Gaming Signal: REVIEW

REVIEW - AK Octane

I know, you're thinking: "Octane? WTF?". Well, we were at Best Buy trying to find a TV stand to put downstairs when my wife saw this chair (yes, an office/PC gaming chair) sitting out. She sat in it and said: "This is comfy, we should get it.". That doesn't usually happen, so we bought it.

It, is the AK Octane home office/PC gaming chair. Aside from the name, there really isn't anything PC gaming centric about it that I could see. Nevertheless, I must say this is a very nice chair. Aside from being a cool looking blue (and F1 inspired design...), the seat itself is very comfortable, cushiony without being mushy. If it was a wine, I'd say it was soft yet firm. The arms can move up/down, swivel left/right, and move forward/backward so you can adjust them to your style of arm resting. You also get the standard up/down lever and tilt lock lever. The other really nice thing about this chair is the wheels. They aren't the standard plastic casters of lesser chairs. Oh no. They are polyurethane wheels you see on inline skates. And the kick all kinds of @$$ it isn't funny. This thing glides almost noiselessly across our floor (laminate wood). It's a breeze to move around, needing just a flick of your leg to get moving. Even on carpet it move smoothly. Its so nice, I don't know why other chairs don't use the same wheels.

All that being said, there are two negatives that I can see. First, a nit picky thing. The arm rests, while notched so they stay where you set them, are very easy to bump/move with your arms, which knocks the rests out of alignment. Annying, but not a killer. The one big thing, which accounts for almost an entire star, is the Octane will not lower itself enough for me to sit comfortably and type. The keyboard, which is on a try, is too low and I have to bend my wrists downward to type. This is bad as any amount of time in WoW of any FPS cause some discomfort. I have to move the keyboard up and place it on the desk proper to get better access. If the chair would lower about 2" more, everything would be fine and this would be a chair bordering on 5 stars.

I was leery about dropping the $$$ on this chair, but I think its worth it. Its very nice to sit in for long periods of time (so I've been told, not that I've had the chance to...) and it rolls very smoothly. I would say this should be the standard office chair for any company that is moving their employees into cubicles. It would go a long way to ameliorating any bad feelings that might arise from people being forced into the cubes. Hint, hint.

Update: Yes, already an update. This thing is only available at Best Buy and is apparently selling like hot cakes. We purchased the second to last chair in Houston on Saturday, and now it's backordered for two weeks. Certain large computer companies should be put on notice to buy early and often.