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Blind chairs seem like a silly thing to obsess over, but they kind of aren’t. During deer season, you might spend as much time, if not more, sitting in a blind chair as you do your Lay-Z-Boy. They’ve got to be comfortable, but they also have to be durable to put up with being dragged in and out of the woods. They also have to be quiet. If you’ve sat in a creaky metal chair while waiting for a deer in a ground blind, you know any little move will send the buck you’ve been after packing.
But the price of a good blind chair these days is a little crazy if you ask me. They can sometimes cost more than a tree stand. That’s why it’s important to do your research before buying one. The good news is, you don’t have to. I spent the past couple of weeks testing what I think are the best blind chairs on the market today. I’ve also thrown in a few old stand-bys for comparison.
Best Overall: Rig'Em Right Hyde 360
Best Swivel: Millennium Quad Ground Blind Chair
Best Budget: Alps OutdoorZ Stealth Hunter Deluxe Chair
Best for Deer Hunting: BOG DeathGrip 360 Chair
Best for Duck Hunting: Tanglefree Blind Stool
Most Versatile: Peregrine Field Gear Venture Bucket Pack
Best Overall: Rig'Em Right Hyde 360
Specs
Weight: 20 pounds
Weight Rating: 500 pounds
Dimensions: 40"H x 26"W x 22"L
Materials: Aluminum, steel, and 900D fabric
Rotation: Silent 360 degrees
Pros
Super comfortable
Warm with padding
Easy to assemble
Backpack straps
Cons
Makes some noise when used with cushion
Might be too big to fit two in a pop-up blind
Comfort is one of the most important factors to consider in a blind chair. You can be a tough guy all you want, but when it comes down to it, sitting and waiting for deer kind of sucks, and it sucks even more when you’re in an uncomfortable chair. The Rig'Em Right Hyde 360 is built for comfort (not for speed).
Out of the box, it was very easy to assemble. It has a smart carry pouch for the base. The base folds and clicks into a hole in the bottom of the chair when assembled. The chair also has backpack straps for carrying into the field. It has four quality feet for uneven terrain and adjustable legs so you can level everything off.
The best thing about this chair is that it is big and wide. For bigger hunters, this is a plus, and for extra layers, it’s great, too. The chair also has a removable pad for extra comfort. I found this to make some noise, but it can easily be removed via velcro straps. The chair swivels silently, and it has big foam-covered arms for relaxing. The Hyde 360 strikes the perfect balance between a lawn chair and a hunting chair, in my opinion. That’s why it took the title of Best Overall this year.
Best Swivel: Millennium Quad Ground Blind Chair
Specs
Weight: 7.9 pounds
Weight Rating: 400 pounds
Dimensions: 20.75"H x 19.75"W x 16.5"L.
Materials: Powder-coated aluminum and synthetic fabric
Rotation: Silent 360 degrees
Pros
Super lightweight
Ready to go out of the box
Easy to pack around
Comfortable
Cons
No arms
Feet are small
Not as easy to adjust for terrain, but doable
The Millennium Quad is extremely light and easy to carry. I loved how virtually no assembly was required once I got it out of the box. It has a tight mesh seat that’s comfortable, and the swivel function is completely silent.
Like most of the other blind chairs in this test, the Quad has adjustable feet for different terrain. It was damn close to winning Best Overall, but the feet were a little less rugged than the feet on the Hyde 360. The Quad also doesn’t have arms. This can be a good thing for shooting a bow, but after hours and hours, arms are nice. Adjusting the feet took a little doing, too, and I found it was much easier to level the chair base without the chair seat attached.
Overall, the Millennium Quad is one of my favorite chairs in the test because of how light it is. Most people would take a blind chair into the woods on an ATV, but I’ll sometimes hunt walk-in-only public land with a ground blind. And it’s nice not to leave a $200+ chair in the woods because it’s too heavy.
Best Budget: Alps OutdoorZ Stealth Hunter Deluxe Chair
Specs
Weight: 16 pounds 9 ounces
Weight Rating: 300 pounds
Dimensions: 17.5-25”"H x 18"W x 15"L.
Materials: Powder-coated steel, plastic latches, synthetic fabric seat
Rotation: Silent 360 degrees
Pros
Extremely easy to adjust to different terrain
Decent price
Quality feet
Quiet swivel
Cons
Lots of plastic
Not as easy to transport as other chairs, but not a deal breaker. Thumb screw design
Budget is a relative term here. I still have a hard time dropping cash on a blind chair after hunting on a spackle bucket for years. But the Alps OutdoorZ Stealth Hunter can do many things premium chairs do for around a $150 street price. It has four high-quality feet, a removable base, and a silent swivel. It also has adjustable/removable arms.
Transporting the Stealth Hunter was a little trickier than other blind chairs. Instead of a carry pouch for the base, it has velcro straps. The feet are also attached via four thumb screws that could get lost in the woods or strip out if you’re not careful. But the chair more than makes up for this.
