In the beginning, there were gaming consoles, after which home PCs dominated until personal computers (PCs) became prevalent in the gaming field as well. The rapidly growing gaming industry has inevitably attracted the attention of a number of companies. We have seen many such companies evolve over the years; many blossom while others lose their focus and eventually fade away. The truth of the matter is that the competition in these IT-specific market segments is huge – companies that are not good enough inevitably face extinction.
There are several original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) – companies that actually have manufacturing capabilities and sell their products to other companies without production lines. Many OEMs have also entered the retail market somewhere along the way. Such entries can result in equivocal relationships that blur the boundaries between product designers, manufacturers, and vendors. However, such a turn does at times result in exceptional products. E-Win used to be an OEM. After years of manufacturing office chairs, it entered the gaming chair market with a great variety of gaming/office chairs for mostly the mainstream.
There are four lines: the Champion, Calling, Hero, and Flash series with its Normal and XL subcategories. Each of these includes at least six differing choices. Today, we have in our lab a gray-colored chair from the Flash Normal series (FLNB). This chair is equipped with a basic ergonomic feature set, and E-Win says it to offer comfort and safety over even longer periods of use. The steel frame and high-density, cold-molded memory foam can also hold a weight of up to 150 kg.
The aluminum five-star base, fair price, and E-Win’s years of experience in manufacturing chairs look promising. We will as per usual for our reviews make a point of thoroughly examining every aspect of this chair in order to properly convey its pros and cons. Click here to know more from video review.
Packaging
Almost all the packages we receive lately have had it rough, which had them arrive damaged. As a result, we sometimes find damaged contents inside. Surprisingly, E-Win’s package arrived intact. While doing some online research on their official website, we discovered a page dedicated to their packaging, in which the whole process is illustrated with pictures, and each of these is followed by a short explanation in text.
The package is big and heavy; it takes at least two people to lug around safely.
E-Win’s logo is all around the package. There’s only a single hint of what’s inside, though.
Contents
All contents are well-protected, wrapped in plastic membrane.
The bundle includes the following:
• Chair’s backrest
• Chair’s aluminum base with both armrests pre-installed
• Hydraulic system cover/dust-cover shroud
• Neck- and lumbar-support pillows pre-installed
• Butterfly tilt/metal base frame, height adjustment mechanism
• Grade class 4 gas lift
• Soft-glide casters (5x)
• M8 Allen keys (2x)
• Side covers (2x)
• Mounting screws (3x)
• Screw covers (for the screws of the seat’s back-mount covers) (2x)
• User’s manual
• Pair of cotton gloves, size large
The grade class 4 gas lift is self-contained and inside a carton box. The caster wheels, Allen keys, mounting screws, side covers, screw covers, and cotton gloves are also inside a carton box. While a small detail, the inclusion of a pair of protective gloves was greatly appreciated since there have been times in the past were small accidents as we assembled everything have taken place.
However, a number of negatives caught our attention as well. The plastic material of the side and screw covers is not of the finest quality, and the dust cover is one of the thinnest we have ever seen.
Table of Acronyms
The following table goes over the material acronyms you will come across while searching for a gaming or office chair. Not only does this table go over what each acronym stands for, but the material traits of each entry are also detailed.
| Material – Acronyms | Advantages | Disadvantages |
|---|---|---|
| Natural Leather is divided into different categories: Full-Grain, Top-Grain, Bonded Leather, and Split Leather |
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| Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) Leather |
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| Polyurethane (PU) Leather |
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Assembly
The armrests and two cushions come pre-installed, which makes assembling this chair pretty straightforward and quick. However, the backrest was fairly heavy, and we aren’t that tall. Considering that we had to lift it in order to align it with the metal brackets on the seat’s base, an additional person was required. The caster wheels also took someone with stronger hands than mine.
Assembly starts with the installation of the caster wheels to the five-star base. We had to press the studs into the base firmly. The hydraulics also need to be put into the aluminum base before the dust-cover shroud is attached. We then unscrewed the four pre-mounted hex bolts at the bottom of the seat with the large hex key in order to place the butterfly tilt tray; mind the arrow that points towards the front. Next, the sitting area is attached to the chair’s hydraulics system.
With the backrest in place, we unscrewed the four hex bolts on each side with the small hex key that is included in the bundle. The backrest needs to be aligned with the seat’s metal brackets before the plastic side covers and two remaining screws are attached to the backrest. Also don’t forget to put the two screw covers over the plastic covers’ screws.
There are also two cuts among the holes for the hex bolts, on each side of the backrest. These cuts are definitely intentional, but we found no information on these anywhere. All together, we had to unscrew and screw in eight hex bolts.
Initial Impression
We rummaged through the company’s website before taking a closer look at their chair. E-Win’s website looks well built and includes information about the entire creation process and how everything is packaged. Most of the used components are said to be of high quality, and E-Win is not afraid to show them. There is also a video that goes over the main differences that set E-Win’s chairs apart from those by other manufacturers.
At first, we were certain that the chair had arrived intact. Yet, we were unfortunately wrong, and as we glanced at the rear of the backrest, we made out two indentations that are most likely due to how the five-star base’s package had been positioning on top, which puts E-Win’s packaging concept at fault. Also, like with some other chairs we have evaluated in the past, there was that intense odor of the PU upholstery. Thankfully, it disappeared after a couple of hours.
Once the chair is assembled, it looks impressive overall. The Flash chair is definitely large enough to nicely welcome even heavy-boned gamers.
