[section_title title=Closer Look]
Closer Look
Now that the chair has been assembled and ready to use, game on and generally wear in, I figured it would be a good idea to show off the general aesthetics, design and overall look of the chair in all its glory. Starting off with one of the most important parts of the SL4000’s structure, the five-star foot base is made from aluminium alloy and feels really rugged; this is essentially what keeps the SL4000 balanced and it does a good job at that! There are also five castor wheels which allow the chair to move, although it’s quite difficult on carpet but that’s the same with most chairs like this.
Moving on up towards the seat base itself, we have some handy tools for making adjustments. This allows users to not only adjust things such as height (maximum height is 460mm with a minimum being 380mm) via the class 4 gas lift mechanism, but also the seats angle is adjustable for those wanting to potentially lean back and relax. To change the angle, the right-hand side of the chair just under behind the arm rests is a lever which when weight is applied (or removed), allows for adjustment. The same applies for changing the height of the chair etc.
The arm rests on the Vertagear SL4000 are also adjustable and can be either mad shorter/taller or moved pointing inwards or outwards. This is, of course, depending on your personal preference, but as they are held in place by a couple of bolts, you could remove them if you really wanted to. I would, however, recommend leaving them where they are as not to lose any parts which you may need in the future; I have a habit of misplacing screws and bolts personally!
Now we have the element which provides comfort to the buttocks, the seat base and as you can see in the specifications (1st page of the review), it’s relatively generous in terms of bum real-estate. With a 150kg weight limit, even those with quite a heavy offset build will be fine using this chair, but for people over 150kg, a chair may need to be ordered from a specialist in XL chairs; the chair is certainly big enough for my frame though and I like how the SL4000 accommodates small or large users.
Also included by Vertagear is a lumbar cushion designed to give support to your…well lumbar region (back). This can be of course removed and used without, but for testing I intend to use it as it isn’t only more ergonomic, but back problems are no joke and any and all methods should be taken to maximise comfort properly, especially for prolonged gaming sessions.
In addition to the lumbar cushion, Vertagear have also included a head rest cushion designed to give support to your neck or head. Personally I tend to remove them as I like to sink more into the chair and my natural poise means I sit with my head as far back on the rest as I can. Although not everyone is like me and will choose to use this and so they should, it’s very comfy and looks brilliant!
Visible just below the head cushion is a couple of vents to allow air to penetrate through to your back; PVC leather and hot weather on bare skin = sweat city and it’s a very intuitive design feature. I would like to note that it would, of course, be better functioning if there was moving air behind the chair and if in a corner, it might not have the desired ventilation effect.
At the rear of the chair, the back is covered in black PVC leather and is rather plain, but then again, who cares about what the back of a chair looks like?! We can, however, see a better look at the vents towards the top end of the chair.
And finally we have the finished article, the fully assembled and gorgeous looking Vertagear SL4000 gaming chair. It is a beautiful thing to look at, but I intend to spend at least a month or so testing, breaking in the materials and testing the robustness of this chair…
