Similar to the Coleman Cooler Quad Chair in size, the Ozark Trail Oversized Mesh Camp Chair with Cooler was far less comfortable, with rough-feeling polyester that was obviously of lower quality. 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. The Helinox Chair One is the best chair for anyone who needs a lightweight, portable chair. This chair costs slightly more than the Coleman Cooler Quad Chair, but it’s still a budget-friendly option.
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. This time-tested classic is reasonably priced, roomy, and dependable enough to last for years. It’s not our lightest, most comfortable, or toughest pick, but it’s close enough, and it’s reasonably priced. The Ozark Trail XXL Director chair is a good, if somewhat basic director’s style camp chair, offered by a company with a solid reputation in the market.
When she wrote the first version of this guide, Kalee lived in Southern California, where she tested chairs on three group camping trips. After new testing, we still love the Coleman Cooler Quad Chair ozark trail chair for most outdoors situations. But we also have picks offering better support, higher weight capacity, and greater portability. Comes with the same compact bag with a shoulder strap for carrying.
Has been rated for 300 pounds, but can hold more weight comfortably. Double cup holders are also extra large to hold bigger drinks. Like the Mac Sports Heavy Duty Collapsible Folding All Terrain Utility Cart (our pick for use on sand), the Mac Sports Outdoor wagon has an easy-to-use, telescoping handle. Of all the folding wagons we tested, this Mac Sports wagon was the most adept at making sharp turns to navigate a small obstacle course on grass or concrete.
It’s the lightest, most portable chair that is still comfortable. The Helinox Chair One weighs about 2 pounds, compresses smaller than a 2-liter bottle of soda, and is our most lightweight pick. Other chairs we tested sacrificed too much comfort in order to shave mere ounces off of their weights, and we don’t think the trade-off was worth it. Keep in mind that lightweight chairs won’t be nearly as comfortable as traditional camping chairs, so take the word comfortable with a grain of salt.
And its backrest extends higher up than those of other chairs; this is nice for taller folks or people who like a good slouch with some head support. Testers preferred the Coleman chair’s thoughtfully placed mesh storage pouch over those of its competitors. 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.
We’ve seen people using these wagons around the neighborhood and at the beach, as well as for gardening, outdoor concerts and movies, and sporting events. I even ran into a PTA parent who was using a wagon to schlep a used printer to school. Simply put, it can be notoriously difficult to find furniture that’s big and robust enough to support you properly. That’s as true for camp chairs as it is for recliners and the like. Where camp chairs are concerned, most of them top out at around 300 pounds of supported weight. That works for the majority of the market, but if you happen to be heavier than that, you’ll find that pickings can be slim.
To start, we assessed the initial assembly of each wagon, noting any particular frustrations, as well as any extra tools that were required. (Because none of the wagons were especially difficult to put together, we did not make this a major criterion.) We also looked at how easy each wagon was to fold and pick up, and to store in a small space. Capacity XXL Director chair is a bit on the heavy side, it lacks any kind of built-in storage, and it’s only offered in two (bright) colors. If you’re looking for something a bit more subdued, that might be a little off-putting to you. We don’t regard any of these as outright deal-breakers, and at least where the storage issue is concerned, there’s an easy DIY fix. While most of the furniture you can buy online today comes to you unassembled, that’s rarely the case for things like camp chairs.
You can stow this featherlight, compressible chair in a backpack or even a work bag. We also found that, even when fully open, the wagon bed doesn’t lie flat. The bare-bones Uline Utility Wagon was not as highly rated as the Mac Sports wagons. Wagons can be helpful for all kinds of jaunts, including trips to the beach and the farmers market. After researching dozens of wagons and testing 10, we concluded that the Mac Sports Collapsible Folding Outdoor Utility Wagon is the best all-around wagon for basic toting.