6 tests × 3 heavy-duty chairs
The 3 Best Heavy-Duty Camping Chairs (Bought & Tested!)
I spent $450 buying these 3 heavy-duty camping chairs, and I tested them all over 5 months to find out which one is actually worth your money.
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The Podium
Quick Summary
Here’s everything I recommend.
ALPS Mountaineering King Kong Chair
It holds 800lbs, which is more than any other camp chair I own, and it costs a fraction of what the YETI does.
7.5/ 10 overall
Upgrade Pick
YETI Trailhead Camp Chair
8.4/10
- 500lbs capacity — on the thickest frame here
- 1.14in poles — the thickest I’ve measured
- 100% mesh for hot weather
- The only chair I own with UV resistance
Budget Pick
Coleman Big N Tall Chair
7.5/10
- 600lbs capacity — second only to the King Kong
- The cheapest chair here
- 0.87in poles, thicker than most camp chairs
- Sets up in 11 seconds
Jump to: What to Look For ↓ All Test Scores ↓ 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 Value for Money
ALPS Mountaineering King Kong Chair
Test scorecard
ALPS Mountaineering King Kong
7.5out of 10
Setup7.5
Comfort7.9
Breathability3.5
Features7
Quality9.4
Weight3
Key info
- Capacity800lbs.
- Pole thickness0.75in
- WarrantyLifetime
- Seat size19.5 × 20.0in
- Seat height15.0in
- Setup17 seconds
- Weight13.7lbs.
Pros
- Much more affordable than the YETI
- The highest weight capacity here
- The biggest seat here
- The biggest storage pockets I’ve tested
- Lifetime warranty
Cons
- Not a hot summer chair
TL;DR
The ALPS Mountaineering King Kong holds 800lbs, more than any camp chair I own, and it costs a fraction of what the YETI does.
Nothing else I own has a seat this deep. At 19.5 × 20.0in it’s the biggest of the three, and there’s enough room in it to kick my shoes off and pull my legs up.
ALPS covers the chair for life, which is the longest warranty of the three. YETI gives you 5 years and Coleman gives you 1.
Storage runs to 3 pockets and 2 cupholders, and the two on the armrests measure 10.5 × 7.75in each. I haven’t found bigger pockets on a camp chair.
However, the fabric is the thickest I’ve come across and there’s no mesh anywhere on it. An hour of sitting pushed the seat temperature up 18.3%, the biggest rise I’ve recorded on any chair.
I wouldn’t recommend using this one in summer.
Check out the ALPS Mountaineering King Kong:
Upgrade Pick
YETI Trailhead Camp Chair
Test scorecard
YETI Trailhead
8.4out of 10
Setup7.5
Comfort9.2
Breathability10
Features8
Quality9.5
Weight3
Key info
- Capacity500lbs.
- Pole thickness1.14in
- Warranty5 years
- Seat size19.5 × 16.5in
- Seat height16.0in
- Setup22 seconds
- Weight14.7lbs.
Pros
- The highest-scoring chair I’ve tested
- Thickest poles and beefiest joints I’ve tested
- 100% mesh, so it never runs hot
- The only chair I own with UV resistance
- No-sag seating and backrest
Cons
- The priciest chair here
- The heaviest chair here
TL;DR
The YETI Trailhead Camp Chair holds 500lbs on the thickest frame I’ve measured on a camp chair.
Its poles are the thickest I’ve measured on a camp chair, at 1.14in, where an average one runs 0.6 to 0.7in. The joints are moulded blocks too, instead of the simple rivets everything else uses.
It’s also the only chair I own with UV-resistant additives. Mine has been out in the sun for weeks at a time and there’s no fading on it yet.
The whole chair is 100% mesh as well, and it’s the only one I own like that. An hour of sitting moved the seat temperature 2.5%, the smallest rise of anything I’ve tested.
Both armrests lock, and so does the handle at the back. That pulls both of them taut, so you get no-sag seating and backrest.
