We’re big fans of Yeti’s Hondo Base Camp Chair, an incredibly durable and comfortable piece of seating furniture. It’s so perfect of a camp chair, in fact, that they never bothered releasing a follow-up. Problem is, the darn thing collapses into a pretty big package that makes it impossible to use for anything other than car camping, tailgates, and backyard parties. With the Yeti Trailhead Camp Chair, the cooler manufacturer offers backpackers a more portable option.
No, it’s not quite as compact as many of the most portable camp chairs we’ve seen out in the wild. However, it does fold into a long but reasonably narrow frame that you can actually carry on your shoulder and, maybe, even strap down to a backpack, making it a potentially viable piece of gear for those who want to hit a good part of the trail on foot.
The Yeti Trailhead Camp Chair uses a crossover frame that allows it to fold right down the middle, enabling the more compact collapsed size compared to the outfit’s previous offering. It uses the same FlexGrid fabric as its predecessor throughout the seat and the high back rest, which conforms to your body’s natural curves, allowing it to eliminate pressure points, so you can lounge in complete comfort. While the seat frame doesn’t have the large steel tubes of the Hondo, it remains rated to support up to 500 pounds of weight, so someone can literally pile on top of you on the chair while carrying a cooler full of drinks and ice without the darn thing breaking down.
To ensure the chair is properly deployed, by the way, make sure to pull down completely on both the armrests and the color-coded tensioner handle on the back side, which should pull the fabric completely taut. Only in this condition will it deliver the fabric’s optimal strength, stretch, and comfort.
The Yeti Trailhead Camp Chair comes with two wide solid armrests, so you can put both your arms down without having them slip off to the side, as well as extra-wide feet that, the outfit claims, provide maximum stability on any terrain. There’s a cup holder below the armrest, by the way, so you can don’t have to keep your beer or coffee in hand the whole time, which can be docked on either the right or left side. It fits bottles up to 26 ounces. Hate it when your chair breaks down over time? Not going to happen here, as the outfit claims it’s UV rated, so the paint won’t chip and the fabric won’t disintegrate over many years of use.
It measures 29.8 x 36.25 x 25.2 inches (width x height x depth), which should offer plenty of space to plop down on, compared to the limited amount of seating surface on more compact folding chair options. When folded, the darn thing collapses into a pile measuring 43 x 11.75 x 9 inches (length x height x depth) before slipping into a dual-strapped bag that you can either hoist over a shoulder or carry like a backpack.
The Yeti Trailhead Camp Chair is available now, priced at $299.99.