The SIHOO M18 Classic Office Chair boasts modern-age ergonomic features breathable mesh throughout, with a lot of adjustability for the armrests, headrest, tilt tension, and lumbar support. It’s also easy on the eyes, with a smooth aesthetic without being terribly flashy. But it’s easy to turn a suspicious eye, with the chair’s present cost ranging only from $175.99 to $199.99. Is this truly a good mid-range chair for its price?
Specifications
- Current Price: $175.99 (orange) to $199.99 (grey), normally $199.99 to $229.99 (Amazon, SIHOO)
- Dimensions: 25.59”L x 23.62”W x 51.2” - 52.4”H
- Seat dimensions: 20” x 20”
- Seat height: 16.9” - 20.8”
- Weight: 37.4 lb
- Back dimensions: 21.7”W x 20.1”H
- Tilt range: 45°
- Armrest height: 25.8” - 32.7”
- Caster wheels: 5
- Adjustable parts:
- Headrest height and angle (3.9”, 45° forward and back)
- Armrest height (2.8”)
- Lumbar support (1.9” up and down, 1.2” forward and back)
- Seat tilt and recline tension, conjoined
- Materials:
- Polyester mesh fabric
- Steel, aluminum & nylon framing parts
- Polypropylene back/headrest framing
- Foam chair padding
- Shipping dimensions: 29.5” x 12.8”W x 21.5“H; 46.8 lbs
- Weight capacity: 331 lbs
- Warranty: 3 years
- Free returns: 30 days
Preliminary Overview: Sihoo
Gaming chairs have long boasted their ergonomic worth for long sessions. However, as far as I’ve seen in my time in esports and the general gaming industry, coaches and physical therapists specialized in the space have actually most frequently recommended standard office chairs—much like the SIHOO M18 Clssic Office Chair.
Over the past few years, especially since the start of the pandemic, the home office market has gotten hot. Workers leaving the office and adjusting for work-from-home started to become a major customer force as they adjusted their home workstations to both personal aesthetics and comfort (a trend I’ve written about elsewhere). Many didn’t consider it to be a major investment until lately, given proper offices were the most interested in office equipment until then, and now, manufacturers are pushing to capture that market.
Sihoo is one of these companies more feverishly honing in on this demographic now. On its home page, it sports a slogan: “Make the Healthy Life Within Your Reach.” Its site explains that the Chinese company was founded in 2011 to bring an ergonomic focus to office chairs as the office furniture industry boomed in China. Sihoo still appears to target offices on that site, but its Instagram shows users of a diverse breadth enjoying the products, from gamers to artists and, of course, standard office workers.
Assembling the Sihoo M18 Classic Office Chair
The SIHOO M18 Classic Office Chair weighed in at 37.4 lbs, arriving disassembled but well-condensed in a box. The deliverer handled it well himself, but it took the strength of both my not-so-trained roommate and I to navigate any necessary flights of stairs. However, it wasn’t impossibly big to bring through the halls, possibly the primary upside of a self-assembled product. Everything came sufficiently wrapped and padded, and as far as I could tell, despite New York City’s infamy with mishandled packages, nothing was scratched nor scuffed.
Overall, it took about 45 or 50 minutes to assemble; I had some help from a roommate holding a part or two up, but there was a personal error or two along the way, so I’d assume this would be a standard time for most. I was relieved to learn that no tools were required to assemble this, as they provided a standard screwdriver and even one extra of each other part, and a small instruction pamphlet was fairly easy to follow.
When it comes to assembling a product like this that advertises itself as “cheap,” I expect some relatively minor oddities, frustrations or inconsistencies along the way in craftsmanship. I wasn’t surprised to see them, then, in the more precise placement of the holes for the screws, especially along the bottom of the seats and the initial resting of the legs. On one hand, these often increase the tightness of the parts and make the final assembly more reliable, which was mostly the case here. In this case, my perfectionism picked up on slight unevenness in how the armrests screwed in. It’s almost negligent in actual use, but I wonder how this would affect others’ products.
I don’t know if this is standard at this point for pieces with metal, but the legs also had these odd bits of plastic in them. I took them out of most of the legs, but one piece felt like it has a bit too much slack left, so I left it in. I’d considered taking it out, but by the time I had this flip-flop, I made the mistake of letting it get stuck, so in it went. Now, I’m pretty sure it’s responsible for causing some extremely mild rotation when I leave the chair alone. It’s really not a huge deal, though. Just an odd quirk I think is necessary to mention.
Other than these and the necessary diligence required to put together an entire piece of furniture, assembly was fairly straightforward. A few pieces simply slid right in with no need for screws. There’s an odd intersection that needs to be held up here and there, but that’s how it goes with just about anything with these types of angles. I could see someone managing this alone, if need be.
Comfort and Adjustability
Once assembled, I took a few minutes to sort out the adjustable bits of the SIHOO M18 Classic Office Chair. There’s quite a bit to adjust, and as a 5’4” girl, likely shorter than the target user (assumingly average-sized office worker men), this step always leaves me holding my breath a bit when sitting down on a new chair, be it at home or at a gaming cafe.
