With most gaming products, there are some clear benefits. For example, with a gaming mouse, you are getting more buttons and features. However, this isn’t true when it comes to gaming chairs. In fact, in our experience, gaming chairs aren’t worth it and here are a few reasons why.
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Gaming Chairs Aren’t Worth It Links
1. Useless Design
Ultimately, the bucket seat design that is common to gaming chairs is useless for an office environment. For comparison, we will be taking a closer look at the GT Racing chair, which retails for $110, and the Secret Lab Titan chair, which will cost you $500-$600. The Secret Lab chair is widely considered the best gaming chair on the market and while I agree with this assessment, it is still a problematic chair.
Gaming chairs were first designed to go with a racing simulator setup. That is why some of the first racing chairs are called DXRacer and NeedforSeat. The idea was to create the same feel you would have if you were driving a sports car. However, in an office environment, a gaming chair eliminates the ergonomic benefits of other chairs and creates a more uncomfortable experience.
Both chairs we will be looking at feature the typical bucket seat design with pronounced bolsters on the sides and flared up edges on the seat. While the seat appears wide, you are actually very restricted because of the padding which includes a rigid metal design. The sides of the seat are hard and not comfortable to lean on.
The same is true of the side bolsters on the seat back. Once again, you are very restricted. As a 5’9” individual, the bolsters actually hit me right in the shoulder and I can’t use the chair comfortably. When you upgrade to the more expensive Secret Lab chair, the problem is somewhat resolved because they did away with the metal in the seat. However, the back features the same restrictive design.
While the design may help to protect you when you are driving a racecar, it really does nothing but make you uncomfortable when used in an office setting.
2. Back Support
Simply put, there is a lack of overall back support. In both chairs, the back is completely flat and doesn’t offer any curve to naturally fit your back. Their solution for providing support on most models is to include a cheap pillow that is meant to give you lumbar support. Unfortunately, the pillow compresses easily and they tend to not stay in the same position. All the pillow really does is force you to sit in a forward position.
It is difficult to even sit all the way back in the chair for any lumbar support. Essentially, you have to force yourself back into the chair, which is just uncomfortable. If you invest in the more expensive Titan, you will get one of the only gaming chairs that comes with adjustable lumbar support. You can move the support up and down and in and out, which I love, but you still have to deal with a flat backrest.
3. Range of Movement
There has been a huge movement in the ergonomic chair industry to create more flexible chairs that allow you to move around and stretch while in the chair to encourage better circulation and comfort. With the bucket seat and rigid design of gaming chairs, you really don’t get any freedom of movement. You will be in a fixed position and the chair isn’t going to flex or bend at all.
4. Lack of Adjustments
A lack of adjustments is going to be a problem on most gaming-style chairs. Almost all the chairs come with a low-end mechanism. Typically you will get a center tilt or center tilt design, which means that you recline from a position directly under your seat. This makes it the most difficult mechanism to recline in. You have to put a lot more effort into reclining because there isn’t any weight distributed behind the cylinder.
In addition, without the synchro-tilt, your knees are raised up as you recline and they can hit your desk. With the Titan, there is an upgrade to a knee tilt, which is better, but still not the best in ergonomic technology.
We also found that most chairs lack a seat slider and headrests. You will be stuck with the depth of the seat. Instead of headrests, some chairs will come with a pillow for your head, but you won’t get any tilt features. Other specialized adjustments like forward seat tilt and two-way lumbar support simply aren’t found in gaming chairs.
5. Poor Warranty
Gaming chairs tend to come with poor warranties. For example, the GT chair only offers a 1-year warranty. The Secret Lab chair comes with just three years of coverage. In my opinion, both manufacturers also use a bit of a shady tactic to force customers into advertising the chairs. If you upload a picture of the chair with a review to social media, the companies will extend your warranty. The GT goes from one to two years and SecretLab goes up to five.
This is something we really only see with gaming chairs mainly because it is a poor business practice. Most reputable companies will simply provide the full warranty without the advertising. Ultimately, you are much better off spending your money on an ergonomic chair than a gaming chair.
Additional Gaming Chair Resources
