Best Gaming Chair of 2021

The elephant in the room in the PC Peripheral industry is that the overlords of product development, disconnected from the people, have deemed it a great strategy to throw the word “Gaming” in front of everything. Nothing is more insulting than the gaming desks found on amazon that literally come with a Mountain Dew holster harkening back to the legendary World of Warcraft scene from South Park. So, we won’t lie to you. A gaming chair is not magical and while some have BIZARRE features like vibrating seats, no legs, and internal speakers. Chairs are meant to be sat in. We don’t list out those items because they’re a bit patronizing, embarrassing, and not really as useful as having a really great chair. That’s what a serious Gaming chair is and should be. Removed from all the goofy dynamics (Do they all need to look like Forumla 1 Racing seats?), they should feel great, last long, and just make you feel sad anytime you sit in a different chair.

We sifted through loads of data and reviews to bring you this hardware roundup, to be honest, testing chairs takes a lot of space so most of our physical testing had to be done in-person at local gaming stores. We couldn’t realistically fill the office with chairs just to review but as luck has it as owners we actually have felt the magnificent grace of the Secretlab Titan, a fair share of gaming chairs, and a fair amount of office chairs. We picked our favorites and in our technical guide we’ll discuss a few good brands. We wavered between giving you ten chairs and espousing the glorious differences between brands like NobleChairs and NZXT but ultimately, the chairs at this level are all phenomenal. They’re all solid. They’re improving every year. We just really love the ones we picked.

Our biggest advice when selecting a chair is that you need to spend enough money to get a good one or just go cheap. Cheap office chairs break, they’re uncomfortable, the arm rests are as strong as pipe cleaners. A solid Gaming Chair is expensive because it’s made from good metal, leather or leather like compounds, tested, and guaranteed with a warranty. Anyone who has been at an office, school, church, or location where office chairs are found, has seen some pretty terrible ones. They can lose the ability to go up and down, move, and start to even smell. I think a good gaming chair was one of the best purchases I’ve made (Sometimes I use it 8 hours a day after all!). It’s not worth spending a lot of cash for a low-quality chair though. Go big or go home!

BEST OVERALL GAMING CHAIR – SECRETLAB TITAN

Also consider the Omega and Titan XL!

Our Take
The SecretLab Titan (Really all the models from SecretLab) stands out because it stands out. That might sound strangely noncommittal but the truth is most office chairs and so-called gaming chairs blend together. Can you really tell the difference between an Ikea chair, Wal-Mart chair or Office chair from your local cubicle? Besides being subjective, most of us haven’t developed an intense “Chair sense.” This is just the chair to end all chairs, I sat in it at the store, and was sold. Brought it home and haven’t regretted it since.

The feeling of the PU Leather 2.0 (Although poorly named it means polyurethane) has the same feeling as a high-quality leather product. I’ve had my fair share of ratty fake leather that melts off in sunlight and this is just superior in quality. Truth be told the original SecretLab PU Leather could have that issue but this is reputedly 4 times as durable. We’re going on three months of ownership and attempting to test durability doesn’t seem wise. We can say that looking into SecretLabs testing methods they legitimately have a secret lab that tests the chairs in Singapore and they use loads of fake sweat, friction, and humidity to test the quality and keep improving. They’ve reportedly outperformed the test standard 10x but that is coming from them personally so it’d need some outside testing to confirm that. I’d say you feel it though. The leather just outperforms cheap chairs by leaps and bounds. It feels stronger and details like the stitching stand out as well. Really, it’s clear that they expect someone to USE this chair non-stop. It doesn’t seem phased by sweat or long play sessions and doesn’t get a rank smell. The leather smell isn’t as strong as day one but the chair is flawless. They do sell some premium leather cleaner as well but apart from going to the gym and gaming afterwards, living in the chair, or spilling everything on it… it holds up really well. They say it’s the last chair I’ll ever need. I could see this lasting 10 years and being a go-to device.

As for comfort? It feels freaking comfortable and seems as good as day one and as a larger human I still swim in it (Fairly well!) I’d recommend looking at the different size recommendations but the Titan is probably good enough for those who aren’t unusually tall or heavy. It just feels great and I can be in it for hours without feeling any ounce of discomfort. It comes with a memory foam pillow. I basically tossed that aside because it felt like I was rolling an object behind my back. It’s probably my favorite non-gaming item in my arsenal. It’s just a fantastic chair. There is also an option for fabric but It seems like leather is pretty simple to clean and won’t get funky as quick.

