Vertagear is an industry leader within the gaming chair industry, producing high-quality office furniture for over 6 years now, is their new PL-6000 chair worth your hard-earned money?
Product on Review: P-Line PL6000
Manufacturer: Vertagear
Street Price: UK £399.99 / US $499.99
Once upon a time, in a not-too-distant past, we’d all be sat on bog-standard office chairs with bad backs, but things are changing within the gaming world and awareness to correct posture and comfort is growing massively. Vertagear set up shop in 2015 with the aim of improving comfort and style within your gaming environment, but despite their relatively short operating time, Vertagear have been hugely influential.
Today we’re looking at Vertagear’s latest gaming chair, the P-Line PL6000, an office/gaming chair designed for taller/larger users, or even smaller users who just prefer to have a bit more space, with a weight rating of up to 170kg (350 lbs) and ergonomics designed around users between 175cm – 204cm (5’9” – 6’8”). This is achieved through the use of an extensive steel chassis, class-4 gas lift and an aluminium 5-prong wheel base.
The PL6000 is available in a wide range of colours, starting with your standard black on black, and going through all kinds including camouflage and bright colours like orange or lime green. We have the black/red for review today but be sure to check out Vertagear’s website for detailed images of the other options.
Using UPHR (Ultra Premium High Resilience) Foam, the Vertagear claims to offer up to 62% better resistance to deformation over prolonged periods, aiding comfort in the short term but also longevity of the product in the long term, both incredibly important characteristics. The Penta RS1 casters are motorsport inspired and available with an auto-locking feature for a very reasonable extra cost.
We covered one of Vertagear’s very first chairs back in 2015, the S-Line SL4000, so it’ll be interesting to see how much has improved in the last 6 years despite the excellent rating that the SL4000 received way back then.
Vertagear on the PL-6000:
The Vertagear Racing Series P-Line PL6000 gaming chair is designed for comfort and equipped with superior ergonomic features. The Plus Line (PL) is the perfect fit for users desiring more space. Assembled with a wide range of adjustability that enhances gamers’ personal comfort, relax for extended periods during your intense gaming sessions.
Technical Specifications
Model:
VG-PL6000
Colours:
White / Camo / Carbon Black / Red / Blue / Green
Max Load:
200 kg / 440 lbs
Recommended Height:
5’9″ – 6’8” / 203.2 cm
Recommended Weight:
Up to 350 lbs / 169 kg
Materials:
Steel (frame), UPHR Foam, PUC Leather, Aluminum Alloy (base)
Package Dimension:
83 x 72 x 33 cm / 33 x 28 x 13 in
Overall height (incl. base):
1285-1385 mm / 50.6-54.6 in
Backrest Width (shoulder):
510 mm / 20 in
Backrest Width (lumbar):
520 mm / 20.5 in
Seat Width:
550 mm / 21.7 in
Seat Depth:
480 mm / 19 in
Net Weight:
26.4 kg / 58.2 lbs
Gross Weight:
30.8 kg / 68 lbs
VG-PL6000
Colours:
White / Camo / Carbon Black / Red / Blue / Green
Max Load:
200 kg / 440 lbs
Recommended Height:
5’9″ – 6’8” / 203.2 cm
Recommended Weight:
Up to 350 lbs / 169 kg
Materials:
Steel (frame), UPHR Foam, PUC Leather, Aluminum Alloy (base)
Package Dimension:
83 x 72 x 33 cm / 33 x 28 x 13 in
Overall height (incl. base):
1285-1385 mm / 50.6-54.6 in
Backrest Width (shoulder):
510 mm / 20 in
Backrest Width (lumbar):
520 mm / 20.5 in
Seat Width:
550 mm / 21.7 in
Seat Depth:
480 mm / 19 in
Net Weight:
26.4 kg / 58.2 lbs
Gross Weight:
30.8 kg / 68 lbs
Packaging & Included Parts
The box that the Vertagear PL-6000 arrives in is very typical for a gaming chair, the Tetris formula for fitting everything into a neat box has already been perfected. The chair weighs in at around 30kg so you’ll certainly have some fun getting this up the stairs to your office/gaming room.
The part you’ll want to start with is the wheelbase, produced from one large piece of cast aluminium, this is nicely finished with a satin black powder-coat and has the Vertagear logo stamped into each prong.
