Secretlab Atlas review: an office chair with gaming credentials

The Atlas is a first for Secretlab. While it looks similar to its existing line of gaming chairs, this smaller and lighter model is designed for the office – perhaps more specifically, the home office. It’s a chair for those who don’t want the bulk of a gaming chair, but still want something they can sit comfortably in all day.

Back in 2020, as people around the world moved to working from home, sales of gaming chairs went through the roof. Compared to your standard home office chair, gaming chairs offer a more comfortable option, especially when sitting for long periods. After all, they are designed for gamers who could be spending upwards of 12 hours in the chair.

Secretlab has produced some of the best gaming chairs on the market, with its flagship Titan Evo setting the bar for all others. More recently, it offered a new Titan Evo NanoGen edition, featuring new materials for the chair, including soft leatherette and cold-cure foam, for a more comfortable, premium finish that rivalled even the Nappa leather version of the chair.

The downside of gaming chairs is that they tend to be larger and bulkier than your typical office chair. This can make them tough for home use, where users have little spare space. The larger form and often louder colours also often don’t fit with a home office aesthetic. Even for those who might consider a larger leather chair.

This isn’t the first time Secretlab has produced an office chair, though. Back in 2023, it launched the NeueChair, a subbrand of Secretlab that looked much like a regular office chair, complete with mesh upholstery and a high neck support. Though it was very premium, it felt very different from a Secretlab chair.

With the Atlas, Secretlab has taken a very different approach. First of all, this is a true Secretlab product; it carries the Secretlab branding on the back of the chair, the arms and the head pillow. And despite its smaller build, it still looks like a Secretlab chair.

Ahead of the Atlas's launch, I visited Secretlab's headquarters and heard the thinking behind this new office chair. Even the most ergonomic office chairs are designed only to be sat in one position – working – but not everyone works the same way. And what about when you’re thinking, taking a few minutes’ break, or are on a video call?

The Atlas is designed for work but also for rest, so you can sit back and relax, or get comfy while you have to watch the screen. All things that a gaming chair is really good at. It uses a version of its patented cold-cure foam or its premium Nanofoam, with either a softweave fabric or a hybrid leatherette to cover it.

The chair is slimmer and lighter than a Titan Evo, and has a simplified lumbar support, though it does gain a new seat depth adjustment, so that you can properly adjust your position on the chair. In fact, all of the seat controls have been redesigned to make them cleaner and easier to access.

So does the Atlas deliver a new world in terms of office chairs, or task chairs as it’s also called? I’ve been using the chair now for just over a week in place of my regular office chair, and this is what I’ve found.

Price and availability

The Secretlab Atlas comes in two main versions, two finishes and a choice of five colours. The standard model starts from £399 / $499 / €499 (around A$750), this comes in classic black hybrid leatherette, Moon (black and white) hybrid leatherette, cookies and cream (grey and black) SoftWeave, black SoftWeave or Dune SoftWeave (black and cream).

The premium version is denoted with a plus after the name and uses NanoFoam combined with the SoftWeave or the full NanoGen leatherette and foam. This model starts from £599 / $699 / €699 (around A$1130) and comes in Black+ SoftWeave, Dune+ (all-cream) SoftWeave, Pure White+ Nanogen or Pure Black+ Nanogen.

The premium, or plus models are all a single colour, including legs, wheels and adjustment controls, while the standard edition all feature black legs, wheels and adjustment controls.

Setup and installation

The Atlas comes in a relatively large box but still needs some construction before it’s ready to use. The process is simple, though, and can be done by one person in around 20 minutes to half an hour.

There’s a large printed instruction sheet that covers the eight steps, as well as a booklet that repeats the steps and provides usage instructions. There’s even a video tutorial if you get stuck, or prefer to follow along that way.

The tools you need are all in the box, and most sections either just slot together or are held in place using one of the 12 screws supplied. The final step of attaching the magnetic neck pillow is pretty satisfying and means you’re ready to go.

Adjustments

Once you have the chair built and in position, it’s important to set the chair up to your body shape. As an ergonomic office chair, it’s important to ensure that the chair is at the right height for your legs, to keep them at right angles, keeping your feet firmly planted on the ground. That’s why this chair is set 4cm lower than other models.

If you’re coming from a gaming chair, you may find the chair a little low for that reason. At a touch under six feet tall, I needed the chair at full height.

For the first time on a Secretlab chair, there is a seat depth adjustment. This allows you to move the seat plate forward and backwards, helping accommodate either longer or shorter legs. According to the guide, there should only be a small gap of around 5 cm (2 inches) between the edge of the seat and the back of your knee.

For the tilting element of the chair, which is best engaged when relaxing, there are four levels of force adjustment. These are selected by turning the dial in the centre of the adjustment handle on the right and have a powerbar-like display so you can see what setting you have it on.

The manual advises the settings correspond to different weights, with the level one setting being for those under 60kg (132lbs) and the level four setting being for those over 80kg (176lbs). Here again, I needed the maximum setting to get the right level of resistance.

As you lean the chair back, the seat plate also tilts a smaller amount – at a 2:1 ratio – to reduce the strain on your back. The back can also be set by flipping the lever on the left into the locked position while fully upright for working or at four different tilt positions.

The recline on the Atlas is up to 120 degrees, which is less than the Titan Evo, which offers up to 165 degrees for an almost lie-flat feel. However, it’s more than enough for those just wanting to sit back from the screen.

There’s no adjustable lumbar support on the Atlas. Instead, springs have been built into the foam to create a hybrid system and the re-curve S-shape design offering increased support.

There is still adjustment of the armrests, in height, forwards and backwards, and rotationally. The only movement they lack is to move sidewards. They also don’t have the lock button for forward/back and rotation, so the the arms move freely, which can be a little annoying.

There are two sizes of the Atlas chair to correspond to different heights and weights. The regular chair is designed for those under 5’10” (178cm) and less than 100kg (220lbs), while the large chair is for those 5’10” to 6’5” tall (178-195cm) and under 120kg (265lbs).

I was using the large model for the test, though I have tried both sizes and both felt comfortable for me. I do suspect anyone much taller and heavier may not get on as well, as I had both the force resistance and chair height at their maximum (due to a tall home desk). I feel even the regular-sized Titan Evo is more accommodating for larger users, plus there’s an extra-large version if you