Have you ever wondered if the gaming chair you want to buy is actually any good? How do you even start to evaluate the quality of the chair based on what is composed of?
There are a few key components on the basis of which we can say if a chair is any good. Gaming chair base, for example, is one of them.
The base of the gaming chair – made out of either nylon, steel, or aluminum – is an essential link between the castors and the frame of the chair. The most common materials chair base is made out of are nylon and steel.
How to tell if your chair is any good just by looking at the gaming chair base?
Well, there are two key properties you can check for all chair bases (for gaming chair or office chairs):
- How many ‘legs’ does it have? A great majority of gaming chair bases are 5-star (that means that has 5 legs).
- Which material is the gaming chair made out of? (The most important factor)
Example: Cheap Chinese made gaming chairs will have nylon (plastic) base. The high-quality German or American made chairs will have aluminum, steel or even graphite bases.
Translation: Nylon is material stockings are made out of. Do you know what they make out of aluminum? Airplanes that fly at 30.000 feet. Let’s look at different materials the gaming chair bases are made out of.
Types Of Materials Chair Bases Are Made Out Of
When gaming furniture companies decide to make a chair base, they usually pick from these 4 materials:
- Plastic/Nylon base. Chinese-made $100 cheap gaming chairs.
- Steel/Metal base. A bit better $150-$200 heavy chairs.
- Aluminum base. Best of the best top-tier $500 chairs.
- Graphite base. Only the best of the best $1000+ Herman Miller office chairs.
In many cases, we have to decide between a nylon vs steel base. Steel base, at least compared to nylon base, is better in almost every situation. However, if you have a chance to not only upgrade from nylon to steel but upgrade from steel to aluminum, you’ll have the best possible gaming chair base.
For example, the best gaming chairs like Secretlab Omega and Titan have ADC#12 aluminum base:
Is there really a big difference between the quality of these materials? You bet there is!
A perfect gaming chair base should be:
- Light.
- Strong.
- Non-fragile.
- Have a great look.
Plastic base (made out of nylon), for example, has a density of 1.15 g/cm3. Therefore it is light which is nice. It might even have some strength but it’s very fragile and has a terrible plastic look.
Aluminum base, on the other hand, has a density of 2.7 g/cm3. This makes aluminum the lightest metal – that’s why they use it for airplanes as well. It is both strong and non-fragile with a beautiful metallic look which makes it a perfect material for gaming chair base production.
Here is the full table of which desired properties do different gaming chair base material have:
| Base Material: | Light: | Strong: | Non-Fragile: | Great Look: |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plastic/Nylon: | ||||
| Steel/Metal: | ||||
| Aluminum: | ||||
| Graphite: |
Which Is The Best Chair Base? (+ Gaming Chair Examples)
Obviously, the worst kind of base is plastic. However, more than 50% of gaming chairs have a plastic/nylon base. Why? Because it’s the cheapest. An example of a gaming chair with a fairly sturdy nylon base is the Sakura base of AutoFull pink chair.
The steel base is much better compared to the plastic base. It is both strong and non-fragile, it has a metallic look but it does have one major disadvantage: It’s incredibly heavy!
Steel has a density of 7.8 g/cm3. The base alone can add up to 20 pounds to the total weight of the chair. Trying to move a very heavy gaming chair is a challenge in itself; that’s why you should go for a steel base only if you are prepared to wrestle your chair around. As a result, there are not that many metal base gaming chairs around.
The best base is definitely an aluminum base (and it’s even not that hard to get). Aluminum is the material airplanes are made out of because it’s so light, strong, non-fragile and looks great. All in all, the aluminum base is the best base you can have on your gaming chair.
The last note on graphite bases: this is the elite material that is incredibly good looking and lightweight. However, it does come at a price. Only office chairs that can be used for gaming have a graphite base and those are $1000+. You can check them out in the section of ‘4 Best Ergonomic Office Chairs For Gaming’.