6 tests × 4 chairs with lumbar support
The 4 Best Camping Chairs with Lumbar Support (Bought & Tested!)
I spent $510 buying these 4 camping chairs with lumbar support, and I tested them all over 5 months.
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The Podium
Quick Summary
Here’s everything I recommend.
YETI Trailhead Camp Chair
It has the most taut seat of all the chairs I’ve tested.
8.4/ 10 overall
Coleman Big N Tall Chair
It sinks 3.4in and still leaves me sitting at 15.2in, which is only 0.8in below the YETI.
7.5/ 10 overall
Jump to: The Rest of the Best ↓ What to Look For ↓ Why You Can Trust Me ↓
The video
If you prefer watching to reading, check out my full camping chairs video here instead.
Camping Guidance
30K+
Best Lumbar Support
YETI Trailhead Camp Chair
Test scorecard
YETI Trailhead
8.4out of 10
Setup7.5
Comfort9.2
Breathability10
Features8
Quality9.5
Weight3
Key info
- Front seat height17.5in
- Real seat height16.0in
- Seat slouch1.5in
- Seat shapeFlat
- Poles1.14in
- Weight14.7lbs.
Pros
- 1.5in of seat slouch, the least of any chair I’ve tested
- Taut seat AND backrest
- A 16.0in seat height, the tallest of all the camp chairs I’ve tested
- A 500lb capacity and a 5-year warranty
Cons
- The priciest chair I’ve tested
TL;DR
Every camp chair sinks a bit when you sit on it, and the YETI Trailhead Camp Chair sinks just 1.5in, which is the least slouch of any chair I’ve tested. It’s the only one with the whole chair pulled taut.
This is because of the armrests. Each one has a locking mechanism, and pushing them down pulls the seat fabric completely taut.
There’s a second lock behind the backrest, so it’s the only chair I’ve tested with the whole chair pulled taut.
The seat also ends up 16.0in off the ground, which is 1.0in below the IKEA dining chair I measured at home. My knees sit level with my hips rather than above them.
However, you’re going to have to fork out quite a bit of money for a chair of this quality and construction.
Check out the YETI Trailhead Camp Chair:
Good Lumbar Support and You’re on a Budget
Coleman Big N Tall Chair
Test scorecard
Coleman Big N Tall
7.5out of 10
Setup7.5
Comfort8
Breathability4
Features8
Quality7.9
Weight4
Key info
- Front seat height18.6in
- Real seat height15.2in
- Seat slouch3.4in
- Seat shapeFlat
- Poles0.87in
- Weight10.0lbs.
Pros
- Much cheaper than the YETI
- A surprisingly higher weight capacity than the YETI
Cons
- 3.4in of seat slouch
- Thinner poles than the YETI
TL;DR
The Coleman Big N Tall Chair sinks 3.4in and leaves me sitting at 15.2in, which is most of the YETI’s back support at a fraction of the price.
It slouches more than twice as far as the YETI, but that’s still better than 80% of the other chairs I tested.
Even after that drop I’m still 15.2in off the ground, only 0.8in below the YETI. A dining chair at home usually sits between 16 and 20in.
The frame is steel with 0.87in poles. They’re thinner than the YETI’s 1.14in, but they still carry a 600lb capacity, which is higher than the YETI’s 500lb.
I picked the Big N Tall because it still seats you high, at 15.2in, for a fraction of what the YETI costs. The extra slouch and the thinner poles are the tradeoff.
Check out the Coleman Big N Tall Chair:
Everything else I tested
The Rest of the Best
Four of my camping chairs pass both tests, and the two above are the ones I’d buy. Here are the other two, plus two more that hold their seats taut and still sit too low to help your back.
Taut seats I didn’t pick
- Quechua Reclinable: It sinks only 3.0in and sits at 14.25in, and it’s the one chair I own that gives you back support and neck support together. It’s been out of stock for ages, and I’m not sure Decathlon plans to re-stock it.
- GCI Outdoor Freestyle Rocker: It sinks 3.5in and sits at 15.25in, so it clears both tests. It’s a rocker though, and most people shopping for back support don’t want to rock.
Taut seats that sit too low
- GCI Outdoor Kickback Rocker: Only 3.3in of slouch, which is better than the Big N Tall. It leaves me at 11.2in though, so my knees end up above my hips.
- REI Co-Op Campwell: Same story, with 3.25in of slouch and an 11.25in seat height. It’s a good cheap chair, just not one for your back.
Buying guideWhat to Look For in a Camping Chair with Lumbar Support
Setup, comfort, breathability, features, quality and portability are all scored in my full camping chairs roundup, across all 21 of them, so none of that gets repeated here. Lumbar support isn’t a spec any brand publishes, so I tested it myself and found that it came down to these two measurements.
What counts as a camping chair with lumbar support
Two numbers decide it. How far the seat sinks when you sit on it, and how high off the ground you end up once it has. A chair has to get both right, and only 4 of mine do.
| Camping Chair | Seat Slouch (in) | Real Seat Height (in) | Lumbar Support? |
|---|---|---|---|
| YETI Trailhead | 1.5 | 16.0 | Yes |
| Quechua Reclinable | 3.0 | 14.25 | Yes |
| GCI Kickback | 3.3 | 11.2 | No — sits too low |
| REI Campwell | 3.25 | 11.25 | No — sits too low |
| Coleman Big N Tall | 3.4 | 15.2 | Yes |
| GCI Freestyle | 3.5 | 15.25 | Yes |
| Kijaro Dual Lock | 4.5 | 15.5 | No — sinks too far |
| IKEA Dining Chair | 0.0 | 17.0 | Reference — a chair at home |
Seat slouch is the front seat height minus where I actually sit. The last 2 rows: the Kijaro has the highest front seat of the lot and still fails, and the IKEA dining chair is there so you have something at home to measure against.
