PRICE – You don’t have to break the bank to get a great camping chair, but we find that spending a little more is often well worth the cost for the increase in comfort, durability, and convenience. We recommend chairs at a variety of price points below to make it easy to find a great option that fits your budget. Generally speaking, the lightest chairs out there won’t deliver as plush of a sitting experience as bulkier products that weren’t meant to accompany you on backpacking adventures.
This affordable, durable, comfortable chair is tailored to those who like their refreshments. The cooler pocket fits four standard cans and zips up to insulate your beverages of choice. In addition to the cooler, the chair has a mesh cup holder, two mesh pockets, and a roomy seat that’s 24 inches wide.
The chair is comfy enough for all-day sitting, and we appreciated that the back was higher on this chair than the other lightweight options we evaluated. The chair comes in black, red, blue, and green, and you can save a few dollars per chair by purchasing a pack of two on the Trekology website. WEIGHT/PACKED SIZE – While weight and packability aren’t as important for camping chairs as they are for backpacking chairs, it’s still good to consider these specs for storage and portability. If you’ve got the space in your car and won’t be carrying your camping chair very far, comfort is king. If you’re tight on space or need to be more mobile for festivals and trips to the beach, choose a portable chair that’s easy to shoulder without weighing you down.
ozark trail lounge chairHow each one performs in every test then determines its score for that metric. Here we break down their performances by metric to get down to the specifics of each model. HEIGHT – Low chairs are great for music events, movies in the park, and trips to the beach because they’re more portable and they don’t block the view of those behind you. Chairs with higher seats are easier to get in and out of (especially for those with bad knees) and are usually more comfortable for extended use. Nothing is worse than finding yourself forced to play musical chairs around the campfire.
We’ve bought and tested 34 unique camping chairs in the last 10 years to bring you the best 15 models available today in this review. Our team of lounging experts and relaxation enthusiasts spent months rigorously testing each model side-by-side. Comfort scores weighed the heaviest in our assessments, but we also considered other factors like packability and ease of use.
ozark trail hammock chairThis luxurious chair is rated to 500 pounds and returns your investment by providing a durable cross-over frame that increases sturdiness and stability with grippy feet that hold the chair in place. The REI Co-op Flexlite Camp Dreamer is similarly lightweight, weighing just a few ounces more and packing away into a case nearly as small. It’s fairly lightweight, and though it doesn’t fit into a small compact package, it has backpack straps for hands-free carrying. While not as packable considering weights that exceed 13 pounds, the Yeti Trailhead and ALPS Mountaineering King Kong also feature a backpack-style carry bag that makes portability a bit easier. Testers considered whether the chairs would be too heavy, bulky, or awkward to carry for either a long distance or simply from a house to a car trunk.
Factors that affect a chair’s portability are its packed size, weight, carry bag, and overall transporting experience. The top-notch comfort, high-quality build, and exceptional portability make it well worth the price and we expect it to remain one of our go-to chairs for a very long time. COMFORT – The whole purpose of packing a camping chair is to get you up off the ground so you can sit comfortably.
The box-shaped cupholder is a little roomier than the round cupholders on the Coleman and the L.L.Bean Base Camp chairs—better for stubby water bottles or mugs of hot chocolate around the campfire. We found that the cheaply constructed Walmart chair had a cupholder that was too small for a soda can, or any of the hard-plastic or metal water bottles that the kids we know brought on a camping trip. It will fit a Capri Sun pouch or a narrow, rectangular juice box, but that’s about it. The Coleman camping chair is big and durable, and of all the upright chairs that our panel of campers tested, it was the most comfortable. The Kijaro Dual Lock Camping Chair has everything you need for a convenient and comfortable stay in the wilderness. Equipped with a locking feature that ensures it stays taut, this chair immediately impressed us with its standout comfort and sturdiness.