There is an abundance of technical wizardry available to motorhomers, with everything from cooking aids to power packs. But with so many products available on the market, it makes sense to sort the truly useful from the single-use novelties. Our judging panel at the Practical Motorhome Awards 2024 have done the hard work for you, and here, you can find the product we picked out as the best motorhome gadget on the market, as well as the close contenders.
When you’re loading a motorhome, you don’t have unlimited space and payload – as a result, every gadget you take away with you should be something that should make a real difference to your tour.
For the purpose of this year’s Awards we’ve defined gadgets as those that require charging through a power source. If you’re looking for non powered products be sure to take a look at our guide to the best motorhome accessories too.
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The best motorhome gadget is:
Bluetti EB3A portable power station
Reason to buy
- Easy to use with multiple ports
Reason to avoid
- Will take up almost 5kg of your payload
With its smart looks, ergonomic and robust casing, and its easy-to-use functionality, Bluetti’s EB3A power station ticks plenty of boxes. Our judges were impressed by its performance and neat functions such as the powerful LED lamp and the wireless phone charging pad.
We also like how it keeps things simple – you simply plug your electrical items into the relevant ports and can view at what rate they are charging – it allows for multiple gadget charging. A downloadable app allows you to adjust output voltage and current. It’s a portable unit (with a useful carrying handle) designed for lower powered items such as phones and laptops and provided you stick to its limits, it makes for a highly useful power source.
Incidentally, a good safety feature is that the inbuilt circuit breaker will trip automatically should the AC current exceed 10A.
Overall, a great option for off-grid motorhoming and a worthy winner of our best motorhome gadget category.
Specs
- Inverter: 600W AC pure sine wave inverter (1200W surge)
- Battery capacity: 268.8Wh (12Ah)
- Cell type: LiFePO4
- Dimensions: 255 x 180 x 183mm
- Weight: 4.6kg
Full review: Bluetti EB3A portable power station
The products we shortlisted for the best motorhome gadget category:
Remoska Tria electric multicooker
Reason to buy
- Offers flexible cooking options, doesn’t consume much power
Reason to avoid
- Fairly pricey, will need a fairly large locker to store it
By their very nature, ‘vans are somewhat limited in space – that’s why it makes sense to limit the number of gadgets you carry, particularly in the kitchen, where it’s easy to fall into the trap of kitting out a motorhome with everything you think you might need, just in case.
So when a gadget comes along that offers multi-function options, it’s cause for celebration. That’s why our testers love the Remoska Tria. It’s a cooking pot that – as the name suggests – offers three cooking options.
If you’re keen to make use of the campsite’s electric hook-up, simply plug the lid with the lead into a socket and you’ve got a worksurface-top mini oven – meaning there’s no need to use your gas oven. It only consumes 610W of power, too.
Alternatively, swap to the glass lid and you have a more traditional pan that can be used on the hob or in the oven. Then there’s a third, SoftPressure lid, which is perfect for cooking quickly on the hob.
This is a clever piece of kit, and a worthwhile addition to every motorhome kitchen.
Price: £219.99 at Remoska
GTech Multi MK2 Handheld vacuum cleaner
Reason to buy
- Lightweight with good suction and useful headlight
Reason to avoid:
- Other vacuums with better run times can be found
By the time you’ve splashed out all that money when you’re buying a motorhome, it’s understandable you’d be vehicle proud. As a result, a handheld vacuum is a common purchase. Unfortunately not all cordless vacuums have the performance of a GTech Multi MK2.
At around £170 it’s not cheap but the 20-minute run time on a four-hour charge, along with its compact size and low weight (1.5kg) provide the type of performance you’d be looking for in one of the best motorhome vacuum cleaners.
The bagless cleaner has a capacity of 0.4-litres and it comes with crevice tool, extension tube and dusting brush to get to those hard-to-reach places. The filter is washable, too. Best of all is that high-performance suction – we also liked the LED headlight ensuring you don’t miss a crumb!
Specs
- Battery: Rechargeable Lithium-ion
- Voltage: 22V
- Run time: 20 minutes
- Charging time: four hours
- Dimensions: (H)25cm x (W)13.6cm x (D)38.6cm
- Weight: 1.5kg
Jackery Explorer 1500 Pro Portable Power Station
Reason to buy
- Significant power and solar compatibility
Reason to avoid
- Pricey in comparison to similar portable power stations
Those looking for a step up from the Bluetti EB3A in terms of power capacity, could do worse than consider the Explorer 1500. Jackery is another power station brand with an excellent pedigree, and the 1500 has two AC outputs, two USB-A outputs, two USB-C outputs, a car port, and AC and DC inputs.
There are multiple solar panel connection options (it supports up to 1400W solar input with full solar charge in two hours), and you’ll find this motorhome gadget will power most household appliances – everything from kettles and coffee makers to TVs and microwave ovens. It’s compact yet durable and weights in at 17kg.
We liked its smart look and quiet sound (no more than 46dB) and, of course, its significant power options – we think it would be great for off gridders, at a price.
Specs
- Output: 1800 watts
- Battery capacity: 1,512Wh
- Cell type: Lithium-ion
- Dimensions: 38.4cm high by 26.90cm wide by 30.75cm deep
- Weight: 17kg
Capsule II Projector
Reason to buy
- Great picture and sound quality for a portable projector
Reason to avoid
- Pricey, requires a darkened space to use it
Invariably portable projector systems suffer with either poor picture quality or sound issues. However, the Capsule II bucks that trend offering a 720p 200ANSI Lumens image and decent scan-speak transducers that give a clear sound.
More than 5000 apps are available to viewers including YouTube and Hulu, while Netflix can be accessed by downloading the Nebula Manager app from Google Play. Android TV and Google Assistant are both integrated. Admittedly this motorhome gadget is not a budget option and you will need to darken the room or van for optimum picture quality but in terms of performance and versatility, it’s a great solution, and all for the size of a can of beer.
Specs
- Brightness: 200 ANSI Lumens
- Resolution: 1280×720 (16:9, HD)
- OS: Android TV 9.0, Download 7000+apps in Google Play store
- Playtime: 2.5 hours in battery mode, up to 2 hours in standard mode
- Projection size: 100in @2.87m; 80in @2.29m; 60in @1.72m; 40in @1.14m
- Dimensions: 80 x 80 x 150mm
- Weight: 0.73kg
Transcool E3
Reason to buy
- Instant, easy cooling in smart looking package
Reason to avoid
- Doesn’t cool the room you’re in to a specific temperature
This excellent unit was a finalist in last year’s awards and has retained its place in our line up by virtue of its smart design and top performance. Compact in size and only taking up 1.5kg of your payload, this portable motorhome gadget is ideal for beating the heat by blowing out cooling air via its four air vents.
It is 12v/24v or mains power operated, and the air vents are adjustable so you can get your motorhome to the temperature you desire. To operate, just fill it with 1.8 litres of tap water and sit back to enjoy the cool air. Its three-metre power lead is another good feature, allowing you to move it around to find the optimum position.
Price: £340 at iiequii
Written with contributions from Sarah Wakely
- Our best camping gadget guide is full of brilliant ideas for items that are bound to enhance any trip!
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