I wondered during my daughter’s soccer season whether I was using the best camp chair available – so I tried out 11 different models. Photograph: Adam Doud/The Guardian View image in fullscreen I wondered during my daughter’s soccer season whether I was using the best camp chair available – so I tried out 11 different models. Photograph: Adam Doud/The Guardian The Filter US Life and style The best camping chairs in the US are like having a La-Z-Boy in a bag From burrito-sized backpacking chairs to lux two-person loveseats, these camping chairs from Coleman, Eno and Nemo let you settle in wherever you go
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Adam Doud Sun 26 Jul 2026 19.15 CEST Share Prefer the Guardian on Google The Guardian’s journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link. Learn more .
Summer is here, which means backyard barbecues, camping, soccer games, block parties, outdoor concerts and plenty of other events where the only spot to sit is the grass you’re standing on. You’re going to want a camp chair.
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The name is a bit of a misnomer. Manufacturers use “camp chair” to describe most portable chairs that come in a bag, but you’ll find people deploying them everywhere from parades to tailgates. And they now come in every conceivable configuration, including featherweights that pack down as small as water bottles, and others that are practically folding couches.
My daughter’s soccer season inspired me to wonder if I was using the best camp chair available to sit at the 50-yard line and yell at the referee about rules I only barely understand. So I tried 11 different models to find the best.
Best budget: Coleman Portable Camp Chair
Best for portability: Helinox Chair Zero L
Best for comfort: Nemo Stargaze Reclining Evo-X Camp Chair
Why you should trust me I don’t want to come off as lazy, but I have spent a lot of time thinking about and testing the best ways to sit on my keister. When my daughter started getting involved in sports, and my son joined Boy Scouts, I found myself standing around a lot, which I wanted to turn into time sitting around. So I’ve been hauling, packing, unpacking and sitting in many different flavors of portable camp chairs.
There’s a lot of junk out there. I’ve wasted a decent amount of money picking up whatever was at my local Target, and replacing it months later. For this test, I wanted to find the most durable, comfortable and portable choices that will last season after season.
View image in fullscreen Photograph: Adam Doud/The Guardian A good camp chair needs to be sturdy, light weight and built to resist the elements.
I primarily tested on the soccer pitch, but travel games took me to all varieties: lumpy and smooth, grass and gravel, close to the parking lot and agonizingly far away. For every chair, I evaluated how heavy it was, how easy it was to carry, and how easily it unpacked and repacked.
So I started by timing myself, setting the chairs up and taking them down. Then I sat in each one for at least one hour – sometimes on the sidelines of a soccer game; sometimes with a laptop at home. I carried each one the length of the soccer field and back to see how easy…