My quest for the perfect me-sized office chair began at the end of November. After nine months of teaching music lessons online, sitting at my piano bench, my back muscles said that enough is enough. It was time to look for an office chair with proper back support.
I was in the market for something a little different - a work and play chair. A gaming chair. I began as many do in this age, with a shout out on Facebook for chair recommendations. A few friends chimed in but very quickly, I realized that they were recommending chairs that worked for them, not for a petite person who stands under 5 feet tall. Their favourite chairs would land me in the same boat that I was in when I worked in the non-profit and corporate sectors. More on that later.
One friend suggested I take a look at the Omega by Secret Labs. A quick visit to their website brought me to their handy size calculator. After inputting my height and weight, the Omega did indeed come up as a good fit for me.
The Omega model is recommended for short and petite people.
Clicking on the detailed chair specifications for the Omega and the other models, I began to understand what I needed to look for in a “short person chair.” My list of search criteria began to form.
The Chair Search Begins
I then conducted the following searches:
“Best office chairs for short people”
“Best gaming chairs for short people”
“Best chairs for online teaching”
“Best gaming chairs for people under 5 feet”
There were several articles and lists. I zoomed in on two: “Small Gaming Chairs for Short People and Kids” on Chairsfx.com and “Best Gaming Chairs for Short People” on Ergonomic Trends.com.
After reading both articles, I reflected upon the chairs used in my previous careers. Back and shoulder aches and tension were constant, since I was unable to touch the floor without sitting on the edge of the seat. The armrests had to be removed to prevent repetitive strain injuries caused by them boxing my arms in. At the office furniture manufacturing company I used to work at, they installed a height adjustable keyboard table and I typed standing up. I honestly can’t recall if we raised my computer monitor to reduce neck strain. That was nearly 20 years ago, after all.
What I was Looking for in an Office/Gaming Chair
It became clear that I needed to zoom in on seat height (from chair base to floor), width, and depth for my size. The armrests needed to be close enough to my body to be effective, rather than pin my arms in, causing injury. The backrest couldn’t be too long, or else the lumbar and neck support would not be in the correct position for my height. Thus, my search criteria for a gaming chair became:
Height range from seat base to floor: as close to 15.6” or 39.62 cm as possible
Seat width: 15 - 17”
Seat depth: 20” or less
Backrest height: 30” or shorter
Movable lumbar support
Movable neck support
Reclining
Adjustable armrests
Multi-function tilt
Swivel
Good warranty: 2 years or more
Available in or ships to Canada
Under $500 CAD (but ideally around $400)
I measured my kitchen chairs to help ascertain my ideal chair dimensions and created a spreadsheet for easy comparisons. I began by studying the chairs listed on Ergonomic Trends and Chairs FX before exploring other gaming chairs.
Initially, I was looking at gaming chairs with flip up armrests, to get them out of the way for piano playing. However, the ones I found looked cheaply made or didn’t fit into my ideal chair range. It was around that time I realized that I needed to look at gaming chairs $400 CAD and above to get a really good one.
Coming up with a Short List
After pouring over chair specifications and reviews for over six hours, I came up with my short list:
A look at my side-by-side comparison spreadsheet
I was really curious about the Hbada Gaming Chair, with its footrest. However, the warranty was significantly less than the competition. As well, they didn’t ship to Canada at the time of ordering. That left me with my Top 3: the AKRacing California, Secret Labs Omega and Maxnomic Casual Sport:
My Top 3 Picks for Short and Petite People. Source: Chairfx.com
When you see the Top 3 side-by-side and look at the ideal chair height for my stature, there really was only one choice: the AKRacing California.
Unfortunately, the chair wasn’t available locally at the time of ordering. I did find it listed on Amazon, Newegg, Wal-mart and AKRacing. I ordered the last chair available on Newegg at the time. Free shipping - what a deal!
I wasn’t expecting my chair to arrive for two weeks but a mere 10 days later, it was sitting on my doorstep. Check out my unboxing and assembly video below. It also includes some of my first impressions:
Chair Review Forthcoming
Suffice it to say that my back, neck and shoulders have been quite happy with the AKRacing California. My students think my “grape chair” is pretty cool. I will do a formal review in another month. I think two or three months should be sufficient for a break in period. Hopefully, the tilt mechanism will have loosened a bit by then as well. Stay tuned!
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