Tech
The Best Outdoor Deals From the REI Member Days Sale
REI’s Member Days sale starts today and runs through March 23, 2026. As the name implies, the bulk of the deals are exclusively for REI members. Members get 20 percent off one full-price item with the coupon code MEMBER26. Members also get 20 percent off one used Re/Supply item, and 40 percent off all REI Co-Op Campwell and Wonderland tents. If you’re not yet an REI member, you can join today.
We’ve combed through the member deals, as well as some more limited outlet deals to find the best price on all our favorite tents, backpacks, outdoor apparel, and more.
Updated Wednesday, March 2026: We’ve added a few more deals, including a great sale on REI’s Flash 22 daypack, a Sea to Summit sleeping pad, a Mystery Ranch backpack, and an Exped sleeping pad.
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What You Should Get With Your Member Coupon
During the REI Member Days sale REI Members get 20 percent off one full-price item with the coupon code MEMBER26. Here are a few pieces of outdoor gear we love that are good candidate for buying with your member coupon. Not an REI member? You can sign up today and get access to the coupon.
Upgrade Your Sleeping Experience
I just got back from a three-day trip using this pad for the first time in a few months. What a revelation it is, every time I sleep on this thing. I’d been testing other pads most of the winter. While some are very good, nothing compares to the Therm-a-Rest NeoLoft for comfort. This pad reinvigorated my love of backpacking by ensuring that I get a great night’s sleep in the backcountry. It’s cushy and comfortable, like a plush car-camping pad, with excellent pressure relief (pro tip: for max comfort, don’t over inflate it). The R-4.8 insulation keeps you warm down to about freezing, though I’ve used it in colder conditions by pairing it with a closed cell foam pad. I also love that it packs up quite small considering how massive it is when inflated.
Lighten Your Load With an Ultralight Tent
The Big Agnes Copper Spur tents are high quality, lightweight, and well designed. At 2 pounds 10 ounces for the two-person model, this is one of the lightest freestanding tents on the market. It’s easy to set up, and stable even in strong winds. The Copper Spur is also very livable, with steep sidewalls to maximize interior space. Mesh pockets help with gear storage and give you a place to stick your headlamp for dispersed light. The ingenious “awning” design makes getting in and out a snap (provided you have trekking poles to set it up). All seams are taped with waterproof, solvent-free polyurethane tape. They’re also durable despite their lightweight fabrics, standing up to years of abuse on the trail. I do recommend grabbing the footprint ($80), though, to help protect the floor. It also allows you to pitch the fly only, which is nice shelter on sunny days at the beach.
Grab REI’s Best Lightweight Backpack
I tested this pack quite a bit last summer as part of an upcoming ultralight backpack guide. It’s very comfortable, carrying a 25-pound load without issue. It’s not the lightest pack I’ve tried (it’s 1 pound, 14 ounces for a medium), but like most REI-brand gear, it strikes a great balance between features and price. It’s made of UHMWPE ripstop nylon, with shaped steel piping for the frame, making it studier than a frameless pack. I love the precurved back panel and hip belt, which were much more comfortable than most ultralight framed packs in this class. It’s got nice load lifters as well, and the minimalist design works well to keep weight down. My only real gripe is that the exterior pocket isn’t very big.
Get the Best Camp Stove
Any flame will work, but Coleman’s Cascade 3-in-1 stove really elevates your outdoor cooking experience. I lived full time in an RV for over seven years and cooked on this stove almost every day. It’s all about the cast iron grates. They’re sturdier than the usual metal and don’t warp over time. Apply a light coat of oil to them periodically and they’ll develop a protective seasoning just like a cast iron pan. The flat top is also handy for cranking out camp pancakes for a hungry family. The coupon brings the price here down to $200.
