The Takeaway:
1. Our Pick: RST Cannes Chaise Loungers
2. Runner-Up: Tangkula Rattan Outdoor Lounger
3. Value Pick: Abba Patio Double Chaise Lounge Hammock
Do you weigh more than the average person, or do you regularly entertain guests who do? Are you in the market for great quality outdoor furniture (lounge chairs) that looks amazing and is built strong enough to support heavier folks properly?
You will like what you read in our latest roundup review if you answered yes to both questions. We understand how frustrating it can be to find furniture if you’re heavier than average. We wrote this piece to help remove the frustration and hair-pulling from the equation.
In preparation for this review, we searched the internet for the best high-weight capacity outdoor lounge chairs currently being sold. We identified several good prospects and then began comparing them against each other.
A clear winner emerged throughout that process, and we’ll introduce you to our top pick in just a moment. Before we do that, though, let’s start by taking a high-altitude look at our overall winner and the various high-weight capacity outdoor loungers it competes against to give you a preview of what’s to come.
Author’s Note: Like the others in this series, this roundup is of personal interest to me because I am the target market here. At 6’6” tall and 340 pounds, most of the furniture on the market today is too small and lightly constructed to be of any real use to me.
While it’s certainly true that I wrote this review thinking of everyone in my situation, I also wrote it for myself. As someone who will soon be buying property and with an interest in outdoor furniture, my plan from the start has been to use this roundup review as a guide and blueprint for myself, so I wanted to make sure it was as complete and thorough as I could make it. For all of us.
Comparison Table
Primary Rating:
4.4
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Primary Rating:
4.3
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Primary Rating:
4.1
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Overall Dimensions:
82” L x 28.5” W x 19” H
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Overall Dimensions:
78.7” L x 25.2” W x 27.2” H
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Overall Dimensions:
6.54’ L x 5.75’ W x 1’ H
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Chair Weight:
28 pounds each
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Chair Weight:
31 pounds
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Chair Weight:
55 pounds
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Max. Supported Weight:
400 pounds
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Max. Supported Weight:
400 pounds
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Max. Supported Weight:
500 pounds
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Pros:
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Pros:
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Pros:
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Cons:
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Cons:
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Cons:
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Our Verdict:
Well worth the added expense. These are highly Recommended.
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Our Verdict:
This one is too good and visually appealing to pass on. We recommend it.
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Our Verdict:
Provisionally Recommended.
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- Beautifully designed and well-constructed. Proprietary upholstery is extremely long-lasting and weather resistant. Top-quality and well-constructed.
- Pricey. Only sold in pairs
- Good looking chair. Top-quality construction. Offered by a great company. Stunning design. Second highest weight limit of our finalists.
- Not everyone is a fan of rattan furniture. Not adjustable. A bit more expensive than many of its peers.
- Highest supported weight limit in its class. Fantastic, quirky, fun product that’s really in a class by itself. Delightfully comfortable.
- Offered by a relatively unknown brand. A very self-selecting product that you’ll either fall all over yourself to get, or be totally unimpressed by.
Our Selection Criteria
As the title of this roundup review indicates, our primary focus and main criteria were to find outdoor loungers that could support a lot of user weight. Unfortunately, “high weight capacity” means different things to different people. It’s too ‘squishy’ a term to be useful, so our first order of business was to put some specificity to it.
In our case, and given that most of the furniture being sold today supports around 300 pounds of user weight, we arbitrarily decided that our minimum threshold would be 400 pounds. Naturally, the more weight a given chair could support, the better, but 400 pounds served as the minimum standard to even be considered.
Beyond that, we wanted to find loungers that offered solid value for the money and were offered by companies with a good reputation for quality and post-sales service and support.
After that, we turned to matters of aesthetics. We wanted to find ruggedly built chairs that were stylish and distinctive. Granted, this last piece didn’t carry as much weight as the rest, but it was definitely on our radar.
Taken together, those considerations defined the shape and direction of our analysis. Granted, many of those factors are at least somewhat subjective. So, as you read this review, you may reach a different conclusion and ultimately settle on a different top pick than we did.
