The different types of gaming chairs, have one thing in common. There are designed for gamers and to make long gaming sessions as comfortable as possible.
This is achieved through a clever design that combines ergonomics with cool looks and gaming-related themes. Built-in features such as speakers or vibration motors are great gimmicks to have, but of particular importance is comfort and good support while sitting. So what type of gaming chair is best for esports?
A normal office chair that is designed for an 8-hour working day may offer plenty of comforts, after all, office workers have to get through the day. But many professional gamers prefer specially designed gaming chairs that not only provide comfort but come with features designed to enhance the gaming experience and lead to better gaming performance.
Of course, this may not apply to Bean Bag chairs never mind how comfortable they are, but definitely to modern ergonomic gaming chairs or racing simulator seats.
Choosing the perfect type of gaming chair isn’t too difficult, it depends on what kind of gamer you are.
What type of gaming chair is best?
Some gamers just like to sit on their sofa for hours and have fun playing console games. At some point, however, you become uncomfortable and you no longer know how to sit. You probably know that from watching TV all afternoon and evening long.
With quite a few gaming chairs it may be the same, but not with all. Many are ergonomically designed, meaning they actively support sitting and reduce strain and aches on your back, neck and even in your legs, letting you concentrate and enjoy your favorite video game. Let’s take a look at the various designs and what type of gaming chair is best.
BeanBag
A beanbag is like a large pillow on which you can sit or, on very large ones, you can even lie on it. In the past, beanbags were actually filled with dried beans, hence the name. Nowadays, the beanbag consists of “Sack” made of leather, faux leather, or fabric and a filling of foam polystyrene beads, or foam flakes. Thanks to the flexible filling, each beanbag model adapts to the user’s body shape. In the 1960s and 1970s, the beanbag enjoyed the greatest popularity, while they had a brief comeback in the 1990s. Surprisingly, they are now making a comeback in the gaming community.
Beanbags are very affordable, even the high-end models. They don’t weigh much and you can easily move them from room to room. These chairs have no armrests, no lumbar support, and no headrests, you “shape” them the way you need them. Beanbags offer the ultimate comfort for young gamers, as you can sit or even lie down depending on the size of the chair. Beanbags are not recommended for older gaming fans.
Office Desk Chairs
Long before there were “gaming chairs”, everyone was sitting in an office chair. It went well for decades until a clever guy turned office chairs in gaming chairs.
However, most good office chairs offer adequate back support because they are designed for office workers who have to last through an 8-hour workday. Therefore, they have to be ergonomic and well-designed to avoid back problems and reduced work performance.
Good modern office chairs are very well designed and combine the latest knowledge of ergonomics with refined chair design for utmost comfort. They are not cheap either but are worth their money.
A variety of adjustment options such as height adjustment, inclination option, armrest adjustment, backrest adjustment, integrated lumbar support, allow individual and comfortable sitting.
If you don’t want a flashy gaming chair, but just a simple-looking chair that properly supports your back and neck, then there is nothing wrong with using a high-quality office chair.
Racing Style Gaming Chair
By now everyone has heard that a good posture is important when sitting for long periods of time. But what is at least as important is the avoidance of pressure points that restrict the blood flow, especially in the lower extremities. A comfortable and ergonomic sitting position can reduce this and can thus help to compensate for the negative consequences of extremely long sitting. However, this only works in conjunction with regular breaks in which you can move around and do a few exercises.
Back to the Racing Style Swivel Chairs. What is striking is often the color scheme and the bucket seat design that appears to be borrowed from the racetrack. On the track, the bucket design makes sense, where it ensures that the driver remains securely in the seat even with extreme centrifugal forces. But at home in front of your computer? Make sure it does not restrict your movement too much or creates pressure points where it squeezes you into the seat.
In addition to such striking appearances, good bucket seats are ergonomically designed and have individual adjustability features. Most of these gaming chairs are equipped with a lumbar pillow and a headrest pillow. Better chairs even have Lumbar support integrated into the backrest. Height adjustment, adaptability of the armrests, adjustable backrest, and inclination options are now standard features.
Overall, modern racing-style gaming chairs offer a variety of features that provide excellent support for all types of video gamers.
Rocker Gaming Chair
Gaming rockers have no legs and no base, instead, they stand directly on the floor. However, they have a rocking function, hence the name. They are an excellent choice for console gamers, but they are rather unsuitable for PC gamers because of their construction.
Gaming Rockers have a kind of curved L-shaped design that combines a thick, padded seat with a heavily padded backrest and headrest in one part.
