Vans have numerous tiny nooks, crannies, and hard-to-reach storage spaces where dust and debris accumulate. A compact handheld vacuum like the Black & Decker model makes daily cleaning much easier than trying to sweep or wipe these areas manually.
At a glance
Length
10 min
Channel
Exploring Alternatives
Video from
Sep 2021
Rating
⭐⭐ Great video · 2/2
Best for
Van dwellers, conversion builders, and part-time campers seeking budget-friendly essentials
What this video answers
Why is a vacuum necessary in such a small space?
How do you shower in a van without a campground?
What's the difference between desiccant and compressor dehumidifiers for van life?
How much power do these items consume from a solar system?
Are these items difficult to find or specific to certain brands?
Reads the guide aloud in your browser — free, no account.
Overview of This Van Life Gear Guide
After seven years of part-time van living across the US and Canada, Mat and Danielle of Exploring Alternatives walk through twelve essential items that have become indispensable for comfortable life on the road. This isn't a sponsorship-driven list—they own every item themselves and use them regularly. The focus is practical: gear that solves real problems that arise when you're living in a confined metal space through changing seasons and weather.
The collection spans cleaning, lighting, hygiene, temperature control, and safety. Most items cost under $100, making this guide particularly useful for people building out a van conversion or upgrading an existing setup on a modest budget. Whether you're considering van life, already living it part-time, or looking to optimize your mobile living setup, this breakdown covers the everyday gear that makes the difference between camping and comfortable travel.
Key Moments
Essential Van Life Gear Highlighted in the Video
Black & Decker handheld vacuum for cleaning tight corners and storage spaces daily
Motomaster magnetic flashlight that mounts anywhere on metal surfaces for lighting inside and outside the van
Ivation battery-powered portable shower head with three to four showers per charge
Reflectix sun shade for temperature regulation, especially critical in summer heat
Heavy-duty tire inflator for maintaining correct pressure before driving
Ivation desiccant dehumidifier that works in cold temperatures without compressor noise
What to Know Before Choosing Van Life Gear
Most items are USB or 12-volt powered, designed to integrate with solar power systems or vehicle sockets
Temperature and humidity monitoring matters: a simple thermometer and hygrometer help prevent mold in damp seasons
Desiccant dehumidifiers work better in vans than compressor models because they function in cold weather
Battery-powered shower systems work best paired with a pop-up stall and collapsible bucket to minimize setup time
The Reflectix sunshade needs to be custom-cut for your van's windshield; buying a roll and making your own is often cheaper
Magnetic hooks are versatile enough that you'll want multiple units for towels, curtains, and storage
Power draw matters: items like the dehumidifier require shore power, while USB-powered fans and air purifiers run on solar
Frequently Asked Questions About Van Life Gear
Why is a vacuum necessary in such a small space?
Vans have numerous tiny nooks, crannies, and hard-to-reach storage spaces where dust and debris accumulate. A compact handheld vacuum like the Black & Decker model makes daily cleaning much easier than trying to sweep or wipe these areas manually.
How do you shower in a van without a campground?
The video demonstrates using a battery-powered portable shower head charged via USB, paired with a collapsible silicone bucket and pop-up shower stall. For hot water, you can heat water on an induction or butane cooktop. This setup folds compactly and can be deployed quickly.
What's the difference between desiccant and compressor dehumidifiers for van life?
Desiccant dehumidifiers work effectively in cold temperatures, are quieter, and produce a small amount of heat—valuable in winter vans. Compressor models are larger, noisier, and fail in low temperatures, making them unsuitable for year-round van living in varied climates.
How much power do these items consume from a solar system?
Most items like USB fans, air purifiers, and magnetic flashlights run directly from 12-volt sockets or USB ports with minimal power draw. The main exception is the desiccant dehumidifier, which requires significant power and only runs when you have shore power access.
Are these items difficult to find or specific to certain brands?
The video notes that some products may be harder to find, and equivalent alternatives with different brands often work equally well. Most items—vacuums, USB fans, magnetic hooks, thermometers—are readily available at hardware stores, Walmart, or online retailers.
This video cuts through the hype that often surrounds van life gear recommendations. Mat and Danielle are honest about what they actually use, what things cost, and why each item matters for daily comfort. They've lived the lifestyle long enough to know what's essential versus what's just nice-to-have.
What stands out most is their practical perspective on power management—emphasizing USB and 12-volt options that work with solar systems, not against them. For anyone building or upgrading a van, this is exactly the kind of grounded advice you need. Highly worth your time.