Deals on Camping and Backpacking Gear
Photograph: Scott Gilbertson
Nemo Equipment’s Mayfly Osmo tent is the two-person tent I reach for the most. It’s solidly built, cleverly designed, and has proved durable, and most importantly, dry, in my years of testing. I tested the Mayfly two-person model, which has a trail weight of 3 pounds 8 ounces. A little heavier than our top pick for ultralight hiking (the Copper Spur suggested above) but still pretty light when split between two people. It’s a semi-freestanding design, which means there are fewer poles, but you have to stake out the foot-end of the tent. Two sewn-in ridged stays help ensure there’s plenty of room by your feet, but the Mayfly is on the tight side. Two sleeping pads fit, and hikers under 6′ 4″ will be fine, but if you’re not close with your hiking partner, the three-person model for $375 ($125 off) will be a better option.
The Dragonfly Osmo is a slightly lighter tent than the Mayfly above, aimed at ultralight backpackers who want a freestanding tent. I’ve tested and liked the one-person version, which is spacious, lightweight, and sturdy. The Osmo fabric is Nemo’s proprietary blend of nylon and polyester, which in my experience sheds rain better than most nylon rainflies. The Dragonfly Osmo 3-person version is also on sale for $435 ($145 off), and the bike-packing friendly two-person version, with poles that fit between your handlebars, is on sale for $376 ($204 off)
This is the best value of the REI Member’s Day sale. The Wonderland 6 replaces my beloved Kingdom 6, as REI spacious, hoop-design family car camping tent. While I prefer the square design of the Base Camp 6, the Wonderland 6 is undeniably roomier, better ventilated, and overall a better choice for most families. The biggest thing I miss about the Wonderland is the interior divider wall, which makes it easy to have a sleeping area and separate area for hanging out. The Wonderland 4 is also on sale for $257 ($172 off), but I highly recommend the two-person version as it’s nearly the same price and gives you considerably more living space.
Photograph: Thermarest
The Z-Lite Sol weighs next to nothing (10 ounces for the small), folds up small enough to lash to the outside of any pack, and can 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 for sleeping, but I still have one around on almost every backpacking trip I take.
The self-inflating Comfort Plus inhabits an interesting borderland between car camping pad and backpacking sleeping pad. At 3 pounds it’s definitely not light, but if you don’t mind the weight it’s a comfortable option. The open-cell interior offers a nicely cushy sleeping experience with enough padding to help even side sleepers avoid bottoming out.
Formerly our top pick for backpacking sleeping pads, the Exped Ultra 7R is still a great winter sleeping pad, especially at this price. The Ultra has down insulation inside it to achieve the high R-rating. At under 2 pounds for the wide version, it’s not that heavy for a four season pad, but it is quite bulky, taking up considerable pack space due to the down. I have used this pad down to 20 degrees Fahrenheit and was very comfortable (in a 10-degree bag). Exped rates it to –20 degrees F.
Photograph: REI
Sea to Summit’s Ether Light XT is a 4-inch thick ultralight sleeping pad—the ever-popular Therm-a-Rest X-Lite is only 3—making it the best ultralight option for side sleepers. I also like the baffle design better than the Therm-a-Rest, and it seems to be a little more durable in my testing. Note that the XT has been replaced by a newer model, but this one is still great.
Nemo’s Forte 35 is our favorite synthetic sleeping bag. It’s rated to 35 degrees (comfort rated), making it a good choice for summer. What I like most about this bag, and nearly all of Nemo’s sleeping bags, is the wider cut through the torso area down to the knees. This bag is almost a hybrid of a mummy bag and your father’s good old 1970s square sleeping bag. Which is to say, this bag is roomy.
Photograph: Adrienne So
The Arc’teryx Beta SL rain jacket is our favorite rain jacket. This is Arc’teryx’s lightest rain shell, but it’s also one of the few jackets that has never failed to keep me dry. It has Gore-Tex’s latest fabric innovation, called ePE (expanded polyethylene)—it’s a breathable, waterproof membrane laminated to a nylon face (PFC-free). It has a hydrostatic head (HH) rating of 28,000, which is far better than the usual rating of 10,000 that you find in most jackets. This deals takes a little of the sting out of the one thing I don’t like about this jacket—the price.
