I’ve reviewed a couple of chairs now both of which were aimed at gamers and they were both different in almost every way possible. One was the i-eX gaming bean bag chair from BeanBagBazaar which you just sink into as it molds to your body for superior comfort, then the other from Xenta which sits on a pedestal off the ground and has inbuilt speakers to enhance the gaming experience. Now I’ve been lucky enough to receive another chair from Xenta, although this one isn’t specifically designed for gaming and is more of a luxury office chair. That said, if you game on the PC then there is no reason why this chair wouldn’t be ideal for you because a lot of amateur PC gamers anyway probably sit on a simple desk chair and they can be uncomfortable after a long gaming session.
Now this does require some assembly, and boy did I hate putting it together and I mean HATE. I normally enjoy building stuff like flat pack furniture, lego sets and even the last gaming chair from Xenta, but this, this just made me angry, frustrated, sad, almost every negative emotion under the sun. Why? Well, it all started well on a lovely sunny day when the chair arrived in the box. I thanked the kind delivery man and excitedly took the chair into my back room to put together. The instructions were easy to follow and it seemed an easy job at first, I got all the bits out, made sure I had the right amount of bolts and all that jazz but then I began to struggle once getting through the early stages of building.
Admittedly I should’ve built this with two people from the start in hindsight because you have to balance the back of the chair and the base you sit on next to each other whilst lining up the arms of the chair which you attach with screws, this then holds all the pieces together. Now this is a bit of a balancing act with one person so I advise you grab a friend if you buy one, but I managed to screw the first arm on no problem and quickly moved onto the other side. For some reason this was much more difficult, which wasn’t helped when I tried to screw in the final bolt that just crumbled as I tried to twist it into the hole. It seemed to destroy the thread inside the allocated hole it screwed into and pretty much cracked, so I ended up having to find a matching size one in my Step Dad’s garage so I could fit it because without the chair wouldn’t be securely fixed together. Luckily I found one, but it would be better to have a spare screw in the box like the gaming chair had which I also received from Xenta.
Having gone through that ordeal which took well over an hour and caused me to have tears roll from my eyes, a scratchy throat from all the swearing I did and sweat pour from me due to the hard work I put in, I could finally sit down on my new creation. Now it may have just felt so good because I became so stressed out over building it and I finally had a chance to sit down and relax, but my God that chair felt like I was sitting on a cloud the first time I got on it. It looked just as good as well with its powder coated base and castor wheels on each leg to allow you to roll around your home or office, then a stylish black padded seat and armrests covered in a cushioned PU leather. Now I had no idea what PU leather was so I had to google it and apparently it is a type of leather that is given a polyurethane coating because it makes it easier to keep clean and maintain. Now the style of the seat certainly screams luxury, and with padding in all the right places it looks as comfy as it feels as well, but saying that there were a lack of features that let it down.
Now with most chairs you get in an office you are able to adjust the height and this is no different with the Xenta office chair. However, other than that and a spring on the base which allows you to recline back a short distance if you apply some force with your feet on some kind of footstool or a foot rest there are no other features. The back, for instance, is is not adjustable, there is no adjusting its height or reclining it permanently, you are stuck as it is which despite finding it comfy made the chair feel basic and for others may cause some discomfort. There was also no tilt feature to allow you to better adjust you sitting position; now this may not sound like a lot but believe me sitting in an office for 8 hours a day you learn how useful a feature like that can be. The next thing I noticed it lacked, which you’d expect on a chair that looks so luxurious is something again that I find useful in work and that is adjustable lumbar support which is provided through an air bag inbuilt into the back of the chair which can be pumped up and deflated by a hand pump attached. Now that may be going a little over the top and it may not be possible due to the material used on the chair, but when it comes on a basic office chair like mine, I would expect it from such a nice looking chair as the one from Xenta which sets you back £69.99 on Amazon.
So would I recommend this chair to people? Well, that depends on if you wanted something easy to piece together by yourself then no definitely not, it will break your spirit if you try. If you are looking luxury styled chair that has the ultimate customizability to allow you to adjust it for superior comfort and to prevent back pain then again you’re probably better off elsewhere. However, if you’re in the market for an imitation luxury chair at a more affordable price then yes go for it. It has a lack of extra features which you’d expect from most standard office chairs nowadays, but the main thing is that it’s damn comfy to sit on and it looks good. Overall it’s worth a respectable 3.5/5 because of the torture it put me through and the fact there is a lot of room for improvements.
http://www.xenta.co.uk/small-business/office-electronics/office-chair/
Disclaimer:All scores given within our reviews are based on the artist’s personal opinion; this should in no way impede your decision to purchase the game.
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