Review: Chill Bag - Bean Bags Bean Bag Chair, 5-Feet, Charcoal

• June 2, 2015
• James Skemp
• review

The following is a review of Chill Bag - Bean Bags Bean Bag Chair, 5-Feet, Charcoal, provided as part of the Amazon Vine program.

Massive

If there's only one thing I could say about the Chill Bag I would simply say that it's massive.

While the product name makes note of bean bags, the Chill Bag is instead filled with over 35 pounds of multi-colored pieces of foam, spread out over around 5 square feet, once fully expanded. This is definitely not your old bean bag chair from decades ago.

To some extent it's much softer, yet at times firmer, than the bean bag chairs of old. Yet with the change of material comes some pretty drastic differences. For one, you basically need to find a spot to put it, and let it take up the space. If you're in an apartment, like I am, then you may really miss the empty space you once had. This is primarily because of the weight of the Chill Bag, but the expanded size is also some concern. While I initially had it in one room, once it filled it I had to find another place for it and ran into a little difficulty getting it out of the room's door.

But, once you've found a space for it you're in for a relatively comfortable seat. Yet, the firmness doesn't necessarily last for the longest of time, unless you're okay moving around every hour or so. I ended up watching Pacific Rim, as well as over 45 minutes of bonus features, getting up at times to grab more food and beverage. By the time I called it quits I was sitting pretty close to the floor and had most of the foam pieces over to one side. Yet it was a relatively comfortable sit. (I'm around 5 foot 8 or 9.)

On the other hand, I've found that I ended up in my Papasan much more frequently than this. While they both provide a similar seat, to some extent, the Papasan's support was a consistent firmness, and being elevated lead to better interactions with the things around me. I'd use the Chill Bag for a bit, but ultimately end up sitting on something else for extended periods.

So, I'm torn. Maybe the Chill Bag just isn't for me. It's comfortable, but I like the firmness of other chairs/seats. The cover feels great, and I like that it can easily be removed and washed. I feel like if I still had a cat, or had a dog, that I wouldn't be worried about them breaking the seal around the foam. But as an apartment dweller, the size and weight really limit what I can do with it, and where I can put it.

So personally I have to give the Chill Bag 3 of 5 stars. If I had a much larger living room to put it in, or some sort of family or rec room, I would probably give it another star. But I don't, so I can't.

One final note: I asked about being able to recompress this so as to easily move it around. Within a few days the company behind this responded as follows:

"Unfortunately there is no easy way to re-compress our products without a very high draw commercial vacuum. Some companies do offer large plastic bags that could be used to recompress the products using something like a standard shop vac however you run the risk of burning out the motor in your vacuum so we don't recommend doing that. The good news is that unlike a couch, the product has no rigid corners which enables it to fit into small cars/odd spaces in the moving truck that traditional furniture would not fit."

Props to them on the quick response, but something to keep in mind, especially if you're the type to move around a bit (so this might not be the best for college students).

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