Oztent King Goanna HotSpot Chair Review: A Warm Back on a Cold Night, No Battery Needed

Oztent sent us this chair to review. They didn’t see this review before it went live.

You know the moment. The sun’s gone, the fire’s going, and the front of you is toasty while your back slowly turns to ice through the chair fabric. You end up shuffling closer to the flames, then further away, then reaching for another jumper.

The Oztent King Goanna HotSpot is a padded camp chair built to fix that. It’s not electric: there’s no battery and no USB cable. Instead, a reusable heat pouch slips into a pocket in the backrest, and you click a small metal disc to set it off. We used it on cool nights at home and by the fire to find out whether it actually keeps you warm, and whether it’s worth paying more than a plain padded chair.

The short version

It works. Click the pouch, slide it into the back pocket, and within seconds you can feel the warmth through the padding. On a cool night of around 12°C it kept our backs warm for about an hour, which is what Oztent says it should do. And even without the heat, this is a properly comfortable chair: roomy, stable, and with an adjustable lumbar strap that makes a real difference over a long evening.

The catch is the pouch. You get one, it lasts about an hour, and to use it again you have to boil it for around 10 minutes. That’s easy if the billy’s already on, and a hassle if it isn’t. Buy a spare pouch or two if you plan to sit out for more than an hour.

How the HotSpot works

The heat comes from a HotSpot pouch: a clear, flexible pack of sodium acetate solution with small metal discs inside. Click a disc and the liquid starts to crystallise, turning white and giving off heat as it goes. Oztent says the solution is non-toxic and each pouch can be reused up to 500 times.

The pouch lives in its own black cover bag and slides into a zip-up pocket at the top of the backrest. Oztent says the chair has four insulated pockets in total, so you can add more pouches if you buy them. Only one comes in the box.

How warm, and for how long?

This is the whole point of the chair, so it’s what we watched most closely.

The pouch heats up fast: it’s warm about 10 to 15 seconds after you click the disc. Slide it into the backrest pocket, lean back, and your back feels nicely warm through the padding.

On a cool night of around 12°C, it kept our backs comfortably warm for about an hour. That matches Oztent’s own claim of “up to 1 hour of warmth”. How long it feels warm for you will depend on how cold the night is and how often you get up: every time you leave the chair, the heat drifts off into the night air.

Not everyone has had the same luck. One customer on Snowys’ product page says their pouch stayed warm for “no more than about 5 minutes”, while Snowys itself replied that it should last 1 to 1.5 hours. Ours lasted far longer than five minutes. If yours goes cold that fast, contact Oztent.

We also sat in it by a fire at night, a sensible distance back from the flames. Keep it that way: it’s a padded fabric chair, and you don’t want sparks landing on it.

Resetting the pouch: the catch

Once the pouch has gone cold and solid, you reset it by boiling it. It took us about 10 minutes in boiling water. Oztent’s instructions say to keep the pouch in its cover bag, bring the water to the boil and then simmer for about 5 minutes, so ours sat at the longer end.

At home on the stove, that’s no trouble. At camp, it means firing up the burner and using water just to get another hour of heat. If you want warmth all evening, or for two people, spare pouches make more sense: Snowys had them for A$24.90 each when we checked.

Oztent and some retailers also say you can chill the pouch in the fridge or an esky to use it as a cold pack on a hot day. We didn’t try that.

Comfort and fit

Heat aside, this is a really comfortable chair. The seat is padded and there’s plenty of room to adjust and shift around.

The lumbar strap is the standout. You adjust it to sit in the small of your back, and it turns a soft, saggy camp chair into one you can sit in all evening without your lower back complaining.

The seat height worked for people from about 155 cm (5 ft 1) to 191 cm (6 ft 3). At about 183 cm (6 ft), it fit us perfectly. Snowys’ staff do point taller or heavier buyers towards Oztent’s King Kokoda, a taller, more structured chair, so if you’re well over six foot it’s worth comparing the two.

There’s a drink holder and a side pocket on the armrest. Oztent rates the chair for 200 kg; we didn’t test that.

Set-up, the bag and the car

It sets up in about two minutes, and packs down about as quickly. The frame folds like most camp chairs. Oztent says the headrest doubles as a storage pocket for the carry bag, so you don’t lose it at camp.

The bag zips shut instead of using a drawstring like most camp chair bags, which is a welcome change. Packed, it’s narrower than most padded camp chairs, so it slides in well with the rest of the gear. The zip itself feels a little flimsy, though. It should be fine as long as you keep dirt out of it and don’t force it shut over a bulging bag.

The chair is heavy, though. Oztent lists it at 6 kg, so it’s not one to carry far from the car.

Build and stability

The steel frame feels solid and well built. We sat in it on gravel and uneven ground and had no problems with it rocking or tipping.

We’ve only had it for a short while, so we can’t tell you how it holds up over years. Oztent’s warranty on the chair is 5 years (some retailers describe it as 2 years plus 3 more when you register it), and the pouch has its own, shorter warranty.

Specs

Figures are from Oztent and Snowys, not our own measurements.

How it compares

Next to a plain padded camp chair, the HotSpot gives you two things: the heat pouch and the adjustable lumbar strap. Both are worth having. If you only camp in summer, though, you’re paying for a heat pocket you’ll never use, and a cheaper padded chair will do.

For other options, from lightweight chairs to budget armchairs, see our guide to the best camping chairs in Australia.

Price and where to buy

The King Goanna HotSpot has an RRP of A$199.99. When we checked on 7 November 2026, Snowys had it for A$126, which is a big saving, and Supercheap Auto listed it at full price, A$199.99, as a special order. It’s also sold through Oztent’s own store.

At A$126 it’s a good price for a chair this comfortable, even before you count the heat. At full price, wait for a sale. Add A$24.90 for a spare HotSpot pouch if you plan to sit out longer than an hour.

Should you buy it?

Buy it if you camp in the cooler months, mostly from the car, and you’re tired of a cold back by the fire. The pouch gives you about an hour of real warmth without a battery, and the lumbar strap makes it really comfortable over a long evening.

Look elsewhere if you need a light chair to carry any distance, if you only camp in summer, or if boiling a pouch to get another hour of heat sounds like more fuss than it’s worth. If you’re very tall or heavily built, compare it with Oztent’s King Kokoda first.