That’s okay—it’s a good thing, and it’s exactly why we’re including detailed notes on all the products we evaluated. Having said that, let’s introduce you to them now.
Our Pick: RST Cannes Chaise Loungers
Recommended For: Anyone weighing up to 400 pounds in the market for at least two loungers (since you can only buy them in pairs).
On paper, our top pick appears to be vastly more expensive than every other chair on our list of finalists of the best high-weight capacity outdoor lounge chairs. That’s because you can’t buy just one of these. The company only sells them in pairs. A significant percentage of the time, that’s not a huge deal. After all, symmetry matters in outdoor décor, and buying two of the same chair helps maintain that symmetry.
Sometimes, though, you want just one chair, and if that’s your situation, the fact that you can’t get just one might be an outright deal-breaker. Your only real options are to look for something else or go halfway with someone who wants just one.
In any case, assuming that this fact doesn’t make you skip over the rest of this review, let’s take a quick look at the core stats that define these chairs. Here they are:
These loungers are longer than any other in this review, making them a fantastic choice for taller users. With a seat width of 26”, even if you’re quite close to the chair’s upper weight limit, you should have no problems fitting comfortably into it.
Even better, if you want a pair of these, you can order yours in a modest selection of colors that range from neutral to bold, making it easy to do all sorts of fun things with these chairs. Get a neutral color, and they’ll blend politely into the background. Get an eye-popping color, and you could easily turn these into the focal point of your backyard.
Aesthetically, they’re gorgeous chairs, with their sweeping, gracefully curved arms and legs creating a cradle for the lounger to sit in. Of course, they are highly adjustable, too. It’s a trivial matter to change the angle of reclining, finding your sweet spot for reading, watching family and friends play in the pool, or a bit of leisurely outdoor napping if the mood strikes.
Note the weight of these, however. This is one thing that differentiates a beach lounger from one designed for use at home. Beach loungers tend to be light enough to collapse and take with you. In theory, you could do that with these, but they’re heavy enough that your back will protest if you have any distance to carry them, so it’s not recommended.
These chairs are upholstered in a proprietary outdoor fabric called ‘Sunbrella,’ created from a polyester filament. It stands up very well to the elements and to direct sun and dries quickly if you get it wet, making it an excellent material for outdoor use.
The padding is 3” thick, which falls short of luxury but is still delightful. It makes it easy to spend several hours at a stretch in the chairs. They also come with headrest pillows. Both the seat pad and the headrest pillow attach to the chair with Velcro strips, a simple but effective means of keeping them in place.
Best of all, if you decide that these are the loungers you’ve been looking for, you’ll have to take them out of the box, put them where you want them, unfold them, and stretch them out.
The production quality is quite high, and with proper care, these loungers will provide you and your family with years of reliable service. They are more expensive than most of their peers, but this is a case of getting what you pay for. RST is an excellent company that offers great post-sales support, and these chairs are built to last. Given that, we highly recommend them, on the expensive side or not.
Runner-Up: Tangkula Rattan Outdoor Lounger
Recommended For: Anyone looking for a sleek and stylish lounger that can support up to 440 pounds.
Where our top pick sports gracefully curved arms and legs, Tangkula’s rattan lounger takes the notion of curves to a new level. It features a delightful S-shaped curve in the chair, supported by stubby hardwood legs.
The wrinkle? This is a rattan lounger, and unfortunately, not everyone is a fan of rattan. It looks great, but it has a very specific aesthetic, which means it may not blend in as well or as seamlessly with some outdoor décor schemes. You’ll have to assess your outdoor décor to decide whether a lounger like this would be a good fit. If it is, you’ll probably fall in love with this chair. If not, you’ll likely be underwhelmed and unimpressed and give it a pass.
Having said that, and assuming your interest is piqued, let’s take a moment to review the stats that define the model. Here are the basics:
While this chair is shorter than our top pick, the difference in overall length is quite marginal, so it is still a solid choice for most taller users. The chair also supports nominally more weight, making it slightly more versatile.
