SecretLab Titan Evo 2022 Review

[wANKER]

(should start by saying the chair was purchased mid-october, so the above statement regarding 'early units' is total bull)

 

So, I committed the cardinal sin and purchased a 'gaming chair' and decided to go with the SecretLab Titan Evo 2022, primarily influenced by ShortCircuit review

 

Packaging 

Honestly some of the nicest packaging I have come across on any item. Everything is packaged so that it can be easily removed from the box in order of the assembly process. Laying on top of the parts as soon as you open the box, is a large gloss colour print of photographed, step by step instructions. So don't think they could have done much better on the packaging front. 

 

Assembly

This is where the issues started to appear. As far as the assembly process, super easy and would take a single person probably 20 minutes to fully assembly their chair. 

However, I noticed that the screw holes for the hinges were not aligned on both sides of the chair. This meant that you had to put a lot of force onto one side of the chair to try and get it to line up properly. It still does not. I have browsed Reddit, Trustpilot etc. and there are tons of complaints of exactly the same issue. I've not seen any response from SecretLab on this particular quality issue (there's plenty more to come). 

 

Ergonomics 

As expected with any 'gaming chair', ergonomics are not great. Though they're even worse than what I initially expected. There also seems to be an issue with the base of the chair (once again, Reddit and other sites confirm I am not the only one). It does not sit quite level and is slanted to one side. This creates quite a serious issue as it means that there is more pressure on one buttock than the other, leading to lower back pain. Again, others have confirmed of the same issue. 

The lumbar support in this chair is basically pointless. If it's fully retracted, you're basically sitting against a sheet of hardboard. Fully extended, and it's basically the equivalent of cheap office chair. Not only this, but it also bows when you lean against it which basically removes the little support which was there. 

 

Quality

Oh boy. Here we go. 

There are lot of rattle which comes from the armrests - SuperLab's response effectively being 'well they're 4D armrests, what do you expect' - however one armrest for me is a LOT more looser than the other. 

The absolute most significant issue from these things is the noise. 

If you buy one of these things, you will get an email from SecretLab's around 1 days after it has been delivered, advising that there may be excessive noise issues and to contact support. The key thing here is that they're emailing around 1 day AFTER DELIVERY. Buy which time, most people have assembled the chair and thrown away the packaging. Bye bye return option. 

The noise from the lumbar support is unbearable. This thing creaks every time any amount of pressure is applied against it. To a point where it will literally creak when you're no longer sitting on it.... Almost as if the lumbar support is expanding. 

The base also creaks with any amount of lateral movement. 

There is absolutely no mention of potential issues on their website, they're continuing to sell defective chairs, and continuing to only inform people a set period of time AFTER delivery. 

[ebprince the computer nerd]

i like how you gave your experience with the company because most reviews only talk about the quality and the pros and cons. (roasting my own reviews lol) but you talked about the support experience and stuff, and i respect that

[FIXXX]

Honestly, buying "gaming" chairs is an unnecessary risk.

 

Much rather get one from a retailer or a warehouse that still offers a warranty. Big purchases are such a hassle when it's not nearby 

[wANKER]

Update: 

 

Support sent me a replacement backrest which they promised would resolve the issue and that I didn't need to return the chair. 

The replacement developed exactly the same issue. 

Over one month into this and it's still not resolved. 

Edited January 6, 2022 by wANKER

[Commodus]

On 11/27/2021 at 9:35 AM, wANKER said:

Update: 

 

Support sent me a replacement backrest which they promised would resolve the issue and that I didn't need to return the chair. 

The replacement developed exactly the same issue. 

Over one month into this and it's still not resolved. 

 

There are hundreds of people with exactly the same issue. Yet they're still selling the chair. 

 

This is why you can't trust reviews by shills like LMG who take vetted products for reviews (rather than getting the same experience as the consumer). Everyone apart from YouTubers are complaining about issues with their chair, but primarily issues with their dealings with Secretlab. 

 

Also, I know most people on here already know it, but these 'gaming chairs' are all made in exactly the same factory. They just have different finishing on them. You can get the same chair for about half the price. They have the same parts, same tooling marks, same injection moulding points. 

