Rating

Durability: 6

Comfort: 3

Portability: 6

Features: 4

Setup/Packdown: 6

OVERALL: 5

A five-position chair with somewhere to stick your face.

There's definitely a sense of attempted innovation with the Ostrich OYB-1003S Back Chair (not to mention a catchy name... try saying that ten times fast). We're not 100% sure where we land on the face and arm cavities in this design that make tanning your back slightly easier, but not necessarily 100% comfortable... but it gets points for trying, as well as its solid construction.

Comparison

Rank: #9

Open Size: Low and small

Packed Size: Small but Heavy

Weight: Heavy

Capacity: High

Pros: The only chair we reviewed that offers a level of comfort for lying on your front, folds up neatly.

Cons: The angle when lying on your front isn't quite right, not super comfortable when sitting, heavy.

Verdict: The top pick for the very specific crowd who mainly want a beach chair for lying on their front.

Skip ahead to First Impressions, Transportability, Sitting, or the Final Verdict, or check out how the Ostrich OYB-1003S Back Chair compares to others in our list of the Top Ten Beach Chairs.

Specs:

Open Size: 46 x 27 x 33cm

Packed Size: 71cm x 48cm x 41cm

Weight: 4.8kg

Capacity: 145kg

Approx Price: $120

Ostrich’s innovative chair folds up into a neat package and appears durable. The grain of the material is reasonably sturdy, but not so rough as to be uncomfortable, and the frame is well put together. The stitching’s even for the most part, although there were two places on our chair where the stitching was slightly frayed at the end - not enough to suggest that it would unravel.

The chair comes in a range of eye-popping colours - bright blue, red, yellow and pink - but we opted for the more traditional white-and-navy stripe pictured. It’s an attractive chair if you can look past the holes on the back - which after all, do serve a function.

At 4.8kg the Ostrich OYB is getting towards the heavier end of the spectrum - and when you’re hefting a couple of beach chairs, towels, a picnic lunch and an inflatable flamingo down to the sand, every little bit counts!

Having said that, the biggest issue with carrying this is the level of comfort - the backpack straps provided aren’t super comfortable, and one of the support bars is right in the middle of your back, running horizontally just below the shoulder blades. It’s not the most pleasant carrying experience.

In terms of sitting upright in the chair, we found it had a decent level of comfort, but was definitely not as comfortable as some of the others we tried. The armrests are well placed, the chair’s a good height from the sand, and there are no hard parts of the frame that dig into you while sitting. We thought the arm-holes in the back of the chair would be uncomfortable when sitting, but they were surprisingly fine.

We did however find that the padding around the headrest wasn’t 100% successfully hidden by the cover - it did stick into the back of our head a bit and wasn’t pleasant.

And then there’s what this chair was designed for, which is laying on your front. Let’s start with the positives - there are holes for your face and arms, so you can for instance put a magazine on the sand in front of you and be able to turn the pages. It’s definitely more comfortable for your neck than laying on a towel with your head turned to one side.

Think of it like a less comfortable massage table - less comfortable, because your legs have to dangle down off the end and onto the sand, and you do feel the front of the chair digging into them. There’s also the matter of whether you want to spend a long time with your face surrounded by what feels like PVC, which can get pretty hot on a warm day at the beach.

We’re really undecided about where we stand on this chair. Other than the headrest, it’s not uncomfortable to sit on, is easy enough to carry if you’re only taking it a short distance, and is a decent quality construction. We’re not sure it’s for us, but for the hardcore back sunbathers who are determined to get some tummy time it’s an innovative approach, and that’s why it’s made our list of the Top Ten Beach Chairs.

Water & Outdoors reviews are written by our staff writers, who combined have over fifty years of experience on the water and outdoors. We may earn commissions if you choose to buy through a link you’ve clicked on our website, however this does not influence our reviews. For more information, please see our Editorial Policies.