Good, cheap chair so far . . . February 2021 update at bottom
First, a disclaimer: I do not work for the chair company nor do I benefit in any way from this short-term review. Also, I am comfortable reading simple instructions and using tools to assemble things. Your mileage, as they say, may vary.
To the review . . .
The chair (two boxes, one very large and heavy) arrived on time in early July 2020 with no damage.
The single-page assembly instructions -- included in the smaller box -- were very simple to understand. They provided a line-drawing and letter for each part (with bolt lengths to differentiate) and a pictorial order of assembly of said parts.
This was not difficult by any means: Find part. Check letter. Organize by that letter. Follow pictured steps. Third-grade stuff.
Bolting the back to the bottom of the chair required three hands at one point, although this could have been managed without help. I had help around, so. . . Also, one armrest bolt took about 30 seconds to get threaded.
It is mostly unclear where assembly trouble for some might have arisen.
Regarding build quality: the chair seems made of sturdy stuff. The base and legs look to be all plywood, and the stitching, bolt holes, and other basics seem good. Its not made of highest-quality materials, but for 250 bucks . . .
Regarding chair comfort: It has a new chair feel, which means its a bit stiff-ish at first. It has been otherwise unremarkable.
This is a good thing. I sit down. I go about my laptop business, and I do not think about the chair.
It is not plush by any means. I do not like plush, strato-lounger-type chairs, anyway. (If I want to be in bed, I go to bed.) That said, the padding does feel a bit cheap on this cheap chair.
Two niggles:
First, the chair swivels very easily. We own an actual Ekornes chair, and that one swivels only when asked to. This ones more lively, and not in a good way.
The second thing is the size. Its pretty small. I saw the dimensions in the description, but hadnt taken out a ruler on our Ekornes chair to compare. This small size means the advertised weight limit of 330 pounds would have to be in a person with a 35-inch waist. Pretty unlikely. If youre wide or pretty tall, this will feel not-big at all.
(Third non-niggle: I attempted to try out my loins on this chair -- see Key Features in description. The neighbors may have called the police.)
For a 250-dollar chair, this is a winner . . . so far.
UPS diddled with the larger box for about a week for no obvious reason, but thats no fault of the shipper.
I may have discovered why some reviewers had difficulty assembling the arms: the right and left stickers on them were reversed -- the R being on the left arm. The misalignment of the arms bolt holes told that story. Easy fix: R goes on the left, then.
Update on 3 February 2021:
So, six months in . . . still OK-ish.
The chair is holding up pretty well, except for the trouble mentioned below.
About a month ago the padding in the seat became pretty miserable. I upgraded with an ancient throw pillow from our couch, which solved it for now.
It also should be noted that the pandemic means I've been using this chair for eight or nine hours a day, most every day. And, just last week I turned it over and tightened all the bolts, which reined-in some slop.
Oh, and one last thing: the covering on our chair damages easily. Our lap cat leaves little dings and notches every time he gives a good claw stretch, etc. I was not, though, expecting the chair to be super-high-grade . . . c'est la vie.
Good, cheap chair so far . . . February 2021 update at bottom
First, a disclaimer: I do not work for the chair company nor do I benefit in any way from this short-term review. Also, I am comfortable reading simple instructions and using tools to assemble things. Your mileage, as they say, may vary. To the review . . . The chair (two boxes, one very large and heavy) arrived on time in early July 2020 with no damage. The single-page assembly instructions -- included in the smaller box -- were very simple to understand. They provided a line-drawing and letter for each part (with bolt lengths to differentiate) and a pictorial order of assembly of said parts. This was not difficult by any means: Find part. Check letter. Organize by that letter. Follow pictured steps. Third-grade stuff. Bolting the back to the bottom of the chair required three hands at one point, although this could have been managed without help. I had help around, so. . . Also, one armrest bolt took about 30 seconds to get threaded. It is mostly unclear where assembly trouble for some might have arisen. Regarding build quality: the chair seems made of sturdy stuff. The base and legs look to be all plywood, and the stitching, bolt holes, and other basics seem good. Its not made of highest-quality materials, but for 250 bucks . . . Regarding chair comfort: It has a new chair feel, which means its a bit stiff-ish at first. It has been otherwise unremarkable. This is a good thing. I sit down. I go about my laptop business, and I do not think about the chair. It is not plush by any means. I do not like plush, strato-lounger-type chairs, anyway. (If I want to be in bed, I go to bed.) That said, the padding does feel a bit cheap on this cheap chair. Two niggles: First, the chair swivels very easily. We own an actual Ekornes chair, and that one swivels only when asked to. This ones more lively, and not in a good way. The second thing is the size. Its pretty small. I saw the dimensions in the description, but hadnt taken out a ruler on our Ekornes chair to compare. This small size means the advertised weight limit of 330 pounds would have to be in a person with a 35-inch waist. Pretty unlikely. If youre wide or pretty tall, this will feel not-big at all. (Third non-niggle: I attempted to try out my loins on this chair -- see Key Features in description. The neighbors may have called the police.) For a 250-dollar chair, this is a winner . . . so far. UPS diddled with the larger box for about a week for no obvious reason, but thats no fault of the shipper. I may have discovered why some reviewers had difficulty assembling the arms: the right and left stickers on them were reversed -- the R being on the left arm. The misalignment of the arms bolt holes told that story. Easy fix: R goes on the left, then. Update on 3 February 2021: So, six months in . . . still OK-ish. The chair is holding up pretty well, except for the trouble mentioned below. About a month ago the padding in the seat became pretty miserable. I upgraded with an ancient throw pillow from our couch, which solved it for now. It also should be noted that the pandemic means I've been using this chair for eight or nine hours a day, most every day. And, just last week I turned it over and tightened all the bolts, which reined-in some slop. Oh, and one last thing: the covering on our chair damages easily. Our lap cat leaves little dings and notches every time he gives a good claw stretch, etc. I was not, though, expecting the chair to be super-high-grade . . . c'est la vie.