials. This year, there are also great competing July Fourth sales on top brands at Backcountry and Public Lands.
We test camping and hiking gear all year round here at WIRED, and these REI deals are on gear we’ve tested and approved. There’s something here for nearly all our favorite summer activities—tents, stoves, sleeping bags, and plenty of outdoor apparel.
If you’re not sure what you need, be sure to look at our guides to outdoor gear, like the Best Backpacking Tents, Best Sleeping Bags, Best Backpacking Sleeping Pads, Best Rain Jackets, Best Merino Wool Clothes, and Best Binoculars.
Updated July 2, 2025: We’ve added a deal on an REI Co-op Cycles mountain bike, MSR Elixir tent, Mystery Ranch chest pack, several sleeping pads, several running shoes, and bug spray.
- A classic Patagonia rain jacket: Patagonia Torrentshell 3L Jacket for $100 ($79 off)
- The best running shoes: Saucony Endorphin Speed 4 for $134 ($35 off)
- The best value puffy jacket: REI Co-op 650 Down Jacket for $70 ($60 off)
- Our favorite water filtration system: Sawyer Squeeze Water Filter With Cnoc 2-Liter Bladder for $49 ($16 off)
- A great-smelling bug spray: Murphy’s Naturals Lemon Eucalyptus Oil Repellent for $8 ($2 off)
- Get a great night’s sleep in the backcountry: Zenbivy Light Bed 25-Degree for $307 ($101 off)
Do I have to be an REI Member to save?
No, but REI Co-op members earn 10 percent Member Rewards on all their purchases (which you can redeem at the end of the year), and there are some special deal for members, like a coupon for 20 percent off any one full price item. REI membership is a one-time fee of $30. Right now, when you spend $50 on gear, you can sign up for a new membership and REI will give you a $30 bonus card, making membership effectively free.
When Does the REI Fourth of July Sale end?
This year the REI Fourth of July sale runs June 27 through July 7. Both Backcountry and Public Lands are running sales through July 7 as well.
The Best Hiking and Running Deals
Be sure to check out our guides to the best rain jackets, the best merino wool, and how to layer your clothes to stay comfy in any weather.
This deal is only on one color (Redtail Rust for men’s and Oxide Red for the women’s), and probably won’t last, but this is the lowest price we’ve seen for one of our favorite hiking rain jackets.
This North Face fleece jacket features in our upcoming guide to mid layers. The stretchy, recycled midweight fleece is perfect for cool mornings and evenings in the shoulder seasons. It offers a good range of motion, though the sleeves are elastic, which some people will not like. I like this fleece, though, because it’s not overly technical looking, you can wear it around town or when belaying.
The Rab Cinder Phantom is our favorite rain jacket for cycling. It solves almost all my issues with rain gear—it’s incredibly light (3.3 ounces/114 grams for a medium), stuffs down to about the size of a tennis ball, and is somehow surprisingly waterproof. It will eventually wet out, but it takes quite a downpour.
The Rainier is our favorite budget rain jacket, especially so on sale. The Rainier uses high-quality three-layer, seam-taped, laminate waterproofing (a rarity at this price) and the DWR coating is non-fluorinated (no PFAS). It has features like venting pit zips, a weatherproof center zip, and features an adjustable, packable hood.
This is a classic rain jacket. Go camping in Oregon in the rain, and you’ll find everyone standing around in their identical Betas. The AR (for “all-round”) is the beefiest of Arc’teryx’s Beta jackets. The combination of 40-denier fabric, (with 80D reinforced areas) and Gore-Tex Pro 3L membrane make this not just highly waterproof, but very durable as well. This deal is limited to one color and is going fast.
When the weather gets down well below freezing, and the wind makes your cheeks burn, this is the jacket I turn to. With a base layer at the bottom, a wool sweater over that, then this jacket, I was toasty warm walking in the early morning chill of winter (usually -10 Fahrenheit in January). The shell is lightweight (20D) Pertex ripstop nylon that’s nicely windproof and water-resistant. For some reason, only the women’s jacket is on sale.
If you live in a cold climate, even if it’s not quite Canada, you need this shirt. It’s your classic, ultrawarm wool shirt. Sorry, shirt jacket. Whatever it is, it’s warm, cozy, and comfy. Don’t let the wool scare you, it’s not itchy.
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Our top-rated running shoes are now on sale because the latest version, the Endorphin Speed 5, just came out. However, reviewer Kieran Alger has run thousands of miles in this version and can vouch for their light, snappy ride.