However, it costs several times what either of the others does, and at 14.7lbs it’s the heaviest chair here.
Check out the YETI Trailhead Camp Chair:
Budget Pick
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
- Capacity600lbs.
- Pole thickness0.87in
- Warranty1 year
- Seat size19.1 × 19.0in
- Seat height15.2in
- Setup11 seconds
- Weight10.0lbs.
Pros
- The cheapest chair here
- 600lbs — second only to the King Kong
- The lightest and quickest to set up
- A waterproof phone pocket and two drains
Cons
- Only a 1-year warranty
- No mesh at all
- Some loose stitching
TL;DR
The Coleman Big N Tall Chair holds 600lbs for the least money of the three.
It’s the lightest of the three at 10.0lbs, and the quickest to set up at 11 seconds.
You get a waterproof phone pocket, a mesh pocket beside it, a drain in the seat and another in the cupholder. Both pockets stow behind Velcro when you don’t want them.
However, there’s no mesh anywhere on it and the fabric is thickly padded, so the seat warmed up 14.8% over an hour of sitting.
Coleman also covers it for only 1 year, and I found loose threads in a few places on mine, though none of them has spread so far.
Check out the Coleman Big N Tall Chair:
Buying guideWhat to Look For in a Heavy-Duty Camping Chair
If you need a chair to take real weight, the capacity is the first thing you look at, and building a chair around it changes everything else about it. The six tests that scored all 21 of my camping chairs are over in my full camping chairs roundup, and I’m not repeating them here. This part is only about what buying for capacity gets you, and what it costs.
What counts as a heavy-duty camping chair
There’s no official cut-off, so I went by the marketed weight limit, which is the one number every brand publishes. Only 3 of my camping chairs come in above 500lbs.
| Camping Chair | Capacity (lbs.) |
|---|---|
| ALPS King Kong winner | 800 |
| Coleman Big N Tall | 600 |
| YETI Trailhead | 500 |
| Kelty Low Loveseat | 400* |
| Kelty Lowdown | 350 |
| Coleman Cooler Quad | 325 |
| Average camp chair | 300 |
| Quechua Reclinable | 242 |
Every capacity here is the brand’s own marketed weight limit. *The Kelty Low Loveseat’s 400lbs is 200lbs per seat. The average camp chair figure is my own, across every camping chair I own.
- Where the line sits: a chair that counts as heavy-duty takes 500lbs or more.
- How many qualify: 3, out of every camping chair I’ve bought and tested.
- The benchmark: the average camp chair stops at about 300lbs, so the King Kong takes more than double that.
- The closest miss: the Kelty Low Loveseat at 400lbs, except that is 200lbs per seat, which is the lowest per-person capacity of anything I own.
- Big is not the same as heavy-duty: the Coleman Cooler Quad is one of the biggest chairs I own and it stops at 325lbs.
What actually holds the weight is the frame
I weigh 117lbs, so an 800lb capacity is not something I can test myself. What I can measure is everything that carries it: the poles, the joints and the fabric.
| Camping Chair | Poles | Thickness (in) | Joints | Fabric |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| YETI Trailhead winner | Steel | 1.14 | Moulded blocks | Polyester + polypropylene, 1 piece |
| Coleman Big N Tall | Steel | 0.87 | Simple rivets | Padded polyester |
| ALPS King Kong | Steel | 0.75 | Simple rivets | Padded 600D polyester |
| Average camp chair | Steel | 0.6-0.7 | Simple rivets | Polyester |
Pole thickness is measured across the thickest section of the frame. The average camp chair row is my own figure, across every camping chair I’ve measured.
- The thickest frame I’ve measured: the YETI at 1.14in, against 0.6 to 0.7in on an average camp chair.
- The joints matter as much as the poles: the YETI’s are moulded blocks, while everything else here uses simple rivets, which don’t last as long.
- One piece of fabric: the YETI has no stitching except at the ends and where the fabric meets the frame, so there’s far less of it to tear.
