A recommended chair - for backpacking?
Chairs don't usually make the ubiquitous "Top Ten" list that a lot of people publish. Chairs aren't what you first think of when you think about backpacking. I realize all that, but I love this little chair so much, I can't help myself.
Easily mastered by a young child
At 19 oz (measured on my scale with case), it is certainly a luxury item if you are into lightweight backpacking. It makes all the difference in the world to me though:
- Time for a snack break a few miles in? Out comes the chair (assembled in about 30 seconds) and up go the feet on a log or rock.
- Lunch time and a chance to relax? Food tastes better sitting in this. The trees are greener, and most importantly, my lower back and hamstrings feel relaxed.
- Time to cook dinner? Instead of sitting relaxed-dad-in-the-recliner-style like I typically do in this chair, I shift forward and set up my stove just a few feet in front of me. Cook, eat, and drink all without ever getting up.
This chair is a recliner/rocking chair. It only sits on two legs and it can support up to 250 lbs. Just two legs can seem problematic until you remember that you most likely also have two legs, which combines to give you the same number most chairs in the world have. The two chair legs have a black rubber knob that is pretty grippy. If you are sitting on sand, you will sink. If you sit on a relatively stable surface, it works great. The key to using this chair is to keep your legs well out in front of you. That will keep your center of gravity well away from the tip over backwards point. It is also, a terribly relaxing way to sit in this chair.
To set it up you just insert the four pole ends into the four basket/cups sewn into the fabric of the chair. Two ends of the poles are color coded (yellow on mine) to match corresponding color coding on the chair fabric. That ensures you don't put the frame in upside down. It can take some small pressure to get the fourth leg in, but that just results in a nice, taught set up. To put it away, the legs fold up like typical tent poles. Stick them in the fabric part of the chair, roll it up, stuff it in the case (or throw an elastic band around it to save a bit of weight instead), and you have a water bottle-sized package that is ready to go.
Chair set up and ready for relaxation on a desert hike.
We own three of these chairs. I bought one more years ago than I remember and my wife loved it so much another soon followed. My daughter actually wanted one for her birthday. Besides backpacking, these work great for kids sporting events (all the other soccer moms are carrying armloads - you can carry three of these in one hand), picknics, and family reunions. After years of use (at least 5) the frame on the first chair we purchased broke where the frame nests into the central hub. I reached out to Alite and had a free replacement frame within a couple days. Outstanding customer service and support of an amazing product!
The Downsides
- These do sit pretty low to the ground, which is good and bad. The good is that if you tip, you are not falling very far. The bad is that they can be a bit of a pain to get into. Just experiment with it where you won't fall over onto anything hard to find the approach that works for you.
- Some people can't keep their balance very well in these. In my view, this is because they insist on putting their legs close to the frame while still leaning back.
- Sidehills. These don't do well if the two chair legs aren't at the same elevation. My biggest problem with tipping is tipping sideways, but that is easily fixed by slightly adjusting where you place the base of the legs.
- Relatively high pressure (due to small knobs on legs) can sink the chair into sand or soft soils.