DXRacer review: are these luxurious gaming chairs worth it?
November 12, 2019
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DXRacer is among the most well known companies making gaming chairs. The company has a long list of sponsors and affiliates in professional gaming, but that’s not where they began. Check out my opinion below in this DXRacer review.
Roots in luxury
The company started in 2001 as a luxury sports car seat manufacturer. And, if you’ve ever sat inside a luxury sports car, you know this background holds merit.
When turning their focus to gamers, DXRacer wanted to make no sacrifice in terms of quality and comfort. Directly from their website:
“…we take great pride in the quality of every product we make. We design our chairs with ergonomics in mind and elevate them with racing flair. The result: Extreme comfort for healthy gaming.“
DXRacer FAQ
So, how did they do? How good is the quality of the DXRacer gaming chairs?
DXRacer durability
Three years ago, I purchased a DXRacer chair. I estimate an average of 3-5 nights per week that I sit in the chair while gaming and/or working at my desk. Generally, I will spend 4 or more hours sitting in my chair.
After 3 years of consistent use, the chair’s condition is still like-new. There are no rips, tears, or scratches in the fabric, and the color has not faded. I think it’s also worth noting that my Australian cattle dog will sometimes jump up onto the arm rests for attention, and there are still no scratches.
The materials used are not cheap or flimsy. DXRacer appears to have chosen high quality fabrics and other materials to ensure durability of their chairs which is exactly what you want in any product from any company.
Gaming support: posture and ergonomics
- Posture: the position you hold your body while standing or sitting
- Ergonomics: relating to or designed for efficiency and comfort
Seat cushion
The cushion of DXRacer seats are firm, yet comfortable. A firm cushion means your body will not sink into the seat, and this helps prevent slouching or other imbalances in posture.
If your gaming chair had a soft cushion, your pelvis and thighs would not be fully supported. In this situation, if your weight was not evenly distributed, one side of your body would sink further into the seat—adding excessive strain to your hips, your pelvic bones, your spine, and your muscles. Common conditions include:
In some of DXRacer chairs, there is a raised V-shape in the cushion. This design helps guide your legs and keep your pelvis on the back portion of the cushion, a tip we discuss in detail on our gaming posture page.
The V-shape also makes sitting cross-legged uncomfortable; this is beneficial since sitting cross-legged is poorly balanced and would add strain to your pelvis, lumbar spine, and the muscles of these regions.
Adjustable backrest
The DXRacer chair also includes a tilt mechanism enabling the backrest to be lowered to any angle down to 130°, with the ability to lock in place at any point.
DXRacer chair features
The recline feature on these chairs is excellent. Reclining the backrest decreases compression force on the discs in your lower back. In long term, this will reduce your risk of lower back degeneration and pain.
The backrest set with the same type of firm cushioning as the seat. The backrest is also a bucket-seat style—certainly a carryover from DXRacer’s former luxury car design—which provides incredible comfort and support.
The bucket-seat design prevents sideways leaning of the trunk—called scoliosis—which may otherwise create abnormal strain on your trunk muscles, core muscles, and spine.
Unfortunately, to date, the DXRacer chairs do not provide adjustable lumbar (lower back) support—a feature that seems to be becoming the industry standard for car seats.
Instead, the chairs come with a lumbar pillow. However, a pillow is a “one size fits all” feature for support. Since everyone’s body is different, this approach is not optimal for helping prevent back pain. The gold standard would be to have a firm, adjustable lumbar support.
Similarly, the chair comes with a neck pillow, but this is another one size fits all solution. Likewise, the gold standard would be to have a firm, adjustable cervical support.
Aside from the less-than-optimal neck pillow, the headrest is slightly recessed into the chair. This is an appropriate design as it allows for you to hold your neck in an appropriate position—over your shoulders—when seated.
Adjustable arm rests
The arm rests on the DXRacer chairs are equipped with two adjustment mechanisms. One to move the arm rests higher or lower and a second to turn the arm rests inward or outward.
The height adjustment has 6 levels, so you should be able to find that sweet spot where your forearms lie on the arm rests without pushing your shoulders upward towards your ears.
Arm rest position is another point discussed in further detail on our posture page. Furthermore, inappropriate arm rest position may lead to injury:
The rotational aspect of the arm rests helps provide support for different types of activity. For example, using a mouse and keyboard will usually require a different arm position than holding a console controller in front of you.
Lack of padding in the arm rests
The arm rest padding—or rather, the lack of arm rest padding—is my only real complaint with DXRacer chairs. The arm rest surface is unforgiving and uncomfortable. There are times where my elbows are actually sore because the surface is so firm.
