If you sit at a desk for a good portion of your day, then you know just how important it is to have something comfortable with good support to sit on. For years, I’ve gravitated towards a more comfortable chair option at my desk. Wear and tear eventually rendered my old cushioned office chair in need of replacement, so a couple years ago, I decided to take advantage of a sale to try out Staples’ own “Emerge Vartan Gaming Chair.” Aside from some pesky free-sliding arm rests and a flaw in the seat cushion, I was pretty happy with the chair… until our new friends at E-WIN reached out with an offer to send us a chair in exchange for a review.
Like my Vartan chair, I chose the red and black color scheme – out of several to choose from – and they sent me my very own E-WIN Knight Series Ergonomic Computer Gaming Office Chair.
A huge box showed up at my door and I was immediately impressed by how well-packed it was. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the assembly materials even included a pair of white gloves to help you protect your hands while assembling. (I’ve seriously never seen that before with anything I’ve ever purchased to assemble.) I guess this especially impressed me since years of spending hours upon hours at a computer, or at an easel drawing, has taken its toll on my hands.
The instructions included in the kit did differ slightly from the model I actually received (so they were just a little bit confusing at times), but it didn’t take too long to figure it all out. The only real problem I encountered was some difficulty screwing in the bottom lever because one of the holes didn’t quite line up right. Thankfully, it ended up not being a real issue.
Did I mention this new E-WIN chair pretty much has a new-car smell? I love that!
My previous Vartan chair has this weird feature where you can slide the top arm rests forward at any point in time, in addition to the ability to raise and lower the arm rests. The problem with that sliding forward feature is there is NO way to lock them into place. I even tried jamming paper into the mechanism to get it to stay in one place (that solution didn’t last long, sadly). Much to my relief, the E-WIN chair arm rests are fixed in place. You do still have the option to raise and lower the arm rests, they just don’t slide forward and backwards like they have minds of their own. The E-WIN arm rest cushions are also slightly indented for your arm’s comfort. They’re not super soft, but I found myself getting used them very quickly.
Both chairs included their own clip-on head cushion at the top and lumbar cushion at the bottom for your back. I’ve never found the lumbar cushions to be comfortable, so I always take them off. I did give the E-WIN lumbar cushion a try, but again, I didn’t find it very comfortable. The back of the chair has a lever that allows you to recline all the way back to the point of being pretty much level with the floor, but the lumbar cushion presses into your lower back if you have it on when you attempt this. Without it, however, it’s super comfy to recline the chair some if you want to close your eyes for a bit. There’s also a standard hydraulic included so you can raise and lower your chair as needed.
I’ve had the E-WIN office gaming chair for a couple weeks now, and I noticed pretty quickly that the main seat cushion is firm, but comfortable. I’d gotten used to walking over to my desk and plopping into the Vartan chair to get down to business, and since I’ve switched to the E-WIN, I’ve noticed a considerable amount of support and comfort – – which I love. Also, with my old chair, when you had to screw on the side arm rests during assembly, it caused the front edges of the cushion to be squished in and up, so I had to often reposition my legs so the decorative edges of the seat cushion didn’t dig into my thighs. I’m elated to say that the E-WIN chair does not have this problem at all.
The head rest cushion on my old chair wasn’t very comfortable either, so I ended up ordering a memory foam head rest cushion online to use with it. The E-WIN cushion, however, is far more comfortable and actually seems to rest nicely where my head wants to be when I recline the chair.
Overall, I’m really surprised by and very happy with my new E-WIN Knight Series chair. While I can’t say I have too much experience with office gaming chairs in general, I may have to agree with E-WIN’s claim to be one of the best heavy duty gaming chairs out there. I haven’t used it exactly for gaming purposes, but I do sit at my desk for hours on end for work purposes, and this chair does the trick nicely.
E-WIN wanted me to share with you guys an exclusive 20% off discount code for use at their website – JFH20 – if you’re also in the market for a new desk chair.