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Van life gear + For your chance to win a Sprinter van conversion and support a great cause, enter at http://www.omaze.com/exploringalternatives
After 7 years of part-time van life, we're sharing a dozen of our favourite van life gear with you! No affiliate links, just items that we genuinely love and use all the time when we're on the road. The best part is that most items cost less than $100!
01:08 - Black & Decker Handheld Vacuum
01:33 - Motomaster Cordless Work Light (magnetic flashlight)
02:08 - Ivation Portable Battery Powered Outdoor Shower Head
02:46 - Reflectix Sun Shade
03:13 - Magnetic Eyebolt Hooks - Heavy Duty
03:40 - MSR Stainless Steel Folding Pot
04:16 - Electric Battery Powered Bug Racket
04:45 - OPOLAR USB 5 Settings Desk Fan
05:36 - Slime Heavy Duty Tire Inflator
06:20 - Autotrends USB Air Purifier
07:36 - Hygrometer and thermometer
08:01 - Ivation 13 Pint Desiccant Dehumidifier
Thanks for watching!
Mat & Danielle
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Music & Song Credits:
All music in this video was composed, performed, and recorded by Mat of Exploring Alternatives.
Editing Credits:
Mat and Danielle of Exploring Alternatives
Filming Credits:
Mat of Exploring Alternatives
#vanlife #livinginavan #vanlifegear
Video transcript for “Best VAN LIFE Gear - Top 12 Essential Items We Can't Go Without” Accessibility
A full written transcript of this video, provided for accessibility. Select any timestamp to jump the video to that moment.
hey everyone in this video i'm going to show you some of our favorite van life gear i've got 12 items that we use all the time to make traveling and living in the van more comfortable and what's nice is that most of them are under 100. [Music] for seven years now we've been living
part-time in the camper van we've traveled across the u.s and canada several times and experienced all kinds of weather after so much time on the road there's a dozen items that have become essential to us we bought all these items ourselves and we're not using any affiliate links
they're just products that we genuinely use and love i'm going to give you a quick rundown on each item so let's get started this video is sponsored by omaze and they're offering the chance to win an awesome sprinter van with an eco-friendly conversion by van smith while also raising money for the honnold
foundation who's promoting solar energy for a more equitable world stay tuned till the end of the video to get all the details on how to enter you can also visit omaze.com exploring alternatives to find out more for cleaning we have a really practical small handheld vacuum it might seem a
little bit silly to have a vacuum in such a small space but the thing is the van has so many tiny nooks and crannies and storage spaces that are really hard to get to so this portable vacuum makes cleaning so much easier and we use it almost every day this is just a cheap black and dagger one that we got at
walmart and we've had it for two years and it's still going strong this magnetic flashlight is perfect when you live in a metal box it has a task light and a flashlight mode and there's a strong magnet on the end so you can stick it anywhere there's exposed metal on the inside or on the
outside of the van so we use this almost every day we have it above our sliding door so we turn it on when we go in and out of the van we also often put it above the door on the outside if it's dark out it's a very handy porch light this one's made by moto master it's just called a cordless work light it charges
with usb and it has a pretty long lasting battery for showering we use a battery powered shower head which actually has pretty good water pressure and it's a great alternative to showering at campgrounds or using a gravity fed or pump shower this one's the rechargeable portable shower by ivation you can charge it with
usb and we can usually do three or four showers on one charge we've paired this with a collapsible silicone bucket and a pop-up shower stall so everything folds up pretty small in the van and it can all be set up pretty quickly if it's a really hot summer day we just take cold showers but if we want a hot shower
we'll use our induction cooktop or butane cooktop to heat up a bit of water our reflectix sunshade is an absolute must for regulating the temperature in the van the front windshield of the van is huge and it's pretty amazing how much heat you can gain or lose depending on the season
so we put ours in the window almost every time we park and it makes a massive difference especially in the summer when we're trying to keep the van cool we couldn't find one that was the right size for our van so we just bought a roll of reflectix and made our own we use these small magnetic hooks for a
ton of different things in the van it's just a really powerful rare earth magnet with a loop attached they're super strong and we can magnetize them anywhere we have exposed metal in the van we can attach carabiners to hang things off of we use them to hang up our towels to dry and we also use them to
attach our curtains tight to the wall so we don't get any light coming through yeah we never seem to have enough of these they're really great we love our compact foldable stainless steel pot and we've been using it pretty hard for many years now one of the best features is that the metal is super thin
so we can boil water really fast which saves on fuel the handle folds back on top of the lid and there's a little clip to tightly hold it in place so it really doesn't take up a lot of space in our drawer and we can also use it as a container for leftover food but it's not leak-proof
this one's made by msr and we got this at mountain equipment co-op which is kind of a canadian version of rei this is our battery-powered electric bug racket and you can literally find these anywhere even at the dollar store it might seem like kind of an insignificant item but for camping in the van i would