- Where the line sits: 3.5in of seat slouch or less, and a real seat height of 14.0in or more.
- Why 3.5in: anything over 4in of slouch felt like it gave me less back support, and nothing I own lands between the two.
- Why 14.0in: the dining chair I measured at home sits at 17.0in, and I wanted to stay within 3in of it so my knees stay level with my hips.
- How many qualify: 4 chairs. Six have a taut enough seat, and two of those sit too low to do anything with it.
- A high front seat proves nothing on its own: the Kijaro Dual Lock starts 2.5in higher than the YETI and sinks three times as far.
No brand measures seat height the same way
There’s no industry standard here. Some brands measure from the front of the seat, and one averages the two readings. Neither of them is where you end up.
| Camping Chair | Marketed Seat Height (in) | Measured From | Where I Sit (in) |
|---|---|---|---|
| YETI Trailhead winner | 16.75 | The average of the two readings | 16.0 |
| Quechua Reclinable | 17.3 | The front of the seat | 14.25 |
| Coleman Big N Tall | 19.0 | The front of the seat | 15.2 |
| GCI Freestyle | 19.7 | The front of the seat | 15.25 |
| Kijaro Dual Lock | 20.0 | The front of the seat | 15.5 |
- The honest one: the YETI publishes 16.75in, which is the average of the front reading and where I sit.
- Most brands measure the front: that reading is taken with nobody in the chair, so it runs 3.0 to 4.5in above where you land.
- The number nobody publishes is the slouch. Not one brand states how far its seat drops with a person in it, and that’s the number that matters for your back.
What stops a seat from sinking is how taut it pulls
A camp chair seat is a piece of fabric slung between four corners. The tighter it pulls, the less it sinks, and five of mine come out genuinely taut.
| Camping Chair | Taut Seat? | Taut Backrest? | Seat Slouch (in) |
|---|---|---|---|
| YETI Trailhead winner | Yes | Yes | 1.5 |
| GCI Kickback | Yes | No | 3.3 |
| REI Campwell | Yes | No | 3.25 |
| Coleman Big N Tall | Yes | No | 3.4 |
| Kijaro Dual Lock | Yes | No | 4.5 |
This is the taut-seat comparison from my YETI review with the slouch figures added.
- Taut is not the same as flat. All five seats pull tight and the slouch still runs 1.5 to 4.5in. Tension holds the fabric, and your weight still pushes it down.
- The YETI is the exception. It’s the only one here that pulls the backrest taut as well as the seat, and it barely sinks at 1.5in.
- What a bad one looks like: my Kelty Lowdown sinks in 5.3in, the deepest sag of any flat-seat chair I own.
Sitting upright is what lets you stay in the chair for hours
Two things change once the seat holds. Your spine stays upright instead of curling forward, and your knees end up level with your hips rather than above them.
| Measurement | IKEA Dining Chair | YETI Trailhead |
|---|---|---|
| Seat height | 17.0in | 16.0in |
| Seat size | 16.1 x 16.2in | 19.5 x 16.5in |
| Seat slouch | 0.0in | 1.5in |
The dining chair is the one I bought from IKEA and measured at home, so you can picture what 16.0in feels like.
- No pressure at the base of your spine. When a seat sags, my weight lands on the bottom of my spine. I’ve sat in the YETI for hours at a stretch without a single pressure point.
- Your knees stay level with your hips. The YETI is 1.0in below my dining chair and the Big N Tall is 1.8in below it.
- Getting back up is easier. If you don’t have good knees, anything at 11in or lower is a struggle to get out of, and that’s where most camp chairs leave you.
So is a camping chair with lumbar support worth it?
It comes down to whether your lower back is the thing that ends your evening. After 5 months in all of them, here are the cases where I’d buy one and the cases where I wouldn’t.
- Worth it if: you can’t sit in a slouchy chair for long, because these four slouch 1.5 to 3.5in and everything else I own slouches 4.0in or more.
- Worth it if: you don’t have good knees, because these leave you 14.25 to 16.0in off the ground and a typical camp chair leaves you at 11in.
- Not for you if: your budget is tight and you want the best of it, because the YETI is the priciest chair I’ve tested and the gap is real: 1.5in of slouch against the Big N Tall’s 3.4in.
The scoresAll Test Scores
The scoreboard
These scores come straight from my full camping chairs roundup, where all 21 chairs went through the same 6 tests. Nothing has been re-scored for this post.
- YETI TrailheadBest Lumbar Support8.4
- GCI Freestyle7.9
- Quechua Reclinable7.7
- Coleman Big N TallGood Lumbar Support and You’re on a Budget7.5
The GCI Freestyle and the Quechua Reclinable both score above the Coleman Big N Tall, because these scores rate the whole chair rather than its seat alone. The Freestyle is a rocker, which is the opposite of what you want when you’re shopping for back support, and the Quechua has been out of stock for ages. Of the three, the Big N Tall is the one you can actually buy today, and for a lot less than the YETI.
See every sub-score and test weightage
The methodWhy You Can Trust Me
Every number on this page is mine, so here’s how those 5 months went.
$510
First I bought all 4 of these chairs out of my own savings, with no free or sponsored gear from any brand.
5 months
Then came about 5 months of testing every one of them, so I had every bit of data I could get.
2 weeks
After that I spent about 2 weeks working through the numbers and comparing the chairs against each other.
6 months
The last step is the content creation — videos for my YouTube channel and this blog you’re reading.
Every figure above is from my own testing – measured by hand, bought with my own money.
