Sitting PrettyThe best portable beach chair.

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Kelsyus Backpack Beach Chair, $44.95
The packaging shows a shirtless, vaguely European dude reclining beneath the chair's broad, sun-reflecting canopy. He has that no-expression expression that models must spend hours perfecting. But I know what he's thinking: "Please, please let me out of this awful chair!"

Well, maybe it's not that bad. The canopy, while a tad dorky, is effective and packs down to an easy-to-carry size. The chair itself is surprisingly lightweight. Yet the head cushion is too low, making it uncomfortable to lean back. The arm rests are flimsy and annoying (one of my arm rests was broken when it arrived—which may not speak well of quality control). Unlike some of the other reclining beach chairs, it's not adjustable. And the canopy is a chore to set up.

Portability: 8
Ease of Use: 5
Comfort: 6
Design: 6
Total: 25

Everywhere Chair, $39.99
The Everywhere Chair is just like me: simple, easy, and cheap. This is the chair you want to bring to a hillside concert. Or to watch fireworks. It's extremely easy to set up (unfold it) and has a useful shoulder strap and a padded backrest. It's surprisingly comfortable as well. You could fall asleep in this chair.

It does not have an armrest, headrest, cup holder, or sun shade. But what it lacks in features it makes up for in utility. "To Maximum The Ultimate In Comfort!" declares an ad for the Everywhere Chair. I don't know what that means, but I couldn't agree more.

Portability: 7
Ease of Use: 8
Comfort: 7
Design: 6
Total: 28

Rio Brands Backpack Beach Chair, $40.00
The perfect beach chair—almost. The only thing the Rio lacks is a built-in sun shade. If you can get by without one of those, then you're golden. Or perhaps golden brown.

It has four—count 'em!—four positions. You can go from more or less upright to lazily reclined simply by lifting the arm rests. It has straps so you can wear it like a backpack. It has a roomy compartment for your beach essentials. The cupholder isn't too bad, either.

But what I like best about this chair is the headrest. On two of the other chairs (the Wilderness and the Kelsyus), the headrests do little to protect your head. The fine people at Rio Brands realize that not all of us are the same height, and so their headrest is adjustable. Nice.

Portability: 7
Ease of Use: 8
Comfort: 8
Design: 7
Total: 30

Renetto Canopy Chair, $49.99*
I'm writing this sentence while sitting outside in my Renetto. A guy just drove by and yelled something incomprehensible in my direction. Same to you, buddy. He's probably just jealous of my chair. And why wouldn't he be? I like the Renetto so much I'm at a loss for words. It's awesome. It's spiffy. It's the most portable chair I tested, folding up niftily into a non-goofy-looking backpack (go to the Renetto Web site to see a movie of the chair folding in action). It's solid, stable, and comfortable. And the retractable, ingenious sun canopy turns into the chair's carrying case. How about that?

Portability: 9
Ease of Use: 9
Comfort: 8
Design: 9
Total: 35

Correction, July 3, 2007: An earlier version of this piece misstated the price of the Renetto Canopy Chair. It is $49.99, not $39.99. (Return to the corrected line.)

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