Hey everyone, I’m writing today to review the GT Omega EVO XL gaming chair. As some of you will know, this is the first ‘gaming chair’ I’ve bought and used in over five years! I have owned a gaming chair in the past whose quality wasn’t the best. I had to replace it rather quickly. Years have passed since then and I’ve decided to give gaming chairs another try! Read on to see what I think about the EVO XL and my unboxing experience.
GT Omega Racing EVO XL Review / Unboxing Video
You can watch video I put together unboxing the EVO XL, which should cover a lot of the points I’m writing about here. If you’re more of an audio-visual person, I recommend watching this!
Needing a Comfortable Chair for Long Gaming Sessions
A lot of you know that I really enjoy racing games and play SIM racers in my spare time. I’ve wanted a chair for ages that is fun for me to race in, but still comfortable enough for me to commentate / host events for many-hour sessions. It is important during longer sessions that my posture is maintained and my back feels great. I did some research and decided I liked the look of the EVO XL, so I got in touch with GT Omega Racing.
I paid retail price for this chair – so you’re getting my honest review from start to finish! They were so confident I would love it that they even offered me a discount code to give my subscribers. This means you can also get 5% off (and end up paying less for your chair than I did for mine!). I am surprised they offered me this before seeing my review, but I guess that’s a good measure of GT Omega Racing’s confidence in their product.
Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, though. I unboxed the chair to find out what it’s like to be a new owner from the beginning.
Unboxing the GT Omega EVO XL Gaming Chair
My first impression was honestly that the box was HUGE! It was clear the chair didn’t come completely disassembled. When I opened the box, there were two main pieces. The back of the chair and the seat of the chair were these components, with the armrests already attached to the seat portion! The lumbar support was also already attached to the seat back. Some gaming / office chairs have these all as separate parts and that alone would have been the first half an hour gone.
I was also very impressed that the base of the chair was metal rather than plastic. The chair is quite heavy, and part of the reason is using sturdier materials wherever possible. GT Omega didn’t pull any punches – so while it’s heavy, it’s also really solid and felt very reliable to me.
Do be mindful though when you open your own. The seat and armrests of the chair was by far the heaviest part. It makes sense to use both hands and make sure you’re in a sensible position when lifting.
Other components in the box were the seat lifting mechanism and oddly, a second set of wheels. I found out shortly later that when you order the lockable caster wheels, you get both sets. Make sure to put the right set that you want on your chair if you’ve added this as an optional extra.
Putting the Gaming Chair Together
I was a little surprised to see only a few screws and allen keys included in a smaller box. My first thought was, “That’s not possible, this chair is WAY more than a few screws worth of material!”. It turns out this was a blessing in disguise.
GT Omega Racing rather helpfully put most of the screws already in place, on the chair itself. As a result, I only needed to put the plastic side protectors on the chair from the loose screws in the box.
I recommend building the GT Omega EVO XL in four steps:
- From the ground up – starting with the wheels into the wheel base, then the lift mechanism into the wheel base.
- Put the seat back onto the seat – keep your balance while doing this, and use the screws aligned. It is worth taking this slowly, as the screw needs to pass through holes in the leather of the seat. Make sure you align these right.
- Add the base unit to the bottom of the chair (where the actual lift / drop mechanism is, and what the wheels & wheel base attach to). You can do this with the chair lying on it’s side.
- Lift the seat and back together and place it on top of the wheels and wheel base. However, remember it’s very heavy! Don’t almost fall over like I did. :p
So that’s great! I went from unopened box to assembled chair in just under 20 minutes, which was much faster than I expected. This was mainly due to so many of the screws already in place on the chair, making it very easy to assemble.
Now that it was put together, it was time to take a look at the features.
GT Omega EVO XL First Impressions
I took a look at the features of the finished chair, starting with the armrests. There are your typical up/down buttons that we have come to expect from any decent chair. However, on the EVO XL there were two additional ways you could adjust the armrests. You could angle the armrests outwards or inwards, as well as move them forwards or backwards.
I’m also used to chairs that recline but have never owned a chair that could go completely flat! It was a very strange feeling but it was also nice to know that if I wanted to have a lie-down or take a break and recline, this chair was way more flexible than anything I’ve used before. Because of the heavy base, you don’t feel off balance when lying flat on the GT Omega EVO XL either.
The headrest is attached via a simple buckle, and you can either unbuckle it or slip it off the back of the chair.
The lumbar support is done in a similar way. However, the buckle is situated behind the back of the cushioning. This means you need to fiddle a bit and get your hands around the cushion. However, despite the complexity you can get this out in about 30 seconds or less.
GT Omega Racing EVO XL Cons / Things to Watch Out For
The first thing I noticed after assembling the chair is how high it is. Even on it’s lowest setting, the GT Omega EVO XL is actually quite a high chair. I used a tape measure to see what the distance is from the bottom of the floor to the top of the seat cushion. That distance was 21 inches or 53cm, which is quite a high minimum height for many normal office chairs.
As long as you make sure your table is at an appropriate height, they should be fine though.
I really enjoy the wings on the side of the chair that help ‘hug’ your body and keep you sitting straight. Especially when playing sim racing games, this is great for me. However, not everyone might like this, depending on what kind of chair back you are used to.
A Quick Word on Gaming Chair / Office Chair Quality…
I confess that when I first bought this chair I was skeptical. It’s not a cheap investment, and I’ve heard companies who make many products claim they use the ‘highest quality materials’ in the past. However, GT Omega Racing seem to deliver on this, or at least they do with the GT Omega EVO XL that I got.
I like the metal rather than plastic chair base, the materials feel not only heavy but very sturdy, and the stitchwork on the synthetic leather had no defects in it at all. I looked all over trying to find anything to complain about, and I honestly could not.
In the past, I have owned a gaming chair that was expensive but really didn’t impress me with its quality. Using this chair for a while now, I feel relieved that the investment was very much worth it. I look forward to playing, hosting and casting gaming and esports events for long periods in this gaming chair!
GT Omega Racing Gaming Chair Voucher / Discount Code!
So that’s it for my review of the GT Omega EVO XL gaming chair. If you would like one, you can receive 5% off any GT Omega Racing chair using the code ‘JOROSAR‘ – and you can end up paying less for your chair than I did for mine! :p
You can buy your GT Omega Racing office / gaming chair at:
US: http://bit.ly/gtomega-us
CA: http://bit.ly/gtomega-ca
UK/EU: http://bit.ly/gtomega-uk-eu
-or-
Use code ‘JOROSAR’ at checkout at http://www.gtomegaracing.com
Happy gaming! :)
