After a recent change in how the company operates, we take a look at some of AK Racing’s new offerings. This time around, the Masters Series Max gaming chair.
Product on Review: AK Racing Masters Series MAX Gaming Chair
Manufacturer: AK Racing
Street Price: UK £429.99 / US $499.99
Today we bring you something slightly different to our usual offerings, alongside the AK Racing Core Series LX Gaming chair, we’ve also reviewed the AK Racing Masters Series Max Gaming chair, this review will focus on the Masters Series Max Gaming chair.
AK Racing claim that their Masters Series offers a premium chair with a design geared towards taller and/or larger users, with a hand-welded frame and class-5 gas lift, which AK Racing tell us has been made specifically for their Masters Series chairs, giving true-180KG ratings (28 stone).
The material used is vegan friendly, PU leather, on top of 55KG/M3 cold-cure foam padding, all wrapped around a metal frame on top of the aluminium base, giving the chair proper strength and robustness. Backing up those materials are a 5-year warranty on the chair and a 10-year warranty on the frame.
You also receive an adjustable headrest pillow, with two mounting options, as well as the lumbar pillow with infinite adjustment up the back of the chair. 4D armrests are included as well, moving in 4 different directions to allow you optimal comfort.
The Max is available in red, white, black, blue and indigo, giving you plenty of scope to match any current desk scheme you have going on. Today we’re looking at the stealthy, all-black design. Let’s see how it’s made and whether or not it’s comfortable.
AK Racing on the Max:
AKRacing Max is the tank chair of the Masters Series and the newest addition to the product line. Crafted for big & tall, this chair combines AKRacing best-selling looks with XL parts. It features a wider frame, an upgraded mechanism with a maxed out weight capacity of up to 400 lbs and Rock It and Lock It mechanism letting you lock the chair in any desired tilt position. Just like all other AKRacing chairs, Max boasts top-quality pleather upholstery, all-metal frame, 55 kg/m3 cold-cure foam padding and adjustable headrest and lumbar support pillows for comfortable seating. All of that functionality sits atop a five-star aluminum base, steel frame, and large 2.5-inch casters.
About AK Racing
Back in September, we met up with AK Racing at EGX to discuss current goings on, plans for the future and have a general catch up.AK Racing are by no means a young upstart on the gaming chair scene. Established in 2001, they have been in the business longer than many and evolved out of the custom racing seat movement of the ‘90s. Unlike many of their competitors however, AK Racing have direct links to a manufacturing OEM based in Asia, which can allow for more agile development of new designs rather than not-so-novel variations on a well-worn theme.
Until recently AK Racing’s involvement in the EU market was somewhat hands-off, opting to channel their efforts (both marketing and product development) through a distributor. Unfortunately, this status quo was far from ideal; resurgent demand, new competition and the unique nature of streaming as a means of driving brand awareness necessitated a change in direction. Now teams have far closer ties to regional markets while maintaining deep links with their Asian OEM.
Short term effects are more profound for retailers than the consumer, especially these without their own in-house gaming seat brand. In the long-term however the benefits have the potential to be considerable. In particular, long-term support should be far more comprehensive and responsive, and new product development can be actioned with a greater understanding of each region’s unique requirements.
You can see more of AK Racing’s range at https://www.akracing.com/ and don’t be at all surprised if they’re a far more visible presence at events such as EGX than they have been until now.
Technical Specifications
Materials
Frame Material: Metal
Frame Coating: Anti corrosive black paint
Chair Cover Material: Pleather on front and Back
Foam Type: High Density Mould Shaping Foam
Foam Density: 55 kg/m³ (seat) 50 kg/m³ (back)
Base Type: Aluminum base
Features
Adjustable Armrests: 4D
Mechanism Type: Advanced mechanism
Adjustable Tilt Angle: 12°
Tilt Lock: Yes
Tilt Angle Lock: Yes
Recline angle: 180°
Gas Lift Class: Extra heavy duty gaslift
Adjustable Lumbar Cushion: Yes
Adjustable Headrest: Yes
Meets/Exceeds ANSI/BIFMA Standards: Yes
Warranty Length: 5/10 years
Frame Material: Metal
Frame Coating: Anti corrosive black paint
Chair Cover Material: Pleather on front and Back
Foam Type: High Density Mould Shaping Foam
Foam Density: 55 kg/m³ (seat) 50 kg/m³ (back)
Base Type: Aluminum base
Features
Adjustable Armrests: 4D
Mechanism Type: Advanced mechanism
Adjustable Tilt Angle: 12°
Tilt Lock: Yes
Tilt Angle Lock: Yes
Recline angle: 180°
Gas Lift Class: Extra heavy duty gaslift
Adjustable Lumbar Cushion: Yes
Adjustable Headrest: Yes
Meets/Exceeds ANSI/BIFMA Standards: Yes
Warranty Length: 5/10 years
Packaging & Included Parts
As you can imagine, with the entire chair being packaged inside one box, it’s on the large size. Too big to photograph fully, sadly. However, inside the box, there’s plenty of packaging and padding to help ensure your chair arrives undamaged and ready to go together.
The 5-prong base feels like a sensible place to start with the included parts. The entire base is made from aluminium, with a satin finish on top. The underside is jet-black.
A set of 5 casters, a class-5 gas piston, fixing screws, Allen-keys and screwdrivers, a cylinder shroud and building instructions are also included, as well as a pair of cloth gloves to aid construction.
