Secretlab has made a name for themselves by building some of the best gaming chairs on the market. The 2020 Omega and Titan managed to impress, with the Cyberpunk 2077 chair still standing as one of my favourite chairs of all time. With 2022 now here, the company has made some updates, and managed to deliver a fantastic offering that improves upon the original design in almost every way.
The new Secretlab TITAN Evo 2022 is a wider, more comfortable chair that takes the classic formula the company has refined over the years and improved where it was needed. Features like the new CloudSwap armrest and a magnetic head pillow show they are listening to the needs of gamers, delivering something that, although expensive, will sit next to your gaming desktop for years to come.
Secretlab’s TITAN Evo 2022 is an evolution of their chair design, but this does come at a cost. Starting at the $499 NEO Hybrid Leatherette and going up from there (CGMagazine tested the SoftWave fabric that costs $519), this is one of the pricier chair options you can buy. While that price tag may seem high for something that on the surface looks like something you can find cheaper by not buying a brand name, it is the quality and features that set Secretlab apart, making it well worth the cost.
I have been using the Cyberpunk 2077 TITAN for a while now, so I was very familiar with how the 2020 design felt. Somehow, Secretlab has topped that, making the new TITAN Evo 2022 a joy to review. For 2022, Secretlab has added a plethora of features to make using the chair comfortable even when stuck at your desk for hours at a time.
“Secretlab’s TITAN Evo 2022 is an evolution of their chair design, but this does come at a cost.”
For 2022, the new TITAN Evo features a built-in lumbar support, similar in a way to what Razer has been doing on its chair range. The new support offers a 4-way adjustment, making it easy to customise the chair to your level of comfort. While a lumbar pillow is a good option, I find this new system light-years ahead of what a simple pillow can support. It also feels much more adjustable compared to Razer and their offerings. Though that could come down to personal taste, I do like adjusting for height as well as depth to find the perfect level of comfort.
As mentioned above, the new CloudSwap armrests, and new head pillow are some of the more exciting features. While magnets are not new to chairs or gaming in general, the way Secretlab has implemented them feels like a major leap forward. They have different armrests on offer to fit your needs, and the simple magnets make changing them a trivial task. Magnets are also what make the new pillow so exciting. Gone are the days when you need to stretch a strap around the chair to get the pillow in the right place, with the new pillow feeling much easier to set and adjust as needed. I will say I found the pillow did like to fall out of place when I flopped down in the chair, but this is a minor gripe to an overall great step in design.
Secretlab is known for its quality, one of the reasons I loved their past offerings so much, and that quality is still felt throughout the TITAN Evo 2022. From the fabric they used, to the way the chair all fit together, there is an attention to detail that many chair brands take for granted. The use of aluminium, cloth, and premium plastics make everything about the chair feel premium, built to last, and overall comfortable.
“Secretlab is known for its quality, one of the reasons I loved their past offerings so much, and that quality is still felt throughout the TITAN Evo 2022.”
Much like past iterations of their chairs, the TITAN Evo 2022 has all the adjustments you can want from a chair. From incline to armrest position to height, if you can think of it, you can probably adjust it to your liking. I would argue there are probably more adjustments than most people need. While I love the concept, the TITAN Evo 2022 offers 165 degrees of incline, I don’t know why that would ever be needed, but it is still a great way to relax after a long day as you wait for your game to download.
If I have any complaints about the TITAN Evo 2022, it would be the price. Granted, this is a luxury chair, and that comes with a luxury price tag, but it is on the upper end of gaming chairs, and many of the accessories or fabric options can easily push the $499 base price well over the $900 range, but with that price comes quality and comfort. While it is expensive, it is built to last, unlike some other options on the market that are not that much cheaper at the end of the day.
Having looked at a fair number of chairs, and enjoyed sitting in even more just around the CGMagazine offices, I have to say the TITAN Evo 2022 is one of the best chairs you can buy for gaming. It takes what was amazing about the past iterations and improves on it where it counts. It may be a hard sell to replace a year-old Secretlab offering, just based on the new features or customization options, but if you are in the market for a new gaming chair, few compare to what Secretlab has on offer.
