Helinox Chair One - £89.95ea

The Helinox Chair One is an awesome, extremely compact and lightweight chair perfect for backpacking and camping. The main frame is made from aluminium alloy with the feet, caps and joiners being hard nylon 66 plastic. The Octopus like frame is connected internally with shock-cord (elasticated string); similar to a tent pole, which allows for easy construction with the poles almost popping into place. Once the frame is constructed, the thick material is stretched over the pole’s end caps, creating a strong tensioned seat.

The seat is comfortable whether you’re sitting up straight eating or slouching back and relaxing. When you sit back, the chair does flex but it doesn’t feel unsafe and you soon get used to it.

Pros

• Lightweight

• Portable

• Small when packed away

• Great build quality

• Looks good

• Breathable mesh material

Cons

• Not great on uneven ground (the chair sometimes flexes with a leg wanting to come off the ground)

• Possibly too small for larger people

• Expensive compared to competitors

Helinox Table One - £109.95

The Helinox Table One has an identical build quality and materials as above. A similar but smaller frame to the chair with the addition of two extra pole pieces for the table surface support. This model features a mesh material table top with two cup holders that fits most average size cups, mugs and bottles.

As you’d expect the table comfortably fits 2 dinner plates, cutlery and cups in the holders. Unfortunately the mesh table top material is so slippery that plates tend to slide right off if you're not on spirit-level ground.

Pros

• Decent cup holders for majority or cups

• Lightweight

• Portable

• Small when packed away

• Great build quality

• Looks good

Cons

• Table surface is way to slippery

• Would have been nice to see some cutlery storage / holder

• Overpriced

In Final

If you want some really lightweight camping furniture you should definitely consider Helinox. Although not cheap, the build quality is second to none. The best factors by far are the weight and compact size; for some, these alone would justify the higher price tag. You can easily fit all 3 into a hiking backpack, a Front Runner Wolf Pack (SBOX008), Wolf Pack Pro or counterfeit (266-FD, TF892, CEWBTE10)