Coleman camping kit: product test

A COMFY camp usually includes a restful bed or swag, a pleasant chair to lounge around the fire on, and a table to eat or work on.

Over the years we’ve used plenty of different chairs and tables and, for the last 10 or more, I’ve been using a Coleman Directors Chair, which is still going strong but showing a fair bit of wear and tear. So I recently decided to replace it ... with another Coleman Directors Chair.

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This aluminium-frame chair is comfortable, lightweight, folds down pretty flat and is rated to carry 135kg, which is well above my weight. The side table folds out and easily holds a book or a plate, while an inbuilt cupholder takes care of a can of beer or a brew of coffee. I know it’s comfortable because on the last trip everybody (who had their own chairs of different and varying brands) chose to use mine.

Viv opted for a Coleman Layback Lounger, which is a delight to laze around camp in. It’s heavier and doesn’t pack as small as the Directors Chair, but, as they say, ‘happy wife, happy life’. If it lasts as long as the previous one Viv used, then we’ll be old and grey before it wears out.

Adding to our Coleman menagerie (we use Coleman stoves solely, and have done so for the past 20 or more years) was a Coleman six-foot fold-in-half table.

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Capable of holding 250kg, it’s lightweight, folds quickly and easily, and has a couple of height settings. It’s nothing spectacular, but it does the job it was designed to do without any fuss; although, I wouldn’t be putting a red-hot camp oven on the polyethylene table top. Still, my son was so impressed he just bought a few to use for his 4WD touring company, Moon Tours.

Coleman gear is available from a wide range of camping outlets and, while dearer than many other brands, the quality is obvious and their robustness and longevity make them an economical and worthwhile buy.

RATED
Available from: www.colemanaustralia.com.au
RRP: Table $115; Directors Chair $100; Layback Lounger $150
We say: Comfortable, practical camp gear