DXRacer F-Series Review.

[FueledByBacon]

TLDR: I purchased this model. This chair has changed my opinion on all the previous chairs I have owned and used over the last 5 years. At first it started out by being uncomfortable but within a few hours I was much more comfortable than with my last chair and the temporary back pain I was experiencing was beginning to diminish in strength. I feel like the price I paid is fair given the quality of the product I received and the speed in which the free shipping delivered the product (3 days from ordering to delivery at my door with the first day being a Sunday).

Background: I have only owned $79 - $150 Walmart / Costco chairs and the latest chair I've had for over two years and it was under $100. I've sat in numerous chairs ranging from low end to very expensive high end chairs typically only and out of all of them this chair has probably been one of the more comfortable. I thought I had good posture but it turns out I don't.

Comfort: Overall this chair is very comfortable, it's as soft as required to be comfortable but is sturdy enough that it feels like after an extended amount of use it won't just eventually sink down until I'm sitting on a steel bars and plywood which is a good sign as very chair I've sat in before has eventually become uncomfortable due to sitting on nothing after an hour or two. The backrest feels very sturdy and it feels like my whole back is supported which is something that wasn't present on cheaper chairs I have used, it feels much like the ergonomic chairs I've sat in but there is something about it that seems like it's reducing my back pain but causing a new pain as my back / body begins to get used to sitting with correct posture. Leaning back has resulted in me almost dozing off as it's very, very comfortable with or without the pillows and I fully expect to use this feature as time goes on while watching movies or even for resting during queue times in League of Legends / World of Warcraft.

The arm rests aren't bad, they are plastic which means that if you rest your arms on the wrong part of them for several hours it might cause some discomfort but I only use the one arm rest on my left hand (keyboard arm) and after a few hours it has yet to cause any issues in comparison to what I was used to with my Walmart chair.

Overall looking at this purchase objectively it's not the most comfortable chair I've sat in for short periods of time but after a week or two of usage I fully expect my back to feel much better as it already feels a bit better after only a few hours of usage.

Features: The padding is decent, the reclining feature is very strong and I feel very confident putting all of my weight on it (I weigh 165 pounds and am 5' 11"), the pillows are probably beneficial for some people but I found the lumbar support pillow to cause more pain than when I didn't use it for my back in any position and I have resorted to using it instead of the head pillow as it's much better in my opinion. The hydraulic lift feels sturdy and has a decent amount of height and the arm rests while plastic are still comfortable enough after a few hours of use. 

Build Quality: The chair is very heavy in comparison to most chairs I've owned which I believe to be a sign of solid construction much like when picking up a high quality power supply and feeling it's increased weight in comparison to a lower end OEM power supply. The arm rest's are made of plastic but it's a type of plastic that has a bit of give to it, it's sort of a mix of soft / hard plastic. The base is solid steel and is very sturdy, putting the wheels into it was a pain in my ass but overall once they are in they are in and probably won't go anywhere.

 

The only two issues I have with the build quality are the foot rests and the plastic covers for the sides of the chair which cover the bolts, these two pieces seem out of place in comparison to what looks and feels like a very high quality chair and as a result I believe it brings the chair down a bit but in the long run probably won't effect it's overall lifespan. The seat and backrest are the two heaviest parts followed by the hydraulic lift and this provides a large amount of confidence for me, it was heavy enough that I had a difficult time getting it onto the lift while assembling due to it's shape / weight combination. 

 

The material feels very good but it does get hot after a few hours of use due to the lack of any form of mesh which is combated by getting up and stretching every few hours or lowering the ambient temperature of your room to compensate for the extra heat on your back, butt and thighs, The other downside to the material is that it's not designed to be in direct sunlight so if you have a sunny room avoid placing the chair in that location as even the manual warns users against leaving the chair in sunny rooms as sun has been shown to cause damage to the material which results in cracking, etc.

The bolts used in the chair are very thick, they feel very strong and the threads on them are very thick, it's a nice change from the narrow long bolts that normally come with chairs and they also provide a large amount of confidence for the longevity of this product when I think about how my other chairs have held up.

