Gaming chairs have become prevalent, but shameless copy-pasting by most "manufacturers" has led to a stagnant industry with poor value vs. even cheap office ...
This video is quite old, and while I have always been an Office chair > Gaming chair guy, and a lot of things in that video are still true I have a Secret lab Titan Evo, i.e. a gaming chair, even though I despise the aesthetics of it. When I was looking to get a new chair my options were very limited, I had essentially ruled out every other option one way or another and was about to buy an Autonomous ergo chair when a friend of mine did, so I tried the chair at their place, and it sucked. And it sucked in a very specific thing, the cushion was too soft, it felt like almost no cushion at all, and I understood exactly why no reviewer mentioned it, being tall and fat meant I weighed quite substantially more than any of them.
With my last option for an office chair gone I had to look elsewhere. I had never even considered looking into gaming chairs because I know they’re all cheap uncomfortable things, but in my research for a chair I found lots of people saying the Secret lab was different, so I started to look at a lot of reviews about it and the consensus was that it was the best gaming chair, even some channels that exclusively review chairs were commenting on how good it was (for a gaming chair), and there was one comment that lots of them did that made me pull the trigger, i.e. “the seat is hard, but not in an unpleasant way, it’s kind of like a car seat”. I’m used to driving for multiple days at a time, so I know a car seat was better than my current chair and better than any of the office chairs I’ve tried.
I ended up buying an XL model, and indeed the seat was too hard, but with time I grew used to it, and I also read lots of articles explaining that harder seats are better for the back. I’ve been using it for a couple of years and the pain I had in my back from sitting on a cheap amazon chair is long gone, I now consider it one of the best chairs I’ve ever sat in for long periods (which includes a Herman Miller I had at my previous job). Is it the best chair in the world? No, it lacks several adjustments that I had in old chairs that I miss. Is it for everyone? Probably no, if you’re not heavy enough I don’t think the cushion will feel comfortable even on the long run, and I consider it to be the most comfortable while reclining which is something I do periodically to take the weight off my lower back, so if you don’t do this it might not be great. However at that price point it’s competitors are cheap office chairs that also lack features or have shitty materials, or good used chairs, and the used market is very specific and might not have what you need when you need it.
So all of this rant is essentially to say that, yes in general Office > Gaming, but there are exceptions and I think that while their conclusions will be very similar they should do another run at it with the Secret lab as a competitor.
I think a different way to spin this whole conversation is “you get what you pay for.” Prior to investing in a Secret Lab, I’d gone through several of the “top of the line executive office chairs” at some big box stores. They were shit. They fell apart, didn’t support me, and were made poorly. Most mass market gaming chairs are in that price range too so I expect their quality to be the same. Coincidentally, this is the point they make almost as soon as the video starts. I’m not able to pull up prices on the chairs they link (too lazy to Wayback those links) so I don’t know if I’m talking out of my ass or not.
For me, the $400 I spent on a Secret Lab was way better than the $1800 I could spend on an Aeron because I don’t feel comfortable in Aerons.
Edit: forgot to mention I am a totally different body type from you and my partner, who loves her Secret Lab, is very small. I think they’re great for all sorts of people.
Yeah I have both a secret lab omega and steelcase leap. The omega is an excellent fully featured chair that you can sit in for hours. Some offices even use them for work because it’s good build quality for the price. Mine is 4 years old and the material is still flawless.
The steelcase is great too but it was multiple times more expensive and it didn’t come with a headrest.
Thanks, good to know that me saving up for a new secret labs was a good decision.
I’ve also always found my Dxracer chair to be very comfortable and really help against back pain. Then again I’m not very tall and quite skinny and on threads like these I’ve often asked others that liked gamer chairs, and they seem to be skinny too.
This video is quite old, and while I have always been an Office chair > Gaming chair guy, and a lot of things in that video are still true I have a Secret lab Titan Evo, i.e. a gaming chair, even though I despise the aesthetics of it. When I was looking to get a new chair my options were very limited, I had essentially ruled out every other option one way or another and was about to buy an Autonomous ergo chair when a friend of mine did, so I tried the chair at their place, and it sucked. And it sucked in a very specific thing, the cushion was too soft, it felt like almost no cushion at all, and I understood exactly why no reviewer mentioned it, being tall and fat meant I weighed quite substantially more than any of them.
With my last option for an office chair gone I had to look elsewhere. I had never even considered looking into gaming chairs because I know they’re all cheap uncomfortable things, but in my research for a chair I found lots of people saying the Secret lab was different, so I started to look at a lot of reviews about it and the consensus was that it was the best gaming chair, even some channels that exclusively review chairs were commenting on how good it was (for a gaming chair), and there was one comment that lots of them did that made me pull the trigger, i.e. “the seat is hard, but not in an unpleasant way, it’s kind of like a car seat”. I’m used to driving for multiple days at a time, so I know a car seat was better than my current chair and better than any of the office chairs I’ve tried.
I ended up buying an XL model, and indeed the seat was too hard, but with time I grew used to it, and I also read lots of articles explaining that harder seats are better for the back. I’ve been using it for a couple of years and the pain I had in my back from sitting on a cheap amazon chair is long gone, I now consider it one of the best chairs I’ve ever sat in for long periods (which includes a Herman Miller I had at my previous job). Is it the best chair in the world? No, it lacks several adjustments that I had in old chairs that I miss. Is it for everyone? Probably no, if you’re not heavy enough I don’t think the cushion will feel comfortable even on the long run, and I consider it to be the most comfortable while reclining which is something I do periodically to take the weight off my lower back, so if you don’t do this it might not be great. However at that price point it’s competitors are cheap office chairs that also lack features or have shitty materials, or good used chairs, and the used market is very specific and might not have what you need when you need it.
So all of this rant is essentially to say that, yes in general Office > Gaming, but there are exceptions and I think that while their conclusions will be very similar they should do another run at it with the Secret lab as a competitor.
I think a different way to spin this whole conversation is “you get what you pay for.” Prior to investing in a Secret Lab, I’d gone through several of the “top of the line executive office chairs” at some big box stores. They were shit. They fell apart, didn’t support me, and were made poorly. Most mass market gaming chairs are in that price range too so I expect their quality to be the same. Coincidentally, this is the point they make almost as soon as the video starts. I’m not able to pull up prices on the chairs they link (too lazy to Wayback those links) so I don’t know if I’m talking out of my ass or not.
For me, the $400 I spent on a Secret Lab was way better than the $1800 I could spend on an Aeron because I don’t feel comfortable in Aerons.
Edit: forgot to mention I am a totally different body type from you and my partner, who loves her Secret Lab, is very small. I think they’re great for all sorts of people.
Yeah I have both a secret lab omega and steelcase leap. The omega is an excellent fully featured chair that you can sit in for hours. Some offices even use them for work because it’s good build quality for the price. Mine is 4 years old and the material is still flawless.
The steelcase is great too but it was multiple times more expensive and it didn’t come with a headrest.
Thanks, good to know that me saving up for a new secret labs was a good decision.
I’ve also always found my Dxracer chair to be very comfortable and really help against back pain. Then again I’m not very tall and quite skinny and on threads like these I’ve often asked others that liked gamer chairs, and they seem to be skinny too.