DXRacer started the gaming chair trend way back in 2006 and has remained a major player to this day. Despite being one of the biggest names in gaming chairs, the brand has been on a mission to reinvent its approach to seating over the last year, challenging conventions with its mesh Air Series and the modular Master Module line. Today, the company is revealing its latest upgraded line with the DXRacer Craft Series. Featuring detailed custom embroidery and a brand new service to have your own graphics stitched into the chair, DXRacer promises “every Craft chair is a masterpiece.” At $479, they don’t come cheap, so let’s take a peek and see just how mastercrafted they are.
DXRacer Craft Series – Design and Features
If you’ve seen a gaming chair in the last several years, then you’ll already have a good idea what to expect out of its larger design. The Craft features a traditional racing seat design, complete with wings on the seat and backrest to keep you centered. The armrests follow the 4D design to allow for angle, height, width, and depth adjustments, freeing you up to game in whatever position feels most comfortable. The seat itself can rock, lock, or recline all the way back to 135 degrees: not quite a lay but enough to put your feet up and relax with a controller. And of course, you have height adjustment, but note that this isn’t a big and tall chair, so if you’re above 6’ 2”, you may find it too small.
Even though it shares clear DNA with its predecessors, the Craft manages to feel exceptionally premium thanks to DXRacer’s new custom upholstery. I was sent the Always Lucky version and was blown away by the amount of detail packed into the design. The thicker seating surfaces (made of PU leather) give way to gold accents with exquisite stitching. The Koi design isn’t my thing, but I spent my first moments with the chair just taking in the outstanding stitch-work that accents the artwork on the backrest. Even the standard PU leather seems to feel nicer under the finger and is better stretched across the foam than past DXRacers I’ve tried, leading to fewer unsightly wrinkles.
The Craft series is launching with eight custom designs that showcase its new embroidery capabilities. Each of these chairs are priced at $479 and include standouts like the dragon-themed Guild Wars 2 chair and an America Edition that would make Cap’ proud. DXRacer is also opening the doors to submit your own designs for a completely custom chair, but the added cost will vary based upon design and the company didn’t have any estimates for us at the time of this writing. It’s a cool idea, even if DXRacer isn’t the first gaming chair to offer it, but if your pockets are deep enough, you can truly craft a seat that’s one of a kind.
The new series also brings with it a handful of other improvements. The tilt mechanism has been made more robust and has a larger knob to make adjusting the chair’s tension easier. There’s a new bracket on the edge of the backrest that holds it in alignment during assembly, speeding up assembly and removing a common pain point in the build process. The headrest is also dual-sided so you can decide whether you want a firmer or softer cushion, as well as straight memory foam or cooling gel. It’s the latest chair to add magnets to the build process, as well, with magnetic covers for the backrest brackets.
Other features make a welcome return from prior models. The 27.5-inch aluminum base is back with PU-coated casters to encourage quiet rolling. They sounded the same as any other plastic-castered chair rolling across my hardwoods, but the metal base is a huge benefit for the longevity of the chair. The 4D armrests are another high point, though are pretty much standard on name-brand gaming chairs these days. They’re always welcome, however, as they make finding a comfortable position much easier, whether you’re kicking back with a controller or blasting away with mouse and keyboard.
Another returning feature is the integrated lumbar support, and it’s going to be hit and miss whether it works for you. The lumbar curve is adjusted with a knob on the right side and had the unfortunate side effect of digging into my hand whenever I needed to adjust it. The bigger problem with this is the same as most chairs with this feature: you can’t move the lumbar up or down. DXRacer recommends the chair for users up to 6’ 2” and just over 250 pounds (though the product page confusingly lists it as 5’ 7” and 200 pounds). I’m 5’ 8” and couldn’t get the lumbar positioned to be consistently comfortable over time. It’s the same issue that left me shopping for a memory foam pillow on my last chair. These supports can be great, but to the best of my knowledge, the Secretlab Titan Evo is the only racing chair that’s managed to deliver height adjustment with its integrated lumbar.
