PSA: I used a cheap camp chair for years and never realized how much back pain it was causing until I swapped to a $40 Helinox knockoff at REI last weekend

The difference was night and day on a 3 day trip at Yosemite my lower back didn't ache once, has anyone else found a budget version that actually holds up over time?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_charlie1mo ago

You say "night and day" but a one trip sample size isn't much to go on. I've used the same $20 Walmart chair for five years of camping and my back feels fine after a long day. Are you sure the new chair wasn't just placebo from spending money on it?

hayden_butler271mo ago

Yeah, the "night and day" thing really hit home for me. I had pretty much the same experience with a cheap chair I got from Target. It felt fine for a few trips but then I realized my lower back would be killing me after just sitting in it for an hour or two. Swapped to a $45 chair from a gear swap and the difference was huge over a whole weekend trip. So I'm with you on this one, @the_charlie might have a point about placebo, but my back sure didn't know the price tag when it stopped hurting. Take it for what it's worth, but in my experience the cheaper chairs just don't have the right support for longer sits.

the_cole28d ago

Heard a podcast with a physical therapist who said the issue with cheap chairs is the foam compresses way faster, so you end up sitting on a hard frame after a few uses. Your back probably wasn't imagining that relief.