Patagonia’s classic rain jacket, now with a a PFC-free DWR finish. I like the roomier fit of the Arc’teryx Beta SL above, but this jacket is 95 percent as good and less than half the price of the Beta. It’s got a two-way adjustable hood, and cuffs have velcro to give a nice, tight seal against the rain. The only real complaint I have with this jacket is that’s it’s on the noisier side, but at this price, I can deal with a little extra nylon crinkling.
There’s only a couple colors available at this price, but this is a great deal on one of the most packable synthetic puffer jackets we’ve tested. If you’re avoiding down, but want a light puffer for three-season backpacking, or just around town wear, this the jacket to get.
Photograph: REI
Another deal with limited color selection, but this is too good of a price to ignore. The 650 Down Jacket is one of the best budget three-season puffers 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. The kids’ version is also on sale in a nice yellow color that’s handy for spotting your child in the snow.
Patagonia’s Down Sweater is a much-loved, classic puffer jacket. It uses 800-fill-power down and borders on overstuffed, making for a beefier coat than many others I’ve tried. It has plenty of loft nonetheless, and the recycled nylon ripstop fabric still looks like it does the day I took it home (that fabric is now made from recycled fishing nets).
Nemo’s Resolve is a great pack that incorporates a low-waste footprint into the design. It uses solution-dyed fabrics and eschews straps and buckles in favor of bungees and pull-tabs. This does make adjusting it fussier, but once you’re used to it and have the fit dialed in, it’s not an issue. The Resolve is a comfortable pack. While technically frameless, it feels like it has some structure. and it sits nice and high on your back. At 1 pound 15 ounces, it’s also pretty light.
Photograph: Scott Gilbertson
The Flash 22 is possibly the best-value day pack on the market, especially on sale. I was surprised by how comfortable this thing is, despite the lightweight straps and minimal padding. It carries loads up to 15 pounds without straining the shoulders, and the side stash pockets are fabulously large—big enough for a Nalgene bottle or rain jacket. The Flash 22 is made of 70-denier recycled ripstop nylon, which is on the lighter side, but mine has held up well, even coming through some rough canyon hikes in Utah without any more than mud stains. Note that this deal is only on the print versions.
This is Mystery Ranch’s stab at an ultralight pack. It’s still 3 pounds, 13 ounces, but the full suspension system can handle loads far beyond what most ultralight packs (even those with frames) can handle. This is one of the most comfortable packs I’ve tested and my top pick for any load over 25 pounds, but unfortunately, Mystery Ranch has discontinued it, so this might be your last chance to snag one.
If you want to bring a chair backpacking, this is the one to get. It’s just about the lightest on the market at 18 ounces, and it packs down nice and small. Nemo also solved the main problem with all pole chairs: The included base pad keeps it from sinking in soft ground.
Photograph: Ryan Waniata
As with most Yeti sales, this one applies only to a single color, in this case the insanely bright Firefly Yellow. I can almost guarantee you will never lose it if you get that color. Yeti’s Hopper cooler is my go-to cooler for an afternoon at the beach. It’s just large enough for ice, drinks, and snacks for my family of five.
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Tech
Elon Musk’s Last-Ditch Effort to Control OpenAI: Recruit Sam Altman to Tesla
A few months before Elon Musk left OpenAI’s board of directors in February 2018, he tried to recruit Sam Altman to join a “world-class AI lab” within Tesla. Musk went as far as offering the OpenAI CEO a Tesla board seat, according to emails and testimony presented in federal court on Wednesday during the Musk v. Altman trial. The emails were shown to a jury during the cross examination of Shivon Zilis, a former OpenAI adviser and board member who is also the mother of four of Musk’s children.
Musk’s core claim in this lawsuit is that Altman and OpenAI president Greg Brockman effectively stole a nonprofit, using the $38 million Musk invested to create a private company worth more than $800 billion today. On Wednesday, lawyers for Musk showed video depositions of former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati and former OpenAI board member Helen Toner, to raise concerns over Altman’s alleged history of deceit.