Out of all the chairs in the test, it was the easiest to adjust for uneven terrain. It has quick-release latches for each foot that can be adjusted while you’re sitting in the chair. As far as comfort, I found it to be on par with more expensive chairs. For the price, you really can’t beat it.
Best for Deer Hunting: BOG DeathGrip 360 Chair
Specs
Weight: 32 pounds
Weight Rating: 400 pounds
Dimensions: 20.75"H x 19.75"W x 16.5"L
Materials: Powder-coated aluminum, steel, synthetic fabric seat
Rotation: Silent 360 degrees
Pros
Pretty packable, with the exception of the shooting rest
Easy to assemble
Offers a built in shooting rest
Cons
A little top heavy in some positions
Feet aren’t as easy to adjust
Feet are small
Setting itself apart from all other chairs in the test, the Bog DeathGrip 360 is the only blind chair to have its own shooting support. This is a big deal because shooting a rifle from a chair is almost as unstable as shooting offhand. The best part about the shooting support is that it’s removable, meaning you can set this chair up for either gun season or bow season. It’s also a big help for shooting a crossbow.
The chair itself looks to be the exact same chair as the Millennium Quad. I imagine it's made in the same factory for each company and just finished in different colors. That being the case, the feet on the DeathGrip 360 leave a bit to be desired. But they aren’t so bad that they’ll make the chair unusable. I also found that the shooting rest can tip the chair over when you’re not sitting in it if you’re not careful. This shouldn’t be a problem, though; just something to keep in mind if you get up while your rifle is still attached to the mount.
I found the shooting platform to be about as stable as a tripod. What’s really nice is that you can swivel with the chair and the platform to track a deer as it walks. This might not be something you’d use for a far shot, but it would really come in handy for close-range crossbow shots. Overall, the DeathGrip solves the problem of moving stuff like tripods and chairs around in the blind and making noise.
Best for Duck Hunting: Tanglefree Blind Stool
Specs
Weight: 12 pounds
Weight Rating: 350 pounds
Dimensions: 20-27”H x 12"W x 12"L
Materials: powder-coated steel, synthetic fabric seat
Rotation: 360 degrees
Pros
Extremely strong
Padded seat and backrest
Adjustable height
Cons
Seat is a bit small
Heavy
Duck hunters need rugged equipment because they’re usually out in some nasty conditions—and Tanglefree’s Blind Stool is pretty rugged. The stool is made of welded steel with a big screw running through the middle to adjust for height. It also has a removable backrest that can be adjusted as well. The padding feels sturdy, and the fabric feels like the kind of fabric you’d see on boat upholstery. The whole thing looks like you could leave it out in a duck blind for years, and it would still look the same.
This stool is begging to be put on a boat, goose pit, or any other kind of waterfowl blind. There are even holes in the feet in case you want to screw it down to a deck or the floor of your blind. I also like how Tanglefree made this stool with three legs instead of four. This is much easier to make stable on uneven ground, like mounds of marsh grass.
The padding on the Tanglefree blind stool is comfortable, but the seat is a bit small. This size is good for taking in a boat, but it might leave you a little sore at the end of the day. With any luck, though, you won’t be sitting too much, and the Tanglefree stool is easy to jump out of for a shot.
Most Versatile: Peregrine Field Gear Venture Bucket Pack
Specs
Weight: 6 pounds
Weight Rating: Unknown
Dimensions: 17”H x 13"W x 13"L
Materials: Insulated fabric shell with 5 gallon plastic bucket
Rotation: Silent 360 degrees
Pros
Extremely versatile
Turns a bucket into a cooler/backpack/chair
Quiet swivel
Shell pockets
Cons
No seat back
Every outdoors person should have a Venture Bucket Pack from Peregrine. The pack turns any 5-gallon bucket into a cooler and a backpack. It has large pockets for shotgun shell boxes, tackle boxes, lunch boxes, boxes of cookies, or any other kind of box for that matter. It also has an insulated pocket for a water bottle. Best of all, it comes with its own bucket.
The lid of the Venture Bucket pack swivels silently and is padded for a little comfort. The backpack straps are also of decent quality, and there’s some padding for your back when you’re carrying it. I was tempted to declare this the best blind stool for waterfowlers, but then I realized you could really use this chair for anything.
It’s perfect for dove hunts where you’ll bring a lot of shells and need a place to cool off your birds (and stash a few cold ones for after the hunt). It’s also great for deer hunters packing a lunch. You can even take it fishing and have a place to ice down fish. Best of all, when the bucket gets so gross you don’t even want to open it, you can just swap it for another one.
