HARDWARE REVIEW

Snakebyte Gaming:Seat Gaming Chair Review

by Rob Pritchard, July 17th, 2018

Over the last few years, Snakebyte have provided a series of high quality accessories for gamers, ranging from third party controllers to plastic cabinets for holding your game cases. The Gaming:Seat is the company’s first foray into the realm of chairs designed for professional gamers, and will be available to the general public in the next few months.

The box includes everything you need to get started, including the backrest, seat, arm pieces and two pillows to ensure maximum comfort for your head and your lower back. The obligatory gas lift is supplied to allow for head adjustment as well a five wheeled base to ensure fluid movement is possible without any major effort. Two sets of assembly instructions are included, with one having slightly more detailed steps than the other. Although it is fairly simple to put together in around forty minutes, it is highly recommended that you have an additional pair of hands to help you fix the backrest to the main seat, as it requires pin point precision to be installed successfully.

When it is fully assembled, the Gaming:Seat is very similar to the base design of modern gaming chairs. The backrest includes the company’s logo near the top, and a wide seat to ensure that even the largest of gamers will be able to sit down comfortably. The Gaming:Seat will be available in three different colours, which are based around the common colours attributed to the major gaming platforms. PC gamers are given a vibrant yellow, Xbox gamers are given a lime green and PlayStation owners are offered a shade of Sonic the Hedgehog style blue. There are no physical differences between the colours, so it is purely down to preference rather than the beginning of a minor console war.

The main body of the Gaming:Seat is composed of matte finish black plastic, with the cushions comprised of a combination of artificial leather and patterned fabric. The only exception is the five-point wheel base, which is made from the same matte plastic and painted metal. The build has a sleek finish, with almost no visible stitching connecting the material and artificial leather together. This is a fairly standard set up with most modern gaming chairs, and when assembled the Gaming:Seat certainly looks well made, and appears to be solidly constructed. The cushions for both the main seat and the backrest are comfortable and offer a level of support required for the most intensive gamers. The foam for both of the pillows can be easily removed by using the attached zips, in case you need to replace it after a period of sustained usage. The chair is stated to be able to withstand a weight of up to 100kg, but after testing, it was found that it can withstand at least 130kg without getting into any reasonable difficulty.

As well as the usual gas lift mechanism to adjust the height of the Gaming:Seat, you can adjust the angle of the backrest to lay up to a flat 180 degrees. Although lying down in this manner is fairly comfortable, the structure of the Gaming:Seat felt slightly unsteady after a short period of time. There is never any danger of falling out of the chair, but you never feel entirely safe because the difference in weight distribution between the backrest and the seat.

It is possible to change the angle of the armrests by pressing the buttons located on the side closest to the player. It is possible to change the position to three pre-set horizontal positions, which are approximately twenty degrees apart, and a non-restricted range of ten inches on a vertical axis. The gas lift mechanism is where the otherwise solid build of the Gaming:Seat comes into some problems. The highest position of the chair’s seat keeps your feet firmly on the ground, whereas some models allow you six inches of space between your feet and the floor. With this in mind, it would be fair to say that the Gaming:Seat is definitely not designed to cater for the taller end of the gaming community.

A nifty little feature is the addition of the footrest, which is made from the same foam, fabric and artificial leather combination as the rest of the chair. When it is placed into position, the rest alleviates the earlier problem of height adjustment, and can be easily pushed back under the chair when it has been finished with. Like with any footrest, it’s presence does increase the amount of space required to house the chair, which can be slightly inconvenient if you have limited space to manoeuvre your new purchase.

Overall, the Snakebyte Gaming:Seat is a The only small issues are the lack of height while using the gaslight, and that the additional floor space required while using the footrest may not be available in every gamer’s home. If you can afford to stretch out and purchase the Gaming:Seat, the comfort provided by this product is certainly worth your investment.