The 11 Best Backpacking Chairs (Bought & Tested!)

Ease of Use

The first test covers how quickly each chair sets up and packs away, plus how many features you get.

All timings are after dozens of setups and pack aways, so they may be quicker than you’d expect.

• Setup: Most take 30 to 40 seconds. Set the frame up, then attach the fabric onto the four corners.
• The slow ones: The Naturehike’s tight fabric, the Skyline’s keyhole poles, and the NEMOs’ click-into-place sockets all need extra time and muscle.
• Pack away: Usually 40 to 50 seconds, because getting everything back into the bag is what takes longest.

*Some carry bags can be hooked onto the frame, acting as a pocket. This is included in the count.

• Mesh: The NEMO chairs are almost completely mesh, which is great for breathability in the summer. A typical chair has 20 to 30%, and some have none at all.
• Reclining: Only the two NEMOs recline, and I put the Moonlite against the Moonlite Elite to see which does it better.
• Pockets: The Trekology, Chair One (re) and Quechua have real built-in pockets. The rest of the count is carry bags that hook onto the frame.

Comfort

Comfort came down to four sets of measurements: seat size, seat height, backrest size, and the angles of recline.

• The average: Most of these seats land between 200 and 230 sq. in., so they’re honestly about the same size.
• Bigger: The Chair One (re) gives you about 25% more seat than average.

• Smaller: The Moonlite Elite is about 20% smaller than average, so skip it if you’re quite a bit bigger than I am.

• Reference: A standard chair at home has at least 16in of seat height. These run 7 to 11in, so your knees always sit higher than your hips.
• The ultralights sit lowest: About 7in off the ground, so avoid them if you have trouble getting out of low seats.

• Tall enough: 18in and up of backrest height gives most folks enough back support to lean back and relax.
• Broad-shouldered? Aim for at least 20in of backrest width if you’re around 6 feet, which rules out both NEMOs.
• Shorter folks: I’m 5’3, and every chair here fits me fine, even the NEMOs.

*U/R = Upright/Reclined

• The worst: The Flexlite Air’s 95-degree seat angle scrunched me up, with all the pressure landing in your bum and lower back. My back started aching after about 30 minutes. The Flexlite Air and the Chair Zero sit at opposite ends of that scale, so I tested them against each other too.
• The sweet spot: From about 100 degrees up, I could sit for hours. The Chair Zero’s 107 degrees kept my back nice and straight.
• Too far: The Trekology’s backrest leans back a whopping 47 degrees, and that gave me neck strain.

Quality

Quality covers the materials, the marketed weight capacity, and each brand’s warranty.

Chairs are arranged from the best overall material quality down. The numbers are aircraft-grade alloys, where the brand states them.

• Poles: DAC aluminum has the highest strength-to-weight ratio, then aircraft-grade alloys, then regular aluminum.
• Hubs: Only the NEMOs and the Big Agnes use aircraft-grade hubs. Even the OG Helinox uses DAC resin instead, and that goes for all the Helinox chairs I own.

• Fabric: Aramid-polyester (Kevlar-class fibers woven with polyester) is the strongest, then Robic nylon, nylon ripstop, polyester ripstop, and plain polyester.

• Capacity: Mostly the same across the board, from 250 to slightly over 300lbs.
• Warranty: 5 years to lifetime is what to aim for. 1 year is a bit short, and I couldn’t find any warranty info for Naturehike’s chair.

Stability

Stability came down to the feet spread of each chair, plus the diameter of each foot.

The wider the base, the more stable the chair.

• My cut-off: 12in and above on each side is stable enough on level ground.
• The tippy ones: The two REI Flexlites have the narrowest bases here, and both tip easily leaning backwards or over the sides.
• Half and half: The Chair Zero and Moonlite Elite have great front spreads but narrow side spreads, so they flex and tip more easily if you lean back too much. They are close enough that I put the Moonlite Elite and the Chair Zero side by side.

*This diameter is of the widest part of each foot. ^The back feet of the Moonlite measure 1.58in, the front measure 1.42in, averaging 1.50in.

• The pattern: Apart from the three heavier camp chairs at the top of the table, every foot here is narrow, so any ultralight chair will sink into softer ground.

• The fix: Anti-sink feet (free with the Naturehike, almost 2in across) or a snap-on groundsheet (free with the Moonlite Elite). Both add a little weight, though: just under 5oz for the set of feet, and slightly more than 4oz for the sheet.

Portability

The last test is mostly about the weight of each chair, plus its packed size.

Trail weight is the fabric plus the poles, or what you carry when you leave the bag behind.

• Ultralight: The top five rows all come in under 2lbs., and those are the ones I’d actually strap to a pack.
• Go lighter: Leave the carry bag at home and you save up to another 4oz.

Packed size ultimately depends on how big the carry bag is.

• A caveat: The Flexlite Camp is light but packs down big because of its roomy bag, so I wouldn’t weigh packed size too heavily.