Before I go ahead and talk about gaming chairs and whether one should get a gaming chair or ergonomic chair, let me talk about the importance of having a nice comfortable chair.
Because for some weird reason we seem to overlook one of the most important aspects when it comes to using computers or gadgets for that matter.
Our eyes and our backs.
And I don’t know whether it is greed or just plain white ignorance of influencers, bloggers, reviewers, YouTubers, manufacturers, or whatever, they always seem to skip this part.
Buy this monitor, it’s just too fantastic. Alright, bro that cool and all but how gentle is the monitor is or isn’t on my eyes?
Or get this gaming chair, it’s so cool. But how does the word ‘gaming’ enhance the value of the chair when looked at from the context of my back?
Do you get my point?
I am a digital marketer myself guys but let me tell you people drop all sense of awareness and care when selling stuff.
I am not trying to infuse some kind of moral or philosophical standpoint in this article on should I get a gaming chair or ergonomic chair but there are some things that need to be said.
If you don’t have care in your heart for your audience, what is the point of spreading misery and getting paid for it? It won’t enhance your life.
Anyways, the rant ends here. Let’s begin.
Should I get a gaming chair or ergonomic chair?
Well, the answer is simple, the priority has to be comfort and it has to be personal. The best way is to go to your local chair dealer shop and see for yourself how comfortable a particular chair is for you. If it feels gentle and comfortable to your back, forget the marketing jargon and buy it.
With that said, saying that all chairs that are marketed using terms like ‘gaming’ or ‘ergonomic’ are bad is just plain wrong.
In the subsequent section of this article, I am going to share some of the best chairs that you can buy for yourselves.
Once again, the factors that I am going to use to select these chairs are going to be comfort, user reports, budget, reviews, my own personal experience, etc., and not how the manufacturer chooses to market it.
But before we begin here are some more articles around the general aura of this article that I think you will benefit from. They all open in a new tab.
- 10 seriously creative uses of old gaming laptops.
- Are ‘gaming’ routers worth it?
- Can raspberry pi be used for gaming?
- Best gaming headsets for glasses wearers.
- DIY USB that locks and unlocks a PC like a key
I hope you are enjoying the read-along till now and if you are I would love to hear what you have to say about Yantraas. I enjoy making new friends 🙂
Best Chairs for Gaming
Here are my recommendations for the best chair for gaming that you can look to get right away.
Now once again I need to highlight here that for me, I carry sufficient skepticism when it comes to marketing.
Especially when it comes to picking up something as sensitive as a chair, one must have the capacity to cut through the marketing fluff and pick the right product.
Because as much as I dislike it, there are instances and products that manufacturers market using the phrase gaming and charge a premium for it.
Chairs unfortunately are one of those products.
I discussed this at lengths when I wrote the article, are gaming routers worth it?
There I discussed at length how the term gaming can be used to mislead people who aren’t too technical with all these pc hardware and tech stuff.
I still maintain that the best way to pick a gaming chair is by going to a local furniture store and seeing which chairs seem to serve your needs the best.
That being said, not always, you may be able to go and do that. You may for example live in a small town where getting access to quality chairs may be difficult or maybe you weren’t satisfied with the options that you browsed.
Whatever the reason may be, my point is getting a good chair online is a very viable option these days as more and more manufactures are bringing their business online.
The only thing that you need to take care of is not getting tangled in marketing jargon.
Thankfully, that is what I am here for.
The chairs that I have relayed to you above have comfort as the topmost priority followed by budget, user reviews, sturdiness, robustness, construction, material, brand, and how easy will the chair be to assemble yourselves.
Now am I saying that all chairs that are marketed as gaming chairs are bad? Not at all. The only thing I am maintaining, again and again, is to carry the art of questioning and researching that’s all.
Now it is also entirely possible that you may have a specific criterion that you are looking for in a chair.
For example, you may be a relatively tall or big person and are confused if the chair that you are eyeing will serve you well or not.
In such cases, you can just comment below what you are looking for and maybe I will suggest something myself.
Or you can even email directly to me and I will see how I can help you.
Gaming Chairs Vs Office Chairs: The Differences
So, what are the exact differences between a gaming chair and an office chair.
Are there any functional differences between them? Is it possible to use them interchangeably?
Do you need to get a separate chair for your gaming and your office needs?
In order to have the answer for some or all of the above questions, the gaming chairs vs office chairs are so relevant.
That and the fact that any product that has the phrase gaming attached to it seems to be wanting to extract more price from you.
So, here are the core differences between an office chair and a gaming chair.
Design
So, the first most obvious difference between a gaming chair and the office chair is just the general design.
Just by the looks of it even if you have never actually seen a gaming chair before you will be able to demarcate between the two.
Gaming chairs leave no room when it comes to being flashy. They closely resemble a car seat, are unapologetically bright and feature relatively large frames.
They usually have a tall winged back, bucket seat, and raised edges of the seat. Most gaming chairs come with lumbar and head support cushions and armrests that can be adjusted in multiple directions.
When compared with an office chair gaming chairs tend to recline a lot further and offer rocking and tilt locks.
