Beach Chair

What makes a beach chair a beach chair

A beach chair is a camp chair that made peace with sand. It sits lower, it spreads its weight over wide feet or runners so it doesn't sink, and its fabric is meant to get wet and dry again by lunch. Most fold flat in one motion and close with a strap. Many carry on your back.

A regular camp chair works on a lawn or a campsite pad. On soft sand, narrow legs dig in and the chair tips back like it's trying to get a better look at the sky. That's the main reason the group exists.

The table on this page lists every beach chair we track, low and high, backpack styles and loungers. It shows the carry weight, the weight capacity, the seat height, the frame material, recline positions, and whether the maker or the listing mentions a cup holder, a headrest or backpack straps. Brands get mixed by the data, not by preference. The table marks values read from the Amazon listing; a dash means neither the maker nor the listing states that value, and I'm not going to guess it for you. Weight is always the maker's own figure.

Renee says I treat beach chairs like I treat headlamps. She means I own too many. She's right, and it means I've had plenty of time to think about what actually matters.

What to look at when you pick a beach chair

Here's the order I'd read the table in. It starts with the walk, because the walk is where a bad chair shows you who it really is.

Carry weight is the number you feel twice a day

Weight is what the chair weighs empty, as the maker lists it. You carry it from the car to the sand, and then you carry it back when you're sunburned, sandy and holding a kid's bucket. The second trip is the one that counts.

A pound or two doesn't sound like much in a store. Add a cooler, an umbrella, towels and a bag of snacks, and every chair in the pile gets a vote. If your walk is long, sort the table by weight first and look at everything else second.

Light isn't free, though. A lighter frame often means thinner tubing or fewer features. That's a fair trade on a long boardwalk, and a bad one if you want a chair that reclines every which way and has a towel bar.

Weight capacity is the limit, so leave room under it

Weight capacity is the most the maker says the chair should hold. It's listed in pounds. Read it as the limit for you plus what's in your lap, not as a number to aim at.

Here's my one opinion on this page: buy a chair rated well above the person who'll sit in it, because sand doesn't load a chair evenly. Sit down hard on a slope and one leg takes most of it. The safety section of one maker's manual says to set the chair on flat, stable ground and to lock the recline before you sit down, which tells you what the frame expects. Give it room to handle a lean, a kid climbing on the arm, or the moment you plop down after a swim.

The maker's number is the one to trust. Listings sometimes carry typos in this field, so if a capacity looks oddly low or oddly high, check the maker's own page before you believe it.

Seat height decides how you sit and how you get up

Seat height is the distance from the ground to the front of the seat, in inches. It's the spec that splits beach chairs into two families.

• Low chairs: seat close to the sand, legs stretched out, sit right where the waves come up
• High chairs: seat closer to kitchen-chair height, knees bent, easier to stand up from

A low chair is great in the wash zone and lousy if your knees file complaints. A high chair is easier on the way up and catches more wind. (Walt calls high beach chairs "the ones for grown-ups". He's 63 and means it as a compliment to himself.) If you're shopping for a parent or grandparent, start with seat height and look at the beach chair for elderly picks. The families have their own pages: low beach chairs and high beach chairs.

Frame material is about salt, weight and care

The frame column shows the material the maker lists, usually aluminum or steel. Both can work. What kills a beach chair frame is salt and sand left on it in a dark garage all winter.

The care advice is the same no matter what it's made of. One maker's guide says to wipe the frame and fabric with a damp cloth and mild soap, or hose them down with fresh water to get salt and sand off, and to let the chair air dry before storing it. That same maker's warranty excludes corrosion and rust from lack of maintenance. So the hose is part of the deal.

If you want the lightest chair for a given capacity, compare the frame and weight columns side by side. That's where the material actually shows up.

Recline positions and lay-flat change the chair's job

Recline positions are how many back angles the chair locks into, as the maker or the listing counts them. One position means you sit up straight. More positions let you lean back to read, then sit up to eat.

Some chairs go all the way flat. Some of them need an extra support bar to lock flat, and the beach lounge chair page walks through it. If you want to nap or tan face down, that's a different chair, and it has its own pages: reclining beach chairs and lay-flat beach chairs.

Backpack straps free up your hands for the cooler

Backpack straps are shoulder straps sewn or clipped to the folded chair. The table marks which chairs have them. On a long walk they matter more than almost anything else, because your hands are needed for the cooler, the umbrella and at least one child.

