Noblechairs Legend
Gaming chair is a triumph of style and substance
IF YOU EVER DROP by the r/pcmasterrace subreddit, you’ll find plenty of posts with titles like “Noblechairs vs. Secret Lab”, where a newbie asks the companies’ many fans to evangelize for their chair manufacturer of choice. It’s pretty close and, based on our experience, you can’t really go wrong with either brand. But can Noblechairs finally pull away from its competitor with its new Legend model, which promises to take the best features of its other offerings and combine them into one brand new super chair?
Our review model of the Legend is the Black Edition, which is much stealthier than most gaming chairs with its dark matte finish in faux leather material (fabric is also available for around $50 less). Noblechairs sells other colors of the Legend, including the Black/ White/ Red edition which boasts more of a racer aesthetic, but even that is much more subdued than most gaming chairs. Only a silver eye-hole below the headrest breaks the uniform design, which is a style we like and is equally suited to live streaming as it is office Zoom calls. Certainly compared with the racing red Backforce V that we reviewed in the November 2022 issue, the Noblechairs Legend will more readily fit into a home office without standing out.
On a functional level, the Legend is meant to bring together the best features of Noblechairs’ other models, including the eye holes and the sportiness of the Epic, the sleekness of the Icon, and the build quality and lumbar support of the Hero. The result is what Noblechairs calls its “most sophisticated” chair yet, and to be honest, it’s hard to argue with that assertion. As you put the chair together, everything from the wipeclean instruction booklet to the beautiful stitching on the cover and the incredibly sturdy components screams quality. And while it takes longer to construct than most gaming chairs (Noblechairs recommends two people, but I was able to do it myself in about an hour), the resulting chair feels built to last, while offering a plethora of adjustable features for you to customize it to your comfort.
For example, the armrests move around on pretty much every axis imaginable, even twisting outward and inward depending on how you contort your arms. The back will recline to the point where you could feasibly take a midday snooze, and you can then lock it in that position. The chair also rises nice and high, allowing you to tower over your co-workers if you’re in a shared office. There are also a few premium comfort features, such as a ratchetless wheel on the side of the chair which adjusts the lumbar for those who need lower back support. We also liked the positioning of the chair’s base, which stays well out of the way of your feet, even if you tuck them under the chair.
Less successful, for me at least, was the two included cushions that can be used to support your lower back and your head. Yes, they’re soft and they feel premium, but I found they pushed me too far forward in the chair to be comfortable. This could be down to personal preference though, and they would probably adapt to your body shape over time through continued use. And at least they’re included in the box and not optional extras you have to purchase.
It’s not all rainbows and sunshine, however. The two aforementioned cushions use straps to attach to the chair—we prefer Secret Labs’ use of magnets, which looks and feels far more elegant. The warranty is also slightly concerning at only two years, way lower than other (cheaper) chairs like the Backforce, which offers 10 years.
At its price point, the Noblechairs Legend isn’t cheap, nor is it particularly exciting. But it’s clearly designed to fit into as many different environments as possible, it’s luxurious to sit in, and the solid construction feels reassuringly built to last. It sits happily at the top of the premium gaming chair category and will more than satisfy anyone who has the money to buy it.