HARDWARE REVIEW

noblechairs ICON Series Gaming Chair Review

by Luke Walsh, August 21st, 2017

The gaming chair something a lot of us I reckon take for granted, myself included. We all spend serious amounts of cash on our rigs with the best graphics card, high amounts of “gaming” ram, the coolest cases and water pumps. Less important, or something I have rarely considered pumping pounds into is the classic computer chair.

noblechairs, I have to be honest as not someone who looks for computer chairs made especially for gamers was lost to me. I had heard of DxRacer but never really considered getting one and although Corsair had recently bought out a gaming chair, this area of the market was fairly new to me. Doing some research into the area, however, noblechairs is highly regarded as one of the best companies you can get a chair from with the previous EPIC range being near the top for critics.

Standard office chairs and cheap computer chairs are usually cheaply packaged, cheaply built and the expectations from users, myself included is “probably going to need to replace this in a year”. The noblechairs ICON gaming chair, however, is none of these things right down the box it comes in.

With a premium product comes all the expectations of it being well packaged and secure. Inside the box, you’ll find a load of polystyrene, plastic wrap and protective measures. Each separate part is individually wrapped and layered neatly in the humongous box.

Assembly with all the parts of this chair is easier than you would expect due to most of it really being pre-built. You don’t need to worry about building the ICON from the ground up with all parts needing fifty screws. noblechairs have designed and boxed it in such a way that it comes in three main parts; the bottom part of the chair, the back, the 5-star base and about 4 screws.

Quality is what you pay for, every part of the ICON gaming chair is well made and has a high level of attention to detail. You won’t have an issue with screw holes not lining up and all the tools required to build it are contained within the box.

Even right down to the stitching you can see the quality of the fibre that is used for the accentuated colours depending on the variation you choose (we decided to go for the platinum white version). What you also get for your extra dollars is the little things that neaten up the chair, one example is the plastic fascia which conceals the recliner mechanism with the noblechairs logo giving a more premium look overall.

PU Leather encases the chair, which is a synthetic material evolved from the need to stop using bi-cast leather that uses blends of coated raw-tanned cow-hide. This makes the chair vegan-friendly but PU leather is a little less durable than your traditional leather, it’s still tough to last you a number of years if you treat it well. With synthetic leather evolved closer to the real thing, a normal person won’t really know the difference and in the ICON chair it has a premium feel to it with a soft feel but tough tightness and highlighted by the coloured stitching, in our case is white giving it a nice line of definition.

Inside the PU leather encases cold cured foam which is a type of high density polyurethane foam which is usually made to the desired shape in an individual mould, this is different than other foams which are made into a large block and then cut to shape. An example of applications for cold cured foam outside of the ICON chair is car seats, as you can expect, they fairly change shape even after a decade of use.

By using 55% high density cold cured foam, the ICON series chairs are very sturdy to sit on and made to be the exact shape, more than you’ll be used to with a standard computer chair and it won’t change shape over years of use. You’ll be surprised how comfortable this chair considering it has harder foam than the traditional pc chair. Combine the comfort with the reclining function which makes the chair almost 180 degrees, you’ll be able to adjust the way you want the chair for a variety of different needs.

You can set it upright for long gaming sessions but if you want to sit back, relax and watch some YouTube videos you can tilt the chair and lean back into it. I must admit, when you do hit the recliner, be careful as you lay back you might think you’ll be heading on the floor but the base is so solid you won’t be going anywhere but in the laying position. This feature makes it extremely useful for LAN events, as you could quite easily fall asleep in the ICON chair.

Two pillows come with the ICON series, one is for the headrest that has a strap to keep it in the desired position and another is for lumbar support. Although the manual says the lumbar pillow comes with a strap, this is not true but only because the ICON chair lumbar support built into the chair. noblechairs included a pillow after feedback from the community for those who prefer to use one.

Branding on the chair has been kept minimal (unless you use the pillows) to keep the overall look of the design clean and sleek. There’s a small logo on the backrest of the chair, an embossed noblechairs logo on the headrest and small logos on the plastic recliner caps. From the back, you can’t see any branding and this keeps the premium look of the chair the paramount feature.

You can tell noblechairs wanted to make a sexy looking chair without having to slap their name all over it. They even made sure that the use of colour has been kept to a minimum of the stitching without going overboard and making it look tacky.

Overall, the noblechairs ICON series gaming chair has to be one of the most comfortable and solid chairs I have even sat on. It’s so extremely well built that even the Dwarves of Middle-earth would be impressed with the craftsmanship. By keeping the colours to a subtle tone of stitching the chair is very sleek and professional looking great for an office, LAN or home environment.

Of course not for the wallet-conscious, the PU Leather chair is priced at £329.99 and the ICON top-grain leather is priced at a eye-watering £519.99. We have not looked at the top-grain level variety but for £329.99 the price is going to put off most who have stuck to an IKEA office chair. Honestly though, if you spend a lot of time at your PC either gaming or working, look at picking up a noblechairs ICON chair…you back and derriere will thank you for it.