Playseat Puma Active Gaming Seat Review

My video gaming activities aren’t really safe. Since the TV is always too far away for games, I end up lying on the floor, standing on an ottoman, or leaning forward while seated on the chaise of the sofa. It’s not entirely due to my nearsightedness; I only like playing games closer to the board. I’m obviously not alone, as Playseat, in partnership with Puma, has launched a gaming chair specially built with this habit in mind. The Playseat Puma Active Gaming Seat, which costs $229, is not the usual wheeled, deskbound seat. It’s a solid, metal-framed chair that looks like an overstuffed folding chair. The Playseat Puma cannot be wheeled across a space, but it can be used to rock back and forth into different, relaxing positions.

Installation Is Needed

If you can fit your shoulder into it, the Puma Active Gaming Seat is simple to bring together. It is made up of four pipe-like parts that clip together and are anodized black steel. As it is placed together, two short crossbars offer extra frame protection, and long, ski-like rubber feet hold the chair upright. Simply align the colored dots on each segment before adding the crossbars and pressing the pieces together. All fits snugly, but you can have to push very hard to get the pieces to line up. Even so, the Puma Active Gaming Seat is easier to put together than the SecretLab Titan and other bolt-and-screw office-style gaming seats.

After assembling the panel, you draw the padded slipcover over it to shape the chair’s body. The slipcover is where you can choose between black and red, based on the type you purchase. Place the cover’s “head” from over frame’s topmost curve, and move the “foot” over the frame’s bottom curve.

Pull the big hook-and-loop tabs over the crossbars and securely lock them, then repeat with the tabs tucked into the cover’s “wings.” Then you attach them to the small support bars around the frame’s feet. Once you’ve lifted, pulled, and fastened all into place, slip the U-shaped, clamp-like cushion over the top bar to form the headrest. The assembly isn’t as difficult as it seems.

Powerful and stable

The chair weights up to 15 pounds when fully assembled and measures 33 inches tall, 22 inches high, and 31 inches deep (at the feet, the seat section is closer to 11 inches wide). When you really want to relax on the sofa, it’s compact and light enough to pick up and carry out of the way.

It will seem risky to build a gaming chair in the style of a hammock by suspending a cloth cover over a metal frame, but once all is in position, the Puma Active Gaming Seat is remarkably durable. The slipcover is constructed with a thick fiber that looks like heavy-duty nylon in the center and vinyl on the ends. The chair served my reasonably wide frame without problem until both of the tabs were fixed over their bars.

The Puma Active Gaming Seat has long, gently curved rubber feet. However, don’t ask it to move back and forth like a rocking chair. The feet are built to allow the chair to rock slightly and relax into one of four separate configurations based on how far forward or backward you lean on it. While you may lean all the way back, tall people can find the chair too small to safely rest their head against the rough headrest. You should even sit over and perch on the front of the throne. Finally, you should sit straight or slightly backward in less drastic positions. These positions are referred to as Cruise, Defense, Attack, and Win modes by Playseat, but they are simply different sitting angles.

Mesh pockets provide plenty of storage for controls and remotes. The back and front of the chair have wide, shallow pockets, while the sides have narrower, deeper pockets. There are no cupholders on the chair, but you can probably fit a bottle or two in the side pockets.

Sitting in the Puma Active Gaming Seat is not like sitting in a standard gaming chair. The seat itself is narrow, almost like a saddle, and sitting on it naturally spreads your legs. This results in a low center of gravity, which keeps the chair stable whether you sit far forward or far back. The design allows for a wide range of leg motion, regardless of how you want to sit.

The Extended Sit

The Playseat Puma Gaming Seat was a more relaxing choice than playing in front of the TV for me. I may sit straight or lean forward for risk of falling over since the saddle-style seat is more comfortable than an ottoman or stool. Although the backrest is small, I found it to be very relaxing as I laid back and let the strong headrest protect the back of my neck without slanting my lower body too far out.

Don’t confuse the Playseat Puma Gaming Seat for a recliner or a sofa. Since the chair is tiny, it does not have the same long-term, soothing comfort as larger furniture. It’s a chair that allows you to wiggle around when playing a game. Although you can lay back and watch TV, the same free range of motion that allows you to jump about while seated in the chair often ensures you have much fewer surface space to settle back into during lengthy watching sessions. I could actually sit in the chair and watch an episode of a TV program, but I wouldn’t like to watch a whole movie that way. That is not the purpose of the seat (hence the “Active” part of its name).

For Gamers Who Can’t Stop Playing

The Playseat Puma Active Gaming Seat is a one-of-a-kind gaming chair that almost completely suits my console gaming preferences. The chair may not have spokes, but it is compact and light enough to get about easily. More specifically, it supports me as I lie, lean, and perch when playing video games. The Playseat Puma Active Gaming Seat is a little pricey, and you can’t exactly sit on it for long stretches of time, but it’s a good idea to consider if your sofa isn’t cutting it when you play games on your TV. The excellent, Editors’ Choice-award-winning SecretLab Titan is a more conventional gaming throne.

Originally posted 2021-11-11 12:56:41.