The chair itself is also quite firm out of the box. Dense foam can help a chair last and maintain support over time, but the Craft isn’t a seat you’re going to sink into on the first day. It took me a good couple of weeks of daily use before the seat really started to break in. Test windows for reviews don’t allow for long-term testing but I would be surprised if the Craft ever becomes “soft.” There’s enough padding to hide the steel frame, however, which meant I could cross my legs without feeling it dig into my leg.
Taken as a whole, this is a very good gaming chair, if not groundbreaking. It almost seems like DXRacer assessed the market, decided to match the best gaming chairs in build quality and then add in custom embroidery as a cherry on top. That’s a recipe for an appealing chair, but also means that the Craft just comes alongside those instead of feeling like something truly new in this space. At $479, it’s expensive, but not terribly so for a chair with custom stitchwork like this – Secretlab’s specially embroidered chairs started at nearly $600, for example. There’s also something to be said for the combination of features, but it would have been nice to see a bit more of the Master Module DNA, or brand new ideas entirely, make its way into this new line-up.
DXRacer Craft Series – Assembly
Assembling the Craft is exceptionally easy and can be done by one person. DXRacer includes a large, glossy assembly guide on the top of the box. Inside, the back, sides, and base are all well packaged for safe transit to your door. The other components are also kept in separate boxes. You won’t need to bring any tools of your own either. There’s an Allen wrench included in the box that’s surprisingly good and easy to use with its plastic handle and extended length.
The basics of building the chair are the same as most others. Some of the assembly process has been done for you as the arms come pre-attached to the seat. The screws you’ll need are already pre-threaded, so there’s no hunting to figure out what goes where. DXRacer’s new alignment bracket also works wonders for attaching the backrest to the seat, which is usually the most difficult part of assembling a gaming chair. Oddly, there’s only a bracket on the right side, so you still need to make minor adjustments on the opposite side to get things to line up correctly, but it’s still faster than most other chairs I’ve built. In total, I was able to assemble the chair in about 20 minutes without help.
DXRacer Craft Series – Gaming
Looks are one thing, but what matters most is how it holds up in games, and there the Craft does a great job. If you can get used to its firmer cushion, it’s versatile enough to see you through all sorts of gaming, whether that’s casual controller warfare or the poised precision of a mouse and keyboard. The firmness is good for promoting active attention, but can lead to fatigue during the break-in process, so be prepared for the chair to settle-in over time.
For the most part, I find that the dense form used in the chair works well. It promotes awareness and wards off slouching, which is great for games like Elden Ring where you need to be on your toes. After a few hours, I did find that the muscles in my back felt worn out though. This faded after a couple weeks of use, but I’d still find myself reaching for something more ergonomic if I also planned to take on a work day in the chair. Lumbar support can really help over those extended hours, but only if it lines up right, and as I mentioned, it didn’t seem to ever feel quite right for me.
The armrests worked well to support everything I took on in the chair – including several of those full work days. 4D armrests aren’t anything special these days but they’re still an important feature of the Craft. Since they can adjust for height, angle, depth, and width, I was able to position them to support my arms no matter what I was playing or working on. If I was sitting up straight playing Call of Duty, I’d keep them high and tucked in, but playing through Hotline Miami again, I found myself reclining with them angled outward to support my elbows while holding a controller. The foam could stand to be softer, but unless I was leaning into the armrests, elbow soreness wasn’t a big issue.
Before taking the chair into my office, I spent some time with it in the living room to play Elden Ring on my wall-mounted TV. I was able to recline with my feet up on the ottoman and enjoy the game without worrying about tipping even as I leaned back to stretch. Being able to flip the neck pillow to its softer side was also nicer for this position, but honestly, it still wound up getting tossed to the side like most other neck cushions.
DXRacer has crafted a nice gaming chair here. In terms of comfort and ergonomics, it reminds me most of the Secretlab Titan, which is its biggest competitor and currently costs $20 less while offering its own suite of special embroidery options. Those special editions push the price up to $539, however, so the Craft still has the edge. And, of course, you can’t submit your own designs to Secretlab, which gives DXRacer another advantage (assuming you can pay the cost, which will vary customer to customer). Still, if you’re looking for a premium gaming chair that will stand out from the masses on Twitch and YouTube, this certainly fits the bill.
from IGN Reviews https://ift.tt/6MwCRkB
This could be a real lead forward for personal gaming... Revolutionise gaming
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