Slate's Bizbox
shopping: How to be the best consumer you can be.

Sitting PrettyThe best portable beach chair.

By Tom Bartlett
Posted Tuesday, July 3, 2007, at 7:21 AM ET

(Continued from page 1)

Kelsyus Backpack Beach Chair

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

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

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

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.)

VIEW AS SINGLE PAGE
Print This ArticlePRINTDiscuss this in The FrayDISCUSSEmail to a FriendE-MAIL
Share on FacebookPost to MySpace!Share with MixxDigg ThisShare with RedditShare with del.icio.usShare with FurlShare with Ma.gnolia.comShare with SphereShare with Stumble Upon
Tom Bartlett is a writer in Mount Rainier, Md. Minor Tweaks is his blog.
Join the Fray: our reader discussion forum
What did you think of this article?
POST A MESSAGE | READ MESSAGES

Remarks from the Fray:

He missed one very important aspect of his "best chair ever" - quality of construction. I purchased this chair approximate two months ago and loved it - for about a month. Then, the poles that serve as the canopy broke at the joint where they connect with the poles that hold it up. (Is there a better way to say - where they connect to the ones pointing up?) First one snapped and almost immediately the other. I wasn't rough housing with it and hadn't opened and closed it more than half a dozen times. Now it's practically worthless and the extra money I spent to have this "cool" canopy could have been better spent on a beach umbrella that could have done the same thing. Buyer Beware!

--omeomi

(To reply, click here.)

A $10 no name beats them all. Mrs. LG66, always on the bargain lookout, bought two chairs at Roche Brothers (a grocery store chain in the Boston area) for $10 each. They have all the desired features, are very comfortable for two adults. The reviewer would score them high. We'll take them to the Pops concert/fireworks (best in the nation) on the Esplenade tonight.

Now, I have no idea who made them or where, how much child or slave labor was exploited, or much an anything else. Maybe the fabric will give us skin cancer. But, we wouldn't know such things about the other chairs, either.

--libera_guy66

(To reply, click here.)

(7/5)