 

 

Please don't call outlets "shills" just because you disagree with them.

 

You don't have evidence Secretlab cherry-picked review units (how would it know which units are more reliable?). And "shill" implies being paid off or otherwise working on behalf of the product maker; you don't have evidence of that, either. You certainly don't have to like Secretlab, but don't cry conspiracy unless you can back up your claims. It's not just unsupported, it's hurtful to reviewers who likely had no intentions to deceive.

 

The boring reality is likely that LTT doesn't have any reason to suspect Secretlab would feed 'ideal' chairs, and isn't about to spend a month-plus with a regularly purchased chair in the off-chance there's a reliability issue they wouldn't have caught in a week or two. LTT's focus is on computing devices, not furniture, and it's important to set your expectations accordingly.

[wANKER]

On 12/5/2021 at 3:36 PM, Commodus said:

Please don't call outlets "shills" just because you disagree with them.

 

You don't have evidence Secretlab cherry-picked review units (how would it know which units are more reliable?). And "shill" implies being paid off or otherwise working on behalf of the product maker; you don't have evidence of that, either. You certainly don't have to like Secretlab, but don't cry conspiracy unless you can back up your claims. It's not just unsupported, it's hurtful to reviewers who likely had no intentions to deceive.

 

The boring reality is likely that LTT doesn't have any reason to suspect Secretlab would feed 'ideal' chairs, and isn't about to spend a month-plus with a regularly purchased chair in the off-chance there's a reliability issue they wouldn't have caught in a week or two. LTT's focus is on computing devices, not furniture, and it's important to set your expectations accordingly.

-Quoted comments from are indeed assumptions with no evidence to back up so just ignore-

[Commodus]

1 hour ago, wANKER said:

You literally only have to do a bit of Googling to find that the majority of consumers who have purchased their chairs have had both issues with the product and their service. YouTuber's have not. 

The cherry-picked review units comes from support literally telling consumers this is exactly what they're doing in their warehouses for customers who complain. Which is why it's taking more time to get replacement parts, because their logistics team is having to try find batches less effected. 

The use of the word shill comes from the fact Short Circuit is purely a review channel. Yet they use review units rather than purchasing products directly to get the full experience which the customers get. They're making videos to literally recommended products or not to people for a profit, and choose not to take the full customer route to maximise their profits. That, in my eyes, is a shill. It's been a well known fact for YouTubers to receive vetted products, or pre-manufacturing runs, for their videos. In my opinion, making it an unfair review, making them shills.

In my opinion, someone like LTT should always be conscious they may not receive the same product an end-consumer will, and at the very least do a bit of background search before hand. Which as i said right at the start, you only have to do a bit of Googling or check out their Trust Pilot pages. 

Anyway, this post really wasn't a dig at LMG. It was a review of Secretlab. 

Majority? Do you have charts showing the percentage of total sales that had problems or frustrations with customer service? Probably not, if we're honest with ourselves. I certainly wouldn't rule out a significant number of faulty units, but please don't conflate a bunch of search results with a majority. You can search for faults or customer service problems for any large company and the results will make it sound like problems are rampant even whey affect just a handful of customers.

 

Like I said, there's no evidence YouTubers get cherry-picked units; more likely, it's that they may only have the review units for a couple of weeks. That's a pretty standard review unit policy for most companies, from what I've seen. Now, you can certainly say that's not enough time for issues to manifest in products like chairs, but that doesn't make it a sinister plot on Secretlab's part. As it stands, how would the company pick those samples? Grab a whole bunch from the line and have staff sit in them day-in, day-out for a month to see if any of them break, and send the ones that don't (but are mysteriously still in brand-new condition)?

 

And I'm sorry, but that's stretching the definition of "shill" to fit your frustrations, not the actual definition. A shill is someone who knowingly takes pay to paint an unrealistically flattering picture of a product. A YouTuber providing their honest feedback on a product they reasonably believe to be the same as for customers, and taking a review unit because they either can't afford to buy everything they review (common for smaller producers) or have no reason to believe the units would be cherry-picked (as is likely the case here). For goodness' sake, if big companies like Samsung can send units with glaring design flaws that reviewers spot within hours, like the original Galaxy Fold, what makes you think Secretlab is more clever than that?