OpenAI’s legal team has responded to Musk’s claims by questioning his true motives, arguing that the Tesla CEO has had “sour grapes” ever since he failed to assume control of OpenAI in 2017. He has since started a rival, for-profit AI lab. OpenAI’s lawyers used Zilis’ cross-examination on Wednesday to bring up evidence about Musk’s alleged plans to subvert OpenAI, and tried to suggest Zilis was privy to those plans. As it pertains to this case, one of Zilis’ most important roles at OpenAI was acting as a conduit between Musk and Altman.
In a text from February 2018 presented as evidence, Zilis—then an OpenAI adviser, as well as a Neuralink and Tesla executive—asked Altman, “Did you think through a B Corp subsidiary of Tesla?”
“There was documentary evidence that, at several points, Mr. Musk had contemplated seeking to join Sam Altman to the board and offered that option,” said OpenAI lawyer William Savitt outside the courthouse on Wednesday. “It was part of Mr. Musk’s effort to corrupt OpenAI and absorb it into Tesla … he was trying to get Altman to abandon the mission and be part of Tesla.”
In an email to Tesla’s VP of communications, Sarah O’Brien, from November 2017, Zilis shared a draft of an FAQ page about an event Tesla was planning to hold at the NeurIPS AI conference. “The purpose of this event is to share that Tesla is building a world leading AI lab(?) which will rival the likes of Google / DeepMind and Facebook AI Research,” the drafted FAQ read. The document continues, “One major issue for Tesla is when people think of Elon and AI, they think of OpenAI.”
Another part of the FAQ labeled “Who?” lists several Tesla executives who were planned to lead the unit, including Musk and Andrej Karpathy, a former OpenAI researcher. Altman’s name is listed next to Musk’s with two question marks beside it.
The FAQ is marked up with notes including that Altman could be a moderator for the NeurIPS event, which “could be a forcing function for Sam to commit to TeslaAI.” Another note reads that Tesla AI’s “strategy had yet to be defined and some of it may be deeply proprietary.”
Zilis testified on Wednesday that Altman never ended up joining Tesla, and the AI lab and the NeurIPS launch event never came to fruition. She also testified that Musk reached out to Karpathy about recruiting him to Tesla. Savitt told reporters that Zilis’ testimony on Karpathy is “directly contrary to what Mr. Musk told the jury just a few days ago.” Earlier in this trial, Musk testified that Karpathy left OpenAI of his own volition.
Tech
A Kid With a Fake Mustache Tricked an Online Age-Verification Tool
Meta is beefing up its age-verification mechanisms with an AI system that analyzes images and videos on Instagram and Facebook for “visual cues,” such as height and bone structure, to identify and delete accounts of users under the age of 13. The company announced the move amid a wave of cases in which hundreds of children have managed to evade social network access restrictions, even through simple tricks such as drawing on a mustache.
The new approach is part of a series of measures Meta adopted as part of an AI-based security strategy designed to correct the limitations of traditional methods, which rely heavily on self-reported age. With this change, the company seeks to reduce the ease with which minors access platforms that, in theory, are restricted to them.
In a press release, Meta explained that it is implementing several tools to identify contextual indicators that allow estimating a person’s age. This process includes the analysis of posts, comments, bios, and descriptions, with special attention to references related to school years or birthday celebrations—elements that can offer clues about the real age of the person who manages the account.
These tools are in addition to automated analysis techniques aimed at detecting physical traits from imagery shared to Meta’s social platforms. These include characteristics such as height and bone structure. Meta is careful to stipulate that this system is not face recognition, as it does not seek to identify specific individuals in images or videos. Instead, the company notes that, “by combining these visual insights with our analysis of text and interactions, we can significantly increase the number of underage accounts we identify and remove.”
If, based on these elements, Meta suspects that an account is managed by a child under 13, it will be suspended. The user will have to revalidate their age using the procedures established by the company to regain access; otherwise, the profile will be permanently deleted.
Meta also announced that it will expand the scope of its technology to detect users between the ages of 13 and 15 and automatically assign them teen accounts. This type of profile incorporates content restrictions and parental controls enabled by default, with the aim of providing a safer environment for this age group.
