Cascade Mountain Tech Hammock Chair Review

The Cascade Mountain Tech Hammock Chair is a relaxing camp chair with a lower-to-the-ground beach-friendly mode.

To get us a closer look, Cascade Mountain Tech sent Man Makes Fire a review unit. After testing the Hammock Chair in camp and at the beach, including on a float-and-fish rafting trip, this is what we learned:

Cascade Mountain Tech Hammock Chair Review

The Cascade Mountain Tech Hammock Chair is legit comfortable.

At first glance, it looks like a standard camp chair with a fabric seat that attaches to aluminum support bars. Lots of manufacturers are now making very portable camp chairs in this style, ranging from the REI Flexlite Camp Boss Chair to the feather-light 17-ounce Helinox Chair Zero.

Cascade Mountain Tech also makes a hub-and-pole camp chair that could be confused with the Hammock Chair — the Ultralight Highback Camp Chair, which we’ve seen in Costco this summer.

Once you sit in the Cascade Mountain Tech Hammock Chair, however, you’ll realize it is something different and special. I think the secret is that the fabric seating area isn’t particularly taut until you sit in it — it really is a sling-like sort of hammock chair.

But there’s more proof to this comfort story than simply my own take. I’m about 6’3″ and 220 lbs and I find it comfortable. What about smaller guys, women and children? Do they find it comfortable? They do, and here’s how I know:

When everyone else in your camp chooses your camp chair first — and immediately fills it when you leave — it’s a comfortable camp chair.

Construction

The fully collapsible aluminum frame is rated to hold up to 250 pounds. The legs are all shock-corded together and meet at rugged hub-like joints.

The Cascade Mountain Tech Hammock Chair is surprisingly comfortable

The seat material is a combination of nylon fabric and mesh. The top includes a nice built-in pillow. Stitching appears solid.

Key Specs:

Seat height: 16″ or 10″
Chair height: 39″
Packed dimensions: 22″ x 8″ x 8″
Weight: 5 lbs

Beach Mode

The Cascade Mountain Tech Hammock Chair has an interesting switcheroo feature: You can choose from two height settings. The standard camping chair setting gives you legs and a 16″ ground-to-seat bottom height. The beach mode lets you take the legs out and use the bottom of the hub joint as your base. That drops the seat height down to about 10″.

The camp mode legs have wider sand stoppers at the ends, so it does pretty well in loose sand in camp mode. In beach mode, you get even more surface area on the hub, so that also works in sand.

Easy Setup?

While it’s easy to setup the Cascade Mountain Tech Hammock Chair once you understand the process, you might be confused the first time you go to set it up. You get two separate shock-corded hub and pole sections that you have to assemble and then connect to each other.

To make it slightly more confusing, the two halves of the chair have slightly different constructions. One side has the front cross bar while the other side has the rear cross bar. In addition, the rear crossbar is significantly shorter than the front cross bar. Once the chair is assembled, it all makes sense, but the first time you look at it, you might be a bit confused.

Fortunately, Cascade Mountain Tech color codes the sections to make it easier to assemble.

That said, after the first time, assembly is fast and easy. Better yet, because there are two sides, packing it all back into the included carry bag is easier than most competing camp chairs that have a single set of shock-corded legs and frame.

Drawbacks

I’m not particularly sold on the built-in fabric cup holder. It does an OK job with cans and some tumblers, and is great for water bottles, but I don’t trust it with open lids if I’m going to be getting in and out of the chair. The hammock sling design, which is so very comfortable, results in a bit too much movement when I’m sitting down and getting up.

My answer is to grab my drink before I sit up or sit down to prevent spills.

Another minor drawback to the Cascade Mountain Tech Hammock Chair is that you can’t simply grab the chair’s fabric top to lift and move it. If you do, the back support bars will come out of their pockets and you’ll just pull the fabric up. To move the chair, you need to grab one or both of the back support bars.

On the other hand, the design of the fabric seat is supposed to be loose to give you comfort. And making the rear support bar pocket too tight could make the chair more difficult to assemble. Overall, we put this drawback in the annoyance category: When you’re moving the chair around camp or the beach, particularly when you’re holding a drink in one hand, we prefer to be able to grab a chair anywhere to lift and move it. Because the Hammock Chair is so comfortable, we’re willing to deal with it. And that brings up our next section. . . .

The Whole Point Is Comfort

Why should you buy the Hammock Chair? If you want a relaxing, lean-back style camp chair, the Hammock Chair is for you. It’s perfect for chilling at the beach, and it’s great for hanging out around a campfire.

For eating at a camp table, it’s ok but not as good as a more upright camp chair like the YETI Trailhead Camp Chair. Still, while testing the Hammock Chair, I could sit forward and more upright and eat from a plate in my lap around a campfire.

Competitive Alternatives & Options

There are many great camp and beach chair options available these days with many different styles. If you’re interested in the Cascade Mountain Tech Hammock Chair, these alternative options might also fit your needs:

Nemo Stargaze Reclining Camp Chair — The gold standard hammock style chair is the Nemo Stargaze Reclining Camp Chair. The key benefit is that it actually hangs from supports like a hammock, which also lets you rock in it. The drawback is that it’s less functional as an everyday camp or beach chair. It’s truly best for leaning back and chilling — or stargazing.

ENO Lounger DL Chair — Hammock maker ENO has produced a hammock-like camp chair for years. The ENO Lounger DL has a similar hammock-style sling seat fabric and a dual-purpose height-adjustable leg system. The key benefit of the ENO Lounger DL over the Hammock Chair is its more rugged construction. The key drawback is the increased price point.

Coleman Forester Series Bucket Chair — The Coleman Forester Series Bucket Chair gives you a similar sling-like fabric seat as the Hammock Chair. The major difference comes from the frame design, which is a foldable, collapsible frame. The big benefit is that it’s easy to setup. The big drawback is that it’s much longer and less packable when folded.

The Bottom Line

All-in-all, the Cascade Mountain Tech Hammock Chair is a surprisingly comfortable and packable camp chair. It has a solid construction, packs down reasonably well into a great carry bag, and it’s affordable. Highly recommended.

Get the Gear:

• Cascade Mountain Tech Hammock Chair