Packing Material: DXRacer.ca shipped the product in a huge box labeled with their name and various other slogans about the chair as well as a clear label of what was in the box and a huge amount of packing tape to keep everything closed during shipping, it was about even to what I have experienced with NCIX & Amazon in terms of outer boxes. The packing material on the inside however was above and beyond what I was expecting, every piece of the chair comes in a very thick plastic bag with DXRacer branding on it and each one of the bags is surrounded by a soft type of foam that wraps around everything very tightly. The hydraulic lift ships in the bottom of the box and is secured with several pieces of extremely sticky material to the bottom of the box and is taped several dozen times in place to prevent any movement during shipping, this in comparison to other retailers I've purchased products from has been above and beyond every other packaging I have received from the likes of NCIX, Amazon, TigerDirect, Ebay, etc.

 

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After using it for several hours and writing the review while sitting in it I can recommend this product for people who wish to have a step up from the typical Walmart / Costco chair, the F-Series has been perfect for my height / weight (5 foot 11 inches & 165 - 170 pounds) and in comparison to many other chairs I have tried I believe it is above average for comfort and one of the best in terms of build quality with many pieces of the chair being constructed very well and providing a lot of confidence. I believe for the price I paid ($370 with tax & shipping) this product was well worth the money and is worth considering if you can't take the next step up to a Herman Miller Aeron or Steelcase Leap.

 

Here are some pictures of my previous chair and my DXRacer for comparison.

 

Previous Chair: http://www.ultraimg.com/images/previous.jpg
DXRacer: http://www.ultraimg.com/images/IMG_1247.jpg
Dude Approves: http://www.ultraimg.com/images/IMG_125014f94.jpg

PS: I didn't include a score this time, people weren't a fan of it in my last review.

[Psykomantis00]

Hey man, your mouse pad's crooked. 

[FueledByBacon]

Hey man, your mouse pad's crooked. 

 

It's more than crooked, did you see the picture on it, definitely worth the 70% discount. 

[FueledByBacon]

Since posting this review I've noticed a few things, my posture was really, really hard on my back and this chair while comfortable is also uncomfortable in it's own way because as a result of my poor posture due to years of inferior chairs I don't have the core strength to sit up correctly for extended periods of time. Fixing it isn't as difficult as I thought, doing basic stretches and straightening out my back and sitting at a 135 degree angle is taking some getting used to but my back no longer has the old pain and instead has a pain in the unused muscles.

 

So very worth it though, if going through this means my back becomes stronger I should have no issues carrying people in League of Legends. Seriously though, some discomfort at first, fixed it by changing the way I sit and I am buying a desk that is lower because my feet don't sit on the ground if I put this chair up to the height required to use it comfortably for my desk.
 

[FueledByBacon]

Okay so update from today (11/15/2014), I went out and purchased a new desk as was my original plan when I bought this chair as I needed something lower so that my feet would correctly rest on the floor which helped a bit with comfort. I also started doing forward neck posture stretches to stretch out the muscles in my neck which were in pain which has also increased comfort. I went to Ikea and sat in their Markus chair, I ended up buying it for another person in my house as they liked it and comparing the two side by side the DXRacer is definitely more comfortable in terms of relaxed back support and cushioning on my butt.

Comfort keeps going up with each day.

[FueledByBacon]

I've ended up selling my DXRacer, it was uncomfortable for me after 30 minutes. Every other chair I sat in from the Steelcase chairs at my work to about half of the ones at Staples were more comfortable. I believe the issue was with the padding on the back not being thick enough and hurting my back after an hour or so of usage. Overall I lost $170 in addition to the cost of my new chair. I would still recommend this chair to people but you need to make certain that you like the feel of it before you sit in it as several of the people that tried it for me in my household enjoyed it but for me personally it didn't feel as good as it needed to feel.

[IrshaadH]

How tall are you/how much do you weigh?

[FueledByBacon]

How tall are you/how much do you weigh?

 

5 foot 11, 160 - 165 pounds. It's not an issue with height or weight I have a nerve in my leg that was getting agitated by this chair, it was causing my leg and lower back to go numb which is why it started to get uncomfortable, I'm going to try out some Steelcase Leap chairs tomorrow so I'll probably end up with one of those due to how it's seat functions. The DXRacer sort of pushed your legs up, the Leap moves with your legs on a sort of downward angle which should be better for my issue(s). I would still highly recommend the chair but only if you don't have leg issues as it made it worse for me personally.

 

Even with my problems I could use it for several hours without issue but the last few days my leg was getting worse and worse, I changed seats to an Ikea Markus for the time being and the problems went away.

[IrshaadH]

Ah, that makes sense. Hopefully you find the right chair for you!