The swing mechanism under the base of the chair arrives fully assembled with the handles already in place. One side locks the chair’s rocking mechanism while the other side operates the gas-lift. The turn-wheel in the centre is used to adjust the spring strength dependant on your body weight.
The pillows bundled with the chair match the style and colour scheme and use elastic straps to be held in place. The small plastic octagon has a very clever role which we’ll show you later.
Included Parts Continued
The bottom piece of the chair is more or less completely flat, which should be better for overall posture, allowing you to spread your legs apart when sat down, unlike some other chairs, and particular the Core Series LX in the other review, which raises up considerably on the flanks. The MAX stitching on the front will be particularly desirable if you happen to be called Max.
The underside seems solid, with bulky bolts used for the arm rests and attaching the base of the chair to the rocker mechanism.
The backpiece is wide and flat, with some stylish stitching up the back and the sides. The AK Racing logo at the top isn’t straight on our model, which annoyed our OCD slightly.
The backside is completely flat with zips up the side, seemingly to remove the cover if you ever desperately needed to wash it. The AK Racing logo isn’t straight here either.
Finished Look
The overall finish of the chair is great, we personally really like the all-black styling but we’d choose a different finish for the 5-prong base instead of the shiny satin effect.
Performance & Comfort Testing
Our first impressions of the chair were great, it seemed spacious and offered plenty of room for the larger person. The lack of any shape to the base meant the entire area could be utilised comfortably, even allowing us to cross our legs in the chair. The relatively flat backpiece didn’t constrict the shoulders either, encouraging you to sit right back and relax. However, one thing we did notice was a lack of firmness to the foam used in the chair. After relatively short periods, around an hour or two, we noticed that we’d begun to sink ever so slightly. The foam used is 55KG/M3, which is around the range frequently used by gaming chair manufacturers, however, similar chairs using the same density of foam provide a much firmer base. Perhaps AK Racing have used a thinner piece of foam which results in a softer experience. It’s comfortable at first but that comfort soon fades.We mentioned a small octangular piece earlier in the review. This small bit of plastic allows you to reposition the headrest, instead of just looping the elastic band over the top of the chair. The adjustment is only one of two positions, but it’s something we’ve not seen on any chair we’ve reviewed so far.
The lumbar support cushion is something of a Marmite situation, you’ll either hugely prefer its presence or remove it instantly, though thanks to the infinite adjustment, you can find a comfortable position for it quite easily.
The neck pillow’s shape, with the tapered design, actually accommodates the neck much better than other comparable pillows on other chairs that we’ve tested, coming down to the top of the back, between the shoulders and helping to support you fully.
The handle on the right-hand-side, at the hinge, allows the backrest to be repositioned to a wide range of options. The back can be angled through a whole 145° to be almost horizontal. If you’ve ever wanted to fall asleep in your chair, this will allow you to do so more comfortably than most.
Lastly, the 4D arm-rests. The 4D relates to the 4 different directions of movement possible. The height can be adjusted, they can be shifted forwards and backwards, angled inwards or outwards or moved closer or further away from the person in the middle, allowing for a wider elbow position.
Conclusion
Overall, the AK Racing Masters Series Max is a good and comfortable chair with plenty of room for most people.The choice of colours is welcomed, particularly the indigo option, which is something we’ve petitioned for from other chair manufacturers. The “typically girly” colours are often left out of the gaming market, but we believe that purple is one of the best and most vibrant RGB colours, which the purple chair will suit perfectly.
The neck pillow/cushion is fantastic on this model, genuinely offering a supportive feel across the entire top of the spine and neck area. We weren’t as much of a fan of the lumbar support cushion, but as we explained, they tend to be a love/hate addition to this style of chair.
Unfortunately, we weren’t impressed by the thickness/firmness of the cushioning used in the base of the chair. It felt comfortable when you first sit down, as it forms to the shape of your behind, but once sitting down for a lengthy period of 2 hours or more, you begin to feel like the lack of support.
Build quality is solid, we noticed no flex whatsoever during our testing and fully trust the frame to last, as well as the other components used. AK Racing obviously believe in a similar sentiment, with the 5-year warranty on the chair and 10-year warranty on the frame. Other similarly priced chairs come with a 1 or 2 year warranty, generally.
The elephant in the room is the price. At £429.00 in the UK, the chair is certainly on the pricy end of “gaming chairs”, particularly with the noblechairs HERO, which we personally feel offer more or less the same features, with a better foam base, for less money.
The large stature of the Max gives you plenty of room, especially for the larger person, but the lack of padding in the base and the shiny wheel base put us off somewhat.
Pros
+ Looks great in the all-black
+ Plenty of colour variations available
+ Very comfortable neck pillow
+ Clever neck pillow height adjustment
+ Solid, sturdy construction
+ 5/10-year warranty
Neutral
+- Silver wheel base ruins the stealthy colour scheme on the black model
Cons
– Very pricey
– Foam is too thin/unsupportive
+ Looks great in the all-black
+ Plenty of colour variations available
+ Very comfortable neck pillow
+ Clever neck pillow height adjustment
+ Solid, sturdy construction
+ 5/10-year warranty
Neutral
+- Silver wheel base ruins the stealthy colour scheme on the black model
Cons
– Very pricey
– Foam is too thin/unsupportive
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