Vertagear S-Line SL4000 Gaming Chair Review

Introduction

We all rant and rave about our components, who has the best keyboard or fastest graphics card, but we neglect what we use the most; the chair. Personally I have two, both costing well under £100 each, but of massively different build qualities. Something that these ‘racing’ chairs hope to bring is bucket seat comfort and support to our gaming sessions.

Haven’t heard of Vertagear before now? Don’t worry, I didn’t either. The company has just three seats available, the budget orientated SL2000, mainstream SL4000 and executive SL5000. They each come under the S-Line brand and roughly look the same with key differences to design and overall size.

SL2000

SL4000

SL5000

If you are interested and not quite sure of your measurements, why not check out the Chair Selection Tool.

I personally have my reservations because bucket seats are meant to be firm and supportive to defy G-forces in corners, how will it stand to hours of sitting still in front of a computer? Let’s find out.

Unboxing

Something I’ve noticed is how large this box is, all of my previous chairs were in relatively small boxes; this was HUGE.

Everything is well packaged with the seat back staring you straight in the face when you open the box.

The base is of a high-quality cast metal, something we have come to expect from premium gaming chairs.

The seat base and back are designed to resemble a racing seat. The leather is premium quality so high wearing and easy to clean, but I can see some comfort issues if it is too tight.

There is a bundle of accessories to complete the installation of this chair to a high standard. The cushions are made from the high-quality leather and stitching that the chair is; I might actually take the neck pillow in the car as its just the right size to fit my neck.

The lumbar support is hard! It needs some breaking in or even a different filling from the dense foam to be comfortable like some fiber filled options on the market.

The wheels are slightly sporty with an alloy wheel Esq. design to fit in with the design of the chair.

The hinge covers are injection molded, this makes mass production easy, they’re a little thin, but this should be enough for the task at hand.

The muscle behind the lifting and tilting is this. I’ve built some chairs in my time, but this is far superior in terms of build quality.

Installation

It’s not very often that the company produces an instruction video and I like this. The instructions are clear, easy to follow and do not require internet or even computer access, but videos are always nicer to follow.

The instructions are pretty straightforward, although you do require a Phillips head screwdriver to attach the hinge covers which it doesn’t say in here.

First step, insert the wheels into the base.

Don’t worry, this won’t be a step by step installation. The bottom is reinforced by those green straps, these are so taught, it aims to add sufficient support to the base.

Simply unscrew the four inner bolts and attached the lifting mechanism and insert the gas pump.

Hey presto, you have a fully functioning stool with arms and ears.

Next and probably the most complicated step is to attach the back to the base. I had to slack off the hinges to allow for the space to slide the back in. I found it easier to lay the seat on its side, but two people would make light work of this. You can see in the picture at just how far in the hinges stick into the seat back.

Then just add the hinge covers and everything is complete.

And the finished article, looking pretty awesome if I do say so myself!

A Closer Look

The arm rests are strange, they are rectangular and flat rather than curved. They offer great support for your forearms. The best feature about these is that they can point inwards and outwards around 45° so your arms fall comfortably onto them.

Along with the angles, the arms have a great height range, but I’m struggling to see who would use the lowest setting apart from allowing the chair to fit under a desk.

Just look at that stitching, so precise and each stitch is uniform in terms of length and alignment.

There is a sneaky logo on the back of the seat behind the head which I honestly didn’t notice until I went to bed and came back downstairs. It’s understated but identifiable so people know the chair without having to see the front; nice touch!

Final Thoughts

Price

The Vertagear S-Line SL4000 as featured in this article is currently priced at £214.99 on OverclockersUK. If you are of wider frame, the S-Line SL5000 which is 10mm wider is £229.99 on OverclockersUK.

Overview

I was extremely excited to receive this chair, I’m a lover of the cheap chair, spending less than £50 at a time and my back hates me for it. This chair costs over 4 times that amount and the quality is leaps and bounds over them in every aspect. The price might seem daunting but think of it as an investment rather than an impulse purchase.

There is no question that this chair looks the part and would go down a treat at a LAN party and inflate your ego when friends come over. I personally really like the black and white styling, it is more subtle than the red or blue available although the white will likely become dirty quicker and be noticed more easily.

This seat has a lot of functionality, the arms move up, down, forward, backward and even rotate in and out roughly 45°. This can adjust to an extremely wide range of user choices and the rotating function lies well with how your arms naturally lie. For the first time in a while, I have found a chair that actually has a functioning tilt action. When I initially sat on the chair I almost fell off, but after tightening the dial on the base, the tilting was easily reduced to a suitable level.

The seat is nice to sit on, but I’m larger than the typical person, this made the seat extremely uncomfortable to sit on for any longer than 5 minutes. This is an issue with how stiff the leather is on the base around the bolsters. I have used this seat every day since it arrived to give a thorough analysis rather than a rushed summary and the leather hasn’t weakened at all.

When I first started researching into gaming chairs, the neck and lumbar cushions seemed like really good additions by supporting your spine’s natural curve. However, unless you have the lumbar support just under your shoulder blades, your legs will be pushed forward to an uncomfortable position. This is due to an incredibly hard but supportive memory foam being used. Of course, your mileage will vary, as we’re all different shapes and sizes.

One final point on this chair, the wheels and swivel motion are slick so if you want to use this chair to race or make yourself dizzy; it will work well and the leather is easy to clean of sick.

Pros

• High-quality components
• High-quality leather
• Great design
• Easy to clean
• Supportive for long gaming sessions

Cons

• None

Neutral

• The lumbar support detracts from the overall comfort of this chair in my experience
• High price, but you get what you pay for

Vertagear S-Line SL4000 Gaming Chair Review

Thank you Overclockers UK for providing us with this sample.