The seat is wide enough that, in most cases, you won’t have to worry about fitting comfortably into the chair, but as we mentioned above, if you weigh close to the maximum supported weight limit, it pays to take a quick measurement to be sure you and the chair are a good match before you spend any money.
Even better, it collapses into a fairly small package for storage or transport. Fair warning: Like our top pick, this is NOT the chair you want to try to lug to the beach.
The chair weighs more than thirty pounds, and of course, if you’re planning a day at the beach, you’ve undoubtedly got lots of other gear to take with you. Even if you have a very strong back, it’s just too big a piece of furniture to tote around with you like that.
There are two big things to remember about this chair: It’s not adjustable. Most people like the curve of the chair just fine, but if you do not, there’s nothing you can do about it.
Second, rattan isn’t the most comfortable material to lounge on, so you’ll probably want to invest in a seat pad. The good thing is that you can make this lounger as comfortable as you want. The bad news is that it’s an added expense.
Finally, note that there is some confusion on the Amazon sales page about whether or not the chair requires assembly. The definitive answer is no. If you order one, it will arrive in a giant box, collapsed but fully assembled. Just put it where you want, unfold, and stretch out. That’s all there is to it.
This is one of the sharpest-looking loungers on the market today, and we say that as people who aren’t big fans of rattan furniture. Tangkula is an excellent company, and the production quality of this chair is top-notch. Despite its limitations (it’s rattan, and you’ll probably want to spend extra to buy a pad), we recommend this chair. It’s that good.
Value Pick: Abba Patio Double Chaise Lounge Hammock
Recommended For: Anyone weighing up to five hundred pounds. These things are just cool.
Although it’s not the highest-ranked product on our list of finalists of the best high-weight capacity outdoor lounging chairs, this one is our favorite. It’s an interesting, great-looking, unique product that blurs the lines: one-part outdoor daybed, oversized chaise lounge, and one-part hammock. It doesn’t fit neatly into any one box, and it doesn’t matter because it’s pure awesome (but sadly, no, it’s not offered by the band with the same name).
Let’s continue as we’ve been doing and start by doing a quick stats review. Here are the basics:
These are great numbers. It’s a big, roomy hammock/bed thing that’s fun to lounge around. Even better, it will comfortably accommodate people up to about 6’5” or 6’6” (with no room to spare), and then there’s the weight limit.
At 500 pounds, the weight limit is best in class, but there’s a catch: As a double-sized lounger, this product was technically designed for two. If you’re a heavier individual, you’ll almost certainly need to use this product solo, but even so, it can support more weight than anything else we evaluated for this review.
At 55 pounds, it’s heavy enough that you won’t have to worry about it being blown around or knocked over by strong winds. Given its size, if you decide to move it to another part of your deck, porch, or patio, you’ll almost certainly want to enlist the aid of a helper to handle the move.
Granted, it’s got two wheels, which makes moving it about fairly easy. Nonetheless, the second pair of hands will help with steering, and the second pair of eyes can help ensure you don’t run into or knock something over.
There’s nothing adjustable about this product, but it is surprisingly comfortable. It feels like you’re lying in a hammock, but a hammock on a frame won’t collapse in and around you when you settle into it.
In addition, it has modestly padded pillows held in place with a strip of Velcro and a canopy that hangs over the top third or so of the bed, keeping your upper body shaded.
The canopy is a great touch, but we view the pillows with this lounger as the starting point. With this thing as the centerpiece, you’ll almost certainly want to buy a few (or even several) more throw pillows to create your little den of decadent outdoor comfort. The good news is that this lounger doesn’t cost much, so you’ll have plenty of cash to invest in all the pillows you want!
Naturally, a big product like this will arrive at your door in a big box and unassembled, so you’ll have to spend time putting it together. Even though an off-brand offers it, the production quality is surprisingly high, and the assembly instructions are clear. It goes together quickly and easily.