To combat the issue of unforgiving arm rests, I’ve used towels or other pieces of clothing to create my own padding. With the amount of cushion and comfort in the seat and backrest, it was an unfortunate surprise that the arm rests were not more comfortably designed.
Our DXRacer review and conclusion
Overall, the DXRacer gaming chairs are amazing. DXRacer is one of the best ergonomic solutions for gamers and streamers, and I am very pleased with the overall quality of their chairs. At some point, my current chair will finally wear out. And, when this happens, I will definitely browse through what’s new at DXRacer.
Esports Healthcare approves and recommends DXRacer for postural and ergonomic support.
I’ve looked at their newer chair designs, and while the adjustable lumbar support still is not yet available (DXRacer, if you’re reading this…), the arm rest designs seem to have changed. Hopefully, this change includes better padding.
What chair are you using? Do you have a DXRacer? We would love to hear your feedback to provide more reviews and recommendations for you!
If you have any questions about gaming chairs, posture and ergonomics, or anything health or wellness related to gaming, please email me!
This is such a comprehensive and detailed review. We’re in the market for a new gaming chair and the DXRacer is one of our choices. Happy to know that it’s durable and for long-term use. Since this my 3rd chair already, I’d like to invest in one that has the best quality and reasonable price.
I had no idea that they’re initially more on luxury sports car seats but given this track record. I think we’re decided on what to get.
Thank you for sharing this honest review.
Thanks for the comment! We’re glad our experience was able to help with any questions/concerns you had about the chair quality.
Just a silly question that looks like it may have been dodged in the article above. When it is asked where these chairs are made, the response is where DXRacer ships and ‘operates’ from, but not where the chairs are made. I work for a biotech company that ships and ‘operates’ from Palo Alto, CA, but I know that’s not where our products are made. Where are the chairs made/manufactured?
The FAQ on this page was based on questions we’ve received across social media, email, etc. The responses are based on the information we were able to find through DXRacer’s website. They report, “DXRacer is world renowned and available on all continents with its headquarters in Michigan, USA.” The company ships only to the continental USA and uses international resellers for business outside the United States (as well as Alaska and Hawaii).
Their contact page reports 2 locations:
1. Whitmore Lake, Michigan (headquarters and showroom)
2. Ontario, California (showroom and warehouse)
[source: https://www.dxracer.com/us/en-us/support/contactus/%5D
Based on this information, we assumed they were manufactured in the United States at one of these locations–the headquarters or the warehouse. However, they don’t explicitly report that either one is a manufacturing location. If this factor is an absolute make-or-break for you, I would recommend sending a contact query to DXRacer via their website (same link as above).
Part of luxury is comfort. Whether these chairs are expensive or affordable, comfort and quality should always come first. Thank you for posting this.
This was a really well done and comprehensive review, I have always been curious about what experts thought of the chairs on the market. My chair currently is very bad and I am in the market for a new one. I personally am not a fan of the DX Racer chairs in regards to their appearance. I have always been minimalistic in my design choices and like office chairs much more. Do you guys recommend any office chairs that can yield good results and promote good posture as I sit at my desk and game?
Thank you for your kind words. Our recommendation for chairs is not specific to any company. Rather, we have a list of guidelines to look for in any chair. Below is a quick highlight of those guidelines. For a more detailed reference, I invite you to check our posture page: https://esportshealthcare.com/gaming-posture/
I hope this helps! If you have any other questions, please don’t hesitate to ask.
What are your views on office chairs? Are they so superior as some say or can we get the looks & ergonomics both right with, say, a DX chair?
You just need to look for something that “checks all the boxes.” You can reference our posture page to double check our recommendations for ergonomic positioning, and then look for a chair that can provide support for these points: https://esportshealthcare.com/gaming-posture/
– Firm, but comfortable cushion to sit on
– Adjustable seat height
– An option to recline ~100-110 degrees is preferable
– Adjustable arm rests to fit the appropriate height
– A head rest — surprisingly, many chairs are missing a head rest
– Adjustable lumbar support is best, but this is a rare and often expensive option
– In lieu of adjustable lumbar support, some chairs (e.g., DXRacer) come with a lumbar pillow. It’s better than nothing, but it’s not optimal
– A cervical support would also be valuable, but this appears to be even less common than lumbar support
Also, you don’t need to spend $400-1,000 (USD) on a chair–whether it’s a “gaming chair” or an “office chair.” There are other companies that provide good-quality products at more reasonable prices. One example we’ve found is a company called Respawn: https://respawnproducts.com — but I’m sure there are plenty of other brands with similar quality and similar pricing.
DXRacer is a super great chair. I’m using it for the last few years. its so comfortable