I spend a lot of my day sitting on my backside which is not great I know but it’s one of the requirements of the job. When I’m not working, additional time is spent gaming which involves more sitting, sometimes for long periods.
Over the years I have tried all kinds of chairs to help with my posture and comfort when sitting for long periods and finding a good chair has proved difficult. In recent years, we’ve seen special gaming chairs become more popular but many offer very little benefit. The racing chair design is the most popular, and while some look snazzy and manly with their high backs, it doesn’t necessarily translate into comfort when sitting in it for long periods.
In this review, we’re taking a look at the Quersus VAOS 500 range of chairs which are at the upper end of the gaming chair spectrum when it comes to price. The model I have been testing this week is the V501/XR which is a suitably manly red and black number with typical racing seat styling.
Gaming chairs can be a real pain to put together. Cheaper chairs are generally not as well constructed and problems such as screws not aligning with holes are common in budget ranges. I was not looking forward to constructing the Quersus based on past experiences with gaming chairs but once the large well-packed box was pried open, it was a nice surprise not to find a box of 500 screws and strange looking bits of metal.
The box contains a kit with a total of 10 bolts (2 spare in case lose one), a base, seat, hydraulic lift, chair base, chair back, wheels and a L-shaped metal joint to attach the base to the back. The chair also comes with some detailed instructions on how to put it all together which makes a change. More often than not you’re left to figure it out from some crude drawings. The instructions are also multilingual.
The main chair mechanics are attached to the base of the chair with four of the bolts, the wheels are then attached to the wheelbase, the L-shaped metal piece is attached with base of the seat with a couple of bolts and then the back slides onto the upward facing piece of metal and attached with two bolts.
Putting the bolts in place was incredibly easy for once thanks to their design. They have a large head which can be turned with your fingers and then once in place are tightened with an allen key which is also provided. It took a total of 23 minutes to put the chair together from start to finish with one person. This was a huge relief. I envisaged myself weeping over an instruction manual for most of the afternoon.
With the chair now in place, it was time to test out some of the features and this is a chair that covers all bases. I am 6ft tall and the back of the chair is a perfect height to allow your head to rest easily and it comes with an attachable shaped pillow that moulds to the back of the neck for extra comfort. And it is comfortable.
The chair can be tilted back and locked in place via a lever under the chair and a round handle to adjust the rocking motion. The chair can tilt back quite far, further than you would need a chair to tilt back unless you wanted to a sneaky snooze. The seat base also tilts back slightly which improves the comfort on the back of the legs.
A second lever under the chair adjusts the height via the hydraulics and the height range is excellent making the chair very adjustable depending on a person’s size or desk height. The lift and lowering action is also incredibly smooth and responsive.
A problem that I find with some chairs are the armrests. I prefer them to be adjustable so a chair can be slid under a desk and also positioned correctly depending on how I am sitting while gaming or working. The Quersus really delivers here. The armrests are fully adjustable for height and they can be rotated both in the way and out the way. That’s not all though, the arm rests can be slid either in the way or out the way which is ideal if you have a large or small frame. Every base has been covered to make sure that your mouse hand is well supported.
Chairs can cause all kinds of back problems and Quersus has added a support feature inside the back of the chair. On the side of the back, there is a nob which can be rotated, and when turned, extra back support inside the chair moves either in or out to provide lower back support. This is an excellent feature and provides some subtle and effective support which really enhances the comfort level of the chair.
The seat covering is a tough synthetic material and the seat and back of the seat are incredibly well padded providing excellent support and not allowing you to sink right into the chair, which is a problem with chairs where the material used inside is simply too soft to offer any real support and ends up compressing very quickly.
Having used the chair for a few days this week I am very impressed with the quality of materials used. It feels substantial; every piece of the chair is solidly constructed, even down to the individual components such as the bolts. It also glides across the floor effortlessly thanks to some robust wheels.  It’s a high spec piece of gaming/office furniture and they obviously stand by that as there’s a two-year standard warranty on all the chairs. You can also add your name on to the chair for some extra customisation for a small fee.
The Quersus is certainly not the cheapest gaming chair on the market at around 360 Euros (this V501 is the mid-range model in the Quersus line-up), but if you’re a serious gamer who spends a lot of time in front of the screen. I highly recommend the V501/XR chair. It’s comfortable, offers great support, is feature-packed and definitely worth every penny.
Published: Feb 9, 2018 08:31 pm