PC Perspective Chair Round Up, The Best Of A Gaming Fundament

Featuring The FlexiSpot BS14 Ergonomic Office Chair

For Posteriority Superiority

FlexiSpot is known as a designer of standing desks, such as the Pro Plus Standing Desk E7 recently reviewed here.  They do more than that, with a lineup of adjustable beds and mattresses, not to mention a wide selection of accessories for both beds and desks.  They also have over a dozen lines of chairs, including bicycle chairs for those wanting to work off a few pounds while pounding away at a keyboard.  Recently, the FlexiSpot BS14 ergonomic office chair appeared on my doorstep, a nice match for the desk and subject for review.

As breathtakingly exciting as chair reviews are, it seemed like adding a little extra to the mix with a chair round up shouldn’t cause too much emotional overload for any readers.  Over the years at PC Perspective we have reviewed a handful of chairs and so some comparisons to the FlexiSpot BS14 have been added to the pile.  They include the robust Vertagear PL6800, the similarly endowed E-WIN Champion Series Gaming Chair, the Maxnomic Pro Chief which is the only one that will add custom embroidery to your chair, and a Hon Ignition 2.0 ergonomic chair which has been used for quite a while though never reviewed.   The Next Level Racing F-GT Simulator is quite a different beast, but it is still a place to plant your derriere.

Meeting The FlexiSpot BS14

As is traditional, your chair arrives in a fairly hefty box with an impressive array of protective wrapping and cushions.  FlexiSpot include all the tools you will need to assemble the chair and the instructions to do so.  The instructions sent with the standing desk were more thorough, but the assembly of the FlexiSpot BS14 is not much of a challenge and the screw placement exceedingly obvious.  The handle which comes with the reversible Allen key is a nice touch, making it much easier to get into tight spaces than the more traditional L-shape.

Quick And Simple Assembly

Putting together the FlexiSpot BS14 takes a matter of minutes to achieve and is much easier than the heavier gaming chairs, as no component weighs more than a couple of pounds.  You should ensure to assemble the top of the chair before attempting to attach the bottom, as it makes lining everything up significantly easier.  The adjustable lumbar support clicks into the top of the backrest, and clearly shows the five positions it can be locked in.  Slide it all the way to the top to unlock it and it slides back down to the first position.

The construction is robust, the welds solid and the screws fit in tightly.  Overall there is nothing that indicates FlexiSpot sacrificed in the design to keep the chair under $300, a notable achievement for an ergonomic chair.   The market is not known for models at low prices which still have all their features intact.  The cylinder pops in easily, with a clip on the bottom to help lock in into the base.  The rollers take a bit of effort to insert into the base, and once they are in it is obvious they won’t be popping out while you are using the chair.

It’s A Cushy Job, But Someone’s Got To Do It

The seat material used in the FlexiSpot BS14 is fairly stiff and should easily provide years of comfort for someone of average weight, though I suspect a maximum 330lb load would shorten that time somewhat.   It is nowhere near as stiff as the Vertagear PL6800’s seat which will be a boon if you are well under 200lbs.  The size of the cushion will be more than sufficient for the majority, however you can move the backrest forward with one of the controls if you find it too deep.

The back is at a good height, though you will have to have a long torso to properly enjoy resting your head on the the backwards swoop found at the top of the seat back.   The five positions of the lumbar support offer a broad range of coverage and it does protrude far enough to actually provide support.  Your back will have to like one of those positions however, since the support locks in specific places instead of freely sliding.  If none of those positions hits the spot exactly you will have to find workarounds.

FlexiSpot doesn’t provide specifications on the maximum comfortable height for the BS14, however the top seat height of 46.1″ should give you a clue.  At the maximum extension the seat was still a little low for me, so if you top 6′ and have fairly long legs then you will likely prefer a taller chair.  The height limit seems to be common amongst the other FlexiSpot chair designs, which you should definitely keep in mind.  I have found this to be common with many of the chairs, gaming or ergonomic, which I have tried out not to mention airplane seating.  If you fit comfortably in most chairs then the BS14 will be a good size for you.

