Camping and 12V / Roundup
Heated blankets for camping
One question decides everything: do you have electric hookup. Without it you are into 12V, where nobody publishes the number you actually need.
We earn a commission on some links here, at no extra cost to you. It does not change what we recommend or the order the picks appear in. How we are funded.
With electric hookup: use an ordinary mains blanket. A 100 W blanket for eight hours is 0.8 kWh, trivial against any site allowance. Without hookup: you need a 12V blanket plus a vehicle socket or a power station. With neither: no heated blanket helps, and that is a sleeping bag question.
The picks, with the numbers
Ranked on what the maker publishes, not on a score we invented. Tap a row for the full write-up, or go straight to the listing. Cost is 8 hours at the rated wattage and $0.1834/kWh.
| # | Product | Best for | Watts | Per night | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Top pickSealy 12-Volt Heated Car BlanketRuns off a 12V cigarette-lighter socket with a 4-hour auto-off and an 85-inch cord. Sealy names the power-station use case explicitly. | A car socket or a power station | Not published | Uncomputable | Check price |
| 2 | Westinghouse 12-Volt Heated Car Blanket200 GSM flannel one side, 180 GSM Shu velveteen the other, with the same 85-inch cord reach. No wattage. | The warmest 12V fabric | Not published | Uncomputable | Check price |
| 3 | Camco Car & RV Heated Travel BlanketPolar fleece, a 7-foot cord and a 1-year warranty from an RV-parts brand. The listing claims low amperage without stating the figure. | RV and emergency kits | Not published | Uncomputable | Check price |
| 4 | Bedsure Heated Throw with Preheat100 W published, a preheat cycle that steps itself down, and a 10-hour timer. The throw we would buy on the numbers. | The best-documented throw | 100 W | 15 cents | Check price |
Sources: wattage from each maker's own published listing, cited on the card below. Cost is our arithmetic at the EIA rate, shown in full on cost to run.
#ad how we are funded - no live price right now
A car socket or a power station
Sealy 12-Volt Heated Car Blanket
Rated wattage
Not published
8 hours costs
Uncomputable
#ad how we are funded - no live price right now
Runs off a 12V cigarette-lighter socket with a 4-hour auto-off and an 85-inch cord. Sealy names the power-station use case explicitly.
Where the wattage comes fromNo wattage published. This matters more on 12V than on mains: without a watt or amp figure you cannot work out how long it will run off a battery or a power station, and the listing does not give you one.
- Size
- 59" x 43"
- Heat settings
- 3 levels
- Auto shut-off
- 4 hours
- Controllers
- Silicone switch on the blanket itself
- Certification
- Not stated on the listing
- Warranty
- Not stated on the listing
- Rated watts
- Not published
- Power source
- 12 V cigarette-lighter socket
- Cord length
- 85"
- Model
- SL-HCAR110FL-GR-UP
What it does well
- 85-inch cord reaches the back seat
- 4-hour auto-off, which is the right ceiling for a vehicle
- Machine washable with the cord disconnected
- Sealy names portable power stations as a supported use
Where it falls short
- No published wattage or amp draw, so battery runtime is unknowable
- Three heat levels only
- The switch is on the blanket, so you have to find it under the covers
Who this is forRoad trips, cold sports fields, and anyone running a 12V setup in a van or truck.
Skip it ifSkip it if you plan to run it off a leisure battery and need to budget the draw. No published figure means no runtime calculation.
The warmest 12V fabric
Westinghouse 12-Volt Heated Car Blanket
Rated wattage
Not published
8 hours costs
Uncomputable
#ad how we are funded - no live price right now
200 GSM flannel one side, 180 GSM Shu velveteen the other, with the same 85-inch cord reach. No wattage.
Where the wattage comes fromNo wattage or current draw published. As with every 12V blanket we checked, that leaves battery runtime uncomputable.
- Size
- 59" x 43"
- Heat settings
- 3 levels
- Auto shut-off
- Stated on the listing
- Controllers
- Inline
- Certification
- Not stated on the listing
- Warranty
- Not stated on the listing
- Rated watts
- Not published
- Fabric
- 200 GSM flannel / 180 GSM Shu velveteen
- Cord length
- 85"
- Model
- KTAB-DCVS-1
What it does well
- Heavier fabric than most 12V blankets, so it holds heat between cycles
- 85-inch cord reaches rear passengers
- Full body coverage at 59 by 43 inches
- Packs down for storage in a bag
Where it falls short
- No published wattage or amp draw
- Three heat levels
- No certification named
Who this is forWinter road trips and emergency kits where fabric warmth matters as much as the element.
