Coleman Broadband Mesh Quad Chair Review: A Barebones Budget Camp Chair

Introduction

The Coleman Broadband Mesh Quad Chair is a folding camp chair built around a straightforward idea: keep it light, keep it inexpensive, and make it quick to open and close. Setup is a short sequence. Loosen the drawstring at the top of the carry bag, release the cinch, pull the chair out, then grab opposite ends and pull it open. In practice that whole process was timed at roughly 6 seconds.

Packing away is nearly as simple. Gather two opposite corners, lift the chair off the ground, pull everything together, and slide it back into the bag feet first. Timed end to end, that took about 21 seconds, including getting the chair back inside the bag. The bag is generously sized, so the chair slips in without a fight. Weighing in at 5.8 pounds on its own, with the bag adding 0.2 pounds for a total of 6 pounds, it comes in slightly lighter than the marketed figure.

Who This Chair Is For

This is a chair for anyone who wants a basic folding seat at the lowest sensible price and does not need extras. It covers the essentials: a mesh backrest that breathes, a mesh cupholder, and armrests. There are no pockets, no adjustable armrests, no head or neck rest, and no reclining or rocking function.

It suits campers and casual users who pack light and care more about convenience than comfort features. Buyers who want a deeper seat, a higher seated position, or a more padded chair will want to look elsewhere. Taller users should also note that the backrest is close to 20 inches tall, which is enough to support an average back fully but does not extend to a headrest, and the top few inches of the backrest offer very little support.

Main Strengths

Fast Setup and Pack-Away

The standout quality here is speed in both directions. Because the frame uses a simple quad design, opening the chair means pulling two opposite ends apart and letting the seat drop into place. There is no assembly, no threading, and no wrestling with stiff hinges.

Packing away is where many camp chairs become irritating, but this one avoids that. There is not much material to compress, so the folded chair slides into the bag easily and the bag is roomy enough to accept it without forcing. That combination of a fast open and a fast close is the main reason to consider this chair over a heavier, feature-packed alternative.

Breathable Mesh Backrest and Basic Comfort

The backrest is roughly 70 percent mesh, while the seat is made entirely of fabric, giving the chair about 35 percent mesh coverage overall. That balance matters in warm weather: mesh breathes and helps keep you cooler, while fabric traps more heat during longer sits. The backrest measures about 20 inches wide, and the recline angle is very slight at around 5 degrees, so the seating position stays fairly upright.

The armrests appear to be made from the same fabric as the seat. Coleman describes the armrests as adjustable, but the rear connection on this chair is rigid and does not move, so they should be treated as fixed. The fabric itself is on the thinner side and not heavily padded. No material specification is provided for the fabric.

Measurements and Dimensions

Coleman’s marketed unfolded dimensions proved accurate in practice. The widest point from armrest to armrest measures about 32 inches, the longest side length is about 21.3 inches, and the total height from the ground to the top of the chair is about 34.7 inches.

Seat measurements are worth checking before buying. Total seat length is 21.3 inches, but once the two steel side bars are accounted for, the usable seat length at the front is 17.3 inches, roughly 4 inches less. Seat depth from the mesh back to the front edge is 17.1 inches. Seat height at the front edge is 16 inches, though once you sit down and measure from the ground the effective height drops to about 11 inches, roughly 5 inches lower. That is a meaningful gap from the marketed seat height of slightly over 18 inches. Backrest height from the seat to the top of the chair is almost 20 inches.

Packed size comes in at 35 inches long, 6.3 inches wide, and 5.1 inches tall, close to Coleman’s marketed packed dimensions. Placed next to a two-person Coleman Sundome tent, the packed chair is about 30 percent longer.

Stable Steel Frame

Stability is a quiet strength. Each side of the chair uses an X-pole structure, which helps keep the frame planted, and the feet are reasonably large. The pull joints are simple rivets rather than complex mechanisms. Across normal use, the chair held up with no stability problems.

The poles are made of alloy steel with a thickness of about 0.63 inches and are rated to support up to 250 pounds. The chair carries a 1-year warranty and is manufactured in China.

Portability and Packed Size

Carrying the chair is straightforward. The carry bag has a single non-adjustable webbing strap that lets you sling it over a shoulder once everything is packed. Between the 6-pound total weight and the compact folded dimensions, this is an easy chair to move between the car and the pitch.

Things to Consider Before Buying

The most important caveat is seated height. The chair sags noticeably once you sit in it, so the effective seat height lands much lower than the marketed figure suggests. Buyers who dislike sitting low, or who have difficulty getting up from a low seat, should factor that in.

Build quality is average rather than premium. The steel frame and fabric are serviceable, but the weight capacity is modest, the overall dimensions are unremarkable, and loose threads can appear along the seams. This is not a chair to expect years of heavy use from.

Feature-wise, the chair stops at the basics. There are no pockets for a phone or small items, the armrests do not adjust, there is no head or neck rest, and there are no reclining or rocking options. Storage is limited to a single mesh cupholder about 2.8 inches wide, which holds a standard can and not much more. The fabric is also thin and lightly padded, so extended sitting sessions will feel firmer than they would on a cushioned chair.

Buying Advice

The core argument for the Coleman Broadband Mesh Quad Chair is price. It is positioned among the cheapest camp chairs available, and at that level it delivers a genuinely usable, barebones seat. The setup and pack-away speed are the same as what you would get from far more expensive chairs, and the mesh backrest does its job on warm days.

The trade-off is everything else: no pockets, fixed armrests, a low seated position, average materials, and no comfort extras. If your budget is the deciding factor and you need a simple chair that opens in seconds and goes back in the bag without a struggle, this is a sensible, honest purchase. If you can stretch further and want more padding, higher seating, or extra storage, it makes sense to compare alternatives before committing.

Conclusion

The Coleman Broadband Mesh Quad Chair does the fundamentals well. It opens in seconds, packs away just as quickly, carries easily at 6 pounds, and stays stable thanks to its X-pole frame. The mesh backrest keeps airflow moving, and the price sits at the very low end of the market.

What you do not get is refinement. Seated height drops well below the marketed number, materials are average, and features stop at a cupholder and a pair of armrests. For buyers who want a cheap, simple, quick-to-use camp chair and can live with those limits, it is a reasonable choice. For anyone who wants more comfort or more features, it is worth looking at other options first.