Secretlab Titan Evo 2022 Series review

Premium gaming chairs cost, but they're worth it because they’re comfy as hell, and that’s no different for the Secretlab Titan Evo 2022 Series.

This chair is stylish, sturdy, comfortable and is highly customizable. Unfortunately, it costs a wild $519. It’s tough to blow half a grand on a chair, but if this is where you spend a third of the day, you want to make sure you’re comfortable. Treat your back while you're young — listen to those age old words of your pop-pop.

Despite its egregious price, the Secretlab Titan Evo 2022 Series is among the best gaming chairs I’ve tested this year.

Secretlab Titan Evo 2022 Series price and configuration options

I tested the Secretlab Titan Evo 2022 Series gaming chair with a Regular size, NEO Hybrid Leatherette upholstery, and the basic Stealth design. That adds up to $519 at the time of writing. If you’re unfamiliar with Secretlab, here’s how these chairs work.

Secretlabs revamped its chair lineup, doing away with the confusing names and consolidating the sizes into one chair, the Titan. So you get three sizes: Small (Height: < 5’6; Weight: < 200 pounds), Regular (Height: 5’7 to 6’2; Weight: < 220 pounds) and XL (Height: 5’11 to 6’9; Weight: 175 to 395 pounds).

The “NEO Hybrid Leatherette” denotes what kind of upholstery the chair is made of. There are two additional options: SoftWeave Plus Fabric ($539) or Napa Leather ($999). Our model is made from an artificial leather whereas the fabric is literally fabric and Napa leather is the real deal.

As far as color options go, we have the standard Stealth edition, which is plain black with the rare red and gold accents. There are dozens of color options, including special editions that feature motifs revolving around Batman, League of Legends, Game of Thrones, and more.

At the time of writing, Secretlab is holding a Spring sale, cutting down the price on a number of its chairs — so now would be the best time to buy, if you’re interested.

The Secretlab Titan Evo 2022 Series comes with a three-year warranty that can be extended to five years if you share a picture of your Secret lab chair.

Secretlab Titan Evo 2022 Series design

The Secretlab Titan Evo is wrapped in a hybrid leatherette upholstery coated with deep black and gold colors and red accents along the trim. It’s simple but elegant, especially if you don’t want to spend more coin on an already expensive seat.

There’s a giant “T” symbol stamped on the center of the chair. And on the headrest you’ll find the Secretlab logo. These same logos are also featured on the back of the chair, but the Titan logo is actually spelled out there.

The included neck-support pillow magnetically snaps on the top part of the chair (super cool), while the lumbar-support is built into the seat. There’s a knob on the right side of the chair (while sitting down) that you can use to increase or decrease support, and a knob on the left side that’ll raise or lower the height support. Unfortunately, the knobs are in an awkward enough position that it makes it occasionally difficult to adjust.

Secretlab outfitted the Titan Evo with full-metal 4D armrests. Four-dimensional armrests let you lift them up or down (3 inches), tilt them side to side (0.8 inches), move them forward and back (1.4 inches), and shift them toward and away from you. The levers on the outside control the height of the armrests, the button on the inside controls horizontal movement, and the button on the armrest itself controls vertical movement and tilt. Regarding the design, the armrests are black and feature a neatly-engraved Secretlab logo on each armrest. Additionally, they are magnetic and completely removable, which makes it easy to get a replacement — armrests are usually the first thing to go in a chair.

Under the seat, the Secretlab chair features a class 4 heavy-duty KGS gas piston, which is fancy-chair speak for: it can steadily move up and down (lever located on the right-hand side). Meanwhile, the multi-tilt mechanism underneath the chair allows the chair to… well, tilt (lever located on the left-hand side). You can adjust the tilt tension with the knob underneath the chair as well as the backrest recline with a lever on the right-hand side of the seat.

The chair has a five-star ADC#12 aluminum wheelbase accompanied by XL PU Caster wheels, which moved smoothly across my office despite the thick carpet. It didn’t glide, but I had no problems getting from one side of the room to the other.

Secretlab Titan Evo 2022 Series comfort

Underneath the hybrid leatherette upholstery is what Secretlab calls Cold Cure Foam, a patent-pending foam manufacturing mix and procedure. That’s a fancy way of saying Secretlab has proprietary comfort, and just like previous years, it’s still comfy as hell.

Unfortunately, Secretlab doesn’t dive into the details about how exactly the leatherette is made. But it claims that its new generation of leatherette is 12 times more durable than regular PU leather. Apparently, it feels like real leather, but I’m not a fan of lounging in a dead creature’s skin, so I don’t really care for the comparison and I’d rather not even know.

The backrest is 33.5 inches tall and 21 inches wide, while the seat base is 18.5 inches wide (22 inches including sides) and 19.3 inches deep. The backrest curves outward slightly, as if it’s about to give me a hug.

The seat is relatively flat but curves gently upward at the ends. If you’re a gremlin like me, this seat is wide enough to sit cross-legged in. The Titan's seat itself is firm but relatively soft.

Secretlab calls the lumbar support built into the chair 4-way L-Adapt. It’s a patent-pending lumbar support system that moves up and down and in and out. It features a proprietary lattice of hinges that flexes to fit your spine. I found it a bit difficult to find the best position, and I’m still currently fiddling with it, because unfortunately it’s not very obvious how high or low the support is.

Meanwhile, the magnetic memory foam head pillow is infused with a cooling gel that’s comfortable and soothing every time I lay my head or neck on it. However, the pillow can get low enough to where it detaches from the headrest.

The base armrests are made from PU padding, which is firm and comfortable. However, you can upgrade to the Technogel armrests for an additional $90, which are infused with the same proprietary German-made memory gel used in hospitals and industrial applications.

I was pretty satisfied with the tilt tension which allowed me to lean back with very little effort.

Secretlab Titan Evo 2022 Series assembly

Unlike most instruction manuals, Secretlab goes big, literally. When I opened the box, there was a giant sheet of paper the size of the box detailing the assembly instructions. I didn’t even have to use my glasses to read it. It took like 20 minutes to assemble, and required one person to build it, but it’s very helpful to have two people.

The beginning was simple. First, I attached the 5 casters to the wheelbase and then inserted the hydraulics piston with its sleeve over the base. The next step was attaching the backrest to the brackets on the seat base, which required me to simply screw in four M8 screws. Then I slotted in the magnetic side covers, unscrewed the safety tab, and laid the chair upside down. All that was left was to screw in the tilt mechanism, line up the lever handles, then finally insert the assembled wheelbase into the tilt mechanism.

It was a much easier experience than some past chairs. What becomes difficult with some chairs is how the screws line up with the predetermined holes — sometimes you just get screwed.

Bottom line

If you don’t have half a grand to blow, don’t buy the Secretlab Titan Evo 2022 Series — there are cheaper alternatives that are just fine. But if you have disposable income and want to comfort that sweet spine of yours that keeps you stable throughout the day, then you might want to consider the Titan. It’s comfortable, sturdy, and all-around pleasant to park your booty in.

Looking for something more affordable? Check out the Boulies Master Series Computer Chair, which costs $339.

Overall, the Secretlab Titan Evo 2022 Series is an excellent gaming chair for the butt and spine.