The only real drawback with this lounger is that it’s almost entirely self-selecting. You’re either going to take one look at it and decide you’ve got to have one (like we did!), or you’re going to scratch your head trying to figure out what the heck this thing is, exactly, and decide it’s not for you. We provisionally recommend it on that basis, but we’ll add that if you decide to get one, you’ll love it!
Also Great
Goplus Outdoor Orbital Zero-G Lounger
Recommended For: Anyone weighing up to 400 pounds and is a fan of the futuristic aesthetic this design offers.
Our fourth-place winner is the lowest-priced option on our list of finalists for the best high-weight capacity outdoor lounger. If money is tight and you’re looking for a great poolside or porch lounger, this one should be on your shortlist.
The first thing you’ll notice about it, the thing you really can’t help noticing about it, is that it boasts a fun, futuristic design. That’s both a good thing and a bad thing. If you’re a fan of the aesthetic and given its modest price tag, you’ll probably be persuaded to buy it for the look alone. If you’re not, you’ll give this one a pass, no matter how cool it is or how much money it would save you.
Before we say more than that, let’s do a quick review of the chair’s stats:
These numbers aren’t as good as others we’ve seen. While the seat height marks this as a chair designed for big and tall users, the length of the chair doesn’t support that notion. This is the shortest lounger in the entire review.
While the chair supports an impressive 400 pounds of user weight, the seat width is underwhelming. If you weigh anywhere close to the chair’s upper supported weight limit, you’ll need to take a quick measurement to be sure you’ll fit comfortably into it.
Assuming those things aren’t deal-breakers, you’ll find much to like here. You can order your Goplus lounger in either grey or pale green, which gives you one neutral and one eye-popping color, depending on whether you want this chair to fade into the background or be a focal point in your outdoor décor scheme.
Note that given its bold, futuristic design, this chair will likely stand out even if you opt for a neutral color. It’s not a design that lends itself well to fading politely into the background.
Comfort-wise, this chair offers much more than first meets the eye. It’s clad in weather-resistant fabric that’s surprisingly breathable. Second, it boasts a detachable headrest pillow that measures 7.5″ W x 6.5″ L, clad in the same type of fabric. The pillow isn’t plush, but it has an inch and a half padding, sufficient for a comfortable lounging experience.
The real surprise is that the seat is designed so that any time you settle into it, it will recline sufficiently so that your knees wind up slightly higher than your heart, putting you in a Zero-G seating position.
Zero-G seating is a powerful ergonomic feature inspired by NASA that’s as comfortable as it is for your back and circulation. It’s rare to use the phrases’ backyard lounge chair’ and ‘good for your back’ in the same sentence. However, this is a surprisingly well-implemented feature, especially given that Goplus is a relatively small, unknown brand. Kudos to the design team for that!
Note that when this chair arrives at your door, you will have to do a bit of assembly before you can start using it. This amounts to positioning the rings and interlacing them to create the cradle the seat fits into and affixing it. The process takes mere minutes, and beyond that, there’s nothing else to do. Just stretch out and enjoy.
This model has far more positives than negatives, but the negatives are fairly significant. The aesthetic will put some people off, and some measurements may make the chair a deal-breaker for you. We can only give it a provisional recommendation, but we think you’ll like it if it fits you well.
Walcut Garden Patio Chaise Lounger
Recommended For: Anyone weighing up to 400 pounds who’s in the market for a good quality lounger and who loves the natural beauty that wooden furniture offers.
We didn’t feel that our roundup review would be complete without giving a brief shout-out to the Garden Lounger offered by Walcut. We’d be surprised if you’d heard of the brand before. Like Abba, they don’t have a large presence in the market, but they make quietly awesome furniture.
This is the only wooden lounger on our list, which is rare. Most loungers have tubed steel or powdered aluminum frames. A few are made of rattan or other materials, but almost none are made from wood. You will love this chair if you love wood furniture and its natural beauty.
