Helinox Savanna Chair Review
Rating
Durability: 6
Comfort: 5
Portability: 10
Features: 5
Setup/Packdown: 6
OVERALL: 6.4
A quality ultralight chair.
Helinox has made a name for itself as a creator of quality ultra lightweight camp gear, and the Helinox Savanna Chair is no exception. Weighing less than 1.5kg, this chair folds into an extremely neat little package for transporting to the beach or wherever you need. Owing to its design, which sees its curved armrests built into the main seat, it may not be the best choice for larger folks, but we found it plenty comfortable enough.
Comparison
Rank: #4
Open Size: Comfortably high, a bit narrow
Packed Size: Small and light
Weight: Light
Capacity: High
Pros: Ultralight and small, cool mesh fabric and a high back to rest in.
Cons: Doesn't recline, a little narrow, expensive.
Verdict: An excellent choice if weight is your primary consideration.
Skip ahead to First Impressions, Transportability, Sitting, or the Final Verdict, or check out how the Helinox Savanna Chair compares to others in our list of the Top Ten Beach Chairs.
Specs:
Open Size: 112 x 65 x 80cm
Packed Size: 16 x 15.5 x 15.5cm
Weight: 1.79kg
Capacity: 145kg
Approx Price: £200
First Impressions
Here’s the thing - with its ultralight design, it’s tempting to think of the Helinox Savanna Chair as flimsy. Indeed, when you take it out of its extremely small included bag, the metal frame of the chair goes every which way just like tent poles, before it easily snaps together and you see the full picture.
The chair is surprisingly solid once assembled, the materials used clearly of high quality and considerately constructed. It presents really slickly, and even has a padded area for your head, which isn’t a consideration you’d expect in a chair that’s trying to save every bit of weight.
Transportability
Let’s be real - transportability is the reason you’re buying this chair. You could easily fit 6 - 8 of these into a day pack, providing seating for the whole family and then some. They pack down unbelievably small and light for a rigid-framed chair, and can’t be beaten on this score.
Sitting
The high back and bucket-shaped seat provides a really good level of comfort, and we were glad to sit and read in this chair for quite some time. However, there are a few obvious negatives.
First, while it does have a mesh section in the back and manages the heat well in general, we found the black fabric did absorb a fair bit of heat - great on a cooler day, not so great on our hot testing day.
This is also a chair far more geared to camping and even hiking than beach use - it doesn’t recline (as some others on our list don’t), but its narrow feet are also not particularly well suited to sand. When we tested this on sand we found the feet dug in unevenly and it was difficult to feel stable - it performed much better on grass.
The last point is that the seat is narrow and very much contained by the inbuilt armrests - so if you’re a bigger build, you may find the chair uncomfortable.
Final Verdict
If you’re after an ultralight, ultra-small chair, you simply can’t go past the Helinox Savanna. It absolutely delivers on durability, comfort and portability, and though it comes at quite a high price, we think for this chair it’s worth it (except in Canada, where it’s very expensive).
Looking for something different? Have a look through our list of Top Ten Beach Chairs of 2024.
Water & Outdoors reviews are written by our staff writers, who combined have over fifty years of experience on the water and outdoors. We may earn commissions if you choose to buy through a link you’ve clicked on our website, however this does not influence our reviews. For more information, please see our Editorial Policies.