Good design with a small pocket to place your cell phone or snacks near the cup holder. Sturdy arm rests and sits a little higher from the ground, making it a great choice for taller people. Philip E.G. Harrison patented the first truly modern folding chair in 1931. His chair featured a metal frame with a fabric seat and back; we’d recognize his invention today as a party chair. But his design was fairly complex, making mass production difficult. Fredric Arnold filed a patent in 1956 for a simple, easily-mass produced folding chair more in line with the ones we know today.
Many testers found other chairs more comfortable and easier to put together than the Nemo Moonlite Reclining Camp Chair. This is also the most expensive lightweight chair we tested, and we think the Chair One is a better value. Several Wirecutter staffers have owned the Coleman chair for years, using it on camping trips, in backyards, and at sporting events. For the most part, it’s held up well, but one common quibble is that the seat bottom begins to sag after several years of use.
Double cup holders are also extra large to hold bigger drinks. John Dann patented a camping folding chair in 1862. Nathaniel Alexander patented a folding chair in 1911 featuring a book rest. It can hold a lot of supplies, and it’s easy to carry and set up. The King Kong chair has two cupholders and intuitively placed storage pouches under each armrest; unlike the Coleman chair, though, this one doesn’t have a cooler pouch.
This pouch is big enough to stow gear like a phone, book, or tablet. Of the chairs we tested, the Coleman chair was the only one that came with a built-in cooler bag, which can hold four standard-size beer or soda cans. The chair also has the round mesh cupholder found on most chairs of this type.
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Wirecutter is the product recommendation service from The New York Times. Our journalists combine independent research with (occasionally) over-the-top testing so you can make quick and confident buying decisions. Whether it’s finding great products or discovering helpful advice, we’ll help you get it right (the first time). The cupholders on the L.L.Bean Kids’ Base Camp Chair aren’t as roomy as those on our picks, and they’re not as adept at holding stubby water bottles or mugs of hot chocolate. Want to be the first to know about the top deals at KCL?
Kalee Thompson is the senior editor heading up Wirecutter’s kid coverage. When she wrote the first version of this guide, Kalee lived in Southern California, where she tested chairs on three group camping trips. These portable chairs are great for camping, sporting events, and backyard BBQs.
Unless you were royalty or a patrician, your hind end was relegated to less dignified, lower quality seating (insert a subtle, jestful jab toward our competitors here). Of course, if you work in the party and event rental industry, you probably care about folding chairs a little more than the average Joe. Party chairs are huge money makers for a rental business. Tent and Table sells more party chairs than any other product. That ubiquity we mentioned earlier makes them profitable for rental companies, for sure. This 4-Sided Pop-Up Gazebo from Leader Accessories drops from $169.99 to $119.99 when you enter the code BD50 at checkout.
This was especially reassuring for testers with knee or hip issues, who noted that they felt confident using the Dual Lock seat’s armrests to stand up and get out of it. It’s extra-supportive for people with joint issues. Testers with knee and hip issues reported that when they were getting in and out of this chair, its armrests felt more stable than those of any other model.
Senior editor Kalee Thompson, who wrote a previous version of this guide, has been regularly using the Coleman chair she originally tested in 2016. Aside from the color fading and the cooler pouch deteriorating, her chair has held up to years of backyard hangs and camping trips. In summer 2023, she bought a newer Coleman Cooler Quad Chair to compare to her 2016 model, and she found them to be more or less the same. Testers preferred the Coleman chair’s thoughtfully placed mesh storage pouch over those of its competitors.