How a $35 Coleman Chair Turned Our Campsite Into the One Everyone Visited

My wife Jen and I had been camping with our kids, Mia and Owen, for three years before we finally bought actual camp chairs. Before that, we made do with the truck tailgate, a cooler flipped on its side, and whatever folding lawn chairs her parents had left in the garage. Those old chairs were fine for the backyard. On a campsite they were a disaster. The thin legs sank into soft ground, the seats were so low your knees ended up near your chin, and after an hour your lower back sent the kind of message that says you are not twenty-three anymore.

Last June we drove up to Letchworth State Park for a long weekend. I had been doing some research in the checkout line at Dick's Sporting Goods, of all places, and I spotted the Coleman Portable Camping Chair with the built-in side table and 4-can cooler compartment. It was hanging on a peg for right around current price. I grabbed two without much debate. Jen raised an eyebrow. I shrugged. We needed chairs. These looked like chairs.

That weekend turned into the best camping trip we have taken as a family. I do not think that is entirely a coincidence.

By Saturday afternoon our site had become the campsite. Three families from neighboring spots had pulled up chairs. Nobody wanted to leave.

We set up on a Friday evening, got the tent sorted, and then unfolded the Colemans for the first time. Jen sat down and did not get back up for forty minutes. That is unusual for her. She is a fidgeter. She said the backrest hit just the right spot. The seat height is comfortable enough that you can actually cross your legs or shift your weight without feeling like you are fighting the chair. And the padded armrests, which I had mostly ignored as a feature in the store, turned out to be the thing I noticed most. No raw aluminum tube pressing into your elbow all night.

The built-in side table sits at exactly the right height for a camp mug. I know that sounds like a small thing but when you are making coffee at six in the morning and you want to set your cup down without bending over or balancing it on a rock, it stops being small. The 4-can cooler on the other armrest I used for exactly one afternoon before I stopped caring whether my beer stayed ice cold. But Owen, who is nine, decided the cooler pocket was for snacks, and that arrangement suited him fine the whole weekend.

By Saturday afternoon our site had become the campsite. Three families from neighboring spots had wandered over during the day and nobody seemed to want to leave. Part of it was the fire. Part of it was Jen's chili. But a fair portion of it was just that we had seating. We had actual, comfortable, adults-can-sit-for-hours seating. The couple in the next spot over, Mark and Dana from Buffalo, asked where we bought the chairs three separate times. I kept telling them the same store.

The chairs held up on that trip without complaint. The legs did not sink, even on the slightly soft ground near the creek. The carry bag is not fancy, just a drawstring sleeve, but it kept the chair compact enough to slide behind the truck seat. Setup is a single motion, the kind where you grab the chair by the top rail and let gravity do the work. Pack-up is almost as fast. We had both chairs down and bagged in under four minutes on Sunday morning while the kids were still eating breakfast.

I will say this honestly: these are not ultralight backpacking chairs. Each one is around nine pounds. If you are hiking to a remote site, that matters. For car camping, it does not matter at all. You are already hauling a cooler, a tent, a stove, and two kids who refuse to carry their own stuff. Nine pounds per chair is not your problem.

What I'd Tell You If We Were Sitting at My Kitchen Table

If we were sitting at my kitchen table right now and you told me you were going car camping this summer and still making do with old lawn chairs or nothing at all, I would tell you the same thing I told Mark and Dana from Buffalo: stop waiting on this one. Not because it is some revelation in camping gear, but because sitting comfortably at a campsite turns out to matter a lot more than you expect.

The difference between a campsite where everyone eventually retreats to the tent because there is nowhere comfortable to sit, and a campsite where people stay outside until ten at night talking and watching the fire, is often just the seating. The Coleman chair is not fancy. It is not trying to be. It is a well-built, comfortable, practical camp chair that costs less than two tanks of gas and lasts longer than you would expect. That is the whole pitch. It earned its spot in our camping kit and I have not looked at the tailgate option since.

If you want the longer field report with specifics on durability across three full seasons, the detailed review covers all of that. And if you are trying to figure out whether the chair is actually worth prioritizing over other gear, the piece on why a good camp chair matters more than most people think is worth a few minutes. But if you just want a straight answer from someone who has used this thing on real trips in real conditions: yes, buy it. Buy two.