Sitpack is lighting crowdfunding on fire once again. About a year after rolling to victory with a $336,000 campaign for its Octo titanium carabiner multitool, the Danish company finds itself in the midst of an even more successful six-figure campaign. This one’s for the Campster 2, a faster, lower version of the original ultra-portable Campster. The new iteration packs down to the size of a water bottle, all but sets itself up in five seconds flat, and provides a comfortable place to plop up to 300 pounds (136 kg) of man (or gal) flesh and bones, anywhere on or off the map.
The Octo tool seemed like a bit of an anomaly for Sitpack, as the company has always been hyper-focused on making the act of sitting as portable and universal as possible. It started off with a super-compact deployable stool before going full legs up, backside down with the original Campster.
An ultralight chair built to carry into the middle of nowhere for a long, isolated sit, the original Campster was a mid-pandemic product if ever we’ve seen one. Now that the pandemic is over, campers and adventurers don’t have to stray so far from the car or cabin and can maybe afford a little extra weight.
The new Campster 2 adds about 1.2 lb (544 g) of weight over the Campster with a four-legged aluminum frame that looks stabler than the original tripod base. It also sits lower to the ground with a 12-in (30.5-cm) seat height and has a squarer, bucket-style seat reminiscent of other low, foldable chairs, such as those from CLIQ. That lower height may or may not prove an advantage depending upon preference – we like a lower chair when using a dug-in fire pit but a higher chair with an above-ground fire pit or ring.
The Campster 2’s lower frame also makes for faster set-up. The frame quickly unfolds and deploys into shape, bringing the chair fabric with it. It goes from travel pack to chair in a mere five seconds, twice as quickly as the original Campster. When it’s time to move, the 3.2-lb (1.5-kg) Campster 2 packs down into a 13.7-in-long (35-cm) travel form that Sitpack compares to the size of a 1.5-L water bottle.
Sitpack is running a Campster 2 Kickstarter campaign, offering the chair at pledge levels as low as US$59. It’s also offering $129 bundles that include accessories like an insulated seat cover for cold-weather warmth and a ground sheet that attaches to all four feet to prevent them from sinking into sand or other soft ground. So far, the campaign has raised more than 20 times its goal and is nearing $500,000. If everything continues moving along successfully, the company will begin shipping in the heart of the Northern Hemisphere summer season in July.
Sitpack chases cheeks with go-anywhere 5-second camping chair [New Atlas]