Five things I need to tell you before you buy your first gaming chair
Secure, comfortable, and earns you severe gamer cred. That is the dream for any gaming chair buy. I cannot promise you’ll essentially earn the respect of your friends for sitting on a gilded racing-style seat to play The Finals or Stardew Valley, however I can not less than assist you decide a comfortable and secure throne utilizing my years of expertise.
I’ve been testing gaming chairs for over seven years. The whole lot from famous gaming manufacturers corresponding to Secretlab and Noblechairs, to workplace maestros corresponding to Herman Miller. In that point, gaming chairs have gone from the butt of the joke to the de facto furnishings for individuals to play PC video games on. There is a good motive for that. The standard of gaming chairs has, typically, elevated. Although not each producer bought the memo. There’s nonetheless quite a lot of junk on the market.
If you merely need to know which gaming chair is not any.1 proper now, I preserve a fastidiously curated listing of the very best gaming chairs. Nevertheless, for this text I’m going to run down what it’s I look out for in a gaming chair when judging its worthiness, and the recommendation I want I’d had before I ever began sitting my butt on these things professionally.
So, these 5 things I need to tell you before you buy your first gaming chair:
- If a deal looks too good to be true, it probably is
- Adjustable armrests are handy, mega-reclining chairs aren’t
- You don’t need a headrest but lumbar support is a must
- Quality pays, in the long run
- The best chair for you isn’t necessarily a gaming chair
Written by…
Written by…
Jacob Ridley
Managing editor, {hardware}
I’ve been plonking myself on gaming chairs for over seven years now. Professionally, I may add. Meaning I’m properly versed in what makes a gaming chair good and what makes a gaming chair very, very unhealthy.
1. Huge offers
(Picture credit score: Amazon US)
If a deal appears to be like too good to be true, it most likely is
We’re headed into a serious offers occasion with Black Friday on November 29, 2024. Meaning we’ll see a heap of offers on gaming chairs round that point. In actual fact, we’re already looking out for the very best early Black Friday gaming chair offers proper now. And sure, that is a shameless plug. My level is just not to devalue these offers as something however stable—we solely advocate genuinely good merchandise—however ensure that you know what not to buy.
If a gaming chair appears massively cheaper than ones we advocate, it is most likely for good motive.
Over time, I’ve had the misfortune of sitting in a couple of extraordinarily low-cost gaming chairs. From the pictures proven on-line, they give the impression of being as a lot a gaming chair as every other. But my first impressions are often the identical:
“This is small.”
“This is uncomfortable.”
The backrests on the most cost effective are skinny, exhausting and never properly padded. The armrests are often non-adjustable, which implies you will not ever give you the option to get your self into essentially the most snug place for your desk setup.
You may nonetheless buy an inexpensive gaming chair and get one thing respectable for your cash. Our greatest finances gaming chair decide is the Corsair TC100 Relaxed. Usually discounted under $200, and certain shall be once more this Black Friday, the TC100 comes with a head pillow, 2D armrests, and a smart measurement. It is nonetheless clearly on the extra finances finish of the spectrum, the shortage of 4D armrests is a miss, however it simply goes to present you can buy respectable consolation and high quality for much less.
2. Armrests and recliners
(Picture credit score: Future)
Adjustable armrests are helpful, mega-reclining chairs aren’t
Constructing on my final level, you need a chair with adjustable armrests on the very least. That is not simply me being choosy, it is an vital consideration if you intend to arrange your desk accurately for good posture. I realize it sounds foolish, however we now have a information on how to sit at a desk, which outlines precisely what angles your elbows and arms ought to sit at for the very best posture.
You do not essentially need armrests in any respect for good posture. Your arms can naturally float simply above the place they need to be. Nevertheless, low-cost gaming chairs with fastened, sloped armrests which might be inadequately positioned for you are asking for hassle right here. Too excessive and you’re proscribing the place your arms sit in relation to your desk. Too low and so they is likely to be no use to you in any respect for resting on.
Admittedly, armrests that fold midway like these pictured above on the AndaSeat Kaiser 4 XL is likely to be a bit too over-the-top.
What’s not so sensible is a chair that bends all the best way again. Recline is an usually championed spec on most gaming chairs, however I have to say after the speedy comedic whoosh backwards the first time I elevate my chair’s recline lever, I hardly ever ever contact it once more. A small quantity of adjustment to the backrest angle makes a pleasant change between upright work time and a extra leisurely, reclined gaming time. Although I by no means hassle going very far again—nonetheless a lot Secretlab may need me to begin sleeping in my chair.
Recline is likely to be a function extra wanted by these enjoying with a controller for almost all of their video games, however I discover sitting at a gaming desk with a keyboard and mouse means there’s solely a lot recline my physique can take before I’m slouching with my again in completely the improper place. It isn’t ergonomic, and to be trustworthy I do not discover it very snug. Some chairs may brag about how far again they’ll go, however I’d slightly give attention to different things.