The Rest of the Best Blind Chairs
Muddy Swivel-Ease Ground Seat
Specs
Weight: 15 pounds
Weight Rating: 300 pounds
Materials: Steel with Flex-Tek fabric seat
Rotation: Silent 360 degrees
Pros
Relatively affordable
Quiet swivel
Removable arms
Not a lot of plastic to break
Cons
Heavy, not very portable
Assembly sucks
Narrow seat
No adjustability in the feet
Muddy’s Swivel-Ease Ground Seat definitely falls into the budget category of blind chairs. It does have a lot going for it, like a comfortable seat, padded arms, and a silent swivel. The chair folds up nicely for transport, and while you wouldn’t want to haul it through the woods on your shoulder, it would fit perfectly on the back of an ATV. It’s also not priced so high that you’re afraid to leave it in the woods, and it’s often on sale for under $100.
Assembling the Swivel-Ease was a lot like assembling a piece of Ikea furniture. It comes with a little wrench, but it's better if you bring your own. I found the chair base design to be sturdy, but there is no way to adjust the legs for uneven terrain. If you have a box blind with an even floor, I’d say this chair is a good fit.
I also found the seat to be a bit narrow (for comparison sake, I’m 6-foot-3 and around 175 pounds). This might be a dealbreaker for bigger hunters. The Swivel-Ease seat isn’t a bad buy, though. It’s a solid entry-level chair that would be a definite upgrade over a plastic lawn chair or whatever else you have in your blind.
Cheap Folding Blind Stool
Specifications
Weight: 4.5 pounds
Weight Rating: Unknown
Dimensions: 30”H x 13"W x 16"L
Materials: Steel and fabric
Rotation: None
Pros
Very cheap
Very light and portable
Cons
Not very comfortable
They can break
No swivel
I’ve been hunting out of a cheap foldable blind stool like this one for decades. The one I have now is made by Mossy Oak, but other companies like Ameristep and Cabela's make them, too. I can say from all of the time I’ve spent in one that they aren’t the most comfortable chairs out there. They do get the job done, though, and they’re extremely easy to pack into the woods or onto the marsh.
Adjusting the feet on a folding blind stool is an absolute no-go. That’s what rocks and sticks are for. But the little bag in the bottom is handy for things like candy bar wrappers and empty Mountain Dew bottles. The greatest thing about these chairs is that they’re really cheap and really easy to find. Just about any Wal-Mart has them, and they usually won’t set you back for more than a $20 bill.
I keep my blind stool in my canoe for run-and-gun duck hunts and usually pack one into the woods when hunting deer from a homemade blind. If you can’t afford any other blind chair on this list, get one of these, and you’ll probably use it for a long time.
How I Tested Blind Chairs
Well, I sat in them. This wasn’t the most exciting gear test I’ve ever conducted, but I did learn a lot. I did what I usually do every day, which is write at my computer—only this time I sat in a blind chair for the whole day. This gave me an idea of how comfortable the chairs would be for long all-day sits in a blind.
IMAGE: opener-1
Next, I packed the chairs around in their folded-up configuration. I wanted to see how easy they’d be to carry into the woods if you don’t bring them in on an ATV. I also set the chairs on uneven ground with a slight slope to evaluate how easy the chairs are to adjust to different terrain. Finally, I shot my bow from the chairs for the deer hunting chairs and jumped out of the waterfowl chairs with a shotgun to simulate hunting ducks.
Throughout the test, I made note of any quality issues, any noise the chairs made, and how easy they were to set up out of the box. I also gave extra points to lightweight chairs that were still comfortable and docked points from chairs that were clunky, heavy, and difficult to set up properly.
What To Look For in a Blind Chair
Comfort is first and foremost in a blind chair—especially a deer hunting chair. Sitting in a ground blind is a long game, and usually, the longer you can sit, the better you do. When you’re looking for a hunting blind chair, you need to be able to sit in it for hours.
IMAGE: opener-3
You should also consider how well the chair is made. A hunting blind chair will be exposed to different temperatures and constant moisture. Plastic eventually goes bad, and metal starts to rust and creak after a while. I prefer blind chairs to be made of aluminum with few plastic parts.
Last but not least is adjustability. Unless you hunt from a box blind, you’re probably going to set your hunting blind chair up on uneven ground. The old-school solution for a tippy chair was to dig, scrape, and place rocks under the feet to level it off. Today, nice blind chairs have adjustable legs. Those adjustments should be easy to make and sturdy once in place.
Final Thoughts
Is a premium hunting blind chair going to make or break your hunt? Probably not. You can gut it out on a bucket, on a stump, or the ground. And there are plenty of times to be a tough guy while hunting. I just don’t think sitting in a ground blind is one of those times. Quality hunting blind chairs make the mind-numbingly boring task of waiting for a deer more bearable. So treat yourself. Pick up one of these blind chairs, a Mr. Buddy heater, and a few bags of snacks. Sit back, relax, and wait for your buck.
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