Started a fake blog about gaming chairs. Just kidding, I recently bought a new (very expensive) COMFY CHAIR.
So I finally decided to treat myself to a quality office chair. Being WFH, I spend a lot of time in front of my computer, working 12 hour shifts "fixing servers" for a web hosting company. I'm not a gamer, but I like some of the gear, mechanical keyboards in particular.
My one single nonnegotiable requirement is that my feet need to be firmly flat on the floor. Including the heel. And no, a footrest isn't an acceptable compromise. I measured my cheap Amazon basics chair for the max height I could go with that, about 15 inches. I knew it would be a problem but had no idea that the vast majority of gaming chairs are about 18 inches minimum.
Secret Labs has a minimum 17.7" seat height for their smallest model. I had a chat with a support rep about sizing since I had been looking at their XXS model. But that's considered a "collectible" (whatever that means, who collects $300 chairs probably too small for them to use??) and/or intended for children. And kinda too short anyway, the seat height is 12-14 inches. Also, some of the features are missing versus a regular Titan model.
https://secretlab.co/pages/titan-xxs
https://www.windowscentral.com/secretlab-titan-xxs-review-gaming-chair-dogs-and-smaller-humans
So I searched around and finally found a chair intended for smaller users, the Noblechairs Epic Compact.
https://www.noblechairs.com/epic-compact-series/gaming-chair-synthetic-leather
Not only that, but they sell a shorter gas lift, too.
https://www.noblechairs.com/accessories/gaslift-extremly-short-5cm
Here's a side by side of the short gas lift next to the stock one it ships with.
Pricey at about $560 but this is literally the only option I could find for a regular adult gaming chair where I could put my feet flat on the floor. With the added bonus of having armrests and the rest of the chair on my scale.
When I worked in office, they had Secret Labs and DXRacer chairs and I tried those out, but of course those were for big bois and I always felt dwarfed by them.
The desks were regular height so I had to raise myself up to reach anyway. And my little feet would just dangle, which is uncomfortable. My desk at home is a 27" side table, so that's a lot more ergonomic for me. That's about the height of an elementary school desk.
I'm not even that uncommonly short at about 5'2" either. If I'm going to pay hundreds of $$ for a quality chair, I want it to fit me. The weight limit is 265 lbs, but if I doubled my body weight to that, I'd definitely be too chonky to fit in this.
After assembly and initial adjustments, I was delighted to find it's the perfect size. Couple of 2L included for scale, those are 13 inches tall.
When I'm seated, the top of my head is level with the top of the headrest. And can actually use the armrests as intended, that is a completely new experience for me. Usually they're just in the way or too far apart. When I bought the old Amazon Basics chair, I intentionally got one without armrests.
My neckbeard nest in the sleeping porch is pretty compact, so it's also nice to not have a big hulking chair taking up a ton of space. I should probably move this box of IDE cables somewhere else.
Despite the smaller size, it's very heavy at about 50 lbs. Luckily I happened to be up front when the UPS man toted it up the stairs, I opened the door so he could put the 60lb box inside. Assembly wasn't too bad once I got over some confusion.
I'm looking forward to fixing servers, doing the needful, and having Second Breakfast in my new chair!