There are many styles of camping. Some people go off the grid in Patagonia. Others park their van and camp wherever they can find a parking spot with a view. But no matter what, at the end of a long day of backpacking, fishing, hunting or even just swimming in the lake nearby, every camper likes to take a load off, and the cold, hard ground won’t cut it. There’s a camp chair for everyone; collapsible seating ranges from heavy, relatively luxurious chairs you’ll need a car to tote around to ultralight chairs that can slot snugly into a backpack. These are our favorites for kicking back outdoors.
Additional contributions by Tanner Bowden, Tucker Bowe, AJ Powell and Meg Lappe.
Helinox Chair Zero
Best Lightweight Technical Option: Released last year, the Helinox Chair Zero is the lightest four-legged camp chair on the market. It weighs in at just over a pound and offers a seating height of 11 inches. The Chair Zero is also extremely easy to set up: its frame is made from one tent-style, shock-corded pole and the seat itself is one piece of ripstop polyester.
Weight: 1 pound 1.6 ounces
Materials: ripstop polyester, anodized DAC aluminum
Seat Height: 11 inches
Packed Dimensions: 3.9 x 3.9 x 13.8 inches
Weight Capacity: 256 pounds
Crazy Creek Hex 2.0
Best Durable and Lightweight Option: Crazy Creek’s foam and fabric chairs have been providing back support for campers in every environment for over 30 years. The Crazy Creek Hex 2.0 is dead simple, and that’s a good thing. It consists of one piece of fabric folded at a 90-degree angle and held together by two nylon straps. It’s light and affordable, and best of all, because there are no aluminum poles to bend, it’s incredibly durable. You can fold it, roll it and jam it into whatever you’re using to pack your gear.
Weight: 1 pound 5 ounces
Materials: Ripstop nylon, carbon fiber stays
Packed Dimensions: 4 x 16.5 inches
Weight Capacity: 250 pounds
NEMO Stargaze Recliner Luxury
Most Comfortable: Here it is, the Cadillac of camping chairs: the Stargaze Recliner Luxury. NEMO built its entire Stargaze line with comfort in mind — each one is a free-swinging seat suspended between a set of lightweight aluminum poles. The Luxury takes comfort to the max though, with a supportive headrest that’ll let you gaze into the depths of the Milky Way for hours without developing a crick in your neck. All that comfort comes at a price — the Stargaze Luxury is probably too heavy for longer treks and will take up plenty of space in your backpack, but it’s great for car and boat camping where you don’t have to worry about weight. It’s like a portable La-Z-Boy; don’t be surprised if you find yourself waking up in it in the morning.
Weight: 6 pounds 5 ounces
Materials: Water-resistant nylon mesh, aluminum
Packed Dimensions: 7 x 24 inches
Weight Capacity: 300 pounds
Burton Chair One
Best Blend of Performance and Style: In recent years, Burton, the brand most known for bringing snowboarding into the mainstream, has been making a push into the camping category. It’s done that in the only way it knows how — with style and ease. The Vermont-based company collaborated with Big Agnes and Helinox to create this dressed-up Chair One. It’s equipped with all the lightweight function as the original Chair One but the polyester seat is printed with Burton’s funky patterns, which help hide some of that tech with a welcome layer of fun.
Weight: 1.9 pounds
Materials: 600D plain weave polyester, aluminum
Seat Height: 13.5 inches
Packed Dimensions: 14 x 4 x 5 inches
Weight Capacity: 320 pounds
Therm-a-Rest Trekker Lounge Chair
Best Ultralight Option: Most self-affirmed ultralight backpackers wouldn’t even consider bringing along something so luxurious and unnecessary as a chair, but Therma-Rest’s Trekker Chair isn’t really a chair at all. It’s more of a sling that turns the sleeping pad that’s already in your pack into a chair. The Trekker Chair is made with 100 percent polyester ripstop fabric that protects your pad from abrasions while keeping it folded up on itself in an L shape that’s perfect for sitting at the end of a long day. It packs down small and only weighs 10 ounces — surely even a pure minimalist could find room in an outside pocket to tote this chair along on the trail.
Weight: 10 ounces
Materials: polyester
Seat Height: 4 inches
Packed Dimensions: 4 x 20 inches
Alite 4-Legged Mantis
Best for #CampLife: Alite’s Four-Legged Mantis is another camp chair that places as much emphasis on style as it does technical features. Like Helinox’s chairs, the Mantis is constructed with a four-legged aluminum frame that gets your butt off the cold ground and provides back support up to just below the shoulders. Additionally, the San Francisco-based company offers a lifetime guarantee on its camp chairs; if you ever have an issue with one, simply send it back and the brand will repair or replace it.
Weight: 1.9 pounds
Materials: 210D ripstop nylon fabric, aluminum
Seat Height: 8 inches
Packed Dimensions: 17 x 5 x 5 inches
Weight Capacity: 250 pounds
GCI Outdoor Big Comfort Stadium Chair
Best for Campground Camping: Picnic tables are great for giving your legs a rest but spend too much time seated on a wooden bench and your back will be screaming. GCI’s created a solution with the Stadium Chair — it’s constructed specifically to perch on picnic table benches and stadium bleachers so that you can give your back a break while you’re hanging at basecamp or watching the game. The chair secures to the seat with a rotating L clamp and folds up on itself for transportation much like a typical beach chair.
Weight: 4.2 pounds
Materials: nylon mesh, polyester fabric, aluminum
Seat Height: 4 inches
Packed Dimensions: 8 x 22.8 x 7.1 inches
Weight Capacity: 330 pounds
Kelty Low Love
Best Two-Person Chair: Camping isn’t always a solo endeavor. In fact, it’s often double the fun with more than one buddy. If you happen to head out with your significant other, your patience might be tested and will leave you questioning, will this last the weekend? This chair is here to help. At the end of a long day of hiking, pull this loveseat out. While this isn’t the lightest of chairs, it’ll fit two people, and you both can lean back to enjoy the views, making it all the better to check out the sky and rest your achy legs and back.
Weight: 15 pounds 6 oz.
Materials: 600D polyester
Seat Height: 13.5 inches
Assembled Dimensions: 44 x 23.5 x 31.5 inches
Weight Capacity: 500 pounds
Alps Mountaineering King Kong Chair
Best Backyard Chair: Sometimes you don’t have to wander much farther than your own backyard to experience the great outdoors. It makes a great addition to any car camping experiences you have coming up — and pretty much forever since the chair has a lifetime guarantee.
Weight: 12.5 pounds
Materials: 600D polyester
Seat Height: 18 inches
Packed Dimensions: 7 x 41 inches
Weight Capacity: 800 pounds
GCI Freestyle Rocker
Best Rocking Chair: Picture yourself sitting lakeside with a beer in hand, feeling tired, yet fulfilled after a successful long day of hiking. Are you sitting still or rocking back and forth? There’s something to be said about a rocker on a porch (or better yet, on a dock). While rocking chairs are definitely not for the carry-in, carry-out type, throw this in the back of your pick-up and enjoy a few calming undulations anywhere you go.
Weight: 12.1 pounds
Materials: Powder-coated steel
Seat Height: 19.7 inches
Packed Dimensions: 25 x 4.9 x 34.8 inches
Weight Capacity: 250 pounds
Moon Lence Compact Ultralight Portable Folding Chair
Best Budget Chair: This small, yet mighty chair comes in its own carrying case, meaning the legs won’t get tangled along with everything else in your backpack. Made from lightweight aluminum, it’ll go anywhere you want to take it. The waterproof fabric is easy to clean and at $30, it’s hard to find another well-built chair that’ll survive more than just one adventure at that price point.
