So it was time to do away with the old DXRacer chair and I chose to go with Secretlab. Let me be up front: I’m not impressed.
To start off, I ordered the Secretlab Titan EVO 2022 XL in black SoftWeave+. I hate plastic “leather” and it’s the reason I’m replacing my DXRacer, and Secretlab seems to be the only “premium” brand that offers an alternative.
My problems started at assembly. It’s clear their QA is not great. Some have speculated that their QA is almost non-existent, given the issues where many chairs develop noises. As of now, mine is quiet, but I’ve heard comments in videos that these may take a few days to develop.
The QA issues I ran into were 2 major problems.
- The seat back has a bracket on one side and a plate on the other. The bracket is to slide on to the rail on the seat to help make assembly a little easier. Both the bracket and the plate are held in place with smaller screws, which are not structural parts of the chair. The bracket’s screws were broken at the head, indicated they were over-torqued. This didn’t prevent me from being able to assemble the chair, but it did make it more difficult.
- The metal base has 2 chips in the paint, exposing the metal below.
Look, this is not a Herman Miller, or some equivalent chair that costs over $1000. But in a product category where I could have easily spent less than half the cost and expected a mediocre product, I definitely expected flaws like this to not exist. Spending more than this should mean you get more of an orthopedic experience, which is what you get from the likes of Herman Miller.
Overall, the chair feels pretty solid. It has plenty of functionality and adjustment, so you can try to get it to a comfort level that suits you.
One of the common complaint about Secretlab chairs is they tend to be hard. The Titan EVO 2022 apparently softens up a bit so my expectation is maybe it’ll need some breaking in. And sitting it after giving up my DXRacer, it’s definitely a harder chair. The funny thing is, most people complain about the seat, but I seem to have more trouble with the back. I plan to give it some time to see if it does, in fact, break in.
So yeah, you can try to make it more comfortable, but you may struggle with it initially if break-in is required.
I’ve sent an email to Secretlab about the 2 major issues I ran into. As of now, I can’t recommend this chair at a price of almost $600. I’m going to keep using mine, for now, and see if the comfort improves. Returning it is a non-starter because it’s not free. You can’t call it free if I have to pay for shipping, and this box is NOT lightweight.
This is my initial impressions. My opinion on this chair may change as time goes on and depending on Secretlab’s response to my issues.