Homevative Folding Backpack Beach Chair
Summary
Price At Time Of Writing | $69.99
Our Overall Rating | 81 out of 100
Pros - Thoughtfully designed storage pockets, durable materials
Cons - Uncomfortable when reclining or if tall
Overall - Ideal for having everything to hand and easily carrying
Technical Specifications
Open Size - 32x17x19in
Weight - 8lbs
Load Capacity - 240lbs
Materials Aluminum frame, polyester seat
Our Analysis & Ratings
Part of relaxing at the beach is that you shouldn't need to go anywhere, and the Homevative Folding Backpack Beach Chair delivers on that. With more pockets than Mary Poppins' handbag, this chair makes sure you have everything easily accessible.
Construction/Design - We like the construction of this chair — once you acknowledge that aluminum naturally has a slightly flimsy feel which is unavoidable if you want to reduce weight, it's clear that the joins in the metal are solid and the polyester seat is well-made. We were also impressed with the many storage options on this chair: a storage pouch, cooler pouch and towel rack are all available on the back, while at your side is a cup holder and mobile phone holder. There's also a sling underneath that we used to hold our lunch, so nothing needs to go on the ground!
Setup/Pack Down - The chair folds very flat, which means it takes up surprisingly little space in the car or in storage. The folding mechanism is fairly easy to operate, but we found it a slight juggle to ensure our fingers didn't get caught in pinch points when unfolding the chair, and the folding itself took a fair bit of effort when compared to other chairs.
Portability - Though advertised as lightweight, it is actually one of the heavier chairs we reviewed, but with all those storage pockets, we're not surprised. The chair has a small handle just above the headrest for easy hand carrying when folded, and it also has two built-in backpack straps. The backpack straps and the feel of the hard chair frame on your back don't make it the most comfortable carry, but it does mean your hands are free to lug the rest of your gear down to the sea, which we appreciate.
Comfort - We weren't overly thrilled with the comfort of this chair. It's quite a short-backed chair so we found the headrest dug into the top or middle of our back when sitting upright, although it was perfectly positioned when lying flat. We appreciated the ability to fully recline the chair, but found that when fully reclined, there was a bar in the frame that cut uncomfortably into our backs and the bottom of the frame into the backs of our legs. Having said that, the way the seat is largely suspended from the frame rather than simply threaded onto it meant the seat was generally responsive to our different body weights and shapes.
Durability - The materials were fairly standard or even on the more durable side for chairs in a similar price range, and because the polyester was wrapped around and padded, the fabric of the seat appeared like it would last a while. Our main concern was around the string connecting the seat to the frame; it didn't seem like particularly durable string (almost like a bigger version of polyester twine) and we were worried that if that were to go, the chair would quickly become unusable.
Summary - The Homevative Folding Backpack Beach chair showed a lot of innovation in its design, and was very convenient to keep items clean and close by when relaxing at the beach or pool. We would've liked more comfort in the design, but for portability and convenience this is a good option at the price point.
