The DXRacer Air seeks to remedy those long and often heated gaming sessions in your typical PU leather chairs in more way than one. DXRacer has a lot of competition in the gaming chair market, but is the breathable, recycled mesh enough to set it apart from its competitors despite the $499 price point? Keep on reading to find out.
Specifications
- Model: D7200
- Size: Max
- Recommended Weight: Up to 250 lbs
- Recommended Height: Up to 6’2”
- Chair Cover Material: Highly Resilient Mesh
- Armrests: 4D (R1-66-N0)
- Mechanism Type: Multi-functional Tilt (M1-01-N0-TY)
- Gas Lift Class: 4
- Gas Lift Specification: 70/40 (G1-01-N0-70(40)mm)
- Base: 5-star Inlaid Color Aluminum Base (B1-03-N0-R350mm ; B1-22-N1)
- Casters: 60mm Caster/PU (W1-13-N0)
- Adjustable Back Angle: 135° (A1-79-N0-TT ; A1-82-N0)
- Adjustable Headrest: Yes
- Adjustable Lumbar Support: Yes
- Frame: Metal
- Package Size: 35.43"L x 27.17"W x 16.14"H
- Net Weight (Approximate): 46.96 lb / 21.3kg
- Gross Weight: 66.14 lb / 30.0kg
- Warranty Length: 2-year for Accessories, Lifetime for Frame
- Eco-conscious: Less Harsh Chemicals/REACH Certificate
- Meets/Exceeds ANSI/BIFMA Standard: Yes
Our friends over at DXRacer were kind enough to send us a copy of the DXRacer Air, and honestly, it couldn’t have come at a better time with the launch of FFXIV’s Endwalker expansion. There’s a long list of chores to accomplish to get ready for the release as well as lots of loose ends to tie up, so that means we’ll be needing something cool and comfortable to get us through the launch.
A Chunk of Money
My personal go-to chair is the Secret Lab Titan chair that we previously reviewed. A year later, and it is still holding up beautifully and just as comfortable as the day we got it. With an identical pricing of $499, and a few features that at first glance look similar, I thought the Titan would be a good starting point for comparison. If DXRacer is asking the same amount of money for their Air chair, it should probably be able to match the quality.
Packaging
While I wasn’t expecting golden trim packaging, the box the Air chair arrived in was lacking in love. It’s a small touch, but the beaten and battered generic brown cardboard box left me feeling more like it was a chore to open rather than a bank-breaking early Christmas present. After lugging the nearly 50 lb box up a flight of stairs, it slipped my mind to take photos of this process because it was just…underwhelming. Just imagine a large, brown, rectangular box ripped to pieces and you’ve got it. We’ve all seen that before be it from our own impatient hands, those of our grubby kids, or a curious household pet that can’t contain themselves.
The box my Titan arrived in was solid black, with a giant instructional manual that you couldn’t lose if you wanted too-and it was made from a nice cardstock! I even recall there being some extra pieces of foam that you could put the metal pieces on so that it wouldn’t scratch up your flooring if that was a concern. The unboxing process wasn’t necessarily bad, I just expected more from a $499 experience. in my opinion, the unpacking experience should be just as important and meaningful.
Assembly
Assembly went smoothly, though I was fortunate that my partner was there to help me hold a few pieces in place. As is typical with most gaming chairs, you might need one more person there to help you hold the back to the seat so that you can secure the screws in place properly.
The battered nature of the box had me a little concerned at first that we might have been missing some pieces because the only other hiccup we encountered is when we wasted a solid five minutes or so looking for the last screws we needed in the box. Only then did we realize that they were already screwed into the bottom of the seat. Half of the screws were already in place, while the other half were in a separate bag so the inconsistency in part placement was a little confusing, but at least everything was there.
How does it Mesh?
