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 Everywhere Chair keeps your bottom about 4 inches off the ground. The strap that supports the back (and doubles as a carry strap) allows adjustments to control your angle of recline, from upright to a stargazing-appropriate angle. Unlike other portable chairs, the Everywhere Chair is designed to sit on uneven slopes; this can be handy when space is limited at a fireworks show or an outdoor theater performance. Our panel of testers at the Wheeler Gorge Campground deemed the Everywhere Chair to be the most comfortable of the three low-to-the-ground chairs we tested.
If you answered yes to both of those questions, then you’ve undoubtedly run into a problem that’s all too common where bigger folk are concerned. Along with our in-house experts, our team analyzes thousands of product reviews from the most trusted websites. The chair is heavy and bulky and this affects its overall rating but see its other features. Below you can see how this chair stands against my standard rating criteria so you can easily compare with some other chairs. The frame is a very strong and durable steel, and it has the X-crossed supporting bars on the front and ion the back. The picture below shows its lightly angled backrest and its solid and padded armrests.
ozark trail canopyThey’re also far more expensive and significantly less comfortable than typical full-size camp chairs. We recommend buying this type only if you intend to carry your chair long distances, whether you’re backpacking or trekking across Central Park. If you do need a fits-in-a-knapsack chair, we recommend the Helinox Chair One. We found this model to be slightly more comfortable and easier to pack than other, similar chairs.
Despite the Renetto’s weight, our testers found it easy to carry and simple to set up and adjust. We discovered that even though most testers had not previously considered a shade-equipped camp chair, once they used one they appreciated the comfort and convenience of built-in sun blocking. Today’s specialty backpacking chairs are impressively small and light.
Some require little or no assembly and can be spread open and set on the ground. Collapsible rocking camping chairs have removable rocking rails; these take a little more effort to put together, but they provide smoother rocking motions. Each comes with a convenient carrying bag that you can sling over your shoulder.
But where camp chairs are concerned, it’s not the end of the world. These are occasional seating options, and you won’t typically be spending such extended periods sitting in one that it starts to be an issue. Our not-too-discriminating underage testers liked all the kids’ chairs, though over time we found several reasons to declare the REI Camp Chair the best of the bunch. The REI chair’s polyester seat material feels both more forgiving and more durable than the thinner material on the Ozark Trail Kids’ Folding Camp Chair from Walmart. 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.
While most of the furniture you can buy online today comes to you unassembled, that’s rarely the case for things like camp chairs. If you order one of these, it will arrive ready to go right out of the box. 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. The one thing this chair doesn’t have, however, is storage. Fortunately, this is also easy to remedy via a bit of DIY engineering.
ozark trail canopyThat’s as true for camp chairs as it is for recliners and the like. Where camp chairs are concerned, most of them top out at around 300 pounds of supported weight. That works for the majority of the market, but if you happen to be heavier than that, you’ll find that pickings can be slim. You’ll also want a padded, adjustable headrest and perhaps armrests and cup holders. A carrying bag is another good feature, so check for that as well.
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. Select a chair with a built-in canopy, which will give you a little patch of cool at any campsite or cookout.