Shopping for a gaming chair sort of sucks. It's not like you can head to your local shop, try one out, and see which suits you and your body best. They're also stupidly expensive, which means you're eyeballing a potentially $500+ purchase. Big sales events like Prime Day flip the script slightly because a lot of the best gaming chairs come down in price.
I'm going to level with you. Forget all the other gaming chairs you've been looking at so far this summer. Forget Secretlab's multitude of colorways, forget Herman Miller's ludicrous prices, and ignore all those unknown brands at Amazon that are promising comfort for less than $100. The only gaming chair you need to know about in this year's Prime Day sales is Fractal Design's, which is down to $499 at Amazon.
For context, I review gaming chairs, and have done so for just shy of three years now. In that time, I've tried multiple Secretlab offerings, extremely extra-looking ergonomic mesh chairs that promise to heal your back pain, and umpteen different value options. I still haven't found a gaming chair that's as well-rounded as the Fractal Refine, especially for its pretty reasonable price.
Whether you're looking for a therapeutic, posture-mending seat for your work-from-home setup or you're in need of a throne to conquer online leaderboards from in your favorite game, the Fractal Refine is the best thing on the market, in my opinion. It's just under a year old now, and I've been waiting to see its price drop since launch, just so I can write about it again.
For those who don't know, Fractal Design is a Swedish brand that usually focuses on PC cases, fans, and other PC building products. In a lot of ways, its entry into the gaming chair market is totally out of left field and feels like a statement of frustration with what else is available, just as much as it does an expansion of its product portfolio.
But what's so great about it? I think its adjustability is one of its best traits. Yes, a lot of gaming chairs are adjustable (that's sort of one of their biggest selling points), but the Refine has adjustable lumbar support in its backrest, as well as a seatbase that slides forward so when you shift positions, the posture support shifts with you. You can see from its tall, slimline shape that it's doing things a bit differently than a lot of gaming chairs, which opt for a very traditional racer-style shape. This is why Fractal's ergonomics really feel distinct - the chair's shape guides your spine into a healthier position, which will do wonders for your wellbeing if you spend long hours at a desk.
The Refine comes in both mesh and fabric upholsteries (for the same price), which is a massive win since a lot of chair manufacturers separate these into different models and charge extra for the mesh version. Although that means the backrest cushioning on the fabric options is a little more minimalist, I don't think the Refine suffers for it. There's enough cushioning to be comfortable, but the slimline approach encourages you to sit up straight under your own power, which is exactly how posture support should work.
As silly as this might sound, I swear the armrests of the Fractal Refine genuinely helped my mouse aim in PC games. They have a fantastic shape, a plush surface, and a wide range of movement, so you can level them perfectly with your desk.
So why do I recommend this so strongly over the likes of a Secretlab seat? First of all, comfort is a big factor. I've tried both the fabric Secretlab Titan Evo and the more plush Secretlab Titan Evo Nanogen Edition, and I don't find either of them to be plush enough. Secretlab says that a firmer chair is better for you, but my body thanked me for sitting in the Fractal Refine far more than it did either of those Secretlab options. What's more, the plush seatbase cushioning on the Refine didn't give me a numb rear end like Secreltab's products did.
Finally, I can't ignore the price argument either. Secretlab and Herman Miller, which I'd classify as the Fractal Refine's biggest rivals, both charge even higher prices for their seats, and arguably for fewer (if not the same number of) features. Fractal Design hasn't stepped into the gaming chair realm before now, and charging a fairly reasonable $499 for its excellent seat feels like it's showing that it knows there's a lot of price over-inflating happening in the market.
There's more where that came from
- Gaming chairs: View all deals at Amazon
- Gaming Desks: Prime Day deals starting at $75.99
- Cable management: Neater setups starting from $5.93
For more on Amazon's big summer discounts, take a look at some Prime Day PC deals, Prime Day Meta Quest deals, and Prime Day PS5 deals.
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