Yeti Trailhead Camp Chair review: Overkill, but damn comfortable

I've been an outdoor journalist for a long time. Met a lot of lifers in this techie little industry. But nobody in my career has ever been more enthusiastic about a product than the head of YETI Europe was about this camping chair.

YETI, the American brand best known for its bombproof cool boxes, is widely regarded as tippity-top-of-the-line when it comes to outdoor engineering.

Their boxes keep food cold for days, and they love to show this off by hosting dinners cooked outdoors with fresh (and sometimes frozen) ingredients stored in the very containers themselves.

It was at one such dinner that I met the aforementioned YETI rep, who told me in no uncertain terms that before I die, I must try the YETI Trailhead Camp Chair. "It holds up to 500 pounds of weight – otherwise known as the average American!" he shouted over a plastic plate of fire-charred flatbreads.

Construction

So, the build of the chair is mad. It is, in every way, the camping equivalent of a muscle car. Ridiculously overbuilt, brutally solid, and completely unapologetic.

It features a crossover-style powder-coated steel frame with reinforced double-leg bars that jut out the back, giving it a planted, low-centre-of-gravity feel. The skeleton clicks into place with a chunky plunger-style handle that doubles as a grab handle for repositioning, and two buttons pop out of the arms to show that the frame is fixed.

When you're done, those same buttons unlock the skeleton, and you can fold the whole thing into a surprisingly slim, but still relatively massive, packed shape. It comes with a carry bag.

Features

Features-wise, the locking mechanism at the back is a satisfying bit of mechanical design. You pull the plunger handle down and the chair clicks audibly into place, and you can be sure as anything that it is not moving after that.

The armrest buttons are equally well-executed, and it's nice to have a camping chair that doesn't feel like it'll bend and break if you sit down too fast. The carry bag is hefty but thoughtfully designed, with two padded shoulder straps that turn it into a full-on backpack.

Though, wearing it does prevent you from wearing something more practical, like an actual hiking backpack. If you try to sling it over just one shoulder, as I have, you'll wake up with a sore neck.

The cup holder, while functional, is frankly a letdown. It feels flimsy and sits low, like an afterthought. Presumably YETI assumes you're already the sort of person who owns a YETI water bottle, so they haven't bothered adding any insulating tech here.

Comfort

The real highlight, though, is the material you sit on. YETI's proprietary FlexGrid™ fabric is a tightly woven, UV-resistant mesh that stretches to cradle your body, breathes exceptionally well, and dries quickly in wet conditions.

It is simultaneously strong, soft, and squishy – genuinely unlike anything I've seen in a camping chair.

The profile of the chair is also a winner. It's generously wide and supportive, a far cry from those little egg-shaped sling chairs that vaguely cradle your backside like a banana hammock.

I don't think "throne" is hyperbole. When I finally sit down in mine after dragging it out of the boot – where it's taken up more than half the space – I do, albeit ridiculously, feel like a king.

Portability

Let’s be honest: this chair is not light. It weighs in at 13.3 lb (just over 6 kg) and measures around 43 inches tall when packed. It is not something you want to carry more than a few hundred metres from the car.

But for car camping, multi-day festivals, or just living large in the garden, it's peerless. And crucially, after nearly three years of use – plus several more under the original tester before me – it still looks and performs like new. No sagging, no tears, no corrosion, no fading.

I tried to get this chair into the "Used and Abused" section of Trail magazine, but the editor rejected it because he hates me. So I'm writing this review because, after so many years of service, I think this chair deserves pride of place amongst my published work.

If you're the kind of camper who packs luxury over lightness, and has more money than they know what to do with, then there is no better throne to plant yourself in.

About the author

Milo Wilson is a full-time gear tester and writer for LFTO. He joined us back in 2023 and immediately began testing and ranking trail running shoes, though his true passion is for sitting. On chairs. Camping chairs.