Once that’s on, you’ve got a stool and can get to sitting. GCI Outdoor makes several rocking chairs, and we plan to try more of them to see if they’re any better than the Freestyle Rocker, which we weren’t enthusiastic about. After eight years of consistent use by senior editor Kalee Thompson’s two young boys, the ozark cooler REI Co-op Camp Chair is, she reports, faded and worn but still holding up. Unbeatable deal if you’re looking to buy several chairs at once. In order to give the Ozark Trail Camping chair a thorough testing, we took it out to the base of the Lammermuir hills on a breezy, overcast afternoon to see how it would fare.
It’s one of the simplest wagons to unfold and use, and it rolls smoothly enough to keep its contents intact over mud, grass, bumps, and curbs. At 22½ pounds, it’s one of the lighter models we tested and a cinch to lift into cars. It’s also one of the lowest-priced wagons we considered, but it performed as well as or better than wagons that cost twice as much.
Durable polyester fabric allows these folding chairs with cup holders to last for a long time and stand up to various conditions. These seats come in a pack of four to provide seating for family and guests. They fit easily inside most vehicles for fast transport wherever they’re needed. On April 8, a full solar eclipse will make its way across the eastern half of the United States and is expected to follow a path that starts in Maine and ends in Texas. The southwest eclipse path passes through several states and may reach nearly 100% coverage in certain areas. During the eclipse, all park campgrounds will be open, barring closures from flooding or other events.
If you’re planning a car-camping trip, you’ll probably want to bring camping chairs. They’re also ideal for sporting events, field trips, outdoor concerts and movies, and picnics in the park. With a centre height of 84in., even tall friends can stand up under it. Before we tried the Renetto Original Canopy Chair, we had never considered buying a shade-equipped camp chair.
Sunglasses, no matter how dark, are not safe to use for viewing the eclipse. GearJunkie first encountered Grand Trunk’s Compass 360 UC Stool at OR in 2023 — we’ve been eagerly waiting to get our hands on these nifty packable, lightweight camp stools ever since. My hand-me-down camping stove has been in use for 20+ years and I truly believe a high-quality camping stove is a necessity at the campsite that should last (nearly) forever. I like the Zempire camping stove because it’s a powerful piece of equipment that cooks quickly and thoroughly.
The Gerber folding knife has a stainless steel cleaver-style blade, which is great for chopping vegetables, cutting string, slicing cheese, and more. The weight difference between the two stools is not significant — the UC weighs 1.2 pounds and the XT is 1.7 pounds — but the size difference is more notable. 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. You can stow this featherlight, compressible chair in a backpack or even a work bag.
Camp chairs come in all kinds of styles, sizes, shapes, and layouts. You’ve got your burly folding single-seaters like Yeti’s Trailhead Camp Chair. Then there are the expanding varieties, like the REI Skyward and Kelty Camp Couches. For the minimalists, Crazy Creek, and seat pads like the NEMO Chipper and Therm-a-Rest’s Z Seat have been popular for decades.
The Everywhere Chair closes like a book—simply lift the padded strap and go. The Sekey Folding Wagon Cart feels like a durable tank, built solid. It scored high marks for having an attractive price point, as well as having fabric that could be easily removed for washing (which the other wagons did not have). But it didn’t turn or pull as smoothly on sand as the Mac Sports beach wagon, and its smaller wheels seemed to sink. The Chair One has a 600-denier polyester and mesh seat and aluminum legs, which are linked with shock cord (like what you’d find inside high-end tent poles).
It ranked less well on Design and also under Performance simply due to the fact that it’s slightly bulky and large to carry over long distances – not perfect for hiking but just the ticket for camping. Never look at the sun through the opening.Finally, don’t forget to wear SPF! If you’re viewing the entire eclipse, you will be outside for several hours so remember to wear protective clothing, a hat, and sunscreen to prevent skin damage. The eclipse bundle comes with five solar eclipse glasses so you can safely observe the event alongside friends and family. It also comes with a phone lens designed specifically for taking photos of the eclipse that aren’t completely washed out or overexposed.
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. Most of our testers found the REI Co-op Skyward Chair to be one of the least comfortable chairs in our testing pool. People who did like it tended to have smaller body types, so if you find that other camping chairs are too big for you, the Skyward might be a good fit.