Helinox Chair One

This Compact Collapsible Chair Fits in the Smallest Backpack but Supports 320 Pounds

With a Helinox Chair One in your kit, you need never be without a comfortable place to sit down, even when you’re counting every ounce of gear weight.

I strongly recommend the Helinox Chair One because it packs down into a bag about the same size as a half baguette, it sets up in about 30 seconds, and because it’s genuinely comfortable enough to it in for hours and even for a quick trail nap.

My first vehicle was a 1999 Ford Explorer. It was an XLS model, a dark blue navy color, stick shift by request at a time when stick vehicles were getting ever harder to find in the States, and for some reason, some kind of thank you or incentive or something, it came with two large collapsible chairs tossed in the back. They were rather big and heavy, even when folded down, these free, Ford-branded chairs, each about the girth of a fire hydrant (and a bit taller than a hydrant) when stowed away, yet big and comfy when popped open. 

Throughout the years I had that beloved Explorer, the chairs were always with me. They were there for impromptu gatherings with friends, post sporting event cooldowns, pre-live event,s or professional sporting tailgates, and on it went. It was pretty great to have a pair of chairs I could bring anywhere, in short. Anywhere I was driving, that is – bringing those things along on a hike or camping trip would have been madness. And in recent years, I’m more often concerned about the gear brought along hiking or camping than on a road trip.

At the end of a long hike, or as you take a midday break, or as you set up camp (or even when you just need one more seat for that unexpected friend who showed up at your place), having a seating option other than rock or dirt or curb or floor is always a welcome thing – it’s the difference between your relaxation after all the effort feeling like true relaxing, or merely a reduction of effort. And when you tucked a Helinox chair into your kit, you can truly relax with almost no added effort needed to carry that gear.

That’s because the Helinox One Chair, the brand’s OG, weighs just a hair or two over two pounds. (Their Chair Zero weighs closer to one pound, by the way, but I like the slightly larger seat the One offers.)

In term of gear weight, unless you’re climbing at altitude, 2.1 pounds is well worth the added heft for a seat that’s genuinely comfortable. And for a seat that can be set up and broken down so fast that you won’t mind deploying it even for those 10-minute trailside snacks and water breaks.

Helinox chairs (and all their gear) are so light and yet so strong thanks to frames made from top-quality aluminum alloy and synthetic polyester fabrics that, together, punch way above how much they weigh. This chair, which weighs just barely more than two pounds, can support 320-pound human beings – think on that math some because it’s impressive. So too is the way the chair disassembles and packs down into a bag about the same size as a rad 1990s hip pack.

Once you have a Helinox chair, you need never be without a good place to sit ever again. Sure, it belongs in your hiking pack or camping duffel, but when you’re not going for an outdoor adventure, just keep your chair in your car: you don’t need a big, bulky free folding chair from Ford to be ready to have a seat anytime, it turns out. Sorry to your buddy, though, unless you go ahead and buy two.