Noblechairs Icon Gaming Chair Review

I’ve been using a fairly horrible and cheap office chair for such a long time, so I thought it was about time to make the investment and take the small financial hit and I got myself something very decent. And did I find something very decent indeed! After comparing all the possible options I ended up purchasing a Noblechairs Icon Gaming Chair in real leather. I did almost go for a Secretlabs chair but the Noblechairs just seemed a tad bit nicer and there wasn’t much difference in price so rather just go for the ‘proper one’.

Below you can see my poor old (and cheap) office chair, that looks a bit depressing in comparison with the Noblechairs Icon Gaming Chair.

Check out the latest prices and full product description on Amazon
(Both PU and Real Leather Versions):
noblechairs ICON Gaming Chair – Office Chair – Desk Chair (Amazon Link)

Noblechairs Icon – Product Specifications

Practical rocking function
*4D Armrests with maximum adjustability
Adjustable backrest angle (90 to 135 degrees)
Adjustable seat height
Comes with two comfortable cushions
Deform-resistant cold foam
Durable hydraulic gas lift (class 4)
Strong full aluminium ﬁve-point base
60 mm casters for hard and soft ﬂooring
Sturdy core constructed from steel Maximum 150 kg load
Weight ca. 28 kg
Rocking Mechanism Tilt: max. 11°
Backrest Adjustability: 90° to 135°
Manufacturer’s Guarantee: 2 Years

4D Armrests* = Now, they say 4D to sound all snazzy. But as we all (should) know in our day-to-day existence we typically deal with only 3 dimensions. The armrests are easily, with the push of a button, adjusted in 3 directions: Wider/narrower, front/back or up/down. The ‘Fourth intergalactic dimension’ presumably comes from the ability to loosen up the screws from the bottom of the chair so the width setting has an extra adjustability to it – which I suppose is nice as the chair users can be wider or narrower. But I’d call the armrests more accurately “3D+” or “3D+1”. But I guess that’s marketing for you – but one can agree that whatever you call it it makes for a very adjustable pair of armrests!

Dimensions

Total Height (with base): ca. 128 – 138 cm
Seat Pan Height (with base): ca. 48 – 58 cm
Backrest Height: ca. 86 cm
Inner Backrest Width: ca. 29.5 cm
Outer Backrest Width (widest point): ca. 52 cm
Inner Seat Surface Area: ca. 34 cm
Outer Seat Surface Area (widest point): ca. 51.5 cm
Depth Seating Area: ca. 49 cm
Depth Seating Area (without base): ca. 57 cm
Armrest Width: ca. 10 cm Armrest Depth: ca. 24.5 cm

Materials

Steel (frame)
Cold Foam (upholstery)
Top Grain Leather or PU Imitation Leather (cover)
Aluminium (base)
Nylon / Polyurethane (casters)
Polyurethane (armrests)

Colour Options

I bought the black one in real leather, as you can’t really go wrong with black – nor with real leather as long as it’s good quality leather. But the Noblechairs Icon Gaming chair has also a dark blue and a cognac version in the real leather options:

PU Leather options include a very snazzy looking white version, and in addition to the normal black one there are black chairs with either a blue, red, or gold stitching.

You can check out all the Noblechairs Icon colour and material options here! (Amazon Link)

Accessories

One thing I just noticed was; that you can also order plenty of accessories directly from Noblechairs via Amazon. Which is indeed very nice and convenient! Accessories such as: A Noblechairs Pillow Set, New Caster Wheels, and even gas springs of different lenghts! One extra I’ll probably save for is the footrest – making my Noblechairs experience complete (which also comes in real leather and other options!):

Noblechairs Footrest (Amazon Link)

And something that I’ll order myself before the footrest, to look after this expensive chair: A cleaning and care kit. Does it have to be a branded and slightly marked up and expensive care kit? Probably not. But it’s just one of those things you can’t go wrong with, if you use the manufacturer’s recommendations or whatever they produce themselves for such specific purposes. Some cleaning kits might be too harsh or just have some sort of ingredients you’d not want to put on your chair.

Noblechairs Premium Cleaning Kit (Amazon Link)

Right, let’s get back to the chair!

Build Quality & Design

One of the selling points for buying a Noblechairs Icon is the build quality and how everything is designed to perfection. There’s absolutely no doubt about that. Everything is just so well made and designed it’s not just a joy to sit on, but you’ll know that you’ve not wasted your money on nonsense but instead invested in an extremely well-made product.

Just look at it! (Click on images to zoom in!)

The stitching is perfect, the material is just so luxurious, and all of it just seems spot on. I like to moan about most things in life but the Noblechairs Icon I can’t fault in any way.

And as with most luxury brands and products, it does come with it’s own branding so it’s not unclear what chair it is.

The branding is still very tastefully executed and not over the top. Well… Apart from maybe the cushions… They seem a bit like: “Ok ok we get it, it’s Noblechairs alright!”

Essentially what you’re getting with a Noblechairs Icon is a nice car seat on wheels.

Build Quality Comes at a Cost… Oh the Weight!

Just to give a general idea a typical flimsy office chair weighs around 10 kilograms, and less well made gaming and executive chairs around the 18-22kg range. And this little puppy? Around 28 kilograms. Of course this really isn’t an issue but it was still something that took me by utter surprise how heavy a chair can be. First I thought that it was too hard to move around on the carpeted floor, but that was just the feeling I got from the “no effort required” going to “some effort required” in moving around, and am completely used to it after a few days of using the chair. You just should bear in mind that this chair isn’t something you want to bring with you to LAN parties or otherwise temporarily anywhere, rather let it live happily ever after in the room you assembled the chair in.

