Helinox Chair One 10305 vs ALPS King Kong 8140348

Buy the Helinox Chair One in Blue Bandana, model 10305, when you want the aluminum chair the bullets rate at 320 pounds, with a packed size of 4 by 4.5 by 14 inches and a packed weight of 2.10 pounds. Buy the ALPS Mountaineering King Kong, model 8140348, Charcoal/Citrus, when you want the steel quad chair the bullet rates at 800 pounds, with cup holders, arm pockets, and a carry bag, and an item-weight cell of 13 pounds. One packs like a water bottle. The other packs like a chair you put in a truck.

Short version. A closed-cell pad is the seat if the ground is the plan. A 32-ounce bottle is the weight class of the Helinox, not of the King Kong. A canister stove still needs a flat place to sit while it boils. A headlamp does not hold you up after dark. Read 10305 or 8140348 before you buy a colorway that only shares the family name.

The Helinox card is Blue Bandana, model 10305, GTIN 08809759232029, manufacturer part field "Chair One," ASIN on the card B09N3Y9XGY. The material cell says Aluminum. The seat line says 600-weave ripstop polyester. The bullets say the frame is an aluminum alloy, the seat and the zippered case are UV-resistant and the seat is machine washable, and a single internal bungee assembles the poles. Assembled size in the bullet is 21.5W by 20D by 25.5H inches, seat height 10 inches. Packed size in the same bullet is 4 by 4.5 by 14 inches at 2.10 pounds, with a five-year warranty. The weight-capacity line says 320 pounds. The item-weight cell says 960 g. Two point one zero pounds is about 953 g. Those two are close enough to be the same chair plus a rounding, and they are not 13 pounds.

Two cells on that Helinox card will waste a reorder if you trust them literally. The size field prints 21.5' by 20' by 25.5', with foot marks. Twenty-one feet is a room, not a camp chair. The bullet's inch marks are the chair. The product-dimension cell prints 20"D by 21.5"W by 25.5"H, which swaps the order of the bullet's width and depth and keeps the same numbers. A second dimension line prints 20.08 by 21.65 by 25.59 inches. Use the bullet's 21.5 by 20 by 25.5 and the 10-inch seat height. Ignore the foot marks.

The King Kong card is model 8140348, manufacturer part 8140348, UPC 703438843484, color Charcoal/Citrus. The material cell says 600D polyester. The bullets say that fabric is over a powder-coated steel frame, with an 800-pound capacity, a cup holder in each armrest, a mesh pocket on the seatback, stash pockets on the armrests, and a carry bag with adjustable backpack straps. The product-dimension cell prints 38"D by 20"W by 38"H. The item-weight cell prints 13 pounds. A size cell elsewhere on the page prints "(495)," which is not a dimension. Thirteen pounds is the number that decides whether this chair walks a trail or rides in a hatch.

Helinox model 10305, Blue Bandana, GTIN 08809759232029. ALPS model 8140348, UPC 703438843484. A rocker kit, a ground sheet, or a different King Kong color is a different card.

Who should buy the Chair One, and who should buy the King Kong?

Buy 10305 if the chair has to live in a backpack or a kayak hatch and the sitter is inside 320 pounds. Two point one zero pounds is the packed claim, case included. The item-weight cell of 960 g is the same neighborhood. The seat comes off and the bullet says it is machine washable. The poles are one bungee, which is fast on a gravel bar and fiddly the first time if you have not watched the corners seat. Set it up in the kitchen before the trailhead. A chair you fight in a parking lot is a chair you leave in the car.

Buy 8140348 if the chair lives in a truck, a boat, or a camp kitchen, and you want the 800-pound rating, the cup holders, and the pockets. Thirteen pounds is a fair trade for a steel frame you do not have to assemble pole by pole. The backpack straps on the bag are the card's way of saying you could carry it. Thirteen pounds plus a full pack is a different hike than 2.10 pounds. If the walk from the truck is a hundred yards, the King Kong is the comfortable answer. If the walk is five miles, it is the answer you will resent by mile two.

Do not buy the Helinox because the size cell looks enormous. Those are foot marks on a camp chair. Do not buy the King Kong because a slogan said it was compact. Compact next to a sofa is not compact next to a Chair One. Do not buy either chair for a sitter over the printed rating. The Helinox line is 320. The King Kong line is 800. A rating is not a suggestion, and it is not a test you perform by bouncing.

What the Blue Bandana Chair One is actually for

The bullet's geometry is the part you can check with a tape. Width 21.5 inches, depth 20 inches, height 25.5 inches, seat height 10 inches. Ten inches off the ground is a low seat. Getting out of it in waders, or with a stiff back, is harder than getting out of a tall quad chair. That is the price of the packed size. The 4 by 4.5 by 14 inch sack is the other half of the same sentence. If your pack's side pocket is shorter than 14 inches, the chair rides inside, not outside.

Model 10305 is this Blue Bandana card. A black-and-blue Chair One, a multicam Chair One, or a Chair Zero is a different listing even when the capacity still says 320 pounds. The part field that says "Chair One" is the family, not a unique code. The model number 10305 and the GTIN 08809759232029 are the reorder. The five-year warranty is the maker's line on the bullet. It does not cover a pole you bent by sitting on the frame without the seat, and it does not cover a chair you left in a river.

