Video summary
The reviewer begins by addressing his initial hesitation regarding gaming chairs, which he generally dislikes for their aesthetics and ergonomics, before agreeing to review the Secretlab Titan Evo after realizing that many viewers appreciate this style. Upon unboxing the chair in charcoal blue, he praises the assembly process as being nearly as seamless as an Apple product experience, noting that the packaging was excellent and the number of screws required was surprisingly low, which alleviated his usual anxiety about attaching armrests. He highlights the premium feel of the dense fabric upholstery, contrasting it favorably against PU leather, which he believes is non-breathable and prone to peeling in hot climates. A standout feature he immediately noticed was the magnetic integration on the headrest pillow and armrests, which eliminates the annoying sound of Velcro and allows for effortless adjustment that feels intuitive once mastered.
However, the review also delves into specific ergonomic drawbacks that stem from the chair's wide seat design, intended to accommodate cross-legged sitting but which the reviewer finds uncomfortable for extended periods due to a tendency to slouch. He explains that because the seat is so wide, users often do not relax their lumbar support fully against the backrest, and even aggressive adjustment of the lumbar knob yields limited results if the user maintains poor posture. Furthermore, he critiques the armrest positioning as being too far apart for optimal typing experiences, forcing his arms to hover near the edges rather than resting comfortably in a neutral position. While the firm seat material is praised for its durability compared to sinking memory foam that loses comfort over time, the recline mechanism requires conscious effort to engage via a lever, which he feels detracts from the seamless experience found in higher-end office chairs like his Herman Miller Aeron.
In terms of value and market positioning, the reviewer notes that the Titan Evo is a significant investment, costing around 32,000 pesos in the Philippines, especially since only the regular size is currently available. He compares the chair to a "Porsche" within the niche of race-car aesthetic gaming chairs, suggesting it is an ideal choice for those who specifically crave this high-end look rather than someone simply seeking general comfort. For his own proportions—a height of 5'8" with a 31-inch waist—he recommends opting for a smaller size variant to ensure arms are not hovering during typing tasks, warning that the wide seat may not suit all body types equally well. He concludes that while the chair excels in build quality, unique features like the magnetic pillow, and premium materials, it is tailored for a specific enthusiast market rather than serving as a universal solution for everyone looking for a good office chair.
Read the full video transcript
This is the Secret Lab Titan Evo in
charcoal blue with the coolest ever
accessory.
It's also a gaming chair, something I
have repeatedly mentioned I personally
do not like the aesthetics and
ergonomics of. So, when Secret Lab
reached out to us asking if we were
interested in reviewing it, I was
hesitant at first, but I remember a lot
of our viewers and some of my friends
genuinely like the gaming chair
aesthetic. And I was curious to see if
there have been changes to the research
and development of how gaming chairs are
now created and deployed
hardware.
And they're a great place to buy [music]
a rig or buy a component for upgrading.
And one question we always hear in the
shop is
windows.
Windows
windows
not at all. Okay. Start from scratch. We
need to create an account. So it's sign
up. Super simple.
password.
Okay, so now we're logged in and so
we're going to go with the MS Win 111
Pro OEM key. So click that.
You notice they also have other software
may MS Office. Let's stick with Windows
for now. Buy now
HS25
apply and it becomes $25. So almost $10
off. Quite good. Submit order.
And what I really like about this site
may local as in Philippine payment
options. So my G-Cash may QR QR I have
my phone ready. Pay now.
One payment lang guys. One payment. Do
not scan. Do not pay repeatedly. Got it.
I have my BPI ready to go. Just point
it. Swap. So, register QR in the BPI
app. Boom. Bang. Super simple. You
notice pay now. Confirm kagad. It will
toss us back to the site and you just
need to go to user center where you'll
see all of your orders. And here is the
key. Copy. Paste into Windows and your
Windows is activated at a fraction of
the cost.
Hi, I'm Rafael from Hardware Sugar and
this is our review of the Secret Lab
Titan Evo after two months of use.
First, the assembly [music] is topnotch.