The underside of the wheelbase shows the shape/design that Vertagear has employed to ensure the wheelbase can handle the 200kg that the chair is rated for.
Inside a smaller secondary box are all of the little bits, including the bolts to hold the backrest on, the wheels, a 5mm hex key and the Class-4 gas lift. The wheels have been given a fancy racing style and formed to look like a set of alloys from a sports car. These wheels can be optioned to be self-locking for an extra $5, if you wish.
Enabling the rocking and leaning ability of the chair is the hinge mechanism, this joins the gas lift to the body of the chair and performs an incredibly important job, taking all of the stresses and strains of your bodyweight shifting about on the chair and translating it into smooth movement. Vertagear has added a fancy winding feature to this, which we’re sure you’ll like but we’ll cover that later.
Aimed at augmenting your comfort are the two pillows, one that’s designed to sit behind your lower back (lumbar) and one that gives your head/neck a rest. These are finished in the same faux leather as the main body of the chair so the colour match is perfect. These come with elastic straps that loop through and around the chair to hold the cushions in place.
Included Parts (Continued)
And now onto the body of the chair. We’ll start with the back piece, which is relatively wide and accommodating for the larger individual. The foam layering under the faux leather is plenty thick enough to ensure you never feel the metal frame underneath.
Turning the back piece around, the rear isn’t much to look at with only a Vertagear logo towards the top and some stitching arching towards the middle from the shoulder sections.
The seat base follows the same style, obviously, with a large seat pad and thick padding. The cold-formed foam used ensures long-term resilience to compression to provide a good lifespan on your new chair.
Flipping the seat base over, the underside shows off its strength. The thick box section welded steel and bulky bolts are there to give the user the best possible confidence, especially when it claims to support 200kg, a not-insignificant amount of weight.
Finished Look & Comfort Testing
The chair, now constructed into its full glory, is certainly built for the larger human, every dimension is beefed up to allow those with more generous proportions to sit comfortably for long periods of time.Without the cushions in place, the chair looks great, the leather panels with thick stitching gives an air of high quality and excellent craftsmanship, everything the chair should.
Add on the lumbar support and neck cushion and things step up a gear, this is a fully-fledged gaming chair equipped with everything needed to see you comfortable for whatever gaming session you fancy. The cushions are held in place with long elastic straps with a buckle at the back, these can be adjusted to suit your personal needs, within reason.
Stitched into the front of the lumbar cushion is a Vertagear logo, looking very smart, this helps to align your back in such a way that you aren’t slouching. Vital for retaining correct posture, something which future you will certainly be thankful for.
Unlike other chairs of a similar construction, the hinge mechanism between the base and back is built into the sides of the chair, this makes the assembly of the chair a doddle, where you simply drop the back of the chair over the supporting pieces, slide in the bolts and away you go. This is typically a two-person job with any of the rival offerings, but Vertagear have nailed it here. Constructed very easily on my own. It also adds to the clean look of the chair, not requiring you to cover up any ugly pieces with plastic covers. The back can be angled back until it’s pretty much flat using the lever just in front. This is easy to find while sat in the chair and locks into place automatically when you let go of the lever.
The chair can lean on its hinge mechanism, like almost all office chairs, but you usually need to get under the chair and twist a very awkward cylinder until you’re happy with the resistance, often interspersed by you climbing on and off the chair to test it out. Vertagear have fixed this issue by outfitting the PL-6000 with a winding handle, allowing granular adjustment of how stiff the hinge is, giving you all the control you need. The spring will soften with time, so being able to adjust it little-by-little is very handy indeed.
Admittedly, the wheels aren’t something we expect most people to pay much attention to, if anyone, but it’s nice that Vertagear have bothered themselves with styling them up a bit, made to look like the alloy wheels from a sportscar. These wheels also come in a self-locking variation for an extra £5; these will allow free movement until weight is applied to the chair then they lock into place.
We tested the Vertagear PL-6000 over the course of about a fortnight, allowing sufficient time for any adjustments to be made and allow my body to accustom itself to the new chair; I’ve used my current office chair for over 2 years, with thousands of hours of seat time, so it would be entirely unfair to jump in and give a verdict straight away.
