SecretLab Titan Gaming Chair

My career choices have always required me to sit for long periods of time over the years. Ironically, many of my hobbies are very similar in that they lead to a life based around a table or desk. For better or probably worse, this is the life I have led and yes, I do manage to get up as much as possible. My woodworking keeps me away from the chair often. So does my dog, my kids, my family and many other interests I have in the world outside of an office (this includes my pool table). 

However, I still spend a lot of time, even now, writing this, at a desk, in a chair. And yes, I've experimented with the standing desks but there is a world of back and forth research in that area as well .. save your back, kill your knees, break down your arch so on so on ... not the argument for right now. I've tried them and they tend to just move the pain from one area to another.

All of this leads to one primary concept: I need to be very picky about my work/office chairs. My wife and I pay the extra costs to maintain high end, posture correct, long hour work chairs. Recently, there has been a surge in "Gaming Chairs" as solid designed, long hour chairs with a flavoring of video games tied into their design (Tcheekin) BUTT I was a tad skeptical considering many of the manufacturers didn't have the years of research and practice under their belt. Just looking at some of the first generations of gamer chairs they oozed marketing concepts dripping with goofy ideas that may have appealed to a younger gaming crowd who's lightly aged bodies didn't require as much support for the long hours. So I blew it off ...

... And then ... my "high dollar" office chair self destructed ... I mean like, ball bearings falling out all over, hydraulic dropping on the floor and the chair going to a lot of effort to dump me on my butt, flinging my feet over my head .. Not .. cool .. at .. all. So off to the research game I went because the backup chair was a fold up camp seat ... and after wading through a ton of research, reviews, YouTube, streamers and just plain tech docs I came across a very interesting development ... some gaming chair manufacturers may have actually learned their lessons early on and their newer generations held a lot of promise. 

What caught me the most was that many of the manufacturers were willing to offer longer full warranties than most the average office chairs. Considering my chair had attempted to maim me a measly two weeks after the three year warranty ended, this factor alone ranked high on my scoreboard. And with this in mind, I began collecting my thoughts towards which model chair to acquire. In the end ...

SecretLab Titan ...

... is what came to my porch. First off, the box is big and smelled super geeky fresh. So that was cool. My dog, Piper, approved so that was even better. The building of the chair was incredibly easy but what really got me were the materials. The stitching was top notch, with a ton of reinforcement throughout. The whole construction was based on a steel frame ... some of the more expensive office chairs on the market still use nylon bases for their chairs to reduce weight. The problem is that nylon can spread around the center hole, allowing the resting hydraulic tube to slip closer to the floor, if not actually falling onto the floor.

Once complete I could feel the quality oozing out of this chair ... it felt like something I'd install in a remodeled classic muscle car. Needless to say I was thoroughly impressed ... and Piper still liked it. However, the real tests were yet to come. The number one complaint I always read for this line of chairs was the cushion stiffness. Whenever someone critiques the SecretLab Titan, it seems universally to be the seats tendency to be a little "harder" than most soft cushions. 

So I sat ... and sat ... and sat ... and months later I'm still sitting. I've done some 10+ hour days in this beauty and not one ache. 

Is the cushion harder than what you usually find in an office chair?

Yes ... far more than the "executive leather" chairs and somewhere in the range of mesh chair stiffness. However, what I find is that the pressures for this cushion are absolutely perfect ... not only does my back not hurt ... EVER ... it also doesn't hinder the circulation in my legs. When I stand up after hours of sitting down, it's not a chore to stand ... no old man grunts, no aches and pains in the thighs ... I just ... get up and walk. 

I've had Herman Miller's that couldn't even do that for me.

And with that ... I must say I am sold ... surprisingly so. I never expected something like this, something that easily started off as a simple gaming gimmick would clean itself up, learn lessons from those that have been successful and then build a better machine. SecretLab has completely captured my attention with this Titan of a chair and I'm excited to see it through the years. 

Now, I will say, chair shopping is a personal thing ... no chair fits everyone the same way and what some will praise, others will hate. 

Read: take this with a grain of salt.

I'm a five foot ten, somewhat overweight (losing like crazy), late 40's guy. The chair adjusts to fit me perfectly from arms to height to tilt. The cushion does NOT give me a warm comfy feel I get from sinking deep into my couch to watch a movie or into my Cal King memory foam topped bed to kick out some Zzzz's.

This cushion supports me, completely, so that while I'm working or gaming, I don't find myself constantly shifting, like on a long drive, to stretch. Or when I get up to refill my coffee, I don't have to charge myself up with an audible grunt followed with limping and a hand on the back. I feel younger in the chair because it helps me feel better while doing what I love to do. Game.

GGs SecretLab 

-Bones