Comfort

Ok, it’s all well made but… How comfortable is it? At least from my perspective; Pretty damn comfortable! And just to mention I’m 6’4″, and because of the adjustments & design I don’t see why the vast majority wouldn’t find this chair comfortable to sit on.

The Noblechairs Icon is quite firm, but not too hard so it’d be uncomfortable. This means the chair should be comfortable for long periods of time and the chair should hold it’s shape for years to come. I have seen some comments or reviews saying that the chair is too hard, but I’d like to completely disagree with that. You’re not buying a plush sofa, you’re buying a gaming & office chair that is meant to support you properly!

I’ve found myself using the lumbar support all the time, but the chair is nice and comfy without it as well. The neck cushion I’d only use if I wanted to maybe kick my feet up and relax and watch something on the chair, but I don’t feel like I need it most of the times. The “4D” armrests also are comfortable. They are a lot harder than the chair otherwise, but still with a tiny bit of softness to the top of them, and the ability to get them ‘just right’ really helps in being comfortable at your desk and you can get the correct posture easily with these.

There’s been a couple of pretty warm days already this year, and the chair’s not become uncomfortable to sit on, skin-to-leather either. (Sorry for any unwanted images painted in your minds!)

Assembly

Assembling the chair is super easy, so I won’t bore anyone to death with details – but if carefully done alone, it shouldn’t take more than 15-20 minutes to unpack and assemble the chair. It did take me 30 minutes but I was admiring the craftsmanship and taking pictures whilst assembling the chair. So this definitely can be done in less than half an hour even if done very slowly and carefully – as you should. Just take your time and make sure you refer to the instructions no matter how easy they seem, and admire the build quality and design of the chair while assembling the chair.

Essentially all you have to do is screw 4 bolts into the bottom of the chair, insert the base/wheels/gas spring accordingly and then 4 side screws to attach the back to the base and then 2 cover screws to the sides to finish the assembly. Easy peasy. And the nice bit is, that all the screws & washers are nicely packed together in correct order, so you don’t have to fiddle with anything. There is also an extra bolt for both the bottom of the chair and the side cover, so I’d keep this packaging somewhere with the extra parts & tool so you can tighten the screws later easily.

However, I’d like to give a couple of general tips about buying and assembling the chair:

Tip 1: Have this chair delivered to you!

You’ll rue the day you made the decision to go and buy it in person and bring it home unless you have a large van and like a challenge. If you want to go and try one somewhere, sure go for it. But please have the chair delivered home. There is no way any normal sedan or estate will have enough room for the chair while it is in its box. And the sheer size of the box and everything combined being 30 kilograms makes it really awkward to carry especially alone. Doable, but awkward.

Tip 2: When opening the box – Do not use a knife!

(Well, I used a knife, but very carefully so.)

If you open the box the only thing between your chosen box opener and the back of the chair is just one piece of packaging material (pictured below) – so make sure you don’t buy an expensive chair and then straight cut into it! Use caution!

Tip 3: Mind the oiled parts!

While it’s an extremely nice touch and a good thing that the some of the metal bits are accordingly lubricated like the ‘insert-y bits‘ of the caster wheels, you might end up getting some on your hands so just bear that in mind when assembling the chair – so you don’t end up smearing the oil on the beloved leather cover for example.

Tip 4: Mind the moving parts! Well, the one-suddenly-moving-part.

When the instructions say mind your hand when releasing the lever for the back rest – it does snap front with quite a lot of unexpected force. While the distance it travels isn’t that much, you can definitely hurt yourself if you have your hand in the wrong place when you do it.

Do I think you should get one?

As if it wasn’t clear enough from what I’ve written so far, the answer is yes. Yes and yes a hundred times over. If you are looking for a high quality gaming chair then Noblechairs is definitely your go-to make.

The price can be a bit of an issue for people, including myself – BUT you have to look at some things as necessary investments. For someone who spends a lot of time sitting down, it’s as important to have a decent chair as it is to have a decent bed. Especially for someone like me who has to work and will then end up playing games on the same chair – so some days the most of the day might be spent on the chair. So it’s not that you’re just treating yourself with a nice unnecessary purchase, but instead investing in your physical well-being as well.

Real leather or PU?

I personally prefer real leather over any man-made thing – now and probably always as I’m a bit stubborn. Although, you can get very high quality and long-lasting PU imitation leather these days. And if you look at the reviews the PU versions of the chair receive, I’m sure Noblechairs PU leather versions are more than adequate. But while they might look just as good, it won’t have the exact 100% feeling and characteristics you’d get from real leather. I’d buy the real leather version again over the PU, and if I couldn’t afford the real leather version I’d save up a month or two for the ‘better’ version. This chair is fairly expensive no matter if it’s the PU or the real leather version – so I’d just think of it as the investment it is and go for the real deal. (The back of the chair is actually still PU leather to probably keep costs down but real deal where it matters anyways!)

I’m not saying don’t buy the PU version, but I’d highly recommend any real leather product over a man-made leather one. (Sorry animals!)

What about other Noblechairs?

There are a few options at the moment, namely the ICON, EPIC, and HERO. What’s the difference? HERO is the only chair with an adjustable built-in lumbar support. But other than that, probably more so just the looks than anything else. I’m sure with Noblechairs the build quality is the same but it’s more so about which model is more suited to your style. And I chose the Icon because it is just more classier than the other Noblechairs, that are a bit more ‘racing’ and therefore less ‘classy’ in my opinion.

Check out the latest prices and full product description on Amazon
(Both PU and Real Leather Versions):
noblechairs ICON Gaming Chair – Office Chair – Desk Chair (Amazon Link)

PS. Any questions in regards to the Noblechair Icon – Just comment below and I’ll answer as soon as I can!