The PL-6000 is designed for the larger person, 5’9” – 6’10”, which puts me right at the start of this window; regardless of this, I still found the chair to be super comfortable for long stints, and if anything, the additional room allowed by its larger size gave me the freedom to move around a little and even cross my legs if the mood struck me that way. I was able to adjust the lumbar cushion and neck pillow to my liking, though I’m never keen on a lumbar cushion so that didn’t last long for me.
The materials used, in terms of the foam, the stitching, the faux leather, plastic arm rests and steel construction are all high-quality and likely to provide you with years of reliability.
Faux leather can look great, is easy to keep clean, lasts a long time and offers good comfort, but it can get sticky and/or sweaty after a little while, especially during some tense gaming. A clever way around this issue is usually to perforate the leather but Vertagear have decided against this on the PL-6000. Even in December, at the time of writing, I found this chair to get a bit too sweaty for my liking. The chair I usually use has a very similar faux leather coating, but is perforated, and it definitely makes a difference.
The foam used by Vertagear is Ultra Premium High Resilience, boasting a high density and strong resistance to deformation over time. This is particularly useful considering the intended audience of the chair being larger/heavier users. The padding on the seat was ample, and was actually very comfortable for lengthy sessions, but the backrest was a tad on the thin side for my liking and I definitely think it’d be too thin for someone much heavier than myself.
Conclusion
The Vertagear PL-6000 has impressed us in many ways, but it’s not without its flaws, and we’ll go on to wrap up our thoughts now.The chair is available in several cool colours, including the camouflage which is a nifty option if you want to get something a bit different. The wheels match with the chair and are available in a self-locking option if you wish. Vertagear also offers an RGB lighting kit for some of their chairs, but sadly this one isn’t included, which is a big shame – we’d very much have liked to review that as an aside.
In terms of long-term comfort, let’s say over the course of a working day, the PL-6000 is ok, but the flat faux leather, lacking any perforation, can get sweaty quite quickly. We also found the foam to be a little too thin in places, and too firm in others, even after using the chair for a good 50-60 hours, we never found it to be incredibly comfortable, especially when considering the price tag. The centre piece on the backrest was too thin, the foam under the bottom was too thick and dense and, in real terms, things just need a bit of a tweaking from our perspective. Having said that, I weigh in at around 80kg, where this chair is designed for users exceeding double of that, so your mileage may very well vary, and it probably will.
Being able to tweak the arm rests in four different directions definitely allows you the degree of adjustability that’s needed to get everything correctly aligned for a good, proper posture, and being able to wind the hinge mechanism without getting in and out of the chair is something we’re sure we’ll see from rivals soon enough.
Construction of the chair couldn’t have been easier, simple enough to do on your own, with the tools provided to you in the box (the hex key is actually really good quality as well, something definitely worth throwing into your toolbox when you’re done). The only difficult part is inserting the wheels into the base but they need to be a snug fit and you only have to do it once.
Build quality, which is somewhat related to the ease of construction, is spot on. We found nothing of any concern whatsoever during our construction process or while testing it out, the padding feels good, the faux leather is very high quality and should stand the test of time, the steel frame on the chair is properly solid and, well, it’s all top notch.
Pricing is a small issue within this review, it’s too expensive compared to its competition. The likes of noblechairs, Nitro Concepts, GT Omega, Secret Lab and many more are all offering similar chairs but for £30-£50 less. Why would you spend an extra £50 if you don’t need to?
Vertagear’s build quality and styling is spot on, guaranteed to last for a decade, but the pricing is a little steep and a little extra padding would go a long way to secure a better review from us.
Pros
+ Rock solid build quality
+ 10-year warranty
+ Great range of colours available
+ Easy to construct
+ Capable of supporting up to 200kg
+ Easily adjusted
Cons
– Very pricey
– Lacking some padding on the backrest
– Gets sweaty after a short period of time
+ Rock solid build quality
+ 10-year warranty
+ Great range of colours available
+ Easy to construct
+ Capable of supporting up to 200kg
+ Easily adjusted
Cons
– Very pricey
– Lacking some padding on the backrest
– Gets sweaty after a short period of time
Click here for an explanation of our awards at Vortez.net.
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