Practical Motorhome’s expert test team brought a range of camping chairs together to help you buy the best folding chair for your next tour, and after much deliberation, this product, the Outwell Spring Hills, emerged as the winner. But why?

This portable chair’s criss-cross leg supports are like those of other camping chairs we tested. However, the difference with the Spring Hills is that there are support bars flanking the seat base to give the same support as most director-style chairs. Of course it doesn’t hurt that this adds extra strength to the chair’s structure, too.

The frame and legs of this chair are made from a powder coated hybrid frame in a mixture of steel and alloyed metals. The fabric is polyester and the chair packs down to a very compact size for stowing in a locker, at 20 cm x 20 cm x 95 cm (7.8 inches x 7.8 inches x 3 foot 1 inch approximately). It also weighs just 4.3kg (9lb 5oz approximately), plus a carry bag is included. 

Outwell’s Spring Hills camping chair has been designed to help campers sit up straighter than in other chairs, so it’s more comfortable to use when dining al-fresco. That said, we found that this chair is equally good for sitting upright or lounging in a more relaxed position.

Its load capacity of 130kg (20 stone 6 pounds) and the ample room available both mean that this is an excellent folding chair for larger people. The chair’s dimensions when opened up are 65cm wide x 70cm deep x 97cm high (25.5 inches x 27.5 inches x 3 foot 2 inches approximately). And thanks to its tough arms, a firm seat base and the 42cm (16.5 inch) seat-base height, we discovered that this is one of the easiest chairs in our test from which to stand up.

You may also be pleased to learn that as well as the black/grey version we tested, this chair is available in blue and green, so you can match it to your other camping accessories, if you wish.

At £36.99, our testers thought that this chair represents great value for money and it was awarded a sparkling five out of five.

As part of Practical Motorhome’s camping chair group test, two other products from Outwell were tested, and both performed well, too – these were the Tuscan Hills chair and the Fountain Hills chair. Also reviewed were Easy Camp’s Camp Chair Deluxe, the Helinox Chair One, the Promech Paddock Seat, the Kampa Easy In/Easy Out camping chair and the Gelert Caldera Deluxe Moon Chair.