These are consumer tech director Michael Calore’s favorite running shoes, and one of our top picks for shoes with the most stability.
Do you need to beat chafing burn on your bits? This plant-based unguent is our top pick for long distances and is the pick of ultrarunning legend Courtney Dauwalter.
I bought this during the REI Anniversary sale in May and have been very happy with it. It’s too hot for it now, but a cool spring gave me a chance to wear it for a good week. It’s slightly oversized, but very soft, stretchy and comfortable. I mean it’s a merino wool beanie, hard to go wrong with one of those. And it’s Fjällräven so it’s well-made and should last a very long time.
Huckberry’s Proof 72-hour Merino T-shirt ranks high in our guide to merino T-shirts. It’s soft, and the classic fit is loose and comfortable. It doesn’t look overly “sporty,” the way many merino T-shirts do (though there is a slim fit version also on sale for $52 ($20 off) if you prefer that style). This shirt is 87 percent merino wool and 13 percent nylon, which gives it a bit of extra stretch.
The best midweight base layer we’ve tested, this Smartwool shirt is perfect for chilly spring and fall mornings. It’s comfortable, though tending to be looser fitting, which is something to keep in mind when layering. The heavy-duty seams (read: sturdier, longer lasting) don’t rub, and sit off the shoulder for more comfort when wearing a pack. At 87 percent merino wool (blended with nylon), these are also very durable while remaining lightweight (10.3 oz for a men’s large).
I bought my father, father-in-law, brother-in-law, and husband each one of these shirts last year. Roark Clothing is a small company that makes some of my favorite active apparel, and the Bless Up shirt is the perfect summer shirt. It’s perforated and made from synthetic fibers, so it’s perfect for super-humid beach days when the temperatures are above 90 degrees. —Adrienne So
This is another deal that’s only on one color, but REI 650 puffy jacket (9/10, WIRED Recommends) is the best budget 3-season puffy you can buy, more so at this price. At 10.9 ounces it’s reasonably lightweight and has large hand pockets and some very nice internal pockets for stashing a hat or gloves.
Deals on Backpacking Gear
This deal is a combo of our top pick backpacking water filter and our top pick water bladder. As the name suggests, the Sawyer is a squeeze filter, but paired with the Cnoc it turns into a gravity filter when you have the time. When I’m not testing something else, this is the filtration system I use and it’s never let me down. If you don’t want the Cnoc bladder for some reason the Sawyer is also on sale for $35 ($10 off).
Heading into bear country this summer? You’ll very likely need a bear-resistant way to store your food. In my experience, the BV500 from Bear Vault is the most widely approved option (though always check with the rangers in the area). At 700 cubic inches, the BV500 has room for about 3-5 days of food for two (depending on how well you pack). It does weigh almost 3 pounds, and it’s a bummer to carry, but when you need it, you need it—might as well grab one when it’s a little cheaper.
I’m not sure this really qualifies for the “ultralight” moniker, and these pots are unfortunately marred by having a ton of fake influencer reviews out there, but they’re actually quite good. The hard-anodized aluminum is sturdy and provides good heat transfer. The ceramic nonstick coating makes for easy cleanup (especially paired with the GSI scraper below).
Still the most useful piece of backpacking gear I own, GSI’s pot scraper is the unsung hero of backcountry cooking, turning cleanup from a tedious chore to a couple of seconds’ work. Now, if you seriously burn something, this thing will not save you (boil water in the pan to loosen the burnt bits), but for every other situation, scraping down your pot with this tool will get you 99 percent of the way to a clean pot.
While I love my Junction pack (see above), were I buying today, I would get the Southwest. The only real difference is the outer rear pocket, which is mesh in the Junction and Dyneema in the Southwest. Turns out I never dry wet gear in the mesh, and I have found it snags on things more than I’d like. If you don’t need the mesh, the Southwest is the pack to get. Again, I’d go 55 liters, but if I were only doing solo trips, the 40 liters should be plenty.
This has been my backpack of choice for the last five years. It’s light, durable (it’s made of Dyneema), and carries loads of up to about 35 pounds in comfort. The rear mesh pocket gives you a place to stash wet gear, and water-repellent outer means your gear doesn’t get wet (there may be limits to this, but I’ve never had a problem). My only regret is that I didn’t get the 55 liters (also on sale for $340 ($60 off)), so I could fit a little more gear when backpacking with my kids.