If Apple ever created a gaming chair,
this undoubtedly would be a very similar
unboxing experience to that. Everything
was well packaged and there was
additional protection for each part. A
big instructions guide card and
thankfully very few screws to actually
screw in alleviated a lot of assembly
anxiety. As someone who has built a lot
of chairs over the years, I [music] hate
organizing screws and most of all I hate
attaching arms to chairs for some
reason. I always mess up during arm
installation. Thankfully, an extreme
amount of effort was put in by Secret
Lab to make sure that installation is
seamless, and for the price of this
chair, it should be.
Let's talk design. The Titan Evo is a
gaming chair wrapped with dense and
appears to be very durable fabric. I
cannot highlight enough how much I
dislike PU leather because it is not
breathable in hot climates and
ultimately peels off after a few years.
Just avoid PU leather like the plague.
[screaming]
Secret Lab has taken the concept of
Apple's Mag Safe and installed [music]
it into their armrest and their headrest
pillow. It may not look like much, but
it adds a premium vibe by giving off a
sort of aerospace wa that looks cool
kind of feeling. Of course, once you
install the armrest, it's not like
you'll be taking them off ever again.
And so, the only magnet which really
matters is the magnet which works with
the headrest. The best feature of any
product are those you don't realize
you're using because they become so well
integrated into the product itself. You
don't need to give it a second thought.
This is the beauty of this magnetized
pillow. The fact that this pillow can be
moved effortlessly by moving it up and
down without hearing the screeching tear
of Velcro is a very satisfying
experience.
>> So he taught me a method of opening the
Velcro so that if you do it right, no
one will hear the Velcro. And this is
what he taught me.
Sometimes you want to move the pillow
down or up depending on your mood at
that moment. Providing a seamless way of
being able to adjust the pillow made me
realize only after the fact that I had
unknowingly been moving it up and down
without me knowing it. This made me
realize that I was manipulating the
position of the pillow based purely on
instinct.
The Titan Evo allows for cross-legged
sitting. This is a common request.
Personally, while it appears fun for
those on the younger side, as a late
30-year-old, I just cannot see myself
sitting in this manner for extended
periods of time because it does not
appear to be ergonomic. You might think
that it is good for a chair company to
fit as many fan preferences as possible
into a single chair. However, the
drawback of making this seat wide enough
to sit cross-legged creates a drawback
which I will mention when I get to the
lumbar [music] and arm support. Although
the seat is wide, the slope of the end
of the chair is just right. This is
important because if the seat end does
not slope downwards, then gravity will
eventually strain the back of your leg.
Combined with my footrest, however, I am
able to keep my feet aligned. Notably,
my table is 2 in taller than I would
have liked, and so not everyone will
need a footrest with this chair.
Although the Titan Evo has three sizes,
this being the regular size, I find that
the seat size is quite wide. I find
myself slouching because I naturally
want to lean closer to the edge of the
seat. But because the seat is so wide, I
have this habit with this chair in not
relaxing my lumbar to the back of the
seat. When it comes to the experience of
your butt on the seat, it is definitely
a firm sitting experience. It is not in
any way a [music] sinking memory foam
sort of feeling. When you sit, you
instantly feel the firmness of it.
Personally, a firm seat for a gaming
chair is better because it means it will
last [music] longer. I noticed that all
chairs which have the sinking chair-like
feeling just stop being comfortable
after 2 months and they just become flat
and overly firm. The firmness of this
seat in my opinion is a plus. However,
others might be disappointed and wish to
feel like they [music] are sitting on
air. This is not that sensation.
The armrests move side to side, up and
down. However, because they are too far
apart to begin with, I do not find it
well optimized for a pure typing
experience. I have several keyboards,
but even with the widest keyboard, I
noticed that both my arms sit on the
edge of the armrest just so that they
can get close enough to type. If I had
it my way, I would have placed the
armrest so that it would support my arms
in this specific manner. But alas, that
is also where I think the size of this
chair may have interfered with how near
you can get these armrests together. I
often find that my right hand, which
switches between the mouse and the
keyboard, has the most difficult because
of how far away the armrest is, even if
I have completely maxed out how far it
can go.
