AKRacing Office Series Obsidian Ergonomic Computer Chair with High Backrest, Recliner, Swivel, Tilt, Rocker and Seat Height Adjustment Mechanisms - Carbon Black - PC/Mac/Linux

Like most people, I spent a long time going through listing after listing searching for the chair that suited my needs. Of course function was a very important factor but I have to say it came in third behind style and comfort.I'm in my mid 30's and I previously had been using an executive office chair. The type of chair an attorney would have in their office at work. While that looked very nice and was supremely comfortable (real leather) it had many compromises in my home office setup ranging from the lack of seat back recline adjustment and limited height adjustment, to the fact that the armrests were of course fixed and could not be adjusted limiting how close you could actually get to the desk.Enter the AKRacing Obsidian Office Chair. The greatest con to my purchase was honestly the lack of actual customer images so I am going to remedy that. It helps to be able see an idea of what the chair looks like in an actual office environment.The details:The packaging for the chair is on point. The chair arrived well supported in a thick corrugated box with banding for additional support. Upon opening the box the chair, packaging materials, tools, hardware and instructions are all well packaged, easy to remove and ready to assemble.The instructions are straight forward in a picture book style as I'm finding most common instruction are nowadays. There was only one image, instructing on how to add one of the plastic side pieces to the chair that I feel was not done the best forcing me to go to Google to find images of the chair assembled to make sure I was placing it on in the right orientation. Other than that they were all good.The hardware supplied is great. As you assemble the chair you will quickly begin to gain of sense of how sturdy it really is. I ditched the included hex wrench and opted to use my own hand tools to expedite the assembly. There was nothing wrong with it but a hex ended socket and a ratchet wrench will serve you well and the frame and hardware gave no signs of "oh no, what if I strip it" if you know what I mean. The chair is solid.A few words on comfort. I have "nobuttatall" and the chair is firm. But it has given in a bit over the 2 months that I have had it. It will never be executive chair or Serta chair soft, but it is definitely not something I would describe as uncomfortable even after sitting in it for upwards of 4 hours. If you have the seating height to high for your body your lower legs will get tingly, but that's not unique to this chair. It's more than wide enough to be comfortable and you can really spread your legs or lean on your elbow and all of the other bad posture habits you're used to comfortably while seated in the Obsidian.Adjustability is great. I haven't done the "full recline thing" since I personally don't see the point.Another reviewer mentioned two points that I agree with and there is a third point I'll add to that.1. The casters are gross. They work fine but they look as though they came off of one of my Hot Wheels toys or were shrunken down form a blinged out children's tricycle. The base of the chair should be either dark grey, charcoal, gunmetal or black. I think matte black would be most appropriate.2. The armrests rotate a touch too easily. If my wife sits in the chair, my guy....., she will dang near fall trying to get out of it (which I thank you for AKRacing because it's hilarious) but at the same time I feel that shouldn't be an issue in this class of chair. Certainly it's less than I expected at this price. This is not a deal breaker and after a week or so you will know how to handle the chair and you will adjust to not being lazy about how you get out of it. Still, it is noticeable enough to influence my future chair purchase decisions inasmuch as adding locking armrests (if that exists) to my "want" list.3. The tilt function of my chair, the one you control by pulling out on the lever beneath the seat, either doesn't work or is designed for a much, much heavier weight range. I'm super active so admittedly, even though I'm 5'11" I'm under 170 lbs. But no matter how I adjust it, I cannot get it to allow me to "unlock" tilt and then rock back in the chair. It's just way too stiff. YMMV of course.In closing my chair arrived in good condition with no shipping damage and the only issue I have had is that one of my armrests wiggles excessively. I have contacted them regarding this and a warranty part has been ordered for me. The service I received once I was able to contact them was A+++.None of these cons make me regret my purchase at all. I highly recommend this chair and if it lasts like I expect it to then I'm sure my next chair purchase in the future will still be from AKRacing.

I was looking for a new desk chair to replace a much cheaper one that I had bought a couple of years ago. The old one was a racing style design and was both uncomfortable and fell apart after only a little while due to cheap construction. However, it did look cool. This is why I went after another racing style chair again, but wanted something a little nicer. I looked at both noblechairs and secretlab chairs, but shipping times were very long, and I could not wait that long, so I opted for this chair. I am very glad that I got it. This product is amazing from the day it arrives on your doorstep with a well packaged chair that is simple to put together. It has all of the tools and even has gloves for your hands so that you don't get anything from the hydraulics on your hands (Nice touch by the way!) Not only is this chair incredibly sturdy and solid, but it is very comfortable as well. The pillows for lumbar support and the headrest soften up very fast and are very comfortable, and compared to the tiny useless pillows on most chairs, are something that I enjoy having on the chair. Particularly the headrest, because of it's size is very nice. I really love this chair and this chair really shows that you CAN have the best of both worlds, both style and comfort. If you are looking for a new desk chair or gaming chair, look no further.

I bought this AKRacing Obsidian and a Dowinx at the same time. After WASTING $600 on 2 X-rocker chairs made from inferior pleather that cracked after a year (absolute garbage) I wondered what the difference would be. So my disclaimer here is this review is of 2 newly assembled pleather chairs. It's quite likely that all of these including Killabee, Secretlab, DX, Noblechair, Arozzi, etc frames are identical, if not made in the same factory. The levels of finish materials are probably offered by 3 or 4 upholstery manufacturers making a line for every single brand to their budget specIS the AKR worth double the price of Dowinx? It has a better fit & finish. It's more plush and firm. The armrests are a little better, some things are shinier, 5/10yr warranty blahblah, I think the only true answer can be known 2yrs from now. So no, I don't think AKR is worth "double" this chair. I'd say it's 60% nicer out of the box. The seat foam is surprisingly cushy; I hope it lasts.Remember that with any of these kinds of chairs you can buy a different height seatpost for ~$30. I bought a shorter seatpost for $30 & added MonsterTech mouse platforms to them as well.Long gone are the days when I bought a really plush genuine leather office chair for $200 (20yrs ago). Gone are the days when you could buy a very high quality pleather chair for $200 and a leather one started at $400 (10yrs ago).Times are what they are, and ALL of these that say leather are pleather of varying quality and you never know what you will get. So is this a $400 chair? I am very reluctant to say yes considering what I actually wanted was a high back leather executive chair BUT this thing is surprisingly comfy. If it falls apart in a year I'm gonna lose it.