If gamers are known for anything, they might be known for the classic stereotype of the overweight guy living in his mom’s basement playing gaming in front of the TV and eating Doritos drinking Monster Energy Drinks, with garbage all around us. Well, while my scenario is cleaner, and usually with a cigar and scotch, the one thing that stays true is sitting. PC Gaming lends itself to long sessions, and those long sessions are made possible by the comforts we build into our setup overall. We take time to pick the best monitor we can to make viewing an enjoyable experience, we find the right keyboard and mouse to make typing and gaming a comfortable experience, and we also find the right chair to sit in all day long, too.
That’s where we land for today’s review, a gaming chair that I’ve been using for over a year now, and one that I felt was worth the time to write about. Now, I’m sure one of the first things you may be thinking after reading that last sentence is “A year? Why are you doing a review of this chair a year later?” It’s a fair and valid question, but here’s the thing, just like a mattress, a short time with something like this isn’t enough. A day, a week or even a month won’t really tell you how it holds up to the daily wear and tear of using it for hours on end. Think of it like shopping for a mattress, you need several months before you really know how well it’s going to stand up and let you sleep. When we moved into our new apartment over a year ago, it was time to get new office furniture. I got new desks, shelves and cabinets, and the one piece that I was really looking forward to finally getting was a chair.
After doing some searching and research, and based on the initial review from Kyle over at Bitwit, I landed on the Maxnomic line of chairs. These chairs come from www.needforseatusa.com and are some of the more expensive, though solidly built chairs. The website makes ordering easy, with plenty of options for different sized folks, different needs (office or gaming look) and different colors as well. For me, I landed on the Maxnomic Titanus Orange chair, a chair built for larger people, both in weight and in height, more on that later. Coming in at a whopping $559 before tax and shipping, this chair isn’t cheap by any means. But over a year later, out of all the things I did with the office when I got all new furniture, this has paid off to be the best purchase to date.
When the chair arrives, it comes in a giant box, and setting it up was simple and straight forward. The back had to be attached to the seat, and the hinge that attaches the back to the base feels sturdy, leaving a confidence that this is a well-made chair. Attaching the legs to the base is self-evident, and attaching the base to the chair is as well. Overall, with my then almost 2-year-old all in the way, it took about half an hour to unbox the chair and set it all up.
The chair has a feaux leather and a sturdy base with a wooden and steel frame with padding that’s firm, providing a strong support base for your butt. The back is just as sturdy, with the same wooden and steel framing, and wings that come around the side of your head and a headrest that goes high enough for even someone as tall or taller than 6’ 6”. This chair is made for large people, and once it’s fully assembled it shows. The chair lifts from its lowest height of 14 ½” and goes as high as 18 ½”, which is so high that my feet can dangle just above the ground. This is for tall people, and their claim of this being perfect for folks who are 6’4” – 6’8” tall seem to be spot on. For me the perfect height is at its lowest.
Continuing with adjustments, the back can go from “Let’s take a nap” to “I broke my back” with a range of 67 degrees front to back, and with it laid all the way back you could easily take a nap in this chair as soon as you get used to the feeling that you’re going to fall but don’t. The arm rests are adjustable in height, front and back positioning, side to side positioning and will tilt in or out based on you comfort as well. The chair also has a tilt adjustment which can be further fine-tuned to lock in its position and have the tension tightened or loosened based on how easy you want to be able to tilt/rock back in the chair.
Speaking of the base, it is aluminum and comes with 5 caster wheels that roll well on any flooring, carpet included, and is 31 ½” in diameter, adding a sense of security when leaning back. If you order one of their other chairs and opt for the larger base, I’m certain this is the base you receive to accommodate larger folk like me. The piston is a gas piston that doesn’t move up or down too fast, but is very fluid to go either way.
While earlier I called this feaux leather, the material is technically a high-quality PU leather that’s a very durable vinyl. It feels nice and soft to the touch while having a reassuring feeling of durability to it. It feels nice on top of the cold cured foam padding. That padding is a very firm foam padding, and combining that with the tubular structure and strap supports internally, the support on this chair is high.
Looking at the finer details of the chair, the stitching on it looks sharp, and I really like the contrast of the orange stitching on the black leather, and the embroidered Maxnomic on the headrest looks nice as well.
From a usability standpoint, this chair has been wonderful over the last 14 months. As someone who comes home from work and sits in this chair for several hours a night and even longer on the weekends, I would expect that there would be noticeable signs of wear and tear, but there just aren’t. The back rest holds its position well, the seat stays firm and doesn’t leave a giant butt impression after an hour of sitting in it, and the lumbar support, while not adjustable outside of using the provided lumbar pillow, is good enough once I have the chair back angled in a good, upright posture for my back. The lumbar support is the weakest feature of this chair, as the provided pillow is just too large, but the chair by itself is not perfect. The arm rests typically stay in their normal position of a forward, center facing position, but being able to move the to fit my needs based on how I feel like sitting has come in handy and comfortable on more than one occasion.
When I work in this chair, I find myself in a very comfortable upright position, feet firmly planted on the ground. The ability to sit forward in this chair and have a good comfortable cushion under my butt or to sit all the way back into the chair and feel well supported all around is great. Having choices in how to sit while working on school, reviews or other work-related items makes this chair a purchase I don’t regret over a year later. What makes this chair stand out is the comfort I find when I’m gaming with friends and I roll up just a little bit more under my desk, rock back and chill with a slight incline all night, feet dangling or propped up on something under my desk. Again, in this position I’m extremely comfortable, and even though the lumbar support isn’t the best, if I have the angle of my back rest right, it’s good enough to make me not think about it. Lastly, the piece that ties this chair all together, is the head pillow. Without this pillow, the headrest is too far back for me, and it not that comfortable. With the pillow, however, it’s a soft landing spot for my head, regardless of if I’m sitting up or laying back watching a movie. Something I should not here is that it is suggested for people at least 3” taller than me, and my main reason for getting this was the 375-pound weight limit since I’m about 310 as of writing this review.
From day 1 I was excited to get my butt in a real office/gaming chair, and on day 401, I’m still happy to work in it. For having two kids now, and the chair still be in a like new state (no stitches tearing and the leather not being messed up), this is hands down the best money I spent on my new office. There are a couple of different color options for this chair line, and their more main stream chairs have even more color options. So, if you are looking for a long-term chair solution for your home office, your work office, or you gaming lounge, I have no hesitation in suggesting the Maxnomic chairs from Need for Seat.
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