After six months of frequent use, the stitching along one arm had come unraveled, and the small straps holding up the back of the armrests had both ripped in half. A functional cupholder, a convenient carry strap, and durable fabric distinguish this kids’ chair from similar seats. But keep in mind that your kid will eventually outgrow this one.
This chair comes with a sturdy carrying case, with an over-the-shoulder strap, and it’s simple to expand and fold up accordion-style. Several Wirecutter staffers have owned the Coleman chair for years, using it on camping trips, in backyards, and at sporting ozark trail chair 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. Testers preferred the Coleman chair’s thoughtfully placed mesh storage pouch over those of its competitors.
The other two colors will have different rims and accents, so if you don’t love the orange you have options. In a sheer stroke of luck for this test, we are having a very aggressive heatwave in Southeast Michigan with temperatures around the 90’s during the day and staying in the 70’s overnight. I’m using my North facing deck as the staging area which receives direct sunlight at almost all hours of the day. I also placed a small weather system on the deck rail to help get a sense of how hot surface temperatures are in the area.
We weighted each metric according to its importance before grading and ranking each shelter, side by side, on a scale of 1-10. Below, we discuss the metrics we used to score each model and highlight impressive models in each performance area. On hot, sunny days, we don’t think we could remain inside the Easy Up for long periods. Even with the drapes stowed, there is less ventilation than in larger, open canopies. And, despite effectively blocking the sun’s rays, this shader tends to remain quite warm, much like a backpacking tent would when it’s left in the sun all day. It also doesn’t perform well in the rain, primarily because of its open design.
Heavier cathedral-style canopy tents can often be challenging because of their weight; however, most are fairly simple to deploy. The Eurmax and E-Z Up are counted among these heavier tents, but setting them up was surprisingly straightforward. The Caravan V-Series scores a bit lower and isn’t as beefy as more expensive models, but it feels roomy and is easy to move around thanks to a lower weight. All three of these cathedral-style models offer three height settings. The Tagalong is a perfect canopy tent for most outdoor adventures, but it does have a few snags that affect its overall performance. It tends to bend and sway during stout breezes and is not as large as a standard 10×10 shelter.
When we compared the Taglong to beefier models, we had to score lower for this reason. Still, when we consider its niche, there’s no denying it has excellent properties, like double stitching, weather taping, high-tensile aluminum, and reinforced joints. This metric pertains to a ozark trail chair shelter’s ability to offer protection from sun, wind, and rain. Some canopies perform well in one or two of these areas, but we gave the highest scores to those that could expertly handle all three functions. We even gave extra points to canopies that also protected against bugs.