3. Lumbar help
(Picture credit score: Future)
You do not need a headrest however lumbar help is a should
You is likely to be stunned to hear that a few of the comfiest chairs I’ve ever used lack a headrest. The Herman Miller Embody I’ve been a giant fan of, a really costly chair certainly, lacks a headrest. The Razer Fujin Professional I reviewed extra just lately and nonetheless use in PC Gamer’s workplace is arguably comfier with out its included headrest.
Nevertheless, each respectable gaming chair I’ve examined has finished one factor properly: lumbar help.
Some extra premium chairs will supply adjustable lumbar help embedded into the backrest of the chair. That is the answer you’ll discover on the Secretlab Titan Evo or Fujin Professional. Others go for the cheaper possibility, a pillow, such because the Corsair TC100. Some cleverly mix the 2. Some, even, supply naturally adjusting lumbar again help, such because the aforementioned Embody. The most cost effective chairs supply nothing in any respect.
Some type of lumbar help is healthier than none, as we had been instructed by an ergonomist again in 2015. Even when it is only a pillow. I do not have a agency favorite for again help in gaming chairs, there are a couple of methods to do it properly and varied chairs I use often and price extremely do things in another way. Although I’d undoubtedly advocate looking for a chair that makes some effort to help your decrease again.
As a aspect observe: it is usually advised that no chair can supply you the right ergonomic place, and the reply to a wholesome posture is simply shaking things up usually: Stand up, transfer about, take a break.
4. Chair high quality
(Picture credit score: Future)
High quality pays, in the long term
This is not recommendation for everybody. I perceive budgets are budgets and generally you simply cannot generate profits stretch any additional. However I needed to name out how a high quality gaming chair can final a very long time, versus a less expensive one that does not.
We sit in gaming chairs all day lengthy within the PC Gamer workplace. We’ve got quite a lot of them, and there are a couple of which have stood the take a look at of time higher than others. Take the Secretlab Titan Evo, for instance, which I reward as the very best gaming chair going. Our evaluate unit has been sat in our workplace since early 2021. That is nearly 4 years in the past. The black neo-hybrid leatherette end is nearly nearly as good because the day we bought it, too, and whereas the chair has a couple of creaks right here and there, we have by no means discovered one that does not after important use.
The good thing about some extra premium chairs is the added safety of a protracted guarantee interval, too. Take the Herman Miller Embody, for instance. Certain it prices an arm and a leg however it’s backed by a 12-year guarantee. I’ve had to change one of many armrest levers on mine. To take action, I emailed Herman Miller help to request the half and a pair days later it confirmed up. Then it was a easy swap to the brand new one and Bob’s your uncle.
Once more, I get this is not an possibility for everybody, and my recommendation is not only to buy a greater chair in each circumstance. There are a great deal of nice finances choices that ought to final some time—the Corsair TC100 Relaxed has been utilized in our workplace for over a yr now and remains to be going sturdy. But when you’re debating how a lot you may need to spend on a gaming chair, possibly suppose on the hours of use you’re anticipating to get on it and which may assist justify the additional spend. If solely to make your self really feel a bit higher spending the dosh.
5. ‘Gaming’ chairs
(Picture credit score: Future)
One of the best chair for you is not essentially a gaming chair
Sacrilege! Absolutely nobody who works for PC gamer would counsel something apart from a gaming chair… however no, I do not suppose gaming chairs are for everybody. Simply among the many individuals of assorted backgrounds, ages, and sitting kinds on the PC Gamer workers, there’s an excellent wider vary of opinions on gaming chairs. Some suppose they’re nice, others suppose they’re tremendous, and a few suppose they’re downright demonic. To be truthful, that one chair truly was.
If you’re not feeling the gaming chair aesthetic, there are different choices. These which might be higher than a bolt-upright picket chair from your eating room desk, and never only a bean bag, too. One of the best workplace chairs for gaming make for tried and examined options which might be nearly as good to sit in all through a Google Meet name on firm values as they’re to play spherical after spherical of Balatro within the background. Thanks, Google Meet’s new picture-in-picture mode.
There are additionally new mesh-design chairs from many gaming chair firms. Razer, for instance, makes the Fujin Professional, which is far more an workplace chair than a gaming one in the way it appears to be like, and we have seen AndaSeat launch a line of mesh chairs just lately—considered one of which is sat within the PC Gamer workplace awaiting evaluate. Personally, I’m not as a lot of a fan of those types of mesh chairs due to their agency help, although they’re good in scorching climates. Nobody needs to peel themselves off sweaty leatherette after a protracted evening of gaming. Or possibly you do, I will not choose.