When it comes to the lumbar support, it
is not the most convenient system. For
one thing, you need to reach all the way
back and bend your arm at a weird angle
in order to reach the knob which you
rotate. Additionally, because I find
myself slouching because of how wide the
chair is, no matter how aggressive I get
the lumbar to be, it does not make a
meaningful difference. Of course, the
solution is simply not to slouch. When I
do consciously tell myself to sit up
straight, it is more comfortable.
However, it is not nearly as intuitive
as the support, for instance, on my
Aeron, albeit on a completely different
price range. However, I much prefer this
over than a gaming lumbar chair pillow,
which I find tacky.
I would say that the lumbar support is
fine for what it is, but nothing
groundbreaking. [music]
The Titan allows you to recline pretty
far back and is activated by a lever
similar to that of a car. This is
nothing new. Personally, I don't watch
videos on my computer long enough where
I would want to recline aggressively. I
still prefer the reclining experience of
my Herman Miller Aeron chair, which can
activate by reclining whenever you want
[music] as you tilt back and forth.
Unlike the magnetic headrest pillow, you
need to consciously seek out this lever
to dial in your preference. This takes
the magic out of the chair.
As regular viewers of our chair videos
know, we do not use the casters which
come with the chairs because we believe
that these rollerblade casters provide a
better experience and most importantly
do not scratch your floor. And so we
cannot review the casters of what came
with the Titan. However, I am glad that
chairs like the Titan continue to accept
different casters for user preference.
It will be a cold day in chair hell for
a manufacturer to create a lightning
cable equivalent proprietary caster for
their chairs.
Now [music] the damage. Depending on
where you live, prices will be
different. In the Philippines, the Titan
[music] Evo costs 31,898,
close to 32,000 pesos. [music]
And as of the editing of this video,
only the regular size is available. A
32,000 peso chair is a substantial
investment. As someone who wrote proudly
of my 8-year-old chair during [music]
the pandemic, which only cost like
14,000 when I bought it, I would be
negligent in not telling you that there
are other chairs which have more value
than the Titan Evo. See who is still my
favorite [music] brand option to
recommend for all sorts of budgets. And
I have yet to find a chair which is as
timeless in terms of design and comfort
as my Herman Miller Aeron, which costs
90,800 [music]
pesos locally. So, who is the Titan Evo
chair for? It is for someone who likes
the gaming chair aesthetic. If you are
someone who has [music] been craving a
secret lab chair, then that's who you
are. And there is nothing wrong with
that. If you are, then the major
takehomes you should take are one, this
is probably going to be the Porsche of
all race car gaming chair aesthetic
chairs. Not the Porsche of all gaming
chairs, mind you, because every
manufacturer crowns their chair a gaming
chair nowadays, but if you like the race
car gaming chair aesthetic, this is
probably one of the most premium chair
experiences you'll ever find for
yourself. Number two, you should
probably get a size smaller than you
think you need. Personally, I would have
chosen the smallest variant of this
chair. I'm 5'8 with a 31 in waist
[music] size and weighing at 165 lbs.
So, that gives you an idea of my
proportions. It is very important that
your arms are not hovering when you are
typing. Notably, if you are primarily
only gaming, then great. Your was hand
and right hand will be fine. But for
this price, you want a chair which
allows you to be comfortable regardless.
In conclusion, the magnetized headdress
pillow is one of the more unique add-ons
to a chair I have seen in recent years.
The assembly was painless and the
materials of the chair are premium and
top-notch. However, this chair
specifically appeals to a very specific
niche market. It is not meant for people
who want to just have a good chair. It
is meant for a chair user who wants the
best race car gaming [music] chair
aesthetic. Overall, comfort is fine and
the materials used [music] makes it
surprisingly fit well in a home office
work environment. Let me know if you
have any questions about the chair in
the comment section. I'll be happy to
help out.