If you’re going to pack the kitchen sink, bed, and recliner, you might as well bring the kitchen table.
After a year of eating meals out of my lap and using the hood of my truck as a prep surface, I finally told myself there has to be a better way to do this. Since my previous adventures had all involved backpacking, I’d never owned any equipment I couldn’t carry in pack. Needless to say I’d never really considered a table a piece of necessary camping equipment, but when you’ve got a truck that can carry half of your living room set, you might as well right?
For the past 3 years I’ve owned the REI Camp Roll Table, and just like anything from REI it’s a quality product at a relatively reasonable price plus if I hate in five years I can return it (not so true anymore). It consists of an aluminum frame and “rollable” table top which measures 27.5″ x 27.5″. When packed it takes up the same size as your average camp chair, weighs in at only 8 lbs, and can support a surprising 100 lbs of weigh.
So what is it good for? It’s good at doing table stuff which includes a prep station for meals, a place to eat, games of flip cup, lines of cocaine and keeping your gear off the ground. Mine is usually placed next to the rear of the JK, where I use it in tandem with the Adventure Trailers Combo Slide setup. It’s also proven to be very durable by regularly holding my 7 gallon Reliance Aqua-Tainer and for our easily supporting our high stress Koozie experiments.
Setting up the table is also a pretty quick operation, first you open up the frame, then you place the two table support bars across the frame, and finally you stretch the table top over the support bars. Everything locks in easily, but there is enough resistance to keep it from accidentally coming undone.
The only real con to this table is if you’re taller than 5’9, since it also only sits 27.5″ from the ground. This isn’t a problem for a short guy like me, but if you’re a six footer, the Camp Roll Table will probably hit you in the shins at least once or twice. The good news though is it only costs $64.50 so you won’t feel too bad about kicking it around or running it over with your truck (although I highly doubt you’ll be very happy about it).
While there are plenty of other tables out there, this little one has proven to so far be the best bang for your buck and also takes up minimal space (important when you own a Jeep). After 3 years of ownership we haven’t had any issues, and although REI has since changed their generous return policy, I’d still buy another one if this one ever failed.
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