The arms are fully adjustable in four directions, sliding in and out, up and down, forwards and and backwards as well as rotating 360 degrees.  The recline of the back has tension and locking controls with a third that brings the back closer to the seat.  The angles on the seat back turn this into a bit of a forward feeling lean, good for your typing position as well as making it easier to get out of the chair.

Seating For Six, This Is A Chair Round Up In The End

The chairs in this round up differ significantly, but they all serve the same purpose in a gaming setup.  No matter how impressive the rest of your hardware is you can still have a lousy gaming experience if you don’t have a comfortable place to sit.   There are three gaming style chairs, two ergonomic task chairs and since there is a racing cockpit review handy, a single GT or Formula racing seat.  You might be unlikely to sit down to write a review on the racing seat but there may be someone out there that does exactly that.

The two ergonomic chairs give us the lowest and highest price of the whole selection, though it is rare you would have to pay the full price for the Hon Ignition 2.0.  There are some things about the Hon I like less than the FlexiSpot BS14, such as the clip mechanism which attaches the arms to the Ignition that is nowhere near as steady as FlexiSpot’s.  The Hon mostly benefits from a denser foam seat, sliding lumbar support, the Syncro-Tilt mechanism allows for finer positioning and the fact it is tall enough for me.  The FlexiSpot offers almost the exact same features at a third the price so it is hard not to recommend to anyone that falls within it’s maximum height.  The FlexiSpot BS14 also looks every bit as nice, perhaps nicer if you like the swooping headrest at the top.

Gaming Assets

Of the three gaming chairs, the Vertagear PL6800 and the E-WIN Champion Series are very similar.  They are both designed for larger humans and will not be terribly comfortable for those that don’t have the weight to compress cushioning designed for someone at least 200lbs.   You should also keep in mind the sheer weight of the chairs will also be burdensome if you don’t significantly outweigh them.  The overall height of the chairs is also similar but the E-WIN offers a deeper more narrow seat than the Vertagear, after all the PL6800 is marketed for plus sized gamers.  The E-WIN will also recline significantly further back than any of the other participants in the chair round up, which could be important if you like to nap during a game.

The biggest difference is the material, if you prefer the look and feel of leather then the E-WIN is for you, as the Vertagear only has leather on the sides and back.  If you prefer a bit more ventilation however, then the Vertagear is the way to go as it is designed to breath somewhat.  As for the coffee grounds reducing smells, I’ve been using it for over six months and have never needed to spray Febreeze on it.  They both feature what the industry calls 4D armrests, so you will be able to find a spot your elbows like.

The Maxnomic Pro Chief is a little smaller than the other two, but not by much.  It is a more traditionally sized chair built for streamers that are under 200lbs and will be appropriate for a wider audience.  It shares many specifications with the other two, from the Class 4 cylinder to 4D armrests but Maxnomic have been in the business long enough to have learned a few tricks.   Their chairs offer customization with different styles of arms and cushions as well as three different cylinder heights.  That is something neither the Vertagear nor E-WIN offer in the same way.   Then there is the option for the addition of custom embroidery to the Pro Chief and other Maxnomic lines.  If you want a unique look to your chair then Maxnomic is the only way to go.

Of all the chairs, the Next Level Racing F-GT Simulator is the chair to race in!  You can lean any of the previous chairs back but they just aren’t going to give you the feeling of being in a cockpit.  It makes it a little hard to snack while writing a review on it, but sacrifices must be made.

The Bottom Line

In a market dominated by Steelcase and Herman Miller it is nice to see an affordably priced and high quality competitor.  The FlexiSpot BS14 can currently be had for $270, which is amazing in a market where most chairs start at $1000.  It is priced more similarly to the in house brands you would find at an office supply store than a proper workstation chair but it offers much better quality and features.  The materials used are more robust and won’t start fraying and coming apart like a chair from Office Depot will after a year of heavy usage.  You also won’t see 4D armrests nor very effective lumbar support on them either. 

It is unfortunate I am a little too tall for the BS14 as the seat and back are certainly the proper size.  It would be nice if FlexiSpot considered offering the option to use a longer cylinder as it would increase their number of possible customers, even if it did impact the price.   Then again, we are supposed to be standing at our desks when we work now, aren’t we?  

For now the Hon Ignition will remain my official workstation chair, even after two years of use you can see it has a few more years of life left in it.