In our career as gamers, we have witnessed a huge number of products and devices characterized by the more or less valid “gaming” appellation. But we had never gotten our hands on a gaming chair like the one offered by Playseat and Puma. The Active Gaming Seat is a truly unique chair of its kind and is designed to offer the best comfort mainly to console players with a particular style and design. In this review, let’s find out everything there is to know about the Playseat and Puma Active Gaming Seat and how we found it.
Our review of the Active Gaming Seat gaming chair
This curious one Active Gaming Seat is designed to adapt to the body of gamers and offer the freedom of movement that traditional gaming chairs often do not guarantee. The particular design offers an ideal sitting position that guarantees back support in any position you decide to assume. To do this, use one solid foundation MotionForce for a firm grip on the floor and a breathable and resistant material for the seat and back.
But let’s proceed in order.
Design
As anticipated, the Active Gaming Seat by Playseat and Puma is characterized by a original and futuristic design. More than a chair, it is closer to an “armchair” of reduced size and weight. We are talking about 40 x 46 x 60 cm for about 7kg in weight. This makes it extremely versatile and easy to move. Unlike a traditional gaming chair, we do not have the classic base with wheels but a solid metal base with rubber feet, front and back, which guarantee an excellent grip on the floor.
The whole structure is in metal and can be assembled in a few minutes without using any tools but thanks to a simple and effective interlocking system. the fabric part is simply placed on top and stuck in several points of the chair. “Fabric” is very reductive, we are in fact in the presence of a ActiFit High-Tech material developed by PUMA which in addition to guaranteeing great strength, offer considerable breathability and a excellent spine support. The whole is completed by a highly appreciated removable headrest.
The soft part does not have an important padding but thanks to the way it was designed, it remains constantly in tension like a “hammock” without ever giving up. This, in addition to offering support, is particularly comfortable for the back. Added to this is the possibility of rocking back and forth thanks to the curve that characterizes the front rubber feet for a really pleasant rocking chair effect. Four practices close the whole thing storage pockets (two lateral, one front and one rear) to have more agile access to the controllers, the remote control or maybe some snacks, essential for longer sessions.
Our test of the Active Gaming Seat gaming chair
We had the Active Gaming Seat by Playseat and Puma tested for about two months during which it was the protagonist of our extraordinary (…) gaming skills on consoles. We anticipate that initially, there was no shortage of doubts about this bizarre product. Doubts about the practicality and usefulness of a chair of this type accompanied us from the first vision of the product until its arrival at home but already the first contact with the product made us change our minds.
Let’s start right away by saying that the ease of assembly is really excellent. In a few minutes we were able to assemble the metal skeleton without any type of tool and in a few seconds, the seat was ready. At first glance, the chair did not seem comfortable at all but after a few minutes, we began to understand which was the best seat for our height. Whoever is writing this review has managed to find stability in this little chair despite his 180cm in height and 80kg in weight, which tells us a lot about its versatility.
We have played many games on this chair and it has witnessed many videogame reviews written on our portal. Regardless of the time of use, the Playseat and Puma Active Gaming Seat proved to be up to our backs and the first “troubles”, given more by the lack of knowledge of the product than by the products themselves, passed in a few minutes.
A separate discussion should be made on the phantoms “mode” with which it is possible to approach this chair.
The “modes” of the Active Gaming Seat
This gaming chair offers full freedom of movement during games and allows you to choose the position that best suits your style of play, the action at the moment or your personal sense of comfort. The company reports four main “modes” which you can see in the photo above and which are respectively:
- Cruise Mode: characterized by a certain relaxation and the possibility of swinging with the help of the legs. Perfect mode for relaxed gaming or during cinematics
- Defense Mode: when the situation gets more serious and you need better stability, always given by the legs. Since the latter are in constant tension, it is designed to be used briefly, perhaps during a particularly difficult boss fight
- Attack Mode: as the name suggests, the position to take when the going gets serious. In this position there is no rocking and the back remains in an upright position (recommend) for better concentration
- Win Mode: all the weight is loaded forward, the back of the chair rises and your attention is at its maximum. This position is also to be used for short periods
Obviously these methods serve more to show you which positions you are able to take and whether or not to approach them depends exclusively on you. Personally, we juggled exclusively between Cruise Mode and Attack Mode, no in between. Either very relaxed or super sayan.
Who is it meant for? Pros and cons
At this point in the review of the Active Gaming Seat it is necessary to ask yourself, Who is this gaming chair designed for?? do we really need it?
The target audience is obviously that of console gamers who maybe don’t have much space for a sofa or an armchair to play on or often host co-op games so as to offer a professional seat to teammates.
Keep in mind your size though… (height and weight eh!). Although, on paper, the chair is suitable for any body type, if you exceed the meter and 70 – 80 you may experience some inconvenience. The main one, which we have also noticed, concerns the headrest, far too low compared to us (remember, 180cm tall) which made us assume unnatural positions to support the neck.
Some modalities and movements that the chair is able to do will be more than superfluous and most of the time you will simply want to sit still. Personally, we also found the storage pockets superfluous, some really too small to hold anything bigger than a remote control, but this was our personal choice.
Playseat and PUMA’s Active Gaming Seat review in a nutshell
Despite our initial misgivings, the Active Gaming Seat by Playseat and Puma has pleasantly impressed us. There is no shortage of defects and its effectiveness depends on many factors such as your height, the space available or the height of your TV but overall it is a truly cutting-edge product.
Materials of construction and design are matched only by its ease of assembly and convenience and could be the quick and painless solution to the needs of a specific group of console gamers. All of this to price around €200. Really not bad when compared to the figures required by traditional gaming chairs.
As anticipated, no gaming chair ever seen so far compares to the Active Gaming Seat by Playseat and Puma e your game and your back could benefit enormously.