- Thicker poles are why they’re heavy: the Big N Tall’s poles are about 40% thicker than a regular camp chair’s.
The tradeoff: a heavy-duty chair is a heavy chair
All three of these land in the heaviest part of my collection, and they are bulky packed down as well.
| Camping Chair | Weight (lbs.) | Packed Size (L x W x H, in) | Ease of Carry |
|---|---|---|---|
| Coleman Big N Tall winner | 10.0 | 38.1 x 8.3 x 7.3 | Shoulder strap |
| ALPS King Kong | 13.7 | 39.3 x 8.5 x 7.3 | Backpack straps |
| YETI Trailhead | 14.7 | 43.0 x 9.5 x 10.5 | Backpack straps |
Weight includes the carry bag, where the chair comes with one.
- The range: 10.0 to 14.7lbs. My lightweight chairs sit between 2.8 and 4.0lbs.
- Why they weigh that: a bigger seat, thicker poles and thicker fabric.
- Packed length is the bigger problem: all three are over 38in long packed, and the Big N Tall on its own is about 60% longer than a 2-person tent.
- The carry saves them: the King Kong and the YETI are the only two chairs I own with backpack straps, and that’s the only reason I don’t mind the weight.
- Two of the three run warm: the cheap way to hold 600lbs is thick padded fabric with no mesh. Over an hour of sitting, the King Kong went up 18.3% and the Big N Tall 14.8%, while the all-mesh YETI went up 2.5%.
What the bigger frame actually buys you
This is the reason to buy one. A frame built to take 500lbs or more comes with a seat to match, and none of these three has ever felt like it might tip.
| Camping Chair | Seat Width (in) | Seat Depth (in) |
|---|---|---|
| ALPS King Kong winner | 19.5 | 20.0 |
| YETI Trailhead | 19.5 | 16.5 |
| Coleman Big N Tall | 19.1 | 19.0 |
| IKEA dining chair | 16.1 | 16.2 |
Seat widths exclude the steel side bars that eat into the seat on the King Kong and the Big N Tall. The IKEA dining chair at the bottom is there so you have something familiar to measure against.
- All three beat a dining chair: the narrowest seat here is 19.1in against 16.1in on my IKEA chair.
- The deepest seat I’ve measured: the King Kong at 20.0in. Anything over 15in of depth stops the seat cutting into the back of your thighs.
- It holds what it says: I’m 117lbs, so I had a friend of 250lbs use the YETI for a few days, and it held up perfectly.
- Stability comes with the weight: the feet on all three are bigger than most and the stance is wide, and I’ve never had an issue with any of them.
So is a heavy-duty camping chair worth it?
It comes down to how much weight you need the chair to take, and whether you’re driving to your campsite. After 5 months with all three, here’s the case each way.
- Worth it if: you need more than 300lbs of capacity, because that is where the average camp chair stops.
- Worth it if: you want a big seat, since all three are wider and deeper than the dining chair I have at home.
- Worth it if: you drive to camp, because the carry is the part that hurts.
- Not for you if: you camp in hot weather on a budget, because the two affordable ones have no mesh at all.
- Not for you if: you have a small car, because the shortest of the three is still 38.1in packed.
- Not for you if: you have to walk the chair in, because even the light one is 10.0lbs.
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 TrailheadUpgrade Pick8.4
- ALPS King KongBest Value for Money7.5
- Coleman Big N TallBudget Pick7.5
The YETI scores highest of the three, but it costs several times what the other two do, which is why the King Kong is the one I’d get first. The King Kong and the Big N Tall tie at 7.5, and the King Kong wins on capacity, warranty, seat size and storage.
See every sub-score and test weightage
The methodWhy You Can Trust Me
All of this came out of my own testing, so here’s how those 5 months actually went.
$450
The first part is buying all 3 of these chairs with my own savings, without accepting any free or sponsored gear from brands.
5 months
Next came about 5 months of testing all of them, so that I had every bit of data I could get.
2 weeks
After that I spent about 2 weeks going through the data and comparing all 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.
