DXRACER Wide Series Review

Imabigmac · May 11, 2016

Yes, I spent $500+ (cdn) on a chair. Yes, it is labeled a “gaming chair”. Yes, in most of cases paying extra money for something that has the word “gaming” attached to it is not worth it. However I do believe that a DXRacer is a bit of an exception but not an entire exception. I didn’t buy a DXRacer because it was what all the streamers are using. No, I bought this because I was unsatisfied with my old $200 Staples office chair. I even went into Staples and sat in all of the chairs there that looked like they might have worked for me. I did my research on chairs and concluded that I would far more happy with a $500 DXRacer than any $300 “Manager’s chair” from staples. Also many of the other chairs out there like LTT’s favorite brand “Maxnomic” are incredibly expensive to get into Canada.

Based on DXRacer’s own recommendations between the USA and Canadian guides I determined I should be perfect fit for a Formula series chair. However my chair choice was the “OH/WX0/N” which translates to an all black, Wide Series (W-Series) chair. The chair resembles a more traditional office chair, and is not as restrictive as the true “gaming” chair that DXRacer offers - such as the formula series. Being restricted is a common comment that people make about the Formula series, for some it’s an issue for others it’s not. I was unable to go and sit in one before I bought online so I worried about being restricted.

So how is the chair?

In comparison to my old chair the DXRacer is far better, I was sitting on two cushions to avoid the plywood base of the old chair. The way you sit and feel in the DXRacer is totally different and almost incomparable to my old chair. You sit on a much firmer surface and the back is considerably more upright and straight and firm. Sitting in this chair is far from sitting on a La-Z-Boy recliner. You do not sink into it like you would with a memory foam mattress, you sit on it. It feels firm but it not like sitting on a hard surface. It is not uncomfortable, but it’s not the same feeling as I’m use to/ was expecting.

What I think in the greatest feature of DXRacer and really any chair that has it, is the reclining back. If you feel uncomfortable in one position, just adjust recline on the back until you feel more comfortable. Much like a seat in car, you have the ability to adjust to suit how you want to sit, not how someone wants to sit.Something that is lacking from most office chairs. The armrests follow the adjustable trend, on the Wide series they go up and down, slide forward and back, and the tops swivel I think 15 degrees right and left.
I haven’t really needed to use the cushions but I can see that in some seating positions they might come in handy and I have played around a little with them. If you are going to be reclining all the way back, you will likely want the head cushion. The lumbar pillow isn’t for everyone, and it is a bit firm/large for my liking. Overall the is comfortable to sit in for long hours, and it is a real pleasure to be able to adjust to my liking.

The Wide series uses similarly dense foam as that of the Formula series line up in case you were wondering. The wide series is meant for heavier people and I’m a very light person, so maybe to a heavier person the chair would not feel as firm as it does for me.

The DXRacer is built very well and feels high end. The Polyurethane (PU) leather feels nicer than the Leatherette in my BMW Mini Cooper and a few steps above my old Staples Managers chair. The rest of the chair is built like a tank and the overall weight of the chair is around 50 pounds. The metal base is complete overkill… But I bought a chair that was meant for someone for who weighs around 250Lbs, so much of this chair is over built for me.

Assembly was a little awkward for me on my own, just due to lining up the bolts while balancing and adjusting a heavy and large seat back, not really a big deal because it was still a simple job, and so was rest of the process.

Complaints

Expensive, you could easily produce a chair for less with similar quality and features.
Arm rests need to be able to go up another inch or so. Due to the armrests ability to swivel they feel kinda loose, and I find myself swivelling them by accident when I get out of the chair.
Limited information available on the chairs on DXRacer’s websites.
Box is massive and the heavy…
The headrest pillow looks funny.

Ordering

The Canada site leaves much to be desired in comparison to the USA site. I would highly recommend a Canadian buyer to go onto the USA site for some buying help and information on each chair. While the Canadian site has a nice “buying guide” section, the site lacks all specifications for the chairs, and the info has not been updated to include newer models in their line up. For us Canadians we also get fewer choices of chairs, fewer colour options and older generations of the line up. For example the Iron series in the USA looks totally different than the one DXRacer sells in Canada.
For more help DXRacer has a great SubReddit, and a thread where you can ask what chair is best for you and a DXRacer rep will respond.

I had no problems with the Purchase or shipping. Chair arrived from Vancouver to Vancouver Island in 2 days. But I wouldn’t expect such fast shipping to everywhere and also don’t expect it to be shipped with Canada Post. (probably a good thing)

My conclusion

I would never tell anyone that this a bad chair, but I would tell them not to buy it right away. Buying anything with the “gaming” attached to it needs to approached with caution. Do your homework and before you go out and spend $500 on chair or less if you don’t live in Canada or Aus etc, go to staples or Office depot and try out some chairs. That way you might save yourself some money or you have given yourself more justification for spending so much on chair.

The flexibility in seating positions is awesome and having a roomy chair is great for me personally. With comfort you really do have to understand that chair the might be very firm feeling depending on your weight. This caught me by surprise and was originally not all that satisfied, but over the past week I have grown to find it quite nice. So you have been warned, it may not be love at first sight but give it a little time to find your spot.

I do believe that if you live near a store or DXRacer location or even a friend who owns a DXRacer to go and try it out before you buy just as would if you determined to buy a new regular office chair from staples.

Overall, I’m happy with my purchase and I would likely buy another - but I would try it out first.

I know this was really long, but I decided to review my chair because there seem to be very few complete or at least somewhat complete reviews of the Wide Series and certainly no reviews from someone who is not really the intended physical size for the chair.

My Old Staples Chair: