Kit Focus – Helinox Chair Zero Lightweight Camping Chair

- March 10, 2021

Last year, I wrote a piece on lifeinthesaddle.cc titled 'The Importance of Comfort (and Tea)'—the post was intended to highlight my ethos of making smart decisions to avoid discomfort—as the saying goes "any fool can be uncomfortable".

With my sea kayaking expeditions becoming increasingly adventurous and challenging, I started to consider what I could do to enhance my comfort levels on long-distance paddles. Thinking 'outside the boat', I looked at my stop-over setup, and decided that to rest my back muscles and legs at a mid-paddle stopover, a lightweight camping chair would be a worthwhile investment.

The model I set upon was the industry leading Helinox Chair Zero. This is my review...

The Helinox Chair Zero is the ultimate lightweight camping chair. Weighing in at just 510 grams, it is a small burden for the amount of comfort that it can deliver; letting you relax, recover, and enjoy your mid-expedition stopovers on kayaking, hiking, and camping adventures.

The Helinox Chair Zero is a low back low-profile design—to minimise material weight and create a compact package that can be easily stowed and quickly assembled. Despite this, it is impressively strong and comfortable…

The camping chair's frame is made from ultra-lightweight and strong DAC aluminium alloy poles. These poles were developed for expedition-level backpacking tents and offer the best balance of weight versus strength—few other camping chairs use these kinds of poles. The frame hubs and joining components are then moulded from high-strength nylon and engineered for maximum precision—to create solid and secure pole attachments. Out in the field (or on the beach), the Chair Zero does indeed feel solid and safe, even on rough terrain; the frame part materials also avoid any concerns of rusting—something that is always a danger near saltwater.

The low-profile back design on the Chair Zero offers an impressive amount of support and comfort, thanks to its clever suspension system. The lightweight suspended fabric seat supports your body by wrapping around it in a comfortable cup. The material is also fast drying and does not absorb water—ideal for damp kayaking clothing.

The Helinox Chair Zero has transformed my sea kayaking stopovers, overnight expeditions, and hiking trips. It makes every break a relaxing chance to take the weight off your feet and back—vital recovery before continuing onwards.

Any fool can be uncomfortable, but clever adventurers will invest in kit that actually enhances comfort and performance on expeditions. The Helinox Chair Zero undoubtedly achieves this, and with a quality level that should keep it functioning faultlessly for many years of adventure.

>> Shop the Helinox Chair Zero at helinox.eu