Skip it ifSkip it if you want the blanket to work at home too. This is 12V only and will not plug into a wall.
RV and emergency kits
Camco Car & RV Heated Travel Blanket
Rated wattage
Not published
8 hours costs
Uncomputable
#ad how we are funded - no live price right now
Polar fleece, a 7-foot cord and a 1-year warranty from an RV-parts brand. The listing claims low amperage without stating the figure.
Where the wattage comes fromNo wattage or amp figure published. The listing says it is "designed with a low amperage draw to prevent draining your car battery", which is precisely the claim that needs a number attached and does not have one.
- Size
- 59" x 43"
- Heat settings
- Not stated on the listing
- Auto shut-off
- Not stated on the listing
- Controllers
- Inline
- Certification
- Not stated on the listing
- Warranty
- Limited 1 year
- Rated watts
- Not published
- Fabric
- 100% polar fleece
- Cord length
- 7 ft
- Model
- 42804
What it does well
- From an established RV-parts brand
- 1-year limited warranty stated, which most 12V blankets do not give
- Simple polar fleece with nothing to go wrong
- Sized for a vehicle emergency kit
Where it falls short
- The "low amperage" claim carries no number
- No heat settings or auto-shutoff stated
- Shorter cord than the 85-inch rivals
Who this is forAn RV, a truck, or a glovebox emergency kit.
Skip it ifSkip it if you want temperature control. No heat levels or timer are stated anywhere on the listing.
The best-documented throw
Bedsure Heated Throw with Preheat
100 W published, a preheat cycle that steps itself down, and a 10-hour timer. The throw we would buy on the numbers.
Where the wattage comes fromBedsure states "a power rating of 100W" at 120V AC, 60Hz. Same figure as the brand's queen-size single controller, on a blanket a quarter the area, which is why a throw heats faster.
100 W x 8 h = 0.80 kWh, x $0.1834/kWh = $0.15 per night
- Size
- 50" x 60"
- Heat settings
- 6 levels
- Auto shut-off
- Up to 10 hours (1-2-4-6-8-10h)
- Controllers
- 1
- Certification
- ETL and FCC certified
- Warranty
- Warranty card included in packaging; term not stated online
- Rated watts
- 100 W
- Voltage
- 120 V AC, 60 Hz
- Fabric
- 220 GSM flannel / 200 GSM sherpa
- Preheat
- Yes, 2h at level 6 then 6h at level 4
- Model
- BS-100T
What it does well
- Published wattage, so an hour on the sofa has a computable price
- Preheat steps down automatically rather than holding peak
- Warm without power thanks to the sherpa backing
- ETL and FCC certified
Where it falls short
- 6 heat levels
- Warranty term is only in the box, not on the listing
- 50" x 60" is a one-person throw
Who this is forAnyone who wants a sofa throw and wants to know what an evening under it costs.
Skip it ifSkip it if you want to cover two people. At 50 by 60 inches it is a personal throw, not a shared one.
How we ranked these
- Power source first. Mains hookup, 12V vehicle socket, or a portable power station. This decides the product before any specification does.
- Then cord length and auto-shutoff, which are the two specs that matter in a vehicle or a tent.
- Then published wattage, where it exists. On 12V it never does, and we say so rather than working around it.
We have not handled these products and we do not claim to have. The full method, including the rubric weights and what we refuse to claim, is on our methodology page.
The decision tree
| Your situation | Product | The catch |
|---|---|---|
| Pitch with electric hookup | Ordinary mains blanket or throw | None. This is the easy case |
| Vehicle nearby, engine runs sometimes | 12V blanket in the vehicle socket | Only warms you in the vehicle |
| Portable power station | 12V blanket, or mains via an inverter | Runtime is uncomputable; no published draw |
| Leisure battery in a van or RV | 12V blanket | Same problem, and the consequence is a flat battery |
| None of the above | None of these | Sleeping bag rating and insulation |
With hookup, the arithmetic is trivial
Worth stating because people assume a heated blanket is a serious power draw on a campsite. It is not.
| Run time | kWh | Cost | Working |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 hour | 0.10 | 2 cents | 100 x 1 / 1000 x 0.1834 |
| 4 hours (an evening) | 0.40 | 7 cents | 100 x 4 / 1000 x 0.1834 |
| 8 hours (a night) | 0.80 | 15 cents | 100 x 8 / 1000 x 0.1834 |
| 30 nights at 8 hours | 24.00 | $4.40 | 100 x 240 / 1000 x 0.1834 |
| A 120-night winter at 8 hours | 96.00 | $17.61 | 100 x 960 / 1000 x 0.1834 |
Rate: US Energy Information Administration, Electric Power Monthly, Table 5.3 (June 2026): 18.34 cents per kWh, average US residential. Retrieved 2026-08-31.
