SecretLab Titan 2020 Gaming Chair Review

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Penned by Aaron Scoble

Aaron grew up in Eugene, Oregon and reviews products for High Ground Gaming.

Reviewed by Benjamin Barr

I’ve been testing out the SecretLab Titan 2020 chair for the past two weeks. Read on to hear about my experience with the chair, and how it measures up against other gaming chairs. For our roundup of the best gaming chairs, peruse our list here.

The box of the new iteration of the Titan is surprisingly inviting. A large, dark, cardboard box with SecretLab’s logo printed all over encouraging you to delve within. As you open the flaps, you uncover the chair, packed away neatly making it easy to unpack all the components.

First impressions mean a lot, and my first impression when looking at the almost comically large instruction manual was confusion. The manual wasn’t displayed in a way that made it easy to read, which ultimately added about 10 minutes to the construction time. While this is no deal breaker by any means, I was hoping the setup would be as smooth as the unpacking experience. 

The 2.0 PU leather next to the suede contrasts greatly, and the thoroughly deep dark color of the chair made it feel ominous. Though the chair has a great silhouette, it doesn’t have much going on as far as aesthetic goes beyond black. Minimalists will likely applaud this design. However, Secretlab offers plentiful style options for those gamers who are looking for a little more pep.

The SecretLab Titan 2020 hosts a full range of adjustment angles from 165 degrees (nearly all the way flat) to 85 degrees. I’m not sure why users would incline the backrest forward to 85 degrees, but perhaps it could be useful when storing the chair. Notably, the instruction manual cautions users against putting all their weight against the backrest when using it in the fully extended flat position. So while you can take a power nap in the chair, you still want most your weight on the seat or you make be in for a rude awakening.

In any case, you’re going to sit in the chair, so aesthetics and the building process aren’t the most vital aspects. So let’s move onto the experience that is sitting in the SecretLab Titan 2020 Gaming Chair.

I slowly place myself into this throne, and my actual first reaction was, “This is hard.” 

I’m not someone that requires the softest of chairs and the sweetest of wines. Some gamers may desire a firm seat, but frankly, I’d like for there to be some give to a chair built with long bouts of sitting specifically in mind. 

In my quest for comfort, there was little to be found in the seat of the chair. The firmness combined with an almost bowl-like dip in the center of the seat didn’t work for me. After spending some time in the Titan, I was further discouraged when experiencing some circulation issues due to the peculiarly harsh lip of the chair.

For those who enjoy a firmer mattress or couch, this chair will be right up their alley. It does provide support literally everywhere and it appears durable enough to maintain its form and function for a long time.

When it comes to chairs for me, I have to say though that the seat, armrests, adjustability, or pillow, are not nearly as important as the backrest. When I think of a full-back gaming chair, it’s the full-back part that I tend to focus on to help me through long gaming sessions. Perhaps it is simply my own physical makeup — though I am 6 foot with a lighter build, falling into Secretlab’s recommended weight/height ranges for the Titan — but the backrest of the SecretLab Titan 2020 chair made me feel as though I was both sitting too far back and too far forward at the same time. I tried adjusting the lumbar support knob and there was an improvement but still something felt off.

Secretlab does include a beautiful and beyond comfortable pillow to use as a neck/head support pillow. While the pillow did help in making the chair more to my liking, it didn’t entirely makeup for the shortcomings of the backrest part of the chair.

The ergonomics of the SecretLab Titan seems more focused on pressuring you into a correct posture as opposed to gently coercing, or encouraging proper sitting posture. For some, this could actually help improve posture over time, unfortunately it’s not something I’m looking for.

The biggest bonus for this chair is something I haven’t seen SecretLab mention at all: it retains heat rather well. The backrest is keeping me cozy as we’re moving into the winter season, which definitely wasn’t something I was expecting.

Additionally, the adjustable lumbar support is easily the best part of the chair, and something I hope other chair manufacturers choose to include in their future models. The simplicity of use and practicality is something to applaud SecretLab for.

Rarely have I had an opportunity to use a full backed chair before this, and when I do, it’s still exciting for me. Most of my life, I’ve used rough, scholastic, plastic chairs that weren’t built for comfort beyond the initial, “can you sit in it?”

I was given a chair for my home office that I’ve loved and spent many hours gaming and working in. It’s the closest thing to a companion in my workspace I can get, and I don’t even remember the name of the chair. Or the company that made it. I just know it’s a good chair.

And at the office, I’ve been lucky enough to be using the Anda Seat Dark Wizard Chair that has been so delightfully comfortable and supportive that I rarely notice being in the chair. I will be sticking with it as my daily driver at the office. For being roughly the same price, I recommend checking it out too if you’re on the market for a chair.

When given the opportunity to write a review for one of the most celebrated gaming chairs in the market, I was understandably excited. The experience fell short of my high expectations and I found myself unfortunately dissatisfied. Learning that such a chair wasn’t something that would work out for me was disappointing, but I can see why many others enjoy it. The construction and the design of the chair are absolutely top-notch, but for me, it’s simply something to enjoy from afar.

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