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. Most of our testers found the REI Co-op Skyward Chair to be one of the least comfortable chairs in our testing pool.
We also like that this wagon has small, rivet-sized holes in its four internal corners that help let sand out (this is an unexpected-but-much-appreciated feature we didn’t find in other models). Like the Seina, our former pick for sand, the Mac Sports has a carrying capacity of up to 150 pounds. However, we think the Mac Sport’s much larger internal space—6.7 ozark trail chair cubic feet, compared with the Seina’s 3.6 feet—is worth the higher price. Like the regular Mac Sports wagon, the Heavy Duty model comes with a one-year warranty. The Coleman Cooler Quad has been our pick since 2016, through numerous camping trips and several testing sessions. That’s because it’s among the most durable and comfortable chairs we’ve tested.
Many testers found other chairs more comfortable and easier to put together than the Nemo Moonlite Reclining Camp Chair. This is also the most expensive lightweight chair we tested, and we think the Chair One is a better value. The 4-pound, steel-framed REI chair ozark trail backpack 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.
For the first round of testing in 2019, I used each wagon on trips to my son’s elementary school, traveling about half a mile each way over sidewalks and city streets during the course of two months. I also took them to the beach, rolling them down the beach path and testing them on the sand. Additionally, I tested each wagon ozark trail chair (filled with soccer equipment) on grass and bumpy, broken concrete surfaces, paying attention to how the suspension and wheels performed under different conditions. In spring 2021, I tested four additional beach-friendly wagons during several trips from my home in Santa Monica to the beach (10 blocks away) and back.
But we also have picks offering better support, higher weight capacity, and greater portability. The additional features also ride the line between being handy and excessive. The shelf is easy to knock loose and fall into the main chamber, and the bottle opener is not the best.
The soft sidewalls would need extra pressure to keep from bottoming out on rough descents. Whether because of a late payment, a stolen bike, a last-minute invitation, or otherwise, I’ve had to get creative. Now, one of the largest companies on earth is aiming to lower the gravel bike price barrier in a big way. Last year, Walmart shocked the world by dropping genuinely good-for-the-price mountain bike under its Ozark Trails Line.