Camp Chairs?

I have to admit, some of those bucket seats look comfortable, but the two pounds, plus, that they weigh is just too much for me to contemplate. I carry a camp stool — and love it! I like being able to sit up off the ground when fishing along a lake with marshy shores or cooking, and when alongside my tent. I'm willing to carry some weight for something that can support me and do the job, but I just can't justify the benefits of the larger chairs when I compare them to the weight of the REI aluminum tripod stool.

Cuben chair not so good idea.
The material has no elasticity – won't mold to the shape of our nethers
It has no porosity – water will sit on it and soak our nethers
It doesn't hold stitching – soon our nethers will be on the ground
And no, will not depend on Hysol adhesive to hold me up
Leno-Loc works well, at around 5.5 oz/yd.
Would like to find something lighter, but so far, found nothing that will hold up.
LaFuma is now using a vinyl coated mesh that is twice the weight of Leno.
Haven't tried rawhide polyester mesh, only an ounce heavier than Leno, and has uneven stretch on the warp vs weft. Might work though, and with less sag due to the polyester, and less water absorption than nylon.
A one pound self-supporting chair is progressing well, Stay tuned to MYOG.

(And for you smart-alecks out there: I don't need a snapshot of a stump, a log, a rock, a hammock or a chunk of ground: I'm old, my bones are old, my old white a$$ wants comfort.)

Too funny Jack!

I hope you found or can find something you're comfortable in.

My chair weighs 15oz and has a back.

…oh I guess I should mention that the weight is including my 9oz Neo small… so its a 6oz chair… with a back. The BA Cyclone chair. Apparently they dont make it anymore b/c nobody talks about it.

I we fold up the Neo to fit in the chair. My wife doubles the bottom part for a soft seat. I double the back for more back support.

So if you carry a reg size pad you'd have 5" pad under your booty and 5" pad for your back- for a 6oz penalty. IMO a no-brainer.

Have you guys heard of a sling chair? It takes some work, but it's a really light option.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Jura-cmCsA&feature=related

It's called the slinglight or slinglite and has been posted about here often.
International Mountain Equip. in No. Conway NH had a used Big Agnes Cyclone type chair in its consignment basement today.

Sam,

I'm talking about a Cuben fabric ENVELOLPE into which one inserts a Thermarest mattress. Very comfy.

They are sold in most backpacking stores but are made of heavy duty nylon.

Couldn't resist. Used my 20% member coupon for an "REI Flex Lite Chair". Yeah, it's heavy — 26oz on my scale in the substantial stuff sack — but it folds up to a compact size (just a little bigger than the Monarch chair) and it's pretty darn comfy. It's a real butt-off-the-ground camp chair.

I doubt that I'll take it backpacking, but I think it will be perfect for kayak trips.

http://www.rei.com/product/829239/rei-flex-lite-chair

Camp Time Roll-Up Pack Stool weighs just under a pound – I've used this off and on for years.

Not sure if you've seen this one, but it looks pretty comparable to the mantis while being significantly cheaper.at 1lb 12oz it's in the same ballpark for weight too.

The way the legs are put together on the Flex Lite do not look as strong as the Mantis design. What's with the big plastic hub?

I'd worry about that too, but they do rate it for 250lbs. I think it must be pretty new as there are no reviews up on the website yet. I just thought I'd toss it out there as an option. I love my Monarch, I even like that it only has the two legs as I can easily change what angle I'm sitting at.

FWIW if you don't need back support but want to get off the ground a bit Grand Trunk makes a itty bitty stool at 10oz

it was comfortable, but I only sat on it for a few minutes at work.

OK, Eric, I get it.
But it does point an advantage of mesh-seated and backed canoe chairs. They are AOK in the rain. Keep my sleeping pad out of the rain – always.
Can't count the number of meals prepared in light rain in canoe chairs. If the rain gets heavy, just move under the tent awning. No worries about the chair getting wet.

+1 fot the JerryChair!

Super simple, super comfy!

What would be SUPER cool is if a backpack could be unzipped/folded and set up as a JerryChair! Doesn't seem like it would be that difficult?

hmmmmmmm…

I was really enjoying lounging in my Monarch Butterfly chair on a trip this weekend and found myself fantasizing about a titanium/cuben superlite version…. Alite, are you listening?

I bought the rei chair yesterday and it is very comfortable. I will weigh it when i get home but looking at it so far you can ditch the bag it comes in as it is very heavy. You could also save maybe another ounce by replacing the shot cord in the poles with far lighter stuff.

I am glad its an rei product because eventually the pockets the poles go into will fail eventually. I also checked out the monarch but found it real difficult to get in and out of and not that comfortable when you are in it.

I weighed the flexlite it comes in under weight. The total weight is 750g or 26.3 oz. Which is 1.7 oz under the listed weight. You can save another 45g by ditching the bag it comes in and just stuffing in your pack. So the total weight is 24.75 oz less than a half pound more than the monarch for an extra two legs

Just bought the REI Flex Lite…. looking at the picures, it looks like they re-designed the legs this year. Hoping it works well, I'll post back my thoughts

I’m going to be trying this one out this next season. I’ve been carrying both items the whole time!

Trekking pole to rest back on and pack fits my back comfortably.

I think the fact that properly comfy lightweight camp chairs are hard to find probably due more to legal than technical reasons.

When some drunken fule trips over his feet in the dark, impales himself on your excellently designed camp chair, and rolls into the campfire, someone will be found responsible…

Thermarest chairs are pretty light and fuleproof. The issue arises when you use some sort of structure to lift that format off the ground 10 inches or so. It's not like we don't have strong, light carbon fibre tubes and super strong alloys at our disposal.

So I think this might be an opportunity for some enterprising person to get creative and make something that works properly, and isn't too bulky when packed up. Nesting tubes can be had easily enough. the four parts of a pair of GG Lightreks is a strong dual use start too.

@Brian

You're a genius… why didn't I think of that?!!!

Ha ha. I have even read that it is better to have your legs extended as you would have them on the ground vs at a slightly raised level. Keeps muscles stretched out or something.

Best ultralight/dual purpose chair I have found is to put my (partially inflated) Xlite into my Schnozzle…TAR Jembe style. This actually works much better than I thought it would and is a very good UL chair solution.

When comfort trumps weight I'm a big fan of the Helinox Chair One. It, the REI Flex-lite and the Travel Chair Joey Chair are all very similar…in fact the frames *may* be identical.

The biggest difference for me between the first two is the design of the fabric. The Helinox is about an inch wider and more bucket shaped thus much more form fitting. To me the "fit" of the Helinox is miles ahead of the REI. I've never seen/used the Joey chair, but it's fabric part looks more like the Helinox than the REI.

The "disc feet" on the Joey Chair are another matter. HUGE improvement. Travel Chair was nice enough to sell me a set and they absolutely transform the Helinox. No more sinking into the sand or duff.

Lastly, does anyone have any idea why REI rotated the frame 90 degrees on the latest Flex-lite. I having a very hard time imagining what that accomplishes.

We were told that the REI Flexlite chair was redesigned (i.e. leg support rotated 90 degrees from earlier models) to differentiate it from competitors…I'm guessing Helinox specifically.