Backpacking Chairs Worth the Weight: Antimatter Chair and Therm-a-Rest Trekker Chair

Introduction

Few pieces of backpacking gear divide hikers as reliably as the camp chair. Bring one and you add roughly a pound to your pack. Leave it behind and you spend the evening on the ground. Both sides have real arguments, and the right answer usually comes down to how you hike rather than what is objectively better.

This guide looks at what a chair actually costs you in weight and money, what the lighter alternatives offer, and how two very different seats compare: the Antimatter Chair from No Matter Products and the Therm-a-Rest Trekker Chair.

What to Weigh Before You Carry a Chair

Weight is the first thing most backpackers consider. A typical backpacking chair comes in at about a pound, which is close to 7 percent of a 15-pound base weight. That is a meaningful figure if you count grams, and a chair does not pull double duty the way a sleeping pad or an insulated jacket does.

Then there is time. On fast, high-mileage trips, camp is often just a place to eat and sleep before it is time to turn in, so a chair can sit unused all evening. Carrying less weight also means moving faster and finishing the day less fatigued.

Cost matters as well. Backpacking chairs sit among the pricier items in a pack, though not every comfortable option is expensive.

Comfort is the argument that usually settles the question. After a long day on the trail, the difference between sitting on the ground and leaning back into a chair is difficult to describe until you have tried it.

Sit Pads and Folding Stools: The Lightest Comfort Options

If you want relief from the ground without carrying a full chair, a sit pad is the simplest answer. These pads weigh only a few ounces, can cost as little as $10, and provide cushioning and insulation against cold, wet, or rocky ground. What they do not provide is a backrest, and they leave you sitting at ground level.

Folding stools are another middle path. They lift you off the ground, come in a wide range of weights and prices from many manufacturers, and generally skip the backrest entirely. For hikers who mainly want to avoid sitting in the dirt, a stool can be enough. For anyone who values leaning back, it is not.

No Matter Products Antimatter Chair: A Backrest That Skips Your Trekking Poles

The Antimatter Chair takes a different approach. It is essentially a portable backrest, designed to let you lean back and relax almost anywhere. Rather than relying on trekking poles for support, it uses its own carbon fiber poles, so it does not compete with the rest of your gear for the same poles.

The chair weighs 6.7 ounces, or 8 ounces with the stuff sack, which is roughly half the weight of a typical backpacking chair. The seat surface is a small piece of nylon that helps keep dirt and a little moisture off your pants.

That combination makes it appealing for weight-conscious hikers who still want a backrest. The trade-off is that you remain on the ground, and the nylon base does little for comfort or insulation on its own.

Where the Antimatter Chair Falls Short

The first limitation is the one you feel immediately: you are still sitting on the ground. The Antimatter Chair gives you a backrest, but not the elevation or the cushioning of a traditional chair, and it does not deliver the insulation a sit pad provides.

Pairing it with a sit pad is possible, but a pad adds roughly 5 ounces, which begins to erode the weight advantage that makes the chair interesting in the first place. Even then, the combination is not as comfortable as a conventional one-pound backpacking chair.

Price is the other sticking point. At around $100 on its own, the Antimatter Chair costs more than many full chairs, and a one-pound chair can often be found on sale for less than $70. For hikers who put comfort first, that comparison is difficult to ignore.

Therm-a-Rest Trekker Chair: Your Sleeping Pad Becomes a Seat

The Trekker Chair solves the problem from a different angle. It is essentially a sleeve that folds your sleeping pad into a chair, turning gear you already carry into a seat and backrest.

It is genuinely comfortable, and it reuses a piece of equipment that is already in your pack. That efficiency is the whole appeal.

The catch is weight and risk. The Trekker Chair comes in at 10 ounces, only about 6 ounces less than a typical backpacking chair, so the saving is modest rather than dramatic. It also puts your sleeping pad under stress, which introduces the possibility of puncturing it.

What the Trekker Chair Costs You in Weight

Ten ounces is not nothing, but it is also not the dramatic saving you might expect from a fabric sleeve. The Trekker Chair makes the most sense for hikers who already carry a sleeping pad they trust and who want a comfortable seat without adding a separate frame and legs to the pack.

If protecting that pad from punctures matters to you, the risk deserves a place in the decision. A damaged sleeping pad can cut a trip short.

Overall Buying Advice

There is no single right answer, only the answer that fits how you hike. If you want the cheapest possible improvement over bare ground, a sit pad weighing a few ounces and costing as little as $10 is the easiest place to start. If you want to get up off the ground but do not need a backrest, a folding stool is a reasonable middle option.

If a backrest matters and you would rather not lean on your trekking poles, the Antimatter Chair provides one at 8 ounces with the stuff sack, though it leaves you on the ground and carries a higher price. If you already carry a sleeping pad and want a seat that feels genuinely comfortable, the Trekker Chair is the more familiar route, provided you accept the modest weight saving and the risk to the pad.

What almost every hiker agrees on is that some form of seat, whether a cheap sit pad or a lightweight chair, makes camp more enjoyable. Whether it is worth the weight and the cost is a personal calculation, and it is one only you can make.

Conclusion

The chair debate has no universal winner, because the value of a pound in your pack depends entirely on the trips you take. Fast, high-mileage hikers will usually prefer a sit pad or nothing at all, while anyone who lingers at camp tends to find a seat worth carrying.

Between these two options, the Antimatter Chair is the lighter and more independent choice at 8 ounces with the stuff sack, using its own carbon fiber poles instead of your trekking poles, but it keeps you on the ground and asks around $100. The Trekker Chair is the more comfortable of the two and turns a sleeping pad you already own into a seat, at the cost of a modest 10-ounce penalty and some risk to the pad itself. Match the choice to your hiking style, and either one can earn its place in your pack.