say it's an absolute must so with this we can quickly but most importantly we can cleanly catch mosquitoes and flies that are trapped in the van and it's so much better than trying to squish them in your hands or squish them up against the walls which can get pretty messy next item on the list is our usb powered
fan there's a ton of usb fans on the market but this one is the most powerful one that we found and for us it was really important for it to be usb powered because we can plug it directly into the 12 volt socket of our solar power generator and we don't have to have our inverter on so it takes a lot less power
it's also nice that this one has four different speeds and it also has a timer so you can set it for one hour two hours four hours or eight hours and it'll stop after that we've actually tried a couple other usb fans before this one and we just found that they didn't really push very much
air compared to this one this one's made by opolar and it's a multi-setting desk fan my only complaint is that the cable that comes with it is actually pretty short so you're limited as to where you can put it for the past seven years we've been carrying this heavy-duty tire inflator
in our camper van and we wouldn't travel without it in a large vehicle like this it's really important for safety to maintain the correct tire pressure and having an air compressor like this with us all the time makes the task so much easier since you're usually supposed to check tire pressure with cold tires
before driving it's nice to have this on us so we can adjust the pressure before we hit the road if we're doing a lot of driving we try to check the tire pressure pretty frequently another good time to check them is when there's big fluctuations in temperature because that really affects tire pressure so this is
the slime heavy duty tire inflator and you can just power it with the 12-volt socket in the vehicle this is our usb air purifier for vehicles in the past two years we've ended up in areas where there was a significant amount of forest fire smoke for extended periods of time and that became really unpleasant in the
van it's a pretty small space in here and we just couldn't get away from it so we ended up buying this vehicle usb air purifier to see if it would help and it's actually pretty nice to have in here we use this when we're driving and when we're hanging out in the back and what we do is we'll close all the
windows and let this purify the air and we just let it run pretty much 24 7 when it's smoky outside this one is by auto trends and it was really important for us to find a small one like this that was usb powered so we can plug it into our 12 volt of the car or the solar power generator and it takes a lot less
power and if you open it up here you can see that there's a hepa filter that you can change when it gets dirty there's actually an indicator that tells you when to change it this is not something that we use all the time but it's nice to have and it's also great just for managing dust in the
van you might not be able to find this exact one but if you look for a vehicle usb air purifier you might be able to find something kind of similar it's always really nice to be able to keep an eye on the temperature and the humidity levels in the van for this we mounted a thermometer and hygrometer
above the door and we usually keep an eye on it throughout the day and it's especially nice when we're entering the colder wetter seasons where it's humid for long periods of time so we can keep an eye on the moisture levels in the van these are usually pretty inexpensive and you can find these at most hardware
stores for dealing with humidity and moisture in the van we have this desiccant dehumidifier by ivation and this one's great because it's still really effective in colder temperatures which is usually when you want to use it in a camper van we like it because it neatly fits under our bed it doesn't make too
much noise compared to a compressor dehumidifier and it also throws off a little bit of heat which is nice on colder days the one downside is that it does take quite a bit of power so we can't use it with our solar power system we have to use it when we have access to shore power but for us if the van feels
damp for a sustained period plugging this in is a priority so we don't develop any mold issues and this item is also a little bit pricier than the other items but for us totally worth it just one final note about dehumidifiers is that we've tried the compressor style dehumidifier which was bigger louder and
it didn't work as well in low temperatures we've also tried the really small ones that are peltier technology and we found that those didn't work at all if it was not in a warm climate so if you want to check out any of the products that we mentioned in the video i'll put the names in the description
below keep in mind that some of them might be a little bit harder to find so you might be able to find equivalent products with different brands we want to thank omaze again for sponsoring this video we're super excited to be collaborating with them on a chance to win an adventure ready 4x4 sprinter van
conversion it has a fully converted interior with a 60 inch kitchen galley a full-size bed a lagoon swivel table loads of overhead storage and a solar power system on the roof plus there's some fun exterior upgrade options like a bike rack or a storage box upgraded suspension all-terrain tires and more we
love that it's an eco-friendly conversion with natural materials like wool insulation a pine ceiling and a bamboo countertop when you enter for your chance to win you're also helping raise money for the honnold foundation their focus is on solar energy and they award grants to community organizations that work
towards solving global energy poverty with innovative and equity focused projects so to potentially win an eco-friendly sprinter van conversion and to support a great cause go to omaze.com exploring alternatives thanks for watching and we'll see you in the next video
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