Sign up for a Slickdeals account to remove this ad. GCI Outdoor makes several rocking chairs, and we plan to try more of them to see if they’re any better than the Freestyle Rocker, which we weren’t enthusiastic about. After eight years of consistent use by senior editor Kalee Thompson’s two young boys, the REI Co-op Camp Chair is, she reports, faded and worn but still holding up.
If you’re planning a car-camping trip, you’ll probably want to bring camping chairs. They’re also ideal for sporting events, field trips, outdoor concerts and movies, and picnics in the park. This wider and longer set will provide support for larger adults with the same upright style as the traditional bagged camping chair. Has been rated for 300 pounds, but can hold more weight comfortably. Double cup holders are also extra large to hold bigger drinks.
Its steel frame doesn’t wobble when you get in or out. Our testers consistently said the King Kong chair was the most heavy-duty-feeling model of all the ozark trail chair chairs we tested. This durable yet lightweight chair features a flat-folding extra-wide steel frame that is easily stowable in a closet or car trunk.
Renetto licenses its patent to a company called Kelsyus, which makes cheaper versions of the chair. However, they don’t have all of the same features. There are also chairs that are hybrids between categories, such as the Nemo Stargaze Reclining Camp Chair, which comes highly rated and recommended. We’re planning to look at all of these chairs. Since 2016, our testers (with different body types and physical needs) have subjected camping chairs to multiple camping trips. We chose the Coleman Cooler Quad Chair as the model with the right combination of comfort, durability, usability, and price for most campers.
The 4-pound, steel-framed REI chair has an attached carry strap, rather than a carry bag (which the other chairs have). After a couple of camping trips, we concluded that a strap is more convenient than a bag—it’s quicker and easier for a kid to grab the chair and go, without parental help. The Chair One is rated to hold up to 320 pounds—more than any other lightweight chair we tested aside from the Moon Lence. 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.
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. If you’re looking for highly specialized or ultra-lightweight chairs for backpacking, our recommendations are probably not for you. We also don’t have suggestions for couch-style or loveseat chairs (we’d like to look at those someday, though). 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.