Since its 2021 launch, the Secretlab Titan Evo has been the best gaming chair around, and for good reason. With supple materials, great looks, and a good price for this quality, it’s difficult to justify buying anything else at this price. Fractal Design Refine, with its “sophisticated” look and comfortable pads, is made for him if he wants to knock the king off the top.
Starting with the first thing you do after purchasing a novel chair, which is putting everything together, this is a very effortless build. The Refine model comes with not only a mini manual, but also a huge poster showing the main steps. You only need a few screws and an Allen wrench, they are all provided for you and mine even had a few spare screws which can be a blessing if you lose one while moving parts.
Comes with the wheelbase, backrest, seat itself and a few extra parts, everything just snaps together and you can screw in the screws. The seat itself comes with a few screws already in the box, which takes some effort to get out, but other than that the process itself is pretty painless.
Since this chair is quite massive, you’ll benefit from having a second person aid you, but I managed to put it all together in less than fifteen minutes. Due to the ease of moving the armrests (we’ll get to that later), I misread some of the instructions and put the armrest on backwards, but the hardest part of fixing it was checking my bruised ego in an office full of people.
Fractal Refinement Specifications
Maximum height recommendation: 6 feet 6 inches
Maximum weight recommendation: 125 kg (275 lb)
Arrange: 125°
Material: Cold cured foam
Armrests: 4D
Color: Light fabric / obscure fabric / obscure mesh / delicate mesh / Alcantara
Launch price: $549 | 475 pounds
Fractal Design Refine is a great looking chair available in a range of black and white muted colors to choose from. Mine came in the standard “Fabric Light” color, which is an muddy, off-white color, while “Mesh Light” is a more breathable, crystal clear shade.
Then there’s “Fabric Dark” and “Mesh Dark,” which are similar to the white options, and the line is finished with Alcantara, which is significantly more high-priced at $899 and is made of Alcantara, a suede-like fabric.
With Refine, Fractal Design has created a gaming chair that is aesthetically much closer to an office chair. There are no stripes, logos or textures typically associated with the gaming aesthetic, as indicated by the more subdued color palette. It is quite a high chair with a very narrow backrest and a brief seat. You don’t sink in like with larger gaming chairs, and the lumbar support helps maintain good posture.
Importantly, the lumbar support can be adjusted very quickly and intuitively. There is a plate on the back of the chair that can be manually moved up and down to adjust the position of your back. You can also turn a knob that pushes the chair further into or away from the chair. Crucially, this means you can adjust it while sitting to find the perfect spot that supports your posture.
Picture 1 With 5
As you’d expect from a good gaming chair, you can adjust the height, tilt tension, and seat depth with a few compact handles on either side. For the most part, they work well and are effortless to pull out, although the seat depth handle seems a bit inconsistent.
Others have specific moments where I can tell the chair has registered a pull, but one is a little mushy. They are located directly to the side of the seat cushion, which means you don’t have to reach under the chair as is the case with many gaming chairs.
The price puts it basically in the same range as the Secretlab Titan Evo and makes for a decent competitor
After assembling and unfolding, the chair is very comfortable and extremely sturdy. The materials are not super supple, but not so difficult that they do not accept your body weight as you fall.
Everything has this stiffness that feels comfortable and makes me feel less guilty about my posture after a long gaming session. The Refine’s backrest is also comfortable, providing enough space between each position to lock in place and recline slightly.
In addition, there are some clever design elements, such as a headrest that can be removed with a button and attached to the back using metal hooks. This not only allows you to change the position of the chair on the chair, but also avoids accidentally moving it out of place.
Picture 1 With 3
This stiffness is one of the better parts of the chair for me, but it is also responsible for my biggest problem. The seat itself has rounded edges molded into the sides, so if you have particularly gigantic thighs (like me) or like to tuck your leg under you when sitting, the cushion will press into you.
Buy if…
✅ You don’t like the aesthetics of most gaming chairs: It’s the least “gaming” chair I’ve used in a while, with a spotless and nice aesthetic.
✅ You like a smaller seat: Both the length and width, the shape of this chair allows you to sit tense, which is quite a clever solution.
✅ You don’t want Secretlab: For its price, it is a good alternative to the best gaming chair you can buy today.
Don’t buy if…
❌ You have bigger legs: If your thighs are a little too massive or you like to sit partially on your leg in a chair, the curves on the side of the cushion will probably dig you in.
❌ You like your armrests a certain way: Despite how solid everything else is, the armrests move back and forth with little pressure, which can be frustrating once you get the hang of them just right.
❌ You don’t like a difficult chair: While comfortable, the cushion is quite firm, which means you can’t completely sink into it like you can with other chairs.
The recommended height and weight of the chair will, of course, give you some warning about this—but using weight to gauge how your legs respond to the pillow is an inexact science.
The armrests are comfortable, although they are simply made of plastic and are quite gigantic, they can be moved back and forth with little effort. By clicking a button on the outside you can slide them up and down and then they snap into place, which is very intuitive, but there is no defined lock for sliding them forward and backward.
I often found myself throwing the armrest out of its best position by carelessly retracting my arms, which meant I never fully relied on them. Which is a shame, because the three-dimensional aspect of the armrests works well and they can be adjusted relatively comfortably to most positions you might need them.
While these flaws definitely give away the premium nature, I appreciate some of the most lovely parts of this chair. The price puts it basically in the same range as the Secretlab Titan Evo and makes it a decent competitor with a nice feel and great look.
Many Fractal Design products have an elegance to them that really comes across in the Refine’s presentation and feel, but given some flaws, it’s hard to choose this model with so many excellent alternatives.
