I talk a lot about essential camping tools on this site. One part of the camping experience I don't write about often is the one of making sure your essential bodily functions are taken care of. Having a toilet in the great outdoors doesn't seem like something you would entirely need, as there is ample ground to dig a hole, fill it up, and then move on. However, if you are camping around other people and you want to be less disgusting so they can eat their meals, then I'd recommend going with a portable toilet like the Camco 41531 we're talking about here. Now you might not think about it, but you can spend a lot on a portable toilet, and this one by far is not the biggest or the best, but it's the one I could afford and the one I own, and the one I recommend to friends.
So what is there to talk about with a portable toilet anyway? Well I'd say there are a few main points to think about. One is the height from the seat to the ground, you want to be able to sit down AND get back up without extra huge effort. Here it's 15". Once again, there are taller toilets on the market, but I've found this to be a good middle ground. Second is how you're going to empty the darn thing when it's full. For this task, the Camco has a 3" screw cap. It's sturdy and stuff comes out just fine. You do not want a smaller hole than this in my opinion. Construction of the toilet is something to consider and this one is made of heavy duty plastic. It's fine, and most other portable toilets in this price range are of similar construction.
Camco 41531 Portable Toilet - 2.6 gallon
Otherwise this thing functions just like a regular household toilet. We use real toilet paper, etc and just empty it as needed...which is really not a huge chore aside from being extremely smelly. One thing to consider buying is some deodorizing tablets to help with the smell. I've also used bleach in the top reservoir and that works well too. You'll generally want to keep this pretty clean as smells tend to 'build up' over time (my opinion). For camping, we generally use this for long car camping excursions and we now actually have a poop tent for this basic purpose. We've also just set it up in the van and it works just fine like that as well.
Price: $72
Available from Amazon