If you’re looking for highly specialized or ultra-lightweight chairs for backpacking, our recommendations are probably not for you. We also don’t have suggestions for couch-style or loveseat chairs (we’d like to look at those someday, though). The REI Co-op chair’s polyester seat material feels both more forgiving and more durable than the thinner material on many other kids’ chairs.
Several Wirecutter staffers have owned the Coleman chair for years, using it on camping trips, in backyards, and at sporting events. For the most part, it’s held up well, but one common quibble is that the seat bottom begins to sag after several years of use. Many testers found other chairs more comfortable and easier to put together than the Nemo Moonlite Reclining Camp Chair. This is also the most expensive lightweight chair we tested, and we think the Chair One is a better value. Despite the Renetto chair’s weight and bulk, our testers found it simple to set up and adjust. In fall 2023, we asked a panel of paid testers with a wide range of body types, dexterities, and mobilities to examine our picks and other camping chairs and to share their perspectives.
This chair costs slightly more than the Coleman Cooler Quad Chair, but it’s still a budget-friendly option. It delivers a solid baseline of build quality, comfort, and reliability that we didn’t find in other, similarly ozark trail chair priced chairs. This time-tested classic is reasonably priced, roomy, and dependable enough to last for years. It’s not our lightest, most comfortable, or toughest pick, but it’s close enough, and it’s reasonably priced.
After six months of frequent use, the stitching along one arm had come unraveled, and the small straps holding up the back of the armrests had both ripped in half. After years of intermittently using the Renetto chair, ozark trail chair one staffer said it has held up great. Another said it’s been an essential chair in their life and that it is still going strong after countless soccer games, birthday parties, beach trips, and school events.
They’re also ideal for sporting events, field trips, outdoor concerts and movies, and picnics in the park. Sipping freshly brewed coffee while enjoying the fresh morning air is a necessity for coffee lovers. And the Stanley Adventure French Press coffee maker is designed to tackle this job with added versatility. It can churn out a smooth cup of coffee, as well as cook or boil, making it ideal for everything from soup to hot chocolate. It is made of durable stainless steel and can be used on a stove or over a campfire. It has a 32-ounce capacity, measures about 4 inches in diameter, and is almost 8 inches tall.
It has garnered over 6,100 perfect ratings from shoppers who agree it’s ideal for camping and backpacking. Since 2016, our testers (with different body types and physical needs) have subjected camping chairs to multiple camping trips. We chose the Coleman Cooler Quad Chair as the model with the right combination of comfort, durability, usability, and price for most campers. The 4-pound, steel-framed REI chair has an attached carry strap, rather than a carry bag (which the other chairs have). After a couple of camping trips, we concluded that a strap is more convenient than a bag—it’s quicker and easier for a kid to grab the chair and go, without parental help.
Aside from the color fading and the cooler pouch deteriorating, her chair has held up to years of backyard hangs and camping trips. In summer 2023, she bought a newer Coleman Cooler Quad Chair to compare to her 2016 model, and she found them to be more or less the same. The Chair One is rated to hold up to 320 pounds—more ozark trail chair than any other lightweight chair we tested aside from the Moon Lence. The canopy is big enough to block most, if not all, sunlight any time of day, and the chair’s seat has a strip of breathable mesh down the middle for airflow. Senior staff writer Lauren Dragan said the Renetto is her most comfortable camping chair.
It’s the lightest, most portable chair that is still comfortable. The Helinox Chair One weighs about 2 pounds, compresses smaller than a 2-liter bottle of soda, and is our most lightweight pick. Other chairs we tested sacrificed too much comfort in order to shave mere ounces off of their weights, and we don’t think the trade-off was worth it. Keep in mind that lightweight chairs won’t be nearly as comfortable as traditional camping chairs, so take the word comfortable with a grain of salt. If you’re planning a car-camping trip, you’ll probably want to bring camping chairs.
It comes with a five-year warranty for its frame and a two-year warranty for its fabric; this rivals the warranty for our top lightweight pick. Renetto licenses its patent to a company called Kelsyus, which makes cheaper versions of the chair. There are also chairs that are hybrids between categories, such as the Nemo Stargaze Reclining Camp Chair, which comes highly rated and recommended. Weighing about 8 pounds, the Coleman chair is lighter than most traditional models, so it’s easier to grab from deep in a car trunk or to carry for long distances.