I'd like to admit that in over 20 years of being a gamer, I never sat in a gaming chair. I never even felt the need or desire to do so — until Secretlab reached out to ask if I would try one of its newest offerings.
To put this into perspective, I had been sitting in an IKEA Markus for the past 5 or so years, and I stand at 6 feet 3 three inches tall. It was squeaky, loud and worn out. It was time for a change.
After figuring out my size in the new Secretlab TITAN Evo 2022 Series and waiting about a weekend for the chair to arrive in Los Angeles from Ningbo, China, a giant Secretlab-branded box suddenly spawned at my front door.
Since the servers were down for Overwatch 2, it was pretty much the perfect time to get the chair up and running. The unboxing experience for the Secretlab TITAN Evo 2022 Series Tracer Edition was top-notch. On just about each and every piece of the packaging, from the shipping-protective materials to the high-quality poster of Tracer that doubles as the blueprint for putting the chair together, the little details do go a long way in making you feel like you're gearing up to craft something substantial.
I don't think anyone gets excited to put together furniture, but I can safely say that assembling the Secretlab TITAN Evo 2022 Series is really easy. All you need is their assembly video, the included toolkit and about 45 minutes. Before I knew it, the chair was standing tall all on its own.
My first impression of the chair was that it looked exactly how it did in pictures, which I'm happy to report given its $600 price point. I'd expected as much from Secretlab going in, as its chairs always caught my eye a bit when I saw streamers sitting in them. From the chair's honeycomb-patterned orange panels inspired by Tracer's leggings, to its standout rear panel featuring an embroidered design with her Recall ability in a bright blue gradient leatherette, the aesthetics of this particular unit will definitely impress Overwatch fans.
After spending several hours googling "how to find the right tilt tension" and "how to use a gaming chair lumbar support," I was able to find a configuration that I felt comfortable with. Two weeks after building the chair, I can confirm that there are yet to be any signs of wear and tear, despite having spent many hours working and gaming in it. The sitting experience itself is quite nice. With my unit being an XL, the Secretlab TITAN Evo 2022 Series definitely has much more weight to it than my old chair, and is markedly sturdier. Secretlab's patent-pending 4-Way L-Adapt Lumbar Support System leaves me with less fatigue at the end of shifts than my old chair did, and the included magnetic memory foam is extremely comfortable to lay my head back on. Everything feels premium to the touch.
Now, I did find some things with my review unit that aren't perfect. The first is something that is perhaps my fault with the assembly, as I noticed that one side of the backrest seems to have more of a gap between it and the seat base than the other. I've tried to go back and fix it, but I think this is about as even as I can get it.
The other blemish is that the arms aren't perfectly symmetrical, or adjust the right way. In order to have them as equidistant to the sides of me as possible (as seen in the bottom photo), I have to adjust the arms so that one is all the way in and the other is all the way out. This makes sitting awkward, as it when done the other way, one arm is way too far out and the other is way too far in (as seen in the top photo). The instructions say that the distance between the chair's armrests can be adjusted by loosening some screws at the bottom of the unit, but I found that they were installed so tight that I didn't even want to bother with it.
Lastly, I find that the chair's NEO Hybrid Leatherette does run hot at times — perhaps because I live in Southern California — so I suggest running an AC or a fan on hot days.
Again, I will say that most of these issues may simply be specific to my review unit or user error, and that they don't affect the practical sitting experience.
Ultimately, I find the Secretlab TITAN Evo 2022 Series Tracer Edition to be quite a nice chair, and would definitely recommend it to any Overwatch fans or those simply looking for a high-quality seat in their setups.
DBLTAP was provided with a review unit of the Secretlab TITAN Evo 2022 Series Tracer Edition by Secretlab.
This article was originally published on dbltap as Secretlab TITAN Evo 2022 Series Tracer Edition is Gold Medal-Worthy.
