Over the last decade or so we’ve seen a large influx of gaming chairs. I can’t recall which company introduced the concept but in recent years a lot of newcomers entered the market as entrepreneurs realized there’s a big market for gaming chairs.

Computer gaming is a hot growth market and a lot of gamers want to pay premium prices for products that provide a custom touch to their gaming space. A week ago, research firm GfK released a report that revealed desktop gaming PCs, as well as PC gaming accessory sales, are growing at impressive mid-double digit rates.

These days nobody wants a beige box under or on his/her desk, so computer enthusiasts and gamers spend a lot of money on fancy cases and case modding products. Gaming chairs are a product that fits well with this audience, every desktop PC gamer needs a chair so the target market for companies that can convince gamers to spend a bit more on a chair is massive.

The subject of this review is the Champion gaming chair from Ewin Racing. It’s one of the lesser known gaming chair brands but the company behind Ewin Racing is not a newcomer in the chair market. The firm’s website explains the Ewin Racing was founded in 2016 and that the company has a long history as a manufacturer of car seats and OEM office chairs.

The exact EwinRacing gaming chair model I’m testing today is the Champion CP-BC3A, a black chair with some blue highlights. Ewin Racing offers the Champion series in three variants in Europe; CPA, CPB and CPC. All three versions are almost identical, the only difference is the design of the fabric of the seat and the backrest. Besides the three different designs, you can also choose between a couple of color options including black/white, black/red, and black/blue. The company’s US webshop, on the other hand, offers four different seat designs as well as a lot more color combinations.

At the moment of this review, Ewin Racing is selling the chair for 259EUR ($279) but with the coupon code “DVH” you can get an extra 15% off!

Ewin Racing’s Champion is the largest review product ever in the DV Hardware office. It ships in a very large cardboard box that weighs over 20kg. The tiles in the photo above measure 600mm x 600mm so that gives you some perspective about how large the box is. When you take it inside you have to lug around a heavy weight that is hard to handle due to the bulky size of the box. I think some cut-out handles would help to make handling the box less of a nuisance. It’s thick cardboard and everything inside is well-packed to prevent shipping damage.

As with most office chairs, you need to assemble the product yourself. It’s a pretty easy process and you can probably do it in 10-15 minutes tops. In the past, I would have shot a lot of photos of the unboxing and assembly process but to celebrate the 15th anniversary of DV Hardware we’re introducing video reviews. Check out our clip below, the first part includes the unboxing and the chair’s assembly.

Specifications:

• Chair Type: Gaming/Office Chair
• Foam Type:High Density Seperated Foaming
• Foam Density: 55kg/m3
• Frame Color: Black
• Frame Construction: Metal
• Adjustable Armrests: 4D
• Mechanism Type: Multi-functional Tilt
• Tilt Lock: Yes
• Tilt Angle Lock: Yes
• Gas Lift Class: 4
• Chair/Seat Back Style: High-back
• Adjustable Back Angle: 85-155 Degrees
• Base Type: 5-star Wide Aluminum Base
• Caster Size & Material: 2″ Caster/PU

The chair weighs about 20.4kg and has a high back rest. My initial impression of the Champion chair is very good, its heavy weight indicates Ewin Racing didn’t skimp on materials and when you take your first seat you’ll notice this chair uses very firm, high-density foam. I’ve worn out several office chairs in my life but none of them felt as qualitative as the Champion. Most of the mass-market office chairs that cost just half (or perhaps even a quarter) as much as the Champion have a much lower build quality. When you deconstruct a typical office chair you’ll typically see they consist of flakeboard or plywood panels with a couple of layers of low-density foam pads.

A gaming chair like the Champion is very different, this chair features a 16mm steel tube frame with a thickness of 1.5mm and has molded memory foam with a density of 55kg/m³.

The Ewin Racing gaming chairs have a race chair like look and feel. The top of the chair as well as the two removable cushions feature Ewin branding. One gripe I have about the cushions is that the head cushion is very small. It provides some support for the back of your neck but it’s too small to be really useful.

