G4Free Adjustable Camp Chair

[Josh Cross]

When I received this chair I was currently rocking an Alite Designs Mantis chair on the trail. I have to admit that I was a little underwhelmed with the basic design and didn't have very high expectations for it. This chair goes up quickly thanks to the bungee pole system that most modern backpacking chairs use now. It's slightly more work to put it back into the bread loaf sized bag it comes with. For 2 months I brought this chair (and the Mantis) with me to every outdoor event I could: backpacking, car camping, parks, beaches and what not. It didn't take very long for me to realize this chairs biggest feature what the seat height. In the Mantis I was always struggling to get out of it. Usually I was using both hands to push myself out of the chair. With this chair I could stand up easily with things in my hands! That simple difference is the reason why I prefer this chair over my Mantis chair now. A little further testing revealed there was only one issue with it functionally and that was the adjustable legs. It uses a similar design to a kayak paddle that breaks down with the button you push down and 3 different holes to slide the button into. In a beach setting with sand, these mechanisms get jammed up as soon as sand gets in them and rendered that feature useless. Thankfully that feature isn't really necessary as I always had the chair set to it's highest height. In fact, I would recommend you pickup the chair with the standard legs and save a little unnecessary weight. Speaking of weight I should mention that this chair has a 220lb weight limit which seems to be below average for a chair that weighs just under 2.5lbs. I weigh 180lbs and had no issues with bent poles or seams ripping. Overall I see this chair as a great option to people looking for a comfortable chair that presents a good value when compared to the Helinox Chair One.

[Author]

Posts