AKRacing Masters Series Pro Gaming Chair Review

A Closer Look – Components

If you have never assembled a gaming chair before, then the good news is that AKRacing makes it as simple and straightforward as possible. Inside the box, you will find absolutely everything you need to get this build. We should note that the Pro Gaming Chair is a rather large model so you will need a fair amount of room to put this together. As a nice added touch, you are provided with a set of gloves, although personally, I preferred not using them.

The manual itself is absolutely fantastic, both in terms of the information provided and the pictures to go along with it. In regards to this specific model, the manual, however, does have it’s problem. The instructions provided do, as a whole, apply to the entire range of AKRacing products. Because of that though, it is somewhat generic.

While we certainly can not criticise the information provided (which is excellent) you may notice that for this particular model, the seat/base mounting bar differs quite significantly from the one shown in the manual. In addition, we did not notice a clear ‘front’ or ‘back’ indicated on the design as the instructions would suggest. With the application of a little logic, you are able to figure out which way is the front, but this is left to you. As such, I daresay many people will accidentally put this on the wrong way around.

The Base

The base of the chair is provided in a steel 5-star design. This is fully made of steel with the exception of the tips which have a plastic coating. The high-gloss red colouring is truly excellent and given that this is one of the first parts you will deal with in the assembly, it gets you off on a confident footing.

As you can see in a closer look, each of the legs carries some nice branding which is subtle but adds that something special to the design. This could’ve been boring. AKRacing decided to make it interesting!

The wheels (or castanets if you prefer) have a nice solid feel about them. While the design is fully plastic the overall aesthetics do look good. The wheels themselves, are slightly larger than usually seen on a 5-star chair and this provides some excellent and motion.

They both attach (and remove) from the base really easily and as such, required very little ‘muscle power’ you might see in poorer designs. It’s a minor point, but it is perhaps a little disappointing that the underside of the base has not received the same quality of paintwork as the top. Given that this will be under the chair though, it’s hardly an important factor.

The Back Rest

The backrest of our particular model was black with an ‘electric’ blue trim. The colours matched well and it was also nice to see that the blue colouring was also used in the stitching.

At the top, you will notice the AKRacing logo in all its glory. While it is rather bold, the size and positioning of it are absolutely perfect. It tells you the brand but doesn’t detract or dominate the design.

In terms of the stitching quality, this is excellent. Throughout the entire chair, we found it to be consistently good. There was no gaps, no loose threads and the distance between them was near perfectly equal. This is the real hallmark of a quality design when you get up close and personal with a gaming chair. Actually, almost any chair in general.

A zip is provided to allow you, if necessary, to remove the covering. Given that this is a ‘pleather’ covering though, a simple wipe down should suffice to keep this clean without having to take it off completely. If nothing else though, it’s nice that the option is there should you need it.

It is a point worth noting that the sides of the chair, directly in the middle of the mounting points, does have a slight tear in the material. Before you start panicking, this is perfectly normal.

When mounting the backrest to the seat, you will note that the attachment does have a hole to the center. This is to allow you to attach the plastic covering.

As you can see, once this is on, the design is absolutely seamless and suddenly that little hole makes total sense.

The Seat

The seat itself carries on the colour design seen in the backrest and does so very well. In terms of materials, this is compromised of a nice soft leather-like material (known as ‘pleather’) that is very smooth to the touch. The attention to detail and craftsmanship is clear to see and, at least to the eye, this already looks pretty comfortable.

To the rear of the seat, you will find the two attachments for the backrest. In addition, to the sides, you will also find the armrests.

We again noted that the stitching quality to the seat was excellent. It was solid, consistent and near invisible. This is exactly what you want to see from a high-quality design.

While the chair is well cushioned, the base of it is supported by 4 elastic straps. Although you can only see 3 in the picture, the 4th is obscured by the base mounting bar. As we noted earlier, you will find the attachments for the base are already fitted into the chair. This is nice as it means you’re not required to deal with a bag of bolts (and the subsequent figuring out of which goes where). We should note that the rear screws (depending on your perspective) are slightly smaller than the front. Although this is noted in the manual, it’s a factor that does require a little scrutiny during the fitting.

It would, of course, be remiss of us to not point out one of the nicest aesthetic features of the chair. Namely, the ‘Pro’ logo which is immediately on the front. This truly looks excellent and the quality in which this has been placed onto the seat covering is faultless.

Cushions

I should note that even without the cushions, the chair is remarkably comfortable. For this little extra support (and style) though, the cushions provided are both of excellent quality. The lumbar support is well padded and when fitted certainly gives you a better posture that will help promote your long-term comfort. Particularly if your work or play keeps you at the desk for extended periods. As seen earlier, these are also made of the ‘pleather’ material.

A closer look really highlights the quality. Particularly the detail that went into applying the AKRacing logo.

It would be noted as well that even the stitching to the side has been colour coordinated to blend in perfectly. This is, again, a huge plus to the high-quality of the manufacturing process for this Pro Gaming Chair.

The headrest is nice and firm, albeit perhaps a little too much. I personally tried the chair both with and without and could easily have used it either way. It’s there if you need it and the quality and comfort are beyond question. On the whole though, if you don’t like it, the standard support supplied from the backrest is still excellent. It simply comes down to a question of personal preference.