The lumbar pillow is a lot larger and uses very firm foam. The position of the cushion is adjustable or you can also remove it entirely.

Gaming chairs like the Champion offer a high degree of customization. Typical office chairs let you adjust the chair height and the better variants let you tilt backward. The Champion has all of those features and more. It has a recline lever that lets you adjust the backrest’s angle from 88 to 155 degrees. When you need a moment to relax, or when you want to watch the latest Game of Thrones, you can just pull the lever and relax. Furthermore, the Champion also includes 4D adjustable armrests. More about those later.

The next photo shows the quality finish of the back. It also shows the release buckles of the two pillows.

The chair is cladded with 1.2mm PU leather, this is a cheaper fabric than real leather and it has a nice uniform looking finish. There are some gaming chairs from other vendors that use real leather but those are a lot more expensive. The fabric is one of the more vulnerable parts of a chair, as soon as there’s a big rip it’s embarrassing to continue to use it even if the rest of the chair is still perfectly OK. As I’ve only been using this chair for three weeks I can’t comment on the long-term durability, at the moment it still looks as good as new.

The chair is supported by a sturdy five-star aluminium base.

The base has five heavy-duty 2″ caster wheels made from polyurethane, they roll very smoothly.

The next photo shows the two levers that are found on the right side of the chair. The big one lets you adjust the height of the seat while the smaller lever lets you operate the back recliner. The tilt tension can be adjusted via a big knob at the bottom of the seat and the big lever also lets you lock the chair in the neutral position. One small gripe I have about the chair’s height adjustment is that it doesn’t go low enough. My height is 175cm and I feel the minimum height will probably be a bit too high for people that are a lot smaller than me.

The 4D adjustable armrests are the key selling point of the Champion series versus Ewin Racing’s cheaper Calling series. One thing that surprised me is that they’re made from high-elasticity PU. On photos it looks like the top of the armrest is made of hard plastic but it’s actually a firm yet soft to touch surface.Cheaper chairs usually fix the armrests to the seat and the backrest. This gaming chair on the other hand mounts the armrests to the bottom of the seat via an 8mm thick steel plate. The armrests are adjustable in four dimensions, on the photo below you can see the lever that’s used to adjust the height of the arm rests.

You can rotate the armrests one step clockwise and one step counterclockwise. This is the feature I found the least useful about this chair, I never feel the need to rotate the armrests and I think this feature makes the armrests feel less qualitative as they don’t fully lock into place. The armrests always rock a bit back and forth when you grab them.

The final two features of the armrests involve sliding. You can move them forward and you can also move them closer together. Sliding to the front and back is done by pushing and holding the small circular knob. The rectangle knob works in a similar way, you press and hold it to slightly adjust the horizontal position of the armrests.

Conclusion
After using the Ewin Racing Champion gaming chair for a couple of weeks I’m very impressed. This product is a nice step up in quality versus traditional office chairs and offers a wide range of seat and armrest adjustments. Its overall build quality is good and the chair offers high-density memory foam that remains quite firm and comfortable. Whether you’re planning to use it for gaming, office work, or watching movies at night, this chair will not disappoint.

Don’t forget to use the coupon code “DVH” to get an extra 15% off when you order a gaming chair from Ewin Racing. Our coupon code lowers the price of the Champions series to 220EUR ($237) and you also get free shipping. At this price level, I feel the Ewin Racing Champion is a very compelling contender if you’re in the market for a new chair.

The Good Stuff

• Great look & feel
• Lots of customization options
• Excellent price/performance ratio
• Available in various designs and colorsThe Bad Stuff
• 4D armrests feel a bit too wobbly
• Too high for small people
• Head pillow is too smallDV Hardware gives the Ewin Racing Champion gaming chair a 9/10 and our Editor’s Choice Award.
  For a more detailed overview of the chair, check out our video review.
• NOTE: This is a review post from Dvhardware.