This folding chair is made from durable polyester fabric wrapped around a steel frame for long-lasting comfort and convenience. An included carrying bag makes it easy to bring this chair with you almost anywhere you go. Because people use outdoor chairs for an array of purposes and have different preferences when it comes to comfort, it was almost ozark trail canopy impossible to choose just one best chair. We did select our favorite upright chair for car camping and tailgating, and then additional low-to-the-ground, ultra-lightweight, and canopy picks, as well as a great chair for kids. The 4-pound, steel-construction REI chair has an attached carry strap, rather than a carry bag like the other chairs.
It will fit a Capri Sun pouch or a narrow, rectangular juice box, but that’s about it. After six months of regularly using the Coleman Cooler Quad Chair, we think it’s the best choice for most people who are seeking an upright chair for car camping, tailgating, and outdoor gatherings. We noticed during the first of our three camping trips—a weekend in California’s Joshua Tree ozark trail chairs National Park, with a total of seven families—that, given the choice, campers prefer to take the biggest seat. When we set up a dozen chairs around the campfire without comment, people consistently claimed them from largest to smallest. 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.
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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. A low-to-the-ground chair can be ideal for outdoor movies, concerts, theater performances, and other events where you want to avoid blocking other people’s view. Our testers liked the comfort and back support of the GCI Outdoor Everywhere Chair, as well as the ability to adjust it to sit on uneven ground. They also appreciated its cupholder (rare in chairs of this sort) and its quick close-up-and-carry design.
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.
The Chair One is rated to hold up to 320 pounds, versus 250 pounds for the Flexlite and for the third chair we tested, the Alite Monarch Chair (the latter chair is no longer available, as Alite went out of business in late 2019). The Renetto chair usually comes in between 8 and 10 colors and is rated to hold up to 350 pounds. 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. Portable outdoor chairs are also helpful for anyone who doesn’t have the room or budget for permanent backyard furniture.
This low-profile chair is easy to carry, and it adjusts for uneven ground. Select a chair with a built-in canopy, which will give you a little patch of cool at any campsite or cookout. We like almost everything about this sturdy little chair, with its best features, in our view, being the width of the seat, the generous amount of supported weight, and its surprisingly modest price. We like this durable, well-constructed chair that has a frame that makes you confident to sit. “This is the Platonic ideal of your camp chair,” one of our campers gushed. Are you a car camper or do you plan on socializing in friends’ backyards?