so it's time to ditch the $40 ikea special that i currently sit in most of my day. i work from home and game during free time so lots of time is spent in this location. i'm hoping for any thoughts or suggestions from others who have already gone through the process of finding a solid ergonomic gaming/office chair i've looked at a few online, sat in a few in stores, and mostly have been pretty underwhelmed with normal furniture "name brand" office chairs. while i know they've got a bit of a stigma, i keep coming back to the dx racer racing series chairs. just seems like anybody you ever talk to who has one loves it i probably can't realistically spend more than what the dx racer costs, but are there any other alternatives anybody can suggest? any dx racer owners in the borg that can confirm or deny comfy butts?
I too am very interested in this topic. I have been looking at getting a new chair myself. My current chair was a "good" office chair once upon a time, but I've literally had it for like 7 years; that yime has passed. My own experience pretty much mirrors yours, Pidian. Sat in some at various office/furniture stores and haven't been wowed. Been looking at dx racer for the same reason, but I'm open at this point.
Ikea Poang chair in red leather acquired from the Ikea in Moscow, because what other color would you get in Russia? not mine but gives you an idea of the color and setup mine at the desk I build specifically to use with it. I have gone through quite a few office chairs over the years. Most all of them have been uncomfortable after a while. There was an staples office chair that I loved but it has been discontinued for about 4 years so I'll not send you down that wild goose chase (believe me I've tried to find one about 2 years ago and failed) I bought this for my office at my parents in va, I don't recommend it after having it for a while. The place I stay at in NC when I'm at my organization's headquarters has a full mesh office chair similar to this one, it has both vertical and angle adjustment on the arms, the back adjusts vertically (slightly too easy so I have to reset it regularly and is the only thing that is bad on it seriously). The seating position is incredibly comfortable for me, the adjustable back places the lumbar support exactly where I need it and leaves me able to sit for long periods with no back issues. If I were to buy an office chair for a standard size desk this would be my go to choice. Sadly I don't have a picture of it or remember its name off hand, I'll be back there in two weeks and can get the information on it then, but its similar to this one As far as racing chairs as desk chairs goes, Hannibal on SimHQ and the DCS forums built a set of three chair platforms for vr use (driving, helicopter, and a fixed wing) he started with using actual car seats mounted to sliders on the base but found that extended sitting in them would cause issues as the chair comes up and cuts off circulation under your legs at the edge of the seat. I had the same issue with some no name replacement adjustable race seats years ago. I'm very hesitant to use them in anything anymore because of that problem, I went to Recaro seats for the next interior rebuild to have both quality and safety. He ended up going to mesh office chairs that were then mounted to the sliders and has liked them. When I was starting to play around with building a work/pit I hunted down basically every route that had been tried before. I was close to building and ACES II ejection seat for the pit but from what I've heard they aren't the most comfortable for long periods of time and I was having to bridge the difference between work and sim. The car seats were appealing but previous experience and higher prices for decent options eliminated that for the most part. One guy on the MWO forums had built a pit around a rocker gaming chair, I started down this route and bought the version that has a swivel base but found that it's curve was really uncomfortable for my back. After all of this I started thinking one night about what the most comfortable chair I have sat in was and realized that I had been sitting in a friend's Poang after dinner that night and how much I missed my Poang reading chair in my place in FL. Some hunting on craigslist ended up with me picking up my current leather one from a guy who had been assigned to Moscow, more than happy to get it. The leather ones seem to go between $60-100 used on craigslist here in the DC area, I've seen them for as little as $20 but those are gone right away. There are three versions of the Poang that I am aware of not counting the childrens version or the very similar and slightly cheaper Pello. There is the standard bouncing version like I have, a rocking version, and finally a swiveling version. If you want a desk height chair the swiveling one is probably the most ideal, you can find them on craigslist fairly regularly (at least here). For the bouncing version I use in my setup I placed furniture sliders under the base legs so that I can easily push back and slide the chair in and out from the desk on the carpet in my office. Now I measured and built the desk to fit the chair specifically and have the desktop on seat rails that allow me to lock it in or out as need be. This also helps with having a sliding chair to use with it. I do place shims under the rear of the base to tilt the chair up slightly, I'm still playing with exactly how much tilt I want so that I don't feel like I'm leaning way back all the time as comfortable as it is. I have found this wheel set in a thread about using the poang as an office chair and really like ti but have never found the original source for it, since the furneture sliders work just fine on the carpet I've not bothered continuing to hunt for it. Granted if I ever switch to wood floors I'm going to go and make a set of them.
I use this one. Very comfy and half the price of the DX http://www.microcenter.com/product/427869/Racer_Gaming_Chair
Other more slightly expensive option would be a Corbeau office chair base and pick one of there seats. http://corbeau.com/other/accessories/office-chair-base.html they also have a gaming chair base that is much cheaper.. http://corbeau.com/other/accessories/gaming-base.html
I'm also watching on this thread...same reasons as Pidian and Sard. I can couch for the Poang as a great chair to sit in, we have one. Never thought to use it as part of my rig, but am also not planning on customising. Well played though, MH!
i'm looking for a cheap chair that will be small, but with back support, so i can sit it in the middle of my room while playing vr games, and turn in it, but not have the back block either headset or what not, but still provide some back support.
last night ended up ordering myself a dxracer formula series, should have it by this time next week and will give me thoughts for those also in the chair market. appreciate all the suggestions, what ended up swaying me was a guy i played the division with for a couple weeks is also a star citizen backer and was telling me about his setup. he uses the same CH HOTAS i have and he said that either setting or straight-up mounting his stick and throttle to these guys worked really well for him. the only suggestion he said on the actual dxracer chair is to get one that didn't have the fully adjustable armrests (which he has) and just go for the simple ones that only adjust up and down. the fully adjustable ones twist and go forward/back beyond just the standard up/down. his feedback was that while the fully adjustable armrests are comfortable, there is just enough give in them that while he's using his mounted HOTAS it feels sloppy
So im currently debating on the idea when I replace the seats in my 300zx and using those seats for my computer chairs. My father has a few computer chairs laying around and just needs the chair part. So the idea is to use the rolling base with a bracket made of square tubing to bolt the seat to the chair base.
I went through quite a few chairs until I found this little gem: http://m.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/art/60309732/ I would say it is on par with most $1000+ chairs I've used at work, if not better, and the price is really good too. It's missing some of the fancier adjustment options but I've had no trouble setting it up to my liking and it's held up really well the last 2-3 years I've owned it (occasionally need to re-tighten some bolts but that's it)
