I've been reviewing office chairs for nearly a decade, and in all that time, only one gaming chair got a full 5/5 star review – the Secretlab Titan Evo. And now Secretlab seems to have turned its talent in making gaming chairs into the office space. I'm excited.
The $499 Secretlab ATLAS is the company's first play in the traditional workspace. And from the press release and photos, it looks to bridge the gap between high-performance gaming support and more sleek office looks.
Apparently it's four years in the making, and uses a bunch of lovely-sounding materials... all of which sounds great in marketing push. BUt all I want to know is, are they bringing their trusted ergonomic design into the world of paired back, sleek aesthetics. If the ATLAS is anything like the Titan Evo, and looks like its photos in real life, this could be an absolute shoe-in to my list of the best ergonomic office chairs.
New direction for Secretlab?
Secretlab is primarily a gaming chair brand, well-known for producing some of the absolute best gaming seats on the market. Since 2021, their flagship Titan Evo series has been the gold standard for players who want the absolute best ergonomics. I spoke to one of the doctors that helped advise on the making of the chair, and a lot of thought went in to it. And it shows. It's an excellent chair.
As the lines between remote work and home entertainment have blurred, many professionals adopted these gaming chairs for their daily 9-to-5 routines due to their exceptional long-term comfort. So it comes as absolutely no surprise that Secretlab should now cater to those professionals with a chair that sports a more grown up look. They've been selling thousands of the Evo to this audience, so why not give them a range of options?!
And it seems they've approached the ATLAS with the same rigour as the Evo. They've again collaborated with medical professionals to engineer the chair's foundation, working with Dr. Lindsey Migliore, an Esports Medicine Physician and Ergonomics Advisory Board Member.
The findings are the same – sitting in one position for long periods of time is really bad for you, and micro-movements, and chairs that inspire them, are god. The Atlas is purposefully designed to facilitate those movements, allowing users to transition between an upright, focused working position and a relaxed, reclined stance. Unlike standard chairs that force you into a rigid posture, the Atlas encourages the natural adjustments necessary to avoid tension. Now, I haven't had a chance to use the ATLAS yet, but again, if the Titan Evo is anything to go by, I'm confident they've achieved their goals.
Just a new reskin?
Now, I'm inherently skeptical, and part of my can't help but wonder if the Atlas is merely an exercise in marketing and branding. Just copy the base of the Titan Evo and whack on a sleek new skin to appeal to corporate buyers, right?! Well, if the material Secretlab has shared with us is to be believed, the answer is a resounding no. The ATLAS looks like a genuinely new piece of ergonomic engineering.
Aesthetically, the chair abandons the bulky gaming silhouette for a sophisticated profile. It's a little bit smaller, thinner, and lighter than its gaming siter. Available in five colours, including a lush-looking Dune, which is a sandy tone that offers a distinct Scandinavian vibe, it looks like it could blend effortlessly into pro environments. It's available in two distinct materials: Secretlab's signature SoftWeave fabric and premium leatherette.
Starting at a competitive $499 for the standard edition, there's also a luxury option, a $699 Plus edition with an added NanoGen memory foam layer and fully colour-matched hardware.
Under the hood, the differences are more meaningful. The ATLAS eschews the traditional adjustable lumbar dial found on the Titan Evo (and most ergo chairs), using instead a recurve design with a dynamic lumbar system, where springs are moulded directly into the patented cold-cure foam. This is the kind of innovation that makes my job so much fun, and it's helped Secretlab to drastically slim down the backrest of the ATLAS without sacrificing foam volume – music to my ears.
While most high-end office chairs rely on mesh for breathability, Secretlab’s stress testing proved that their cold-cure foam outperforms mesh in evenly distributing weight and preventing pressure points during long shifts.
For the first time in a Secretlab chair, users can adjust the seat depth forward and backward to accommodate varying leg lengths. It also boasts a 120-degree synchronous tilt mechanism, which keeps your feet planted while promoting healthy hip movement – another genuinely interesting feature that I can't wait to test out. Furthermore, the adjustment controls have been completely overhauled into large, intuitive triangular dials with colour-coded locking mechanisms. Secretlab is industry-leading when it comes to user experience, so this seems on trend for them.