The PU upholstery feels smooth and soft and has a fine stitching to it, yet we did find some folded upholstery at the rear of the backrest. The gray and black color combination definitely is not the one we would have picked from E-Win’s plethora of available option, but the one that was to our liking was unfortunately out of stock, which had us settle for a compromise. The color of a chair is clearly subjective, and in the end, it is of small importance considering what matters the most; ergonomics, comfort, build quality, and, of course, price.
The cushioning of the seat immediately caught our eye. We were impressed by its volume. Once we took a seat, we found it to be spacious, and we were happy that the foam filing not only looked rich, but felt really comfy as well. The backrest is wide and feels sturdy. The side flaps point outward, and the backrest’s upper part hence also does not lead to any restrictions in terms of body type.
The armrests are padded and seem to be spongier than the ones we have come across thus far. The aluminum five-star base seems to be well-fabricated, and we thus assume that it will last for a while even if you put this chair through the ringer by using it for the better part of a day on a regular basis. Our first look shows that the Flash Normal chair is one of the most comfortable chairs we have tried out so far!
Am Overview of The Flash Chair Series
The Flash series is divided into two main categories: the Flash Normal and XL chairs. The two main differences between these two categories are the dimensions and color combinations. The Normal category consists of two sub-categories: the FLNB and FLNC with a total of six different color combinations. The XL category includes four sub-categories and has a total of eleven different color combinations.
A Closer Look
The backrest of our Flash chair is 55 cm (27.1 “) wide and 87 cm (34.3 “) long. Once you lay back on the backrest, how wide it is becomes apparent. You have the sense that it embraces your upper body without confiding you. It feels comfortable enough due its elastic bands and how thick the foam is (60 kg/m3). As such, even a person of 150 kg (330 lb) will not feel uncomfortable.
The backrest bears a heavy metal frame and is filled with cold-molded, high-density memory foam to make sure this chair is still comfortable after even hours of prolonged use. Additionally, the backrest is equipped with four elastic bands.
There is E-Win’s embroidered logo on the headrest with its white stitching, and once the neck-support pillow is attached, we find the same embroidered logo on it as well. We even found two small engraved logos on the rear of the backrest, at the bottom of each opening.
We also found a triangle in the middle of the backrest that starts in the lower section and goes up halfway. Two stripes that resemble horns appear on the sides of the backrest, and two more triangles appear underneath the openings for where the neck pillow’s strap is attached. The last two triangles are above the openings for these strap attachments.
The backrest’s reclining angle ranges from 85-155 degrees and is adjusted via a lever situated on the right side of the seat.
Due to the fact that the neck- and lumbar-support pillows are pre-attached, the backrest and seat’s base are folded, which creates something like a hump in the package. There were, as such, indentations on the rear of the backrest the five-star base had made, and they stuck around, after even weeks had gone by.
The armrests are 4D, padded, mushy, and covered in PU. They move to the front, back, left, and right with the use of three buttons. In other words, the armrests can be adjusted vertically and in a clockwise or counterclockwise rotation.
The Seat Base & Adjustments
The seat’s base has a depth of 57 cm (22.4 “) and is 54 cm (21.3 “) wide.
The chair’s height ranges from 24-32 cm (9.4-12.6 “) and can be adjusted with a lever on the right side of the chair, under the seat. There are English and Spanish instructions on the lever. The chair’s overall height from the ground up including the base is 119 cm (46.85 “), which is considered to be really high and, as such, great for tall people. While we usually find this lever to be awkwardly placed, this one is positioned well. A knob with which to adjust the tilt’s tension is also under the seat. The PU upholstery is matte, soft and 0.12 cm (0.047 “) thick, but has no open cells. The seat looks rather fluffy and is the second gaming chair with as much density foam we have reviewed. Due to the thickness of the cold memory foam, we found the seat’s base to be really comfortable.
A heavy steel frame out of metal guarantees that individuals of up to 150 kg (330 lb) have nothing to fear. The cushioning of the Flash chair is made out of a single piece of cold-molded memory foam. Like the backrest, the seat’s base is equipped with three individual elastic bands. The elastic webbing supports the foam and ensures comfort.
The edges on both sides of the seat are less pronounced towards the front, and users will, as such, not feel confined to the seat. Things are different towards the back of the seat, though. Here, the edges are fairly tall in order to keep your bottom attached to the seat, and the backrest makes sure your body posture is right. We did think that these raised edges would create a problem when it came to reaching for the levers on the right side of the chair, but such was not the case.
We couldn’t find a logo on the seat’s base, other than the one on the lumbar-support pillow. We found two very discreetly placed engraved logos on each side of the seat’s plastic bits, however. There is the gray cord that runs alongside the seat’s base and the flaps. A gray triangle also starts at the front and almost goes halfway up the seat.
We did find a flaw on one of the seat’s sides, though. There’s a dent on the right side that is most likely due to a fault with the factory’s assembly procedure.
Another flaw with our sample was that the right armrest can be raised a little higher (by about a centimeter) than the left one. This is not a major problem, though, since you are still able to adjust these to where both are level.
Hydraulics, Five-Star Base & The Caster Wheels
A class four metal gas lift of 12 cm (4.72 “) in height is responsible for all height adjustments, and it can hold a body weight of up to 150 kg (330 lb).
The aluminum five-star base has a matte powder-coated finish and is sturdy enough to support such a weight.
The 7.62 cm (3″) caster wheels are made out of polyurethane (PU). They are steady and roll along nicely on both a laminated floor and light-medium carpet. Thick, tall carpets will have almost all gaming and office chairs struggle. These caster wheels also aren’t noisy, and they remained quiet after even several weeks of use.
This is a review post from Techpowerup.