Chair Comparisons
Static Weight Limit
The issue of static weight limits is a weighty one! Australia has no Standard for what should be the Static Weight Limit on a chair. So the Irish sage Rafferty has been the general decider of Static Weight limits in Australia under Rafferty’s Rules i.e. the typical Irish way of no rules at all. In many cases, it just became a stupid auction as to who could invent the highest dodgy number.
[The photo here is Bill, our Managing Director, weighing in at about 90 kilos, plus 200 kilograms of cement, on one of our Lumbar Chairs rated at 130 kilos! The chair was subsequently put in our reception area and used for many years.]
By definition, Static Weight limits are for static weights only (that is the weight of someone sitting in the chair). It does not mean the weight of someone falling into the chair from three metres away. Nor does it mean flopping into the chair or standing on the chair as these actions can dramatically increase the force on the chair. If you flop into a chair, directly downwards, at say 2 km/hour (less than half walking speed) then you. effectively, triple the weight on the chair. Your weight, on a set of bathroom scales, might be, say 80 kilos. Your ‘plonk’ weight would be 240 kilos!!! If you are 100 kilos, effectively you are subjecting the chair to 300 kilos. If you hit the chair at an angle the downward weight is less but the horizontal shearing forces are immense.
The weight limit also applies only when the chair has been set up correctly, used on level, even ground and not used to rock back on. 80 kilos on four legs is 20 K per leg. On two legs it is 40 kilos per leg – effectively testing the chair to have a 160 Kg weight limit. More importantly, the chair is, essentially, designed to withstand weight vertically downwards. The chair has almost no bracing against forces acting horizontally, front to back.
The weight limits used by Outdoor Connection are the limits quoted by our Manufacturers who use a variety of testing procedures. An example of such a test is the European Standard EN581.
Your main guide should be to check the actual specifications. Check the overall weight of the chair. If the chairs are similar styles and sizes then the actual weight of the chair should be a fair guide as to its overall quality. In more detail, check the steel tube diameter and wall thickness; the weight of fabrics.
Sit in the chair and see how close your backside sinks to the ground and how comfortable you feel after five or ten minutes. In many chairs, by that stage, your knees are higher than your ears!!! You don’t go to your campsite and sit in your chair for thirty seconds at a time – unless you are a very quick drinker!!!!!
We try to provide you with as much information as possible about our products so you can ‘see the difference’ Note that our information is not as complete as we would like yet, so if you have any questions please contact us. In doing this we are not trying to rubbish another product. We are simply pointing out the relative good quality of our product.
Outdoor Connection – Quality you can see, feel and trust
