SecretLab Titan Gaming Chair Review: A Worthy Throne For Your Skills

Assembly

First off, assembling the chair is a breeze. When you take it out of the box, you'll notice that a couple of things are already put together, although you will need to screw in the top half of the chair with the bottom and not touch the back adjustment valve until the screws are in place.

The screws are easy to come by; there's a mini-screwdriver that comes with it so you can attach them without the need for tools; and there's also a handy diagram chart that breaks down each step, no matter which type of SecretLab chair you end up getting (they have several models available on their home page). Following these steps, we found the chair pretty easy to put together.

One thing to keep in mind is that the chair easily slides onto its base, and holds firm, but if you're physically moving it around, it may slip off. This may have been a design decision by SecretLab, of having the chair removable from the base to secure its storage better, but if it happens to you, it's part of the design – the chair isn't broken. So just snap it back on and get back to playing. It'll hold perfectly.

Comfort and Strength

As a big guy, I was expecting the SecretLab Titan chair to have the same hydraulic issue that my old DXRacer chair did. But, surprise, I didn't run into that issue once. It maintained its height throughout, even when I leaned the chair back and took my feet off the floor (something I like to call a "weight test"). It did very well in this regard, meaning it's a great chair for big or small.

And when you did adjust the hydraulics – which you can do with a lever on the right hand side of the chair – it works great, sliding down without a sudden drop. You can also raise it back up with ease, just as you would any good office chair. It works just fine.

I love the way you can lean the chair back further by holding the left lever on the Titan and leaning into it. It doesn't go all the way back like the DXRacer did, but it goes a great way, letting you lean back and relax when you need to. It's also a great chair to binge watch TV and Netflix with, in case your couch seems like a pretty good distance away from you. (Let's be honest – there are days when that happens.)

Now let's talk about the build of the chair. It's very good, with a solid base that support your back and rear end comfortably, and even your head. You can also use the fine felt pillow that's included with the chair, wrapping it around the top of the chair with an adjustable band and leaning your head against it. It's not as big as the DXRacer pillows, but it's very comfortable, and you can move it down slightly if you need to have some relief on your neck. It doesn't go too far down, though, and there's nothing for your back, so you might want to keep a secondary pillow for that if you're having issues. The base of the chair does support your back on its own, though, so it's only a necessity if you have a pretty bad one.

Also, I did the "roll test", in which I scooted around my apartment floor with the wheels on the chair, just to check maneuverability. I was really surprised how superb in quality the wheels are, even with a heavy set person sitting in the chair. It holds up very well – though I can't say the same for my carpet. (Race marks, race marks everywhere!)

Minor Things, But An Amazing Gaming Chair

There are a couple of notable issues with the chair, but nothing that qualifies as a dealbreaker.

The first involves the armrests with the chair. They're a bit on the short side, and you can only push them back, instead of forward. I know many gamers that have "long arms" that require something to lean on, and they only go as far as my wrists. A little more length with these – like maybe a couple of inches – wouldn't be a bad thing.

Also, I love the design of the chair – I do. I got the amber model, which is a fine mixture of orange and black, and the branding isn't as far out as the gold and black model, where you can see the "T" in the chair and the Omega symbol on other models. That seems a bit on the bright side, but they're solid designs. The only real setback is that the strap from the neck pillow gets in the way of the SecretLab logo. They should probably move that up an inch or two, so if a streamer wants to show off where they're sitting, it won't be blocked by the strap. That's more of a visual thing, though, and doesn't affect the chair's comfort in the slightest.

As someone that needed a new gaming chair something fierce – and one that didn't give me that sinking feeling, literally – the SecretLab Titan turned out to be a fine choice. It's easy to put together and wonderfully built to handle all sorts of gamers, even heavy set ones, and its design is sleek and well put together. There are minor squabbles with the armrests and the design, but for the most part, this is one of the best game chairs you can snag right now.

Better yet, it's inexpensive. Granted, it's still over $300, but the company has several models on sale that you can snag for $359 (plus shipping) to get one right to your door. For those looking for a quality gaming throne to add to your game room, it doesn't get much better than the Titan…and it's nice to see that DXRacer isn't the only chair in town with gamers in mind.

RATING: Four and a half stars out of five.

Disclaimer: A review unit was provided by SecretLab.