A professional office chair conforming to what it is designed for cuts down to all the flashy aspects and presents a chair that does what it is intended to.
Once again just because something isn’t flashy doesn’t mean it’s bad. Don’t confuse simplicity with ineffectiveness.
With ergonomic office chairs, you get fixed lumbar support, a flat cushion with a wingless back, and armrests that usually move in a limited sense.
Comfort
Now as you can see when it comes to pure structural design gaming chairs usually take the cake.
But once again when it comes to chairs looks can be very deceiving. For instance, I browse a lot of tech, pc hardware, and gaming forums and one of the biggest issues with gaming chairs is the lack of back breathing space.
A simple ergonomic office chair that has a mesh-based backrest allows proper airflow as a result of which people using them don’t complain of a sweaty back as much as that done by users of gaming chairs.
That isn’t to say there aren’t good gaming chairs that don’t take care of issues like this. But oftentimes significant issues may hide behind all the jazz these chairs put forth.
Where chairs designed specifically for gaming excel at is the general size that they offer. They are usually big and are created to accommodate tall and big people, while with office chairs one needs to pay extra attention while choosing.
So, overall this is a tight competition if you are eyeing quality gaming chairs and quality office chairs.
I stress the word quality because there are a lot of cheap knock-offs that take the advantage of the hype around gaming chairs.
Ergonomics
When it comes to gaming or similar tasks where you have to sit in front of a screen for long hours you need a chair that is designed to support the right body posture.
To a great extent if you are picking a gaming chair or an office chair from a reputed manufacturer you should be good.
So, how do good gaming chairs fare in this department? Well, it certainly provides a lot of potential adjustments in comparison to office chairs.
Most high-quality chairs that are marketed as gaming chairs also tend to come with lumbar and headrest support pillows in addition to inherent height adjusting mechanisms.
The height adjustment is available on office chairs too of course but gaming chairs tend to have a lot of them providing a lot of degrees of freedom.
Another important that stands out in gaming chairs (even the cheap ones) is armrest adjustments.
You can move these armrests in 4 or more directions thus increasing the overall comfort.
It’s not that you can’t get such kind of adjustments in office chairs, its just that you will have to pay a premium for features like that.
One good thing with office chairs is because they are generally produced in large numbers they do tend to have a lot of research already gone into them.
For this reason, comfort is always almost guaranteed although they are very minimal in comparison to gaming chairs.
The flat or waterfall seat design promotes healthy seating positions which is proven to be good for your spine.
Price
Last but of course not the least. What about the price situation?
Well, it’s not that difficult to figure out of course. The extravagant and flashy outlook that gaming chairs come with definitely demands a price point.
Office chairs in general are much more budget-friendly than gaming chairs. This is where that element of skepticism should come into play.
You see when it comes to chairs high price doesn’t necessarily mean good.
I mean there are so many cheap knock-off gaming chairs out there that charge extravagant prices for nothing.
A simple office chair with good ergonomics is a hundred times better than these knock-offs or also sometimes even better than a gaming chair.
Once again that’s not to say, all gaming chairs are bad. For entry-level, especially, you get good value for money but one does see diminishing returns when you go around say $250.
Above this segment, premium office chairs can provide an excellent experience.
Final Verdict: Should You Get A Gaming Chair or An Ergonomic Chair
So, what do we make of this discussion between ergonomic office and gaming chairs?
To put it precisely, comfort must be your topmost priority, not how the chair looks, or whether it has gaming prefixed to it, or how much it costs.
And yes, I mean it, if you find something that feels relaxing and comfortable to your spine, you should not skimp.
Because not having the right kind of chair that keeps your posture right can in the long run cause back problems which aren’t easy to treat.
So, the best thing to do is visit your local chair dealer shop and see if you can find something that feels relaxing, comfortable, and something on which you can see yourselves sitting for long hours.
If for some reason you can’t find access to a chair dealer shop, browsing online is definitely a very viable option.
But once again, you must be very skeptic when looking at chairs especially the ones that come with a gaming tag attached to them.
You need to do proper research and look at different opinions from people who are using it.
For your convenience, I have done all the hard work and come up with some of the best options for the best gaming/ergonomic office chair available online.
As you will obviously see, I have chosen these options on the basis of some of the most important factors that one needs to consider when going about choosing the best chairs for gaming and similar tasks where it requires for you to sit for long durations.
Does this mean these are the only options? Of course not.
But for sure these are some of the best options chosen with a lot of care that I feel will serve you well.
I hope you enjoyed the article as much I as enjoyed writing it.
If you have any other suggestions for ergonomic/gaming chairs please do share them with me in the comments section below.
If I find that the suggestion is potent enough, I will definitely include it in my list.
For anything else, questions, comments, queries, and feedback do join my list and get in touch with me on a personal basis.
People do tend to think I am a lot of fun lol.
Why don’t you check it out yourselves? Haha.
Take great care of yourselves and I will see you guys around.
Yes if someone is a full-time gamer so they need to buy a gaming chair. becoz gaming chairs have more features than an office chair.
my fav is Herman Miller Embody. Thank you for the great article