Meta began implementing age-verification tech in 2024 for Instagram users in the United States, Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Now, the mechanism will be extended to Instagram accounts in Brazil and 27 European Union countries. In addition, these practices will be applied for the first time to Facebook users in the US, with plans to expand to the EU and UK next month.
Looking All Grown-Up
The new measures have been interpreted as a response to a preliminary ruling recently issued by the European Commission, which concluded that the company led by Mark Zuckerberg is in breach of the Digital Services Act for allegedly failing to effectively prevent children under 13 from using its platforms. The EU body found that the company lacks sufficiently effective mechanisms to block such access and that its current systems for identifying and suspending accounts below the age threshold are insufficient.
These criticisms are supported by the results of a survey conducted by the nonprofit Internet Matters. After surveying nearly 1,300 children and their parents in the UK, the study revealed that approximately one-third of children have successfully evaded government-imposed restrictions on access to social networking sites. In some cases, the methods employed are particularly striking.
The report, titled “The Online Safety Act: Are Children Safe Online?” showed that 46 percent of 9- to 16-year-olds believe that circumventing age controls is very easy. In total, however, only 32 percent admitted to breaking the rules.
Tech
Trump’s Team Wants Him to Accept an Iran Deal He’s Already Rejected
President Donald Trump’s negotiators face the arduous task of trying to convince the president that a deal he previously rejected is their best option in Iran.
Last month, Trump initially gave his blessing for a so-called “cash for uranium” deal, under which the US would release around $20 billion in frozen funds in exchange for Iran handing over its stockpile of highly enriched uranium, sources familiar with the matter tell WIRED.
Trump’s negotiators, vice president JD Vance, special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son in law, received repeated approvals from the president while they were in Islamabad, giving them confidence a deal was close.
But the deal unraveled, in part because Trump was warned by his team that there was a risk he could be seen as giving Iran “pallets of cash”—an echo of his own oft-stated criticism of Barack Obama’s Iran deal—and he pulled the plug, the sources said.
Except now, that’s once again the cornerstone of the current proposal.
The current negotiations for a memorandum of understanding that could guide talks on a nuclear deal center on Iran handing over its stockpile of highly enriched uranium, and a moratorium on further uranium enrichment for somewhere around 12 to 15 years, Axios earlier reported.
In exchange, the US would offer a combination of billions in sanctions relief and the gradual release of frozen funds after gaining control of the enriched uranium, in order to destroy it or blend it down so it cannot be used for a nuclear weapon.
While a memorandum of understanding might get Iran to the table, that framework is not materially different from what was discussed previously in Islamabad and rejected by Trump, who has repeatedly told advisers in recent weeks he is against sending money to Iran, sources tell WIRED.
Some of Trump’s advisers say the decision of whether Trump ultimately blesses the framework is likely to come down to how badly he wants a deal. There are few options to incentivize Iran, they add, and financial aid has been the most compelling.
“They are going to have to do something like that, and it’s better than the Obama deal, so he should take it,” one Trump adviser said on the condition of anonymity, referring to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. Trump has long criticized that deal for having provisions similar to ones currently under discussion, like a sunset clause on nuclear enrichment and the US lifting some sanctions.
For all the machinations in the West Wing, it has not gone unnoticed by Trump’s orbit that some of his top players have been conspicuous in their absence on Iran, according to two administration officials familiar with the matter.
Marco Rubio, the secretary of state and national security adviser, has been part of the group advising Trump on Iran and, physically speaking, spends most of his time in his West Wing office overlooking West Executive Avenue instead of at the State Department.
Rubio was happy to brief reporters on Tuesday, but he only did so at the request of the White House, a person familiar with the matter said, with his advisers wary of him getting involved in Iran negotiations that could as easily unravel as succeed.
In fact, given the downside risk, Rubioworld has been saying they were surprised that Vance asked to be a part of the Iran talks—a contention denied by people close to the vice president, who said he was ordered to by Trump.
Rubio instead has been more focused on Cuba, and on Venezuela, where assistant secretary of state Caleb Orr has been involved in overseeing new private equity investment to rebuild the country’s oil infrastructure.
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