Whether you want to sit upright for a snack break or lean back to lounge with a good book, Nemo’s Moonlight Reclining Chair is great to have on hand. Sturdy, adjustable buckles allow you to choose just the right level of recline for whatever you’re using the chair for at any given time. The seat is made of a webbed mesh that comfortably conforms to your body and promotes airflow. The chair seemed surprisingly wear-resistant given how light it is and complimented the ball-and-socket joint system that helps the chair accommodate different body types.
An aluminum side table flips up when you’re ready to feast and includes a cup holder. The chair’s backrest is slightly angled, and those who prefer firm support enjoyed the strong, taut fabric. Thanks to the extra space for cup handles, mugs easily fit in the beverage slot. Although it doesn’t come with a carrying bag, the chair ozark trail camping chair has two built-in handles. The Coleman chair does have a unique folding design that we did not find very intuitive, but it worked smoothly once they got the hang of lifting up the sides of the seatbed to collapse the chair. For car campers looking to simplify their dining routine, it’s a nice addition to your gear collection.
In addition, we researched top options from box stores, online retailers, and outdoor brands. We didn’t include any swinging camp chairs with low ratings, nor did we include any chairs with frequently recurring negative reviews around quality issues like broken pieces or ripped fabrics. We evaluated every chain on its price, value, features, and customer ratings. They’re lightweight, sleek, and designed to help you in your most adventurous pursuits. To justify lugging a purely luxurious item around with you, it must improve your outdoor experience. For this metric, we evaluated the myriad ways chairs can be more or less comfortable and used these characteristics to rate each product against each other.
This affordable, durable, comfortable chair is tailored to those who like their refreshments. The cooler pocket fits four standard cans and zips up to insulate your beverages of choice. In addition to the cooler, the chair has a mesh cup holder, two mesh pockets, and a roomy seat that’s 24 inches wide.
We weight metrics accordingly based on our experience of what is most important in a backpacking chair, with comfort being at the top of that list, followed by size and weight, stability, and, finally, ease of use. It barely misses being the lightest chair of its kind, yet it’s significantly more comfortable and stable than its lightweight counterparts. When sitting down in the Zero, we immediately noticed the back support provided by its shape and the stability of the legs that keep its wobble to a minimum for such a light chair. The right chairs can make or break a camping trip — no one wants to go into a s’mores-induced sugar coma while squirming in a flimsy foldable. And if you’re lugging all your gear on a backpacking journey, a portable seat you can properly rest on is even more crucial.
“This is the Platonic ideal of your camp chair,” one of our campers gushed. She has written feature stories for publications like Outside Magazine, SkyLife Magazine, Playboy, Frommers, INSIDER, and more, and contributes couples travel and honeymoon content for TheKnot.com. Suzie co-authored Lonely Planet Sustainable Travel Guide and is the author of 2021’s “Hiking Lake Tahoe.” She has undergraduate degrees from the University of Maryland and an M.A. In media and political communication from George Washington University. Follow her on Instagram at @HikeUpYourSkirt or find more of her work at suziedundas.com.
Testers refrained from checking the prices of the chairs until they’d judged all their other attributes. The canopy quickly and easily transforms into a carrying case—just wrap it around the chair and snap it closed with two plastic buckles, and you can carry the whole thing on your back like an oblong backpack. We brought this chair to a dense Los Angeles neighborhood to watch Fourth of July fireworks.