Figure Out the Best Camping Chairs for the Need
There are many reasons to choose a lightweight seating option. Maybe you use your RV as a base for backcountry adventures. Or maybe you’re meticulous about maintaining packed weight distribution across your rig. Whatever your reason, here are the five best lightweight camping chairs under five pounds.
Types of camping chairs
The market is saturated with camping chairs so it’s a good idea to first familiarize yourself with the different types of camp seating available. There’s the traditional chair either with or without arms, the more utilitarian stool, as well as ground seating.
In order to determine which style is best for you, it’s helpful to see a demonstration of each type of seating:
5 Best Lightweight Camping Chairs Under 5 Pounds
You might be RV camping today. But if you want to get out and explore, taking a lightweight camping chair along is smart. Here are some of our favorites for outdoor hiking and camping.
1. Rock Cloud Ultralight Camping Chair
An inexpensive traditional chair option is the Rock Cloud Ultralight Camping Chair. It weighs less than two pounds and features an aluminum shock-corded frame mechanism with 265 lb capacity.
This lightweight camping chair is waterproof as well as corrosion-resistant. The seat design incorporates mesh paneling for ventilation on hot days and a mesh pocket. The Rock Cloud Ultralight comes with a carrying case that can be attached to the legs of this unit for additional storage while in use.
Amazon: $32.99 – $35.99, multiple color options
These camping chairs are portable and waterproof – Photo: Amazon
2. TravelChair Koala Chair
The TravelChair Koala Chair fits a lot of features into one chair: arms, a high back, an adjustable pillow, as well as mesh paneling and a mesh cup holder.
It weighs 4.4 lbs and is unique on this list for its anti-slip disc feet. The Koala Chair’s aluminum frame can support 275 lbs.
This all-purpose chair is the most expensive seating option on this list, but all the features compiled into one design make it worth consideration.
These camping chairs have some unique features – Photo: Amazon
3. Lightspeed Outdoors Xtra Wide Nylon Ripstop Tripod
This next section on our list of the best lightweight camping chairs moves into the less traditional seating options. The unique feature about this seat is its tripod design combined with the familiar collapsible mechanism.
“For what this chair is it’s surprisingly comfortable,” said K. Green, who purchased this chair for her disabled son to use at gaming conventions. “Very portable and tucked easily into the back of his handicapped stroller. I would to buy this again if needed.”
The triangle seat allows for a more comfortable perch for those with back pain or to give the camp chef the range of movement needed to tend to campfire cooking. Also, the storage pocket is very convenient.
Lightspeed Outdoors Xtra Wide Tripod Camping Chair – Photo: Amazon
4. Interlude Travel Seat
The Interlude Travel Seat is an accessibility stool invented by Roland Haertl in collaboration with industrial designers and engineers at Evolve Collaborative after a painful experience walking around Barcelona.
After personally purchasing and field testing the accessibility aids available on the market at that time, Roland used his personal experience to develop design requirements before contacting Evolve Collaborative.
This accessible seat was put into production via a successful Kickstarter campaign in Fall 2018, and as such won Core77’s Design Award for best crowdfunded design in 2019.
The small footprint and adjustable height are what make this stool special. This seat will come in handy for anglers navigating dense foilage or anyone who likes to maintain a minimalist campsite.
These camping chairs are small and portable – Photo: Amazon
5. Crazy Creek HEX 2.0 PowerLounger
In over five years of near-exclusive boondocking, I’ve developed a preference for ground seating for its versatility in unpredictable conditions and ease of packing for side trips in my toad to places my RV can’t go.
The Crazy Creek HEX 2.0 PowerLounger earned Top Pick Award for Best Foam Chair by Review Editor Elizabeth Paashaus for OutdoorGearLab.com in May 2020. “The high back offers added support, and the fold-out seat gives you options: a little extra padding under your tush, ground protection for your legs, or even a minimalist sleeping pad!”
This option is perfect for backpackers or boondockers parked on uneven terrain.
PowerLounger – Photo: Crazy Creek
Find more camping chairs
Of course, there are dozens more camping chairs available on the market. Check out our previous post The 5 Best Camping Chairs To Relax In Outdoors for more great options.
Coincidentally I’m currently looking for lightweight chairs but I want them for hiking so I can periodically rest my knees. So I don’t want to carry any more than 2.0 lbs. I searched Amazon for “hiking stools” and this gave me a list, most costing around $20.
Cascade. Mountain Tech. Light weight, small profile. Available at Costco.
The Harbor Freight sports chair (in either blue or green) weighs less than 5 pounds and has a flip up table. On sale it’s only 21 bucks. We have several:
https://www.harborfreight.com/foldable-aluminum-sports-chair-green-62314.html?_br_psugg_q=sports+chair
I’d be more interested in “Best camping chairs under $20.”
I also have these chairs. They are light, easy to carry , inexpensive, and most importantly, comfortable.
JC
Lowly WalMart offers a $20 Ozark Trail brand backpacking chair of design similar to the Koala and Rock Cloud featured above. It is somewhat heavier at 3.4lbs but has proven to be very sturdy and comfortable. I use this chair for kayaking shore breaks, hunting from a small pop-up blind, breaks at PRS shooting matches, work breaks on our hunting property, picnics, hiking, and lawn concerts. At initial purchase, I thought of it as a throw away for $20, but it has proven to be the “Timex” of packable chairs…..takes a licking and keeps on ticking.
I dont know how you might view it, but the folding aluminum chairs I bought at harbor freight make great pack frames (when folded down), weigh around 5 lbs and have a folding side table to boot!!
The tubes that connect the front and back legs also keep the feet from sinking into soft ground.
Just add a couple of shoulder straps, and a backpack. I like taking mine to the beach. Even without the back pack, the pockets on the chair are able to carry snacks and a drink. That along with a beach umbrella, can make for a nice day trip..
At 6’4″ and 265#, I prefer the old fashioned Captains Chairs, inexpensive, stable and comfortable.
I have had two chairs of the type in the lead photo. Both were rated at well over my weight. And both broke anyway. If I wanted a store bought fold up chair from now on I would just buy an aluminum lawn chair, they always seem to hold up, except eventually the webbing may give, but that is replaceable. However, for my camper build all of my chairs will be DIY out of wood, and foldable. Not rocket science to make one, plenty of free plans for it on-line, I like the looks, and the fact that I can make them. But, if I were going to hike or camp and wanted a chair, I would be making a folding cane chair. A bit trickier to make than a regular folding chair, but still not rocket science. They are not too heavy, and can help walking thru difficult stretches, and fast and simple to open up for a sit down break during your trek. It is a lot more fun to make stuff, rather than buy, and it is not only less expensive, but way often sturdier, and you get bragging rights because you made it.
I really like your chairs. I love outdoor picnics with my loved ones. Last month I did some research and bought RV camping chairs to make the trip more comfortable. ALPHA CAMP camping chair. This is a very comfortable and cozy camping chair that you can take with you when you go camping, picnicking, outdoor sporting events, etc. I love this lightweight camp chair because the cushion and seat are made of oxford fabric which is extremely light and soft.