 

Many if not most outlets will readily disclose if they've been given an unfinished or early sample. Sometimes it's also pretty obvious they got a review unit, too, like iPhone or Galaxy S reviews that show up right before units ship to customers (those are of the same quality as the units that customers receive, I'd add). And while I don't know how much research LTT did, I'm sure it's aware some people have had problems.

 

Look, we all understand: you're angry that Secretlab sold you a flawed unit. I wouldn't be surprised if there's a larger reliability problem, too. But it sounds like you're trying to justify that anger at all costs by making the issues bigger than they are: because yours was flawed, most others surely must be; because yours was flawed, all YouTubers who accept review unit loans are corrupt. Well... no. Sometimes you just pull the short straw and get a bad example, whether it's a one-off or part of a systemic (but still minority) problem. You can criticize Secretlab without insisting it's orchestrating a fiendish conspiracy, or that all customers must share your pain.

[IPD]

Conspiracy is reaching.  But having their ads on LTT forums isn't a good look, imho.

 

I really hope this thread gets stickied.  I'm tired of people buying gamer chairs or posting ridiculous threads on chair recommendations where they want $2500 chair comfort/features on a $200 budget.

 

For the love of all that's holy--if you read nothing else I have said here--go through reviews from professional furniture resellers/reviewers.  They are usually the most knowledgeable and have insight from comparing numerous products.  It's like the difference between buying a car because your cousin jim-bob said it's a good model to get; vs. getting a professional take on that car in a 6 way comparison test.

 

p.s.

Thanks OP for posting this.  I am now 100% convinced that all gaming chairs are crap--even SecretLab. 

[Commodus]

On 12/15/2021 at 1:29 PM, IPD said:

Conspiracy is reaching.  But having their ads on LTT forums isn't a good look, imho.

 

I really hope this thread gets stickied.  I'm tired of people buying gamer chairs or posting ridiculous threads on chair recommendations where they want $2500 chair comfort/features on a $200 budget.

 

For the love of all that's holy--if you read nothing else I have said here--go through reviews from professional furniture resellers/reviewers.  They are usually the most knowledgeable and have insight from comparing numerous products.  It's like the difference between buying a car because your cousin jim-bob said it's a good model to get; vs. getting a professional take on that car in a 6 way comparison test.

 

p.s.

Thanks OP for posting this.  I am now 100% convinced that all gaming chairs are crap--even SecretLab. 

The only gaming chair I'd really recommend unreservedly is the Embody, and that's because it's a Herman Miller chair (i.e. good ergonomics and build) with some gaming branding.

[jetnoodles]

1 hour ago, Commodus said:

The only gaming chair I'd really recommend unreservedly is the Embody, and that's because it's a Herman Miller chair (i.e. good ergonomics and build) with some gaming branding.

but the price...

[Commodus]

59 minutes ago, NOV654 said:

but the price...

True, and it won't be practical for many people. But if you do have the money, it could be a good investment for your back.

[IPD]

I wasn't aware the Embody was a gamer chair.  I totally don't see it as such.  I'd be much more likely to buy a Cosm if I were in that pricepoint and looking.

[wANKER]

UPDATE: 

 

After the replacement backrest had the same issue, and after failing to be able to return the chair due to having no box, Secretlab have stated that they have started running quality control on new batches of backrests and that a replacement will be available end of February. They've guaranteed the replacement won't have the same issue. We'll see.  

 

Remember, they knew about the issues before I bought the chair as they emailed me a day after delivery warning me of such issues, and a resolution can only be provided 4 months after purchase. Posts complaining of the issues date back to June/July. I purchased mine end of October. 

