How to buy the perfect gaming chair – 5 things to consider

We are all spending many hours glued to our computer; especially now since we are working from home. Those work, school, and college seem to be neverending. It’s no wonder that at the end of the day we suffer from back and leg pain and feel drained. While there is not much we can do about the endless meetings, investing in a proper chair or gaming chair is something that is often overlooked.

When I began to look for an office chair, I discovered that it wasn’t really what I needed. So my next option was gaming chairs and here too the options seemed to be endless; almost overbearing. I even posted a Tweet asking for help with recommendations. I needed help.

To my rescue came the awesome E-WIN Gaming chairs experts. After much discussion about my requirements which basically consisted of my endless YouTube work and PlayStation gaming, they made a recommendation and were even kind enough to send me my gaming chair.

So how did I choose the chair I am sitting on right now while typing this?

Here are the 5 elements you need to look out for when considering your gaming chair purchase:

1. Adjustable Armrests are a must

I can not tell you how important it is to have a chair with armrests. While you may think that you don’t need these as you will rest your arms on the desk, having a chair with armrests allows your elbows to rest comfortably. This takes away all the strain from your arms and from your fingers.

When your arms are tense all day, you tend to feel it in the neck and shoulders so the less stress and weight you have on your arms the more comfortable you will be.

At the end of the day, I used to need a good shoulder rub but now I don’t feel drained and the neck pain is gone.

I will also mention that you want your armrests to be height adjustable. Not all are and this is important so you can customize your chair to the way you work and not the other way round.

Pro Tip: if you can find an armrest that can be adjusted sideways and back and forth, that’s a massive win.  You want the back and forth adjustment so you can find the ideal spot for your elbows. The side adjustments are a massive bonus as we tend to have our hands on the mouse when we game and that is not directly in front of our keyboard.

2. Back support

Now that the arms are comfortable, we want our whole body to be the same. You want a gaming chair with amazing back support. You want something that isn’t so soft you feel like you are being smothered and nor do you want it to be super rigid that you don’t want to lean back.

Look for a gaming chair that has adjustable “lumbar support” so that you can get that back support where you need it most.

Note that initially it will feel weird as a good chair will put your body into the correct posture, so it will take a bit of time to adjust.

3. Head Pillow

Moving up from the back, some gaming chairs have a little cushion that straps to the back of the chair. This is to allow your head to rest comfortably and should sit snuggly at your neck height.

If you don’t like the neck pillow, make sure you get a chair that allows you to remove it.

4. Butt cushion

Of course, your rear-end needs to be just as comfy as the rest of you so its important to have loads of cushioning made out of really good material.

E-Win Racing uses high-density foam instead of the standard High Resiliency foam. This will not only give me a better butt-support and comfort but will ensure that it won’t deteriorate like an old pillow that lost its fluff.

Speaking of material, you can select a chair that is leather or fabric. Leather chairs are long-lasting and simple to clean up when you get over-excited and spill your drink! Fabric chairs have more stretch in them so they can be more comfortable but keeping them clean over time can be an issue.

whichever material you chose, it needs to prevent you from sweating and overheating so the chair needs to be well ventilated.

5. Other Gaming Chair Stuff

All chairs have height adjustments but ensure that you know the height of your desk so that your chair can be set at the same level.

Some chairs will also allow you to recline. Some only a little bit, while other chairs can recline almost to sleeping position for those who want that power nap without having to get up.

Finally,  you want a chair that has great quality legs and wheels as, after all, your entire weight rests on these.

I have to give credit to the E-Win racing team for putting together a great chair guide on their site that compares their various range of chairs so you can pick the one for you based on your weight, height, and other factors.

You can use code: LironSegev to get 20% off your perfect gaming chair too!