While I’ve never experienced much overheating with my Titan, there was a clear difference in temperature when I first sat down in the DXRacer Air. The “eco-friendly”, breathable mesh does actually feel incredibly comfortable and supportive. Both the back of the chair and the seat are covered with the mesh, while being framed by the same hard, plastic material that coats the rest of the metal frame. While the chair is constructed of metal and solid plastic, I didn’t feel like the stability of the chair was ever in jeopardy. I was a little concerned when we were piecing the chair together, that all of the plastic might have meant that it wasn’t going to be sturdy, but I was pleasantly surprised.
Arm and Lumbar Support
Moving on from the mesh, the arms of the DXRacer are very similar to that of the Secret Lab Titan, just with slightly less cushion. The 4D armrests allow you to angle them inwards or away from you, as well as closer or farther away. It’s a nice upgrade from the flimsy plastic of the other DXRacer lines and adds more value and longevity to the chair. The lumbar support also surprised me because it is limited to a thin piece of plastic that moves on a rail behind the mesh. While it is thin, it is still pretty effective when providing support because it bends just a bit with the mesh. You won’t be able to increase the pressure of the support, but you can adjust where you’d like it to rest on your back.
Memory Foam Headrest
Oddly enough, the memory foam headrest is one of my favorite parts of the DXRacer Air chair. One problem that frequents racing chairs is the addition of an attachable headrest pillow that slides off. This headrest however, is tightly secured to the base of the chair so you don’t have to worry about it sliding around during your gaming session. The headrest is adjustable as well, attached to a sturdy contraption that hooks into the back of the chair. You can unscrew the back of the contraption to adjust it to any height level.
Once it’s set in place, if you would have preferred it be just a tad higher or lower for your head, you can still adjust the height of the cushion on the front of the chair without having to unscrew it on the back. The cushion is made of a resilient memory foam, with the front-facing part of the headrest covered in a soft flannel, and the rest of the pillow covered in a cooling mesh. I don’t typically find myself even touching the neck rests on my chairs, but this one was extremely comfortable- especially when I wanted to recline 135° and play my Switch.
One Week Later…
So, here’s where my opinion changes slightly after spending more time in the chair. The main feature of the DXRacer Air, its innovative mesh, is still very breathable and cool to sit in. However, after an extended period sitting in the chair, the seat started to give me some trouble. Looking at the specifications, The DXRacer Air has a recommended weight of up to 250 lbs, and a height of up to 6’2”. I fit into both of those categories.
After an hour or two of sitting, the hard, plastic frame around the seat began to cause a subtle ache around my hips that increased the longer I stayed sitting. I do get up and walk around from time to time, but it’s incredibly obnoxious when you’re trying to focus on a specific task and can’t because of the constant pain. I even asked a family member who has smaller hips than I do to sit in the seat and game for a few hours, and he experienced the exact same trouble. While the front of the seat is wide enough to accommodate any size, it begins to shrink and curve inwards as it goes to meet the back of the chair. This would have been fine if the sides of the seat hadn’t been covered with the hard plastic. That area was already on the smaller side, and the mesh real estate was even further reduced with the introduction of the plastic.
Summary
The DXRacer Air is a solid concept, and they set out to create a breathable gaming chair, where others have shied away and embraced the typical PU leather standard. With that being said, it feels like they might have missed the mark in the construction of the seat. The seat is a core component of the sitting experience, and if it can’t hold up the same comfort past an hour or so I don’t think you can necessarily call it a gaming chair. I know that I personally sit for more than an hour at a time for my gaming sessions. The construction was solid with a combination of hard plastics and metal that made for an incredibly stable foundation. However, that doesn’t make up for comfort. It’s a great chair if you have no hips at all, but even then, I don’t know that it feels like what you’re getting is worth $499. We didn’t receive any attachments, so we didn’t get to try out any of the accessories like a footrest, laptop stand, or cup holder, but they don’t come included with the base chair anyway.
The product described in this article was provided by the manufacturer for evaluation purposes..jpg)