That being said, first things first: height. I feel like with a 49-inch desk, this chair took me just high enough to have my forearms comfortable at the keyboard with a wrist rest, so I’m probably at the lowest reasonable height for this chair. Thankfully, with the easily adjustable armrests, which are movable by just pressing a button and pulling up or down on the rest, I felt fully supported during my longer gaming and typing sessions. However, I sense that if I were two inches shorter, I’d be reaching up. (Frankly, I feel like everyone should have a 5’4” or shorter egirl to test this parameter with.)
The headrest is the most unusual if versatile adjustable part, as it works on two axes: height, and a circular pivot for the actual cushion itself. I found that if I wanted more forward support, I had to move the head up and rotate the cushion forward, but then that meant laying back required me to push the piece downward. Still, I do like that the depth could be adjusted at all, and it’s likely you aren’t switching back and forth between these two positions rapidly.
I was also impressed by the tilt functionality and its tension control. There are three settings for tension, though there seems to be some slack inbetween, so it’s got a decent range of tension for about any user. In the past, chairs tended to go straight from rigid to feeling like they’ll throw back my 170lb frame. Using the middle of the range, I felt like I could recline in this chair as often as I liked without worrying that I’ll fall over due to the momentum. And while it’s not my cup of tea, the advertised full-tilt recline option felt sturdy as well; I could probably take a study nap like this if I tried, especially with the optional footrest that they seem to show in a black model.
The biggest delight and surprise for me personally had to be the lumbar support. Most chairs, including my roommate’s first-run, second-wave Herman Miller Logitech Embody, essentially assume an average height for your back and therefore spine. For the SIHOO M18 Classic Office Chair, I’d already liked the more obvious adjustment via the knob to push that support in and out. I didn’t even realize until the 24 hours before writing this review that you could also move it up and down. With the new height I chose, my attempts at maintaining my posture are literally better-supported. There’s no doubt this is a feature that brings the value of the chair up on its own.
I sense this lumbar support be hit-or-miss for plenty of users; if you push it too deep, it can have the opposite effect and put a lot of pressure on one’s spine. Thankfully, with the adjustments inwards and outwards, it'll feel more like a standard chair if you prefer such.
If you’re not sure if any of this is an issue for you, Sihoo offers a 30-day trial and return policy on this chair when bought directly from the site.
Construction and Durability
My long computer sessions and odd lounging habits meant I became quickly comfortable with the limitations of the chair, as well as the points of construction that I sense will become frustrations in the long run. The warranty for the SIHOO M18 Classic Office Chair lasts three years, which is the minimum of as long as I believe and hope this chair can last with regular use.
The mesh “net” backing of the chair is sturdy enough to hold my weight while bending a bit, and I never feel worried about the bulk of the material bending to it. What would normally concern me is the stitching at the edges, but oddly enough, I have confidence in how this is done here. The stitching is deeper within the frame of the chair, so even if fraying theoretically starts, it’ll take a while before external factors exacerbate it. A lot of more expensive “gamer” brand chairs give pretty quickly, especially through fabric wear, but I’m not worried about it here.
With any cushion-like material, I expect some long-term molding to my form, but unlike thinner seats, the thickness seems like it’ll compensate for any compression. After a while, thinner cushions with similarly-built materials risk pushing in deep enough to feel the structure of the chair, but I sense this’ll take more than three years to give.
Clever concessions like this and the net stitching exist across the chair’s construction, reinforcing the necessarily durable portions. More specifically, metal is used in points with severe tension that cause breakage in cheaper products, specifically the legs, wheels and the structure of the armrests. I do worry about the hydraulics of mid-range chairs over the years, but there’s already shockingly little give when I sit, even at my above-average weight, so we’ll see.
I’m not going to go hill surfing with this, but I’m impressed by the material quality and construction for the price. I don’t feel like I have to choreograph myself sitting down or lounging during my long sessions in order to avoid touchy weaknesses. If anything, it’s good to be able to lounge about without worrying about hearing a crack.
Final Thoughts on the Sihoo M18 Classic Office Chair
Looking at it initially on the site, the range of $175.99 to $199.99 for the standard model is intimidating if you’re looking to upgrade from low-end chairs. With the market so explosive the past few years, both comfort and reliability have become legitimate questions at all price points, even with much more expensive chairs.
Thankfully, that bump in price is well worth considering for the SIHOO M18 Classic Office Chair. And it’s a good signal from the company as a whole! The official Sihoo price calls it the “Best Value for Money,” and if this is one of their lower-end models, I’d be curious about how the better ones perform.
More importantly, the chair is an ergonomic boon for longer computer sessions, whether for work or gaming. If you’re looking for a great compromise between money and comfort, you can’t go wrong with this model.
The product described in this article was provided by the manufacturer for evaluation purposes. Products purchased through our links may result in a small commission for the site. Authors are not compensated by clicks or affiliate sales in any way.