Sturdy arm rests and sits a little higher from the ground, making it a great choice for taller people. Finally, camping chairs should be portable since camping can require hiking to your camping spot. Look for a lighter chair weight to easily carry it around to your destination—a carrying case also makes it easier.
The cupholders on the L.L.Bean Kids’ Base Camp Chair aren’t as roomy as those on our picks, and they are not as adept at holding stubby water bottles or mugs of hot chocolate. Are you a car camper or do you plan on socializing in friends’ backyards? We like this durable, well-constructed chair that has a frame that makes you confident to sit. If you struggle to get any shut-eye at festivals, make sure to pack some ear plugs for sleeping. Proving you don’t have to spend a fortune on good buds, these EarHub plugs impressed our tester. Keeping your hair fresh between showers at festivals (or if you’re not planning to shower at all), dry shampoo is a must-have toiletry.
Neither ZDNET nor the author are compensated for these independent reviews. Indeed, we follow strict guidelines that ensure our editorial content is never influenced by advertisers. Waking up hungover in a tent is never fun – but a good sleep mask can make the experience a lot less painful. “Made from polyester, Soap & Glory’s mask has a silky feel that’s lovely and smooth against the skin, while the extra-long shape wraps around the head and blocks out almost all of the light,” our tester said.
When you're done sitting, it collapses into an included carrying case and weighs 13.2 pounds. Going camping is a great pastime, but you need to bring a lot to make the experience comfortable. Your camping checklist should include a tent, a sleeping bag, a lantern, a packed cooler, and a camping chair so you can relax around your campsite. In addition to that, you’ll find a handy cup holder built into the tray, which will virtually eliminate your risk of spilling your drink. Fortunately, this is also easy to remedy via a bit of DIY engineering.
REI's Co-op Camp X Chair brings the best of both worlds with a webbed nylon mesh that keeps you cozy and cool. The material is designed to evenly distribute your weight and maximize comfort, and we found the material was tense enough to feel supportive while letting them take advantage of the breeze. Overwhelmingly, the Coleman came out on top, with campers praising its comfort and stability. The Renetto’s big, heavy canopy provides ample sun protection at a campsite or cookout and doubles as a backpack-strap-equipped carrying case. These lightweight, convenient chairs fold easily into a storage bag so you can toss them in the back of the car for any summertime adventure.
But after half a dozen excursions, we found—as we had with the Renetto Original Canopy Chair—that having a chair you can easily carry without a bag is preferable. In real-world conditions, you’re often packing up fast to try to get ahead of crowds or traffic. So you can easily misplace a carry sack on a dark night in a crowded field, especially if you’re in a large group or have a lot of stuff. At a fireworks show and at the beach, we appreciated a chair that was ready to go without even 30 seconds of hassle. The Everywhere Chair closes like a book—simply lift the padded strap and go. After six months of sitting mostly outside in the Southern California sun, our gray Coleman chair was noticeably less faded than our Walmart and Renetto chairs, the latter of which had bleached from bright red to pink.
The Helinox Chair One weighs about 2 pounds, compresses smaller than a 2-liter bottle of soda, and is the most comfortable and easy to stow of the three top backpacking chairs we tested. Like competing chairs, the Chair One has a nylon and mesh seat and aluminum legs, which are linked with shock cord (the chair legs are made out of the same material as high-end tent poles). 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. If you're looking for a chair to take on the move, opt for something weighing under 2 pounds that can be stored as compactly as possible.
Two built-in pillows are a nice place to rest your head,” they said. Generously sized and warm enough for use from spring through to autumn, this bag was rated by our tester for its price and comfort. Also, it is marginally above average, where camp chairs are concerned as far as comfort goes.