Rated wattage is the ceiling, not the average. A thermostatic blanket cycles its element on and off once the bed is warm, so an all-night bill usually lands below the rated-watt figure. We publish the rated number because it is the only one the maker stands behind, and we do not estimate a duty cycle for a blanket we have not measured.
0.8 kWh a night. Most campsite hookups are rated in the range of 5 to 16 amps, which at 120 V is 600 to 1,900 watts of continuous capacity. A 100 W blanket is a small fraction of the smallest of those, and it will not be the thing that trips the bollard. A kettle will.
Without hookup: the missing number
This is the honest core of the page, and it is a gap in the category rather than in our research.
The question every camper has is how long a 12V blanket runs before the battery is flat. That is arithmetic: battery watt-hours divided by blanket watts gives hours. We checked all four 12V blankets we track and not one publishes a wattage or a current draw.
What to do about it
- 1Check the blanket itself. Many carry a rating label on the controller, the plug or a sewn-in tag even when the listing does not repeat it. If there is one, that is the manufacturer's own figure.
- 2Measure it. An inline 12V meter costs about fifteen dollars, sits between the socket and the plug, and reads the actual draw in seconds. That is a measurement of your blanket, which is better than any published figure.
- 3Budget generously. Until you have a number, assume worse than you expect and keep enough battery in reserve to start the vehicle. A flat leisure battery is inconvenient; a flat starter battery on a cold morning is a different kind of problem.
We have not measured any of these ourselves and we are not going to publish a figure we did not measure. Full detail on the 12V products, including cord lengths and shut-off behavior, is on 12V for cars and RVs.
What the 12V blankets do publish
| Product | Size | Cord | Auto-off | Warranty |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sealy 12V | 59" x 43" | 85" | 4 hours | Not stated |
| Westinghouse 12V | 59" x 43" | 85" | Stated, no duration | Not stated |
| Camco 12V | 59" x 43" | 7 ft | Not stated | Limited 1 year |
| Stalwart 12V | 59" x 43" | Not stated | Not stated | Not stated |
From each maker's listing, checked 2026-08-31.
Two useful observations. The 4-hour auto shut-off on the Sealy is the only published duration in the group and it is the right ceiling for a vehicle, where a blanket left running is a battery problem. And Camco is the only one stating a warranty term at all, which for a product living in a cold vehicle is worth something.
Cold-weather realities a blanket does not fix
A heated blanket adds warmth. It does not add insulation underneath you, and on cold ground that is where most heat is lost, straight into the earth through a compressed sleeping bag.
A sleeping pad with an adequate R-value does more for a cold night than any blanket in this article, and it needs no power at all. If you are cold camping, that is the first purchase and a heated blanket is the second. We do not cover sleeping pads and are not going to recommend one we have not researched to the standard we hold everything else here to.
Questions people actually ask
- Can you use an electric blanket while camping?
- On a pitch with electric hookup, yes, and an ordinary mains blanket is the best option. Without hookup you need a 12V blanket plus a vehicle socket or a power station. With no power source at all, no heated blanket helps.
- How long will a 12V heated blanket run off a power station?
- Unknown from published data. Runtime is battery watt-hours divided by blanket watts, and none of the four 12V blankets we track publishes a wattage or an amp draw. Measure it with an inline 12V meter.
- How much power does an electric blanket use on a campsite hookup?
- About 0.8 kWh for an eight-hour night at 100 W. Campsite hookups typically supply 600 to 1,900 watts continuously, so a blanket is a small fraction of the smallest of them.
- Will a heated blanket keep me warm in a tent?
- It adds warmth on top of you but no insulation underneath, and cold ground is where most heat is lost. A sleeping pad with an adequate R-value does more for a cold night and needs no power.
Sources
Every specification on this page traces to a published manufacturer listing or a government data source. Where a maker publishes no wattage, we say so rather than estimating one.
Read next
- 12V heated blankets for cars and RVsFour 12V blankets, one published shut-off, and zero published wattages.
- Cordless and battery heated blanketsBattery blankets, what they really heat, and the runtime nobody publishes.
- Cost to runSourced watts, a cited US rate, and the arithmetic shown for every figure.
- Camping and 12V12V blankets for cars, RVs and camping, plus mains picks chosen for specific needs.