Do: seat all four corners of the fabric before you sit, and keep the chair off a sharp rock that will punch the ripstop. Don't: read the size cell's foot marks and think you ordered a giant. Don't: wash the poles. The bullet says the seat material is machine washable. The alloy poles are not a laundry load. Don't: use it as a step. Three hundred twenty pounds is a seated rating, not a standing one. A foot on the seat is how a pole kinks.

What the King Kong 8140348 is actually for

The 800-pound bullet is the reason the chair weighs what it weighs. Steel and 600D polyester are the materials the card names. Cup holders on both arms matter when you are right-handed or left-handed and the chair is already aimed at the fire. The back mesh pocket and the arm stash pockets are where a headlamp and a small bottle go so they are not in the dirt. The carry bag with backpack straps is included. Thirteen pounds in that bag is still thirteen pounds.

The dimension cell, 38 inches deep by 20 inches wide by 38 inches high, is the cell to tape-check, and it is an odd shape if you expected a 24-inch-wide seat from a different King Kong page. This card prints 38 by 20 by 38. Set the chair up and measure the seat you will actually sit in. If the seat is wider than the 20-inch cell, the cell was the wrong edge. If the chair will not fit a hatch that is 20 inches in the short direction, you learned it before the trip. UPC 703438843484 next to 8140348 is the reorder. Charcoal/Citrus is the color. A khaki King Kong with a nearby model number is a different fabric.

Do: open it once at home and find the lock that keeps it from folding under you. Don't: carry it five miles because the bag has shoulder straps. The straps move 13 pounds. They do not make 13 pounds into 2 pounds. Don't: hang a heavy cooler from an armrest and call the cup holder a crane. The holder is for a bottle. Don't: ignore the 800-pound line in the other direction either. A light person in a steel chair is fine. A person over that line is not a field test.

How to use either chair at a camp

Put the chair up after the tent, not instead of it. A foam pad is still what you sleep on. The chair is the evening. On a backpack trip the Helinox comes out at the last flat spot, and it goes back in the sack before the stove does, because a chair left open collects dew and a bent pole. On a car camp the King Kong can stay up. Point the back at the wind so the chair does not become a sail. A light aluminum chair on a ridge will walk away if you do not weight a leg. A steel chair walks less and still walks if the ground is a boat deck.

Level the feet. A rock under one leg of the Helinox twists the pole. A rock under one leg of the King Kong tips the cup holder. If the site is sand, the Helinox feet sink. That is a known small-foot problem, and this card does not include a ground sheet. The King Kong's wider stance sinks less and still sinks if the sand is dry and the sitter shifts. Do not drag either chair. Lift it. Dragging 600D or ripstop across gravel is how the fabric fails before the frame does.

At the end of the trip, dry the seat before the sack. A wet Helinox seat in a stuff sack mildews in a hot car. A wet King Kong in its bag does the same, slower, because there is more fabric. The Helinox bullet says the seat is machine washable. Zip the case out of the wash. The King Kong card does not print a wash cycle. Wipe it. Leave both chairs open in the garage for an afternoon if the camp was rain.

What actually fails on these two chairs

The model fails when the color is wrong. 10305 is Blue Bandana. 8140348 is Charcoal/Citrus, UPC 703438843484. A different Chair One color can share the 320-pound line and the 2.10-pound packed line and still be a different GTIN. A different King Kong color can share the 800-pound line and weigh the same 13 pounds. If you care about the color, match the model, not the family.

The cell fails when you pack for the wrong unit. Foot marks on the Helinox size field are not the chair. A "(495)" size token on the King Kong page is not the chair. The 960 g cell and the 2.10-pound bullet are close. The 13-pound cell is not close to either of them. The seat-height miss fails when a person who needed a tall chair bought the 10-inch Helinox seat and cannot stand up from it in boots. Try that in the house.

The other failure is using a camp chair as a ladder, a sawhorse, or a boat seat that is supposed to be a PFD. Neither card is a life jacket. Neither card is a cot. A chair at the edge of a drop is a chair you can tip out of. Set it back from the lip.

What this comparison is not

It is not a sleeping pad, a cot, or a hammock. It is not a promise that every Helinox with "Chair One" in the title is Blue Bandana model 10305. It is not a promise that every King Kong is 13 pounds and Charcoal/Citrus. It is not a 21-foot piece of furniture. It is not a hiking pack, even though one bag has shoulder straps and the other stuffs into a 14-inch sack.

It is not a reason to carry both. If the trip is on your back, 10305 is the chair the weight cell supports. If the trip is a tailgate, 8140348 is the chair the cup holders and the 800-pound line are for. Own the one you will actually unfold.

So which camp chair should you buy?

Buy Helinox Chair One model 10305, Blue Bandana, GTIN 08809759232029, when you want the 320-pound aluminum chair that packs to 4 by 4.5 by 14 inches at 2.10 pounds, with a 10-inch seat. Ignore the foot marks in the size cell. Buy ALPS King Kong model 8140348, UPC 703438843484, when you want the Charcoal/Citrus steel chair rated at 800 pounds, with cup holders and a bag, and you can live with 13 pounds. The number on the tag is the chair you will carry.