Gabriel Stanford-ReisingerI don’t have the “luxury” of a full-time writing gig or an office job that requires me to sit in one place for long periods of time. When I do sit, it’s often on some boring chair in my living room, a crappy metal foldable chair in my work’s break room, or a standard office chair you find at any big box store. While that’s done fine over the last few years, I’ve always wondered what it’s like to have an actual gaming chair at my disposal.
EwinRacing tapped us to do a review on one of its Champion Series chairs, and I — being PSX Extreme’s content powerhouse — was selected to do this review. You know, the guy who hardly does any game reviews, much less hardware… err, furniture… reviews.
Assembly… From A First-Time Perspective
One thing I feel needs to be said — this is my first gaming chair. Because of this first-time experience, I feel like saying that while I had difficulty putting the chair together at times, running into frustrating hiccups here and there, even with the short video and full-color assembly guide, I feel confident that that’s a user error rather a flaw with Ewin. Looking at the guide post-build, it makes total sense, and I can assemble another one if I have to.
In the box, you get everything you need to assemble, from screws to two different-sized Hex Keys. It also comes with a pair of gloves to keep your chair smudge-free during assembly. That right there is a really nice touch, in my opinion.
Form Factor
When it comes to the feeling of the chair, it seems sturdy enough. The 4D armrests are a bit weird as they feel like they could take a beating but also feel flimsy. Sp. they toe a line between being sturdy enough to ram your PS5 controller through while flimsy enough that I fear it would chip the side. The cushioning, meanwhile, isn’t too bad — in my case, it came with two high-density upholstery pillows, one for your neck and the other for lumbar support. They came in handy as I do suffer from some back pain and sitting for hours on end during my weekend doesn’t do it any favors.
I think one of the key elements of this chair is just how customizable it can be. Not only can you adjust the 4D armrest positions from middle, right, and left, but you can adjust how far out the rests go and elevate how high they are to your liking, within reason. Meanwhile, the chair itself can be adjusted to be higher or lower to the ground to fit your desk setup. Plus, you can tilt the chair forward or backward, meaning you can sit in a more natural position or one more tailored to you.
Customization seems like what Ewin wants most out of these chairs, and I think, by and large, they did an excellent job at making something reasonably customizable.
Comfort
Initially, when I put this together, I was wholeheartedly expecting to be stumped on this section, I was going to expect that it would boil down to “it’s a chair with padding.” But, surprisingly, after pulling a fair few early mornings and some near-all-nighters sitting at this very chair, I can safely say this is among the most comfortable chairs I’ve sat in.
It’s definitely a lot more comfortable than my work’s foldable chairs or the ergonomic office chair in my bedroom. What’s more, it did allow for a more comfortable long session. It’s not like the other chairs didn’t, but my back definitely didn’t hurt as much after more than three hours of sitting.
Cons And Overall
This does bring me to my gripes, however. The comfort doesn’t last forever. It does its job, but over time, it withers away faster than I would’ve liked, and the chair gets hot rapidly, sometimes putting me out of the comfort zone I was in for the last hour. But, those are small complaints compared to the broader picture of this being a fairly cheap, accessible gaming chair.
Ewin’s Champion line is probably the best way to enter the gaming chair scene. It gives you an idea of how to build a good number of gaming chairs in the future, and it sets a reasonable expectation of what gaming chairs should strive for without putting too much strain on your wallet or expecting grandiose things like eliminating back pain entirely or something like that. Just be careful with moving the 4D armrests and take the time to give it the general care it needs to stay at its prime, and it will last you years before you have to get a new one… probably from Ewin.