Having to stand for long periods of time can be a drag, but so can carrying a full-size folding chair everywhere you go. The Sitpack Zen offers a telescoping one-legged alternative, and it's now being offered in a new-and-improved form.
Danish startup Sitpack first caught our attention back in 2014, when it successfully crowdfunded a portable seat of the same name. That device (which is still available as the Sitpack 2.0) is essentially a telescoping monopod with a section on top that folds out horizontally, forming a letter-T-shaped rig that you can sit on.
Three years later the company took things up a notch, with the introduction of the lighter, sleeker and cushier Zen. It looks more like a letter Y when deployed, with a nylon seat hanging hammock-style between the two folded-out aluminum arms (aka "wings") of the Y.
Now, Sitpack is back on Indiegogo with what is claimed to be a more robust and even comfier version of the Zen.
Like its predecessor, it takes the form of a capsule when not in use, with its leg telescoped all the way in and the two arms folded down along the sides. When it's time to sit, you just extend the leg to the desired height and fold the wings up/out to either side. Doing so causes an attached strap to pull the seat taut between them, ready to receive your butt.
On the new version of the Zen, the seat is both wider and softer. It now has a recycled HDPE (high-density polyethylene) flexible inner platform to support its larger footprint, which is covered with a quilted memory foam cushion. On the original Zen, the seat was pretty much just a length of nylon webbing the same width as the wings.
The new Zen additionally features a stronger and more durable thermoplastic mechanism for locking the leg tubes once they've been extended, reducing the chances of them slipping under the user's weight. The leg's rubber foot has reportedly also been made stronger, thanks to a new aluminum core.
Finally, when the leg is telescoped in and the wings are folded down, the whole shebang can be carried in a zippered pocket on the underside of the seat. That seat is now easier to remove from the wings thanks to a leverage-boosting "button" at one end.
Assuming the new Sitpack Zen reaches production, a pledge of US$69 will get you one with an anodized aluminum leg, while $97 is required for a carbon fiber model. The planned retail prices are $89 and $139, respectively.
Source: Indiegogo