[wANKER]

 

 

Would have thought more of @LinusTechthan promoting 'Gaming Chairs'..... Especially overpriced copy cat heaps of shit like Secretlab that farm their own issues off onto the consumer. 

https://www.reddit.com/r/secretlab/comments/qj8xo2/if_you_know_theres_issues_with_your_chairs_dont/

https://www.reddit.com/r/secretlab/comments/rqqi4k/titan_evo_2022_issue_update/

https://www.reddit.com/r/secretlab/comments/rpu223/return_process_is_atrocious/

https://www.reddit.com/r/secretlab/comments/rqhzlw/return_experience/

https://www.reddit.com/r/secretlab/comments/rmzrsu/titan_evo_2022_just_arrived_broken_after_a_shitty/

https://www.reddit.com/r/secretlab/comments/rlb1y9/secretlab_titan_evo_2022/

 

[LinusTech]

From the look of things, Secret Lab could absolutely handle some of these things better, but some of the complaints are not super reasonable (support ticket wait times DO tend to be a bit longer this time of year and heavy items almost never offer free return shipping unless the item is grossly overpriced in the first place) and looking across all 6 of these threads there are some recurring characters, which seems to suggest a small minority of users are very unhappy, while the majority of the recent posts to the subreddit are from satisfied users...

 

Definitely something we'll be keeping an eye on it and we'll get in touch with them to find out their side of the story.

 

 

edit: fixed a typo

[Secretlab_Yuni]

Hi wANKER and everyone following this thread,
 

I’m Yuni from Secretlab’s Community Management team. Firstly, thanks @LinusTech for bringing this to our attention. I’d like to extend my apologies to the OP for the experience. I have read through the post in detail and our team will be looking into this to ensure that the lacking areas are looked into and improved on.
 

With regards to your request, our support team is actively working on the return request at the moment. They will provide you with an update on the collection as soon as they have confirmation from the courier. We will also reach out to you directly via a separate email thread to further address your concerns. 

I wanted to also jump in to address some of the concerns that were raised here. We are aware that certain earlier production batches of the TITAN Evo 2022 potentially received uneven application of adhesive and lubricant in the L-ADAPT lumbar system area and with that, produces a sound when pressure is applied. It does not affect usage or durability of the chair in any way, but it is still crucial to us to fix it.
 

I’d like to first reassure that the overall reported issue rate is low but regardless, this is something we have actively worked on fixing upon realization. As we are working to fix this for the people who have reached out, we are also going through checks on existing stocks of replacement parts to ensure we send out a fixed replacement component to alleviate the sound. 
 

Following this, I also understand that there are questions about aligning the backrest during assembly and like the OP mentioned, will require some adjustments and slight force prior to securing it in place. We designed and have introduced guide rails at the side of the backrests to improve the overall assembly experience but they are guides and will still require some minor adjustments for it to be aligned properly. 
 

Ultimately, it is of importance to us that any concerns raised are accurately and promptly addressed and I appreciate the support and feedback you have provided us with. Pertaining to the support experience, I will address them further via email so do keep a lookout in your inbox. 
 

Our support team is always on-hand and ready to assist if any of our customers need help with their chairs, so do drop them a message at https://secretlab.co/contact and they’ll be with you as quickly as possible.

[wANKER]

Thanks for the responses.

I totally understand that products can develop issues, what matters is how they're dealt with. The fact the replacement backrest which was supposed to resolve the issue, had even worse issues, is what ultimately triggered me. Then to be told I'd have to wait another 2 months for another attempt at fixing the issue, only other option being is to try and find a box suitable myself to return it (which honestly, was a lot more difficult than it seems for something this size/component shape).

In hindsight some of the comments were reaching a bit far, so I've removed some content from the original post for future readers to keep it within context and accurate. 

Also can confirm support have been in touch to inform me they're arranging collection of the chair for a return. 

[Tristerin]

On 1/4/2022 at 8:05 PM, LinusTech said:

From the look of things,

 

22 hours ago, Secretlab_Yuni said:

I’m Yuni from Secretlab’s Community Management team. 

 

When the Godking Linus speaks.....

 

I love that the Network of individuals here have enough influence to reach the companies that we purchase from - that means they know this forum and its users can influence this market - alot

 

Well done on the review and hopefully this company takes care of its bad chairs.  

[CaiphasCain]

I'm an owner of the 2022 model and I've only had it a short while so I can't say much, but I've had seriously negative experiences with absolutely rock solid brands and amazing experiences with terrible ones. It doesn't mean anything obviously, I just think that this is too small a sample size