The generous dimensions allow the installation of some gimmicks which are appreciated by many, mostly younger, gaming fans. There are models among the rocking chairs that shine with built-in audio systems, such as speakers and subwoofers. Other models have built-in vibration support for a more realistic gaming experience. Some models also have multi-player capacity – lets you link several chairs. As for connectivity, some connect to your network via WiFi, Bluetooth, USB, or RCA connectivity to hook them right up to your Xbox or PlayStation,
While they are comfortable and allow a chilled, relaxed sitting posture, they are in no way to be described as ergonomically designed. But the comfortable sofa like “make yourself comfortable” is exactly what many console gamers prefer compared to sitting in a racing-style chair.
Rockers are also perfect for relaxing and chilling out or watching a movie. But overall this is more of a chair for console gamers, if PC gaming is your thing then there are more suitable gaming chairs for you.
Pedestal Gaming Chair
Gaming pedestal chairs are an intermediate between a swivel gaming chair and a gaming rocker. The pedestal gaming chair, as the name implies, is a gaming rocker that is mounted on a solid pedestal. This enables the player to rock and turn.
In terms of ergonomics, the Pedestal gaming chairs are slightly better than the Rockers without Pedestal. The straight backrest and the strong upholstery of the back and seat allow comfortable sitting and enticing you to chill out. As they are basically are a rocker gaming chair on a leg, they often have the same features built-in like speakers, subwoofers, wifi connectivity features and can be linked up for multi-player games.
The pedestal chair definitely has the advantage that you don’t sit so low on the floor and get up is much easier. Overall, they are very comfortable chairs for console gaming, watching a movie, listening to music, talking a book or just relaxing.
Simulator Seats
If you are a fan of simulator games, whether racing or flying simulations, then this type of gaming chair is for you. Simulator seats are especially build to simulate the cockpit of a plane, spacecraft, or racing car and to create the feeling of sitting in one.
Racing Simulator Seat
A racing seat is a bucket seat mounted on a metal frame on which brackets for a steering wheel, a gear lever, foot pedals, and other gadgets are mounted. The whole thing often looks like it is straight out of a racing car.
You can buy everything in individual components, so it is possible to put together your own simulator seat. There are also complete setups that are equipped with coordinated steering wheels, gears, pedals, and other devices.
Simulator Cockpit
The ultimate package is a simulator cockpit. Here you get the complete setup any esports enthusiast would dream of. Complete cockpits with large screens, steering, pedals and gear shifting, built-in motors that simulate G-forces and give the feeling of actually moving. High-end models may sit on hydraulics that convey the feeling of moving in space. Great stuff that together with virtual reality headsets will really impress you.
What type of gaming chair to buy?
To be completely honest, it all depends on your personal needs what type of gaming chair will be best for you. Each type of chair has its advantages and disadvantages and is also more or less ergonomically designed, depending on whether it is intended for gaming or an eight-hour workday in an office.
If you are a PC gamer and you use your chair for office work, you might prefer to sit up straight. Then you need a chair that ergonomically supports your back and your whole body. On the other hand, you want to sit back in your chair while playing. Here a High Back Racing-Style Swivel Chair or a good office chair can be the best option.
If you’re a console player, you might prefer a beanbag, rocker, or a Pedastal gaming chair. The availability of features such as built-in speakers and vibration motors may be a benefit and can also influence your decision.
If you are a fan of simulator games, nothing can beat a simulator cockpit for the gaming experience.
When choosing between the types of gaming chairs, you need to pick one that maximizes your comfort, provides a good posture for you to sit, and fits into your gaming den. The right gaming chair can also improve performance and definitely adds to the gaming fun, especially if its design complements the gaming environment and atmosphere in your room.
As you may have seen, choosing the perfect gaming chair is not an easy task. There are so many types of gaming chairs with different features, prices, designs, and more.
Should I buy a Cheap or an Expensive Gaming Chair
You can buy a cheap gaming chair for less than $ 200. Good middle-price range chairs cost around three to four hundred dollars and the premium chairs cost well beyond that. Do expensive chairs pay off?
From the first impression, they seem to be quite similar. But what about quality if you take a closer look. What is the difference between cheap and expensive gaming chairs? Are cheap gaming chairs good? Read on to find out the answer.
Cheap Gaming Chairs vs Expensive Gaming Chairs
Nobody is going to doubt that a good chair is important for anyone who spends a long time sitting. But what is a good chair? Can cheap chairs be good chairs? And what is cheap?
Let’s ignore the purchasing power of the buyer and thus the individual opinion of what is expensive. Of course, there are personal preferences that play an important role when buying a chair. But there are some features that good gaming chairs must have and that determines the shelf price.
In today’s “use it – and throw it away society“, the idea that everything has to be cheap is deeply rooted in many people. However, many customers expect a cheap product to have the same quality as one would expect from premium products. How is that supposed to work? $ 200 for a gaming chair is really not much, definitely not enough to expect a premium product.
Difference Cheap vs Expensive Gaming Chair
If you choose to buy an inexpensive gaming chair, you have to cut back your expectations on the quality of the materials as well as on workmanship. A low retail price demands a low production price, and this is obviously the easiest way for the manufacturer to cut costs.
Actually, it should be easy for everyone to notice immediately if something is of inferior quality. Simply opening the box and the smell when unpacking will often a good indicator of whether something is cheap or of high quality.
A penetrant artificial smell of chemistry and plastics, tells your nose that cheap materials were used. In contrast, the smell of the high-quality gaming chair quickly disappears after unpacking. Often those fumes are not the best to breathe in any way.
Look at the seams, are single or double-stitched. Good stitching is important for the durability of the upholstery. Are the covers are neat and tight. How does the cover feel, like cheap plastic or high-quality? How do the seat and backrest feel, is the padding comfortable, does it cushion your body well or is it too soft or too hard?
Synthetic Leather – cheap or expensive faux leather
There are different types of synthetic leather, but it is always a combination of a fabric and a coating of plastic. The main differences between different types of synthetic leather can be found in the various fabrics and coatings used.
Two common materials are mainly used: Polyurethane (PU) and Vinyl synthetic leathers. PU fabric is softer, more flexible, and more breathable. The cheaper vinyl is not as breathable as PU but is often used for cheap gaming chairs.
PU synthetic leather has no noticeable smell, it has a pleasant texture a soft surface. In good gaming chairs, it is often structured or perforated to increase breathability. The cheaper Vinyl synthetic leather can often be recognized by a harder not so pleasant texture and is often accompanied by a chemical whiff, which hopefully disappears after a couple of days.
Quality Foam Upholstery
More important than the thickness of the cushioning is the density of the foam and the compression elasticity. A cheap foam has a lower density and will be worn out faster. Better gaming chairs are padded with high-quality, high-density cold foam.
A quality foam padding adapts optimally to the body shape without the occupant sinking into it, this ensures a comfortable sitting without causing pressure. Thanks to its compression elasticity, the cold foam padding retains its original shape over a long period of time. In addition, good padding must be breathable so that body heat and perspiration can be transported away from the body.
A strong steel frame
Manufacturers can easily save costs by cutting down on the quality of the internal frame. But the quality of the frame is crucial in a gaming chair and has a great impact on the ergonomics and the durability of the chair. A gaming chair with a simple cheap frame won’t last.
In cheap chairs, simple iron tubings are often used. These are often thin metal tubes that are not very durable and if the iron is not well processed and properly welded, they will not last. In the worst case, the frame will simply break and the chair will need to be replaced.
Higher priced chairs that promise a very long lifespan, have a strong steel frame, thicker material and inspected weld seams. It is constructed in such a way that there are no weak points on the connecting parts and that spots that are exposed to special loads are additionally reinforced.
A strong Base and strong Castors
The base and the castors must carry the weight of the chairs as well as that of the chair occupant. Here the manufacturers should not try to save cost. Premium manufacturers won’t and will design their chairs with a solid metal frame and high-quality castors that run smoothly and quietly, ideally on hard as well as on soft floors.
In cheap chairs, the base is often made of plastic, even though it may be reinforced, it will not provide the same load-bearing as a metal base. Castors are likely not as strong and may not have metal bearings.
Assembly Cheap vs Expensive Gaming Chair
Even when unboxing and assembling, there may be a considerable difference between cheap and expensive gaming chairs.
The assembly of premium chairs is often made easier in such a way that a large number of parts are already pre-assembled. The few parts that need to be assembled will usually fit nicely together, screws fit the holes and can easily be tightened.
With cheap chairs, it is likely that many more small parts have to be assembled. The more bits and pieces there are, the more likely something might break or go wrong during assembly.
When all is finished and properly assembled, the chair should be stable and solid. Everything should be in the desired position, nothing should wobble, squick or be loose. All mechanics should work fine and the chair must be easy to adjust.
Chairs that are cheaper often have less stability, even if you have fixed all parts as tightly as possible. Because the cheaper materials and the poorer fit prevent the exact assembly.
Buy cheap – buy twice
Investing in a high-quality gaming chair is worthwhile for anyone who regularly plays a lot and long hours. A good chair has many benefits, from being more comfortable though more adjustability options to being much more robust and thus last for many years.
Cheap chairs are not bad per se, they are simply not built as strong and will not cope with heavy and permanent use. They can be great chairs if you only use them for occasional gaming on a couple of hours a week. In the worst case, they break.
If you are considering buying a cheap gaming chair, keep in mind that they can only be cheap if manufacturers cut costs somewhere.