Sea to Summit’s ultralight Alto (8/10, WIRED Recommends) is designed to keep weight down on your solo adventures. At just 33 ounces for a semi-freestanding tent, it remains one of the lighter options on the market, and at this price it’s hard to pass up.
Six Moon Design’s Lunar Solo (7/10, WIRED Review) is my favorite single-wall ultralight solo tent. It’s not without its quirks (read the pitching tips), but if you want something more than a tarp, that still weighs just 26 ounces (740 grams), this one is hard to beat.
This is the first REI 4th of July sale I’ve seen in years where Big Agnes Copper Spur tents aren’t on sale. This is the lone Copper Spur deal, on the giant five-person version that somehow still manages to weigh just 6 lbs. 14 oz. As will all Copper Spur tents, four people will be more comfortable, but five will technically fit.
There are lighter 1-person tents out there, but the MSR Elixir is strong, quick to setup, and surprisingly roomy for a 1-person tent. The improved fabric coatings in this latest version have held up well to couple of Lake Superior storms, I really like the interior pockets and the all-metal corner hardware, which setup a snap.
The Petzl Tikka is the best headlamp you can buy. I’ve had the same Petzl Tikka for 14 years, and it’s still going strong. The Tikka is not the brightest, topping out at 450 lumens, but it’s plenty of light to cook by in the backcountry. The deal is on the Core model, which features Petzl’s rechargeable battery (there’s a Micro USB port on the battery), but it can also run on any old AAA batteries.
Sleeping Bag and Sleeping Pad Deals
Looking to upgrade your sleep system? Check out our guides to the Best Sleeping Bags and the Best Backpacking Sleeping Pads.
The Zenbivy Bed 25 (9/10, WIRED Recommends) is hands-down the most comfortable backcountry sleeping experience I’ve ever had. It wouldn’t be my top pick for extreme situations, but so long as your expected temperatures fit in Zenbivy’s range (the comfort rating is 35 degrees Fahrenheit), it doesn’t get more comfortable than this. The Zenbivy isn’t just a sleeping bag. It’s a sheet, hood, and quilt-style bag that can be combined in various ways.
Zenbivy’s Light Bed is a brand-new option that takes the basic clip design of other Zenbivy beds and lightens up the load. I’ve been testing this bag for several months, and it is everything I loved about the original above, but lighter weight. I’ll have a full review very soon, but if you’ve been tempted by the Zenbivy, but wanted to keep your base gear weight down, this is the option you’ve been looking for.
It’s no longer our top pick for side sleepers, but the Questar remains a good option for those who want more room. It uses what Therm-a-Rest calls W.A.R.M. fit, which stands for “with additional room for multiple” positions. Indeed, this bag is very roomy for a mummy design. I was able to draw my legs up when side-sleeping and spread out considerably more than with most of the other sleeping bags I’ve tested.
Sea to Summit’s Ether Light XT is only marginally heavier than the Therm-a-Rest above. The extra 4 ounces for the Sea to Summit pad gets you quite a bit more cushion too—this is a 4-inch thick pad, compared to the 3 inches of the Therm-a-rest X-Lite, which makes this a better ultralight option for side sleepers. I also like the baffle design better, and it seems to be a little more durable, making this an excellent alternative ultralight pad. Note that this one is an REI Outlet deal; the XT has been replaced by a newer model.
The best super comfy car camping pad you can buy, the MondoKing is the most comfortable, deluxe mattress in the Therm-a-rest line, the flagship for picky car campers and those who are stationary in the backcountry for weeks or months at a time. This burly mat is 4 inches thick and weighs 4 pounds, offering plenty of cushioning and support. You won’t want to lug it far, but even a large-bodied side sleeper won’t bottom out.
Closed-cell-foam pads like the Therm-a-Rest Z-Lite Sol are a must have. They weigh next to nothing (10 ounces for the small), fold up small enough to lash to the outside of any pack, and double as a chair, extra padding on cold nights, table, you name it. I am too old and too soft to be the sort of ultra-minimalist who gets by with just a Z-Lite, but I still have one around on almost every trip I take.
Hiking and Camping Deals
Don’t forget to check out our guide to the Best Day-Hiking Backpacks and the Best Travel Bags.
As noted above, you don’t have to be an REI member to get most of these deals, but there are some extra perks, like this deal. REI members can save 20 percent off anything Yeti. Grab our top pick cooler, the Yeti Tundra Haul Wheeled Cooler or that pricey, but very nice, water bottle you’ve always wanted, the Yeti Yonder.
