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VARIETY INT'L TRIANGLE CHAIR
BY NANCY GRIFFITH
OWNER REVIEW
March 11, 2012
TESTER INFORMATION
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NAME:
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Nancy Griffith
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EMAIL:
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bkpkrgirlATyahooDOTcom
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AGE:
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45
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LOCATION:
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Northern California, USA
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GENDER:
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F
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HEIGHT:
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5' 6" (1.68 m)
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WEIGHT:
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130 lb (59.00 kg)
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My outdoor experience began in high school with involvement in a local canoeing/camping group called Canoe Trails. The culmination was a 10-day canoe voyage through the Quebec wilds. I've been backpacking since my college days in Pennsylvania. I have completed all of the Appalachian Trail in Georgia, Tennessee and North Carolina. My typical trip now is in the Sierra Nevada in California and is from a few days to a week long. I carry a light to mid-weight load, use a tent, stove and trekking poles.
PRODUCT INFORMATION
 Manufacturer: Variety Electronic Inc.
Year of Manufacture: 1995
Manufacturer's Website: http://www.varietyintl.com
MSRP: Not Listed
Listed Weight: 1.2 lb (0.54 kg)
Measured Weight: 1.1 lb (0.5 kg)
Colors Available: Blue, Red, Green (I own the blue and green ones.)
Load Capacity: 250 lb (113 kg)
The Variety Int'l Triangle chair is a three-legged stool which folds straight. When it is open as a stool, the seat is 13-1/4 in x 13-1/4 in (33.7 cm x 33.7 cm) at a height of 17 in (43 cm). When it is closed, it is 2.5 in x 2.5 in x 23 in (6.4 cm x 6.4 cm x 58.4 cm). The seat fabric is polyester and has a border of black around the outer edge. There is a pocket at each of the three corners on the underneath side for holding the upper end of the legs. The legs are aluminum tubing which is black powder coated and include a tube end cap for the lower end of each leg. A plastic ring attached with screws partway down the legs holds all three legs together and allows them to pivot creating the tripod. There is a black strap around the seat which uses hook-and-loop to hold it in the closed position. A strap is riveted to the bottom of the seat and to the lower portion of one leg to allow for use as a shoulder strap.
FIELD USE
 I originally purchased these chairs for use in Georgia, North Carolina and Tennessee along the Appalachian Trail (AT) since there were many places where I could never seem to find a comfortable seat in camp. (I tried to never camp at shelters for those fellow AT hikers who are wondering how that is possible.) Since moving to California and backpacking mainly in the Sierra Nevada, I didn't originally use the chairs much. Then my husband discovered them and brought them back into our standard gear pile. He is always lobbying to carry the extra weight for the comfort that these provide. A typical trip now includes one bear canister and one stool as our seats. When bear canisters aren't required then we often carry both stools. We used them on two trips to Mount Rainier where everything in camp seemed to be wet no matter whether it had rained recently or not and on a trip in Pennsylvania where the forest was soaking wet.
Overall one or both of these stools have spent approximately 40 nights on the trail.
Some more recent examples include the following backpacking trips.
Desolation Wilderness, Sierra Nevada, California; 3 days; 19.5 mi (31.4 km); 6,560 to 8,220 ft (2,000 to 2,505 m) elevation; 40 to 80 F (4 to 27 C); clear conditions.
Ohlone Trail, Diablo Range, Northern California; 3 days; 30 mi (48 km); 390 to 3,800 ft (119 to 1,158 m) elevation; 36 to 60 F (2 to 16 C); clear to cloudy with breezy to windy conditions.
Sequoia National Park, Sierra Nevada, California: 6 days, 60 mi (97 km); 6,700 to 11,600 ft (2,042 to 3,536 m) elevation; 38 to 84 F (3 to 29 C); clear conditions.
Bucktail Path, Elk State Forest, Pennsylvania: 2 days, 15 mi (24 km); 2,100 to 2,700 ft elevation; 55 to 70 F (13 to 21 C); wet conditions.
Wonderland Trail, Mount Rainier National Park, Washington; 10 days; 100 mi (161 km); 2,600 to 7,200 ft (792 to 2,195 m) elevation; 32 to 62 F (0 to 17 C); clear to foggy to downpour conditions.
I haven't typically found it to be worthwhile to carry a seat with me into the backcountry but over the years there have been many times when I did carry this stool. I often am quite content to just find a rock or a downed tree to sit on in the backcountry but I have to admit that it is nice to be able to move my seat to where I want it and to have something dry to sit on. This obviously isn't possible in the case of re-arranging the backcountry so having a stool is really nice. It is especially convenient where campfires are allowed since the smoke direction is always changing and is usually right into my face. With this stool I can quickly jump up, grab the stool and move it anywhere. I also like to sit up off of the ground and find this to be the main point of comfort for me rather than having a back support. When I really want some back support, I use this stool against a tree and it works that way too.
In the folded position the chair is easy to pack in the outer side pocket of any of my backpacks. When traveling we have carried them in our luggage and they fit easily in our checked bag. I never used the shoulder strap and have since removed it from mine. I do always use the hook-and-loop closure to keep the seat folded. This is nice to keep dirt and moisture away from the seat fabric. These stools have been used on granite, sand, moist dirt, hard-packed dirt and loose rocks. It is always easy to position the stool to be able to get a stable seat.
The durability of the stool has been remarkable. They are over 15 years old now and appear to be in great shape. They typically have been stored in a plastic bin in the garage so they have been protected but they have seen some large temperature swings. The fabric of the seats is very much intact. There are some very slight signs of thinning where it folds in the same place every time. The legs are worn at the point where the three of them intersect but it hasn't caused any functional issue. The most amazing thing is that the plastic ring which creates the pivot point for the legs is perfectly intact with no sign of wear or cracking. The rivets are holding fine without tearing the fabric and even the tube end caps are still working and aren't worn through.
SUMMARY
The Variety Int'l triangle chair is an extremely durable and reasonably lightweight seating option for use in the backcountry.
THINGS I LIKE
Convenience of having a movable dry seat
Light weight
Durability
Ease of carrying in an outer pack pocket
THINGS I DON'T LIKE
Nothing
SIGNATURE
Nancy Griffith
This report was created with the BackpackGearTest.org Report Writer Version 1.
Copyright 2012. All rights reserved.
Read more reviews of Variety International gear
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