He has spent hundreds of evenings in backcountry and front country campsites, parking himself on all sorts of seating. After 7,000 miles on some of America’s most iconic long trails, he knows what to look for when it comes to ideal seat selection. The Big Agnes ozark trail lounge chair Skyline UL Stool incorporates a modern backpacking chair design into stool form. The wide, scooped seat offers plenty of support and space for your rear, unlike some of the small tripod stools that have the unfortunate appearance of being swallowed up.
While paying premium prices for a camping chair when you only make it to the wilderness a couple times of year may not seem practical, good portable seating can be an invaluable addition to your home life too. If your chair has pole legs, just make sure that you bring along a ground sheet if you may be encountering soft surfaces like sand. Thoughtful features like a zippered pocket for securing valuables, a mesh cell phone pouch, and two cup holders make the Kijaro exceptionally convenient for everything from tailgates to beach days. It’s available in 11 colors, many of which are unique in the outdoor product space. The chair comes with a carrying bag but also has a shoulder strap attached directly to its frame in case you want to ditch the sack.
Thanks to Eagles Nest Outfitters, you can have the comfort of hammock lounging without needing trees, trying to transport a clunky free-standing hammock, or being beholden to the location of trees on your campsite. We love this chair for its incredible comfort, the DL Lounger features a high back topped with a cushioned headrest, a slight recline, and breathable fabric that practically ozark trail lounge chair begs you to take a nap in it. You can set the legs at either a 3- or 20-inch height, and there are two storage pockets and a cup holder for your lounging convenience. Since the chair weighs just under 5 pounds, transport is almost as stress-free as snoozing in this crowd-pleaser. When selecting these swinging camp chairs, we relied on our own experience testing and using camp chairs.
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. The Big Agnes Skyline UL is our favorite backpacking chair thanks to its comfort and stability in a small package. The deep-pocket seat means that it’s comfortable to sit with your legs in a variety of positions, and your backside won’t slide forward. It also facilitates better posture and keeps the back in a straighter, less curled position than most models. This chair has a unique bent leg design that creates a wider base and seat while keeping the packed profile slim.
We have no doubt the aluminum frame and UV-resistant polyester seat are designed to last through years upon years of outdoor seasons. The chair and sack are also machine washable, so you can always head out on a hike feeling fresh. Like many ultralight chairs structured with a pole base, it will sink into soft ground like snow or sand, but Helinox makes a ground sheet you can buy to make the chair more versatile.
We noted that most testers, upon sitting in the Flexlite Air, quickly threw their arms out to maintain their balance in this model with its uber-light fabric and flexible poles. This chair is still a decent amount heavier than the lightest model in the category, so for those that are ultra-conscious about going ultralight, 29 ounces may still be too heavy. We also found that the space-saving hubless pole design takes slightly more time to assemble than the hubbed pole models, but only by around 10 seconds, so we’re splitting hairs here. All in all, this is the seat we’d most like to end up in at the end of a long day. Nothing is worse than finding yourself forced to play musical chairs around the campfire.