Wear them like a real backpack. The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons says to use both shoulder straps and to tighten them so the load sits close to your back. It also says to lift by bending at the knees. That advice was written for school backpacks, and it applies just as well to a folded chair. The backpack beach chair page goes deeper.

Cup holder, headrest and pouches are the small stuff that you notice

The table shows whether the maker or the listing mentions a cup holder and a headrest or pillow. A cooler pouch shows up as a filter. None of these makes a bad chair good, but they decide whether you're comfortable at hour three.

• Cup holder: a drink that isn't sitting in the sand
• Headrest or pillow: neck support when you lean back
• Cooler pouch: an insulated pocket for a couple of cans and a sandwich
• Towel bar: somewhere to hang a wet towel instead of on your neighbor's umbrella

A cooler pouch is not a cooler. It's a lunchbox stapled to a chair. For a real ice plan, look at the coolers for the beach. (Yes, I have a spreadsheet for beach ice. Jess has one for groceries. We don't talk about whose is bigger.)

Built-in canopy or a separate umbrella

A few chairs carry their own shade on a small canopy or a clamp-on umbrella. It's handy for one person and less handy in wind. Chairs like that have their own page, the beach chair with umbrella, and for shade that covers a whole family, start with the beach umbrella or beach shade pages.

Which beach chair style fits your beach day

This is the short map. Each style has its own page with the details.

• Backpack chair: long walks, hands-free carry, usually low to mid seat height
• Low chair: water's edge, kids digging in the sand next to you
• High chair: easier up and down, sitting at a table height with a book
• Reclining chair: several back angles for reading and snoozing
• Lounger or lay-flat chair: lying down, tanning face down, the long afternoon
• Canopy chair: one person who wants shade that travels with the seat

If you only buy one, buy the style that matches your walk and your knees, in that order. The best beach chair picks narrow it further by the data.

How to open and fold a beach chair

Most folding beach chairs work the same way, but the details move around from maker to maker. Here's the sequence one maker's manual gives, which is a fair template for most chairs.

To open it:

1. Unclip the strap or buckle that holds the chair closed.
2. Push the seat bottom and the seat back apart until the frame is fully open.
3. Raise the headrest until it clicks, if it has one.
4. Lock the recline position before you sit down.

To fold it:

1. Set the back to upright and stand up.
2. Fold in any support bar and take off a clip-on cup holder.
3. Fold down the headrest.
4. Turn the chair upside down and close the front and rear legs together.
5. Loop the closing strap and buckle it.

Keep your fingers away from the folding joints and the hinge under the armrests while you open, close or recline. The same manual says so, and it's the kind of warning that gets written after somebody learned it the hard way. Empty the pockets and the cup holder first, too. A forgotten phone in the side pouch will stop the fold, and you'll find it at the bottom of the closing strap instead.

Care and storage between beach days

Sand and salt are the two things that shorten a beach chair's life. Neither one takes the winter off.

• Rinse: hose off salt and sand with fresh water after a beach day
• Wash: wipe the fabric with a damp cloth and mild soap when it needs it
• Dry: let it air dry open before you fold it for storage
• Store: a dry place, out of long-term sun and moisture
• Check: rivets, straps and buckles at the start of each season

One maker tells you not to machine wash or bleach the backpack straps or cup holder. That's a good rule for all of them. A chair folded wet and left in a trunk for a week comes out smelling like a bait shop. Ask me how I know.

Sun and wind on beach day

A beach chair holds you up; it doesn't protect you. The CDC says sunscreen and protective clothing are still needed in the shade, because UV rays reflect off sand and water. It also says UV is strongest from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. daylight saving time.

If you bring an umbrella, anchor it as its maker says. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission warns that wind-blown beach umbrellas have caused serious injuries and deaths, and says to close the canopy right away if an umbrella gets unstable in wind.

Pack it out at the end of the day

Take your chair with you when you leave. On nesting beaches, Mote Marine Laboratory says furniture left out at night can block nesting turtles and hatchlings. It has documented loggerheads dragging beach chairs that caught on their shells. Mote also advises filling in holes before you go. Some towns set rules for leaving gear on the sand overnight; check the local beach rules where you're staying.

Who should skip a beach chair

If you sit on a towel and like it, you don't need one. Same if your beach is a short walk from a rental that already has chairs. And if you mostly sit at a campsite or the back of a truck, a regular camping chair will be more comfortable on hard ground.

Everyone else: pick for the walk, then the knees, then the extras, and take the chair home every evening. That's the whole system, and it fits on a sticky note on the cooler lid.