As an all-wood piece, it’s a blank slate. You can do anything with it. Leave it ‘naked’ (except for applying a couple of coats of protectant, of course) if you prefer the natural look. Paint it. Stain it. The sky’s the limit, making it easy to blend this chair in with your outdoor décor scheme, whatever it might be.
The drawback is that few people will want to spend significant amounts of time stretched on a wooden lounge chair, so this one cries out for adding a full-length pad. You can make it as comfortable as you like, and if you’re willing to spend a little more, you can even spring for a memory foam pad, making it luxurious indeed. Add a pillow as a headrest, and you’re in business.
Of course, doing this will hide the wood’s natural beauty, so it comes down to how important comfort is to you.
Before we go further, let’s take a moment to review the basic stats that define the chair. Here they are:
It’s not the longest lounger on our list, but it is delightfully long. If you’re exceptionally tall, it may not be long enough, so it’s worth considering your height before committing to a purchase.
The chair is wide enough that even if you’re close to its maximum supported weight, you shouldn’t have any problems fitting comfortably into it.
This model also features a surprise that will delight you. It comes with a pull-out table for snacks, a convenient place to put a cold drink, or a place to set the book you’re reading if you decide it’s time for a leisurely nap in the sun. The pull-out table measures 9.84” wide and 12.6” long, which isn’t huge but certainly big enough to be useful.
Note that this chair isn’t designed for those interested in instant gratification. It comes mostly, but not completely assembled, but we regard that as a good thing. Even if you don’t want to paint or stain it, you’ll still need to apply a weather seal or some other protectant to it, and the best time to do that is before you put it together.
That’s also true if you want to paint or stain it. You’re better off doing that before you perform the assembly, and depending on exactly what you want to do with it, that process could soak up a few days before you’re finally ready to put the chair together, put it where you want it, and start enjoying it.
Indeed, this chair isn’t everyone’s top choice, but it’s a fantastic option for the right person. We provisionally recommend it based on that.
You Might Want to Consider…
Lounge chairs come in all shapes and sizes; this isn’t the only roundup review we’ve done of them. We have an entirely separate roundup for the best high-weight-capacity beach chairs that you’ll want to look at before making a final decision. Note that not all of the chairs in this review are loungers, but there are a few additional options that might be of interest to you.
The key difference between the loungers you’ll find in that review and the ones in this one is that beach loungers are designed to be lighter and more portable, making them easier to carry. There’s no reason, however, that you couldn’t use them on your deck, porch, or pool, so pack them up and take them to the beach when the mood strikes!
If you didn’t find exactly what you were looking for here, the beach chair roundup is worth looking at.
Final Thoughts: Best High-Weight Capacity Outdoor Lounge Chair Roundup Review
So, what’s the best high-weight capacity outdoor lounge chair on the market today? Ultimately, the answer is, ‘it depends.’ We stand by the RST Cannes Chaise Lounger as the best chair overall, even though it’s a bit expensive and you have to buy it in pairs.
We understand, however, that everyone’s tastes and preferences are different, and you may have reached a different conclusion than we did. Here, then, are a few reasons one of the other chairs might be a better fit for you:
There are no right answers here. In the end, it comes down to your tastes and preferences. The key question, then, is, ‘What’s the best high-weight capacity outdoor lounge chair for you?’ We are fairly certain that You’ll find your new favorite lounge chair somewhere in this roundup review.
Recommended Reading
High Weight Capacity Outdoor Furniture Sets Review
Our roundup review reveals the best high-weight capacity outdoor furniture sets today.
High Weight Capacity Outdoor Rocking Chairs Review
Discover the best high-weight capacity outdoor rocking chair on the market today in our comprehensive lineup.
REFERENCES & RESOURCES
- How to Care for Sunbrella Fabrics, Ballard Designs.
- Can Rattan Furniture Be Used Outdoors?, SF Gate.
- 12 Different Types of Patio Chairs, Home Stratosphere.
- How to Tell If Wood Furniture Is Worth Refinishing, DIY Network.
- How to Clean and Scotchguard Outdoor Sunbrella Fabric Cushions, Dengarden.