BEST OFFICE CHAIR – NEUE CHAIR SILVER

Our Thoughts

Why the Neue? Well, it’s kind of embarrassing for a 45 year-old to have a red racecar chair at the office, no? Gaming chairs feel fantastic but they can alienate in professional environments. So taking the same principles, Neue is a solution for top-tier chairs that look sharp in an office. Distributed by SecretLab, this is basically the dream ergonomic office chair. While I can only afford to keep the Titan for my personal battlestation, I was able to head to a local office store and give some in-person tests to the Neue (Which is strangely an office chair built by a gaming chair company. And I’d say it knocked it out of the park. Fantastic feel, comfortable support for my spine. It feels exceptional. And it would get weird to stay in it for too long in the store but having worked in offices and felt the brunt force of 10 different broken office chairs getting swapped among the staff, it felt firm, comfortable, and just really well-designed. Oddly enough one of my favorite features was the armrest. It had these little pockmarks textured into it and felt strong under my arm. I hate the wonky armrests that I’d much rather remove that most office chairs have but they avoided that entirely. These were larger and better.

Besides feeling like a solid chair, I think durability is the strongest advantage to the Neue. They offer a 12-year warranty meaning they effectively don’t expect it to break and I could feel that. Nothing is more annoying than having those three broken immobile wheels that old office chairs tend to have. The quality of the build makes it clear I’d have to be party to reckless chair endangerment if I wanted to really break the wheels down. There are two models. The largest different just being durability. The Obsidian one is plated with more materials to keep it from corrosion. In a humid climate perhaps that is a concern but most office environments seem rust free so I’d reccomend saving the money and getting the silver.

Why only two chairs?!?!

Well, why 30? Most gaming review sites load up on tons of items and we picked what for us is the best. There are some EPIC brands out there but utlimately, they’re usually similar in price and fighting to produce the same product when in reality… you’ll be happy with any chair from these brands. Because they’re high quality products. They’re top-tier options. We are RAVING fans of SecretLab and they’ve earned our trust but we also know that some solid companies like Noblechairs are making incredible gear that feels AWESOME. Don’t get caught up comparing thirty companies, the differences aren’t large enough to worry for weeks over when you can get an amazing chair today and be gaming in luxury.

Technical Features

Ok, seriously, we don’t really need to deep dive into tech features for chairs. There are a few things that help you make informed decisions but they do tend to be things that you primarily.

Sit in.

That’s it. No lazers. No speakers. Some Gaming Chairs may offer those things, but I’d say it’s probably better if you run. You just want a seriously comfortable durable chair, not a gimmick.

Size and Recommended Weight

This is hands down the most important thing to consider. Are you tall and lanky? Short and hefty? While we may not want to talk about our weight, some chairs are designed for a maximum of 240 lbs while others are designed for larger people over six feet and can support almost 400 lbs. It’s fairly hard to get a feel for this over the internet so we recommend checking out a friends chair or heading to a store and giving it a go. SecretLab has done a fantastic job making three great chairs in a good size range though.

Materials

There is leather, synthetic leather, fabric, colors and logos. It’s important to think about durability, sweat, smell, and some of the unpleasant aspects of chair ownership. How will you clean it? Do you sit in it with meat sweats for 6 hours a day? High-quality chairs are designed to absorb all that use but there are some considerations like your environment and who you are to think about.

Lumbar Support

This is basically how good it is for your back. All high-quality gaming chairs will claim that they have lumbar support, people are different, so maybe test them in person if this matters to you! It could be pillows, design, or whatnot. Gaming Chairs won’t break your back though, they sort of are all designed to not do that.

Base Type

Some seats come up around the sides while others are leveled. The larger among us tend to like leveled seats because you get more room and don’t feel squished. Usually the mid-range models of a chair line will be leveled.

Brand Matters

I hate brands. I really do. Sometimes it’s just a logo that bumps up prices by hundreds. In the chair industry though it’s pretty important. Furniture coming from alibaba and cheap factories is wonky, breaks easily, and even can cause bodily harm (Don’t google office chair explosions if you’re a nervous person). So you want to go with a trusted brand. Most of them will offer something similar to SecretLab because chair technology hasn’t gotten that much more advanced in the last 4000 years than primarily being used with sitting like activities. These are some of the brands you can trust.

SecretLab
Noblechairs
Vertagear
Any famous peripheral manufacturer like NZXT and Corsair

Thanks for joining us!

Listen, chairs are great and they’re actually pretty important when it comes to health. A low-quality chair may be making your gaming sessions a bigger drag than you realize. We hope that you found a chair you love on this list and would love yo hear your experiences. Did you like SecretLab? Have you had a chair explosion? What’s your favorite gaming chair? Did you ACTUALLY like one of the gimmicky ones? As always, keep leaving comments and interacting with us. We love to bring you the best gaming info in the world after all!