This chair is the coziest way to hang out around camp. It is somewhat huge, heavy, and awkward to fold up and carry, but so long as you have room for it in your vehicle, there’s no better way to relax around the fire with your loved ones.
This deal is only available on the almost blinding Firefly Yellow color, but if that works for you, this is the best price we’ve ever seen on the Roadie 32. The Roadie coolers aren’t quite as robust as the Yeti Tundra, but they’re great for camping. You get a basket for organizing your contents and the usual high-quality Yeti rotomolding to keep your food cold for up to five days in our testing. Hurry, though, this deal will not last.
I have yet to do a trip with a satellite communicator, but I do understand why people use them. If I were to bring one along, this is the one I’d get. It’s tiny, light (3.5 ounces), and easily stashable. It utilizes the super-fast Iridium satellite network, so you can send a rapid SOS from pretty much anywhere. There are extra features like waypoints and interval tracking, and it plays nice with compatible Garmin watches.
This is the best-smelling bug repellent that uses oil-of-lemon eucalyptus. Reviewer Kristin Canning notes that the spray comes out even and fine and much less intense-smelling than other sprays she tried. It offers about six hours of protection.
Our favorite way to avoid the green propane bottles is this gas growler. This model gets you a 1.2-pound propane tank with a nice padded/insulated sleeve and a handy strap for carrying, and it makes your camp setup look much nicer than a bare tank. It also saves your shins during those inevitable run-ins with cold hard steel that come from lugging around a big propane tank. This size is the equivalent of five green propane bottles.
Permethrin is a bug repellent you can apply to clothing, and theoretically other gear, although I do not recommend it on nylon tents. Still, if you want serious bug repellent spraying Permethrin on your clothes is the way to go.
My favorite paddleboard for lazy days paddling at the lake, the Bote is large and stable, making it great for beginners. Despite that it’s surprisingly nimble and easy to steer, with very good tracking ability. I also love the two-in-one kayak/SUP hybrid design, which means you can turn it into a full fishing rig with Bote’s various add-ons.
Oru’s foldable kayaks are genius—all the boat, none of the size. The Lake is light, reasonably fast, and the cheapest way to get into the world of folding kayaks. As with all Oru’s offerings, the Lake folds origami-style into a roughly 30-inch square that’s just 15 inches deep—small enough to fit in a car trunk or hall closet.
Osprey has been making Talon packs since 2007. This model is the smaller cousin to the 33L version in our guide to the best day-hiking packs. The success of the Talon line is well deserved, the 100-denier high-tenacity nylon (Bluesign-approved) makes for a durable pack while remaining reasonably lightweight (2 pounds, 1 ounce for the S/M size). The dual zippered panel-loading design makes getting to your stuff a snap, and there are plenty of extra pockets inside and outside to help you stash all your gear.
I haven’t had a chance to play with this one much, but if you like having some extra chest storage space this Mystery Ranch pocket is good way to go. It’s works perfect with Mystery Ranch packs, but the clips should work with just about any pack that has a little webbing on the shoulder straps.
The REI Co-op brand Kingdom 6 tent was a long time favorite around here, alas REI discontinued the Kingdom 6 and replaced it with two tents: The Wonderland 6 and the REI Base Camp 6. The Wonderland 6 has more mesh, which makes it a better choice for summer trips. We’ll be testing both very soon, but based on my experience with the very similar Kingdom, this is a solid deal on a good tent.
I like Kelty’s tarp tent, though I have the 9-foot version and really wish I had the 12, which is what I’ve linked to here. It has stood up well in 20- to 30-mile-per-hour winds in the Outer Banks, and kept the rain off in the deep north woods of Wisconsin. If you plan to use it in a treeless area like the beach, be sure to pick up the poles, which are sold separately.
This is the adult size version of our favorite kid’s mountain bike. REI’s hardtail comes with XS–S 27.5 x 2.6 in. wheels in the XS and S sizes, and 29 x 2.6 for the M-XL sizes. The SR Suntour XCM 120 mm coil fork has a 15 mm thru axle and 110 mm boost, making it good at cornering, but also offering pretty solid durability. It’s got hydraulic disc brakes (Shimano MT200) for precise control and microSHIFT ADVENT X 1 x 10 drivetrain, which shifts nicely. The heavier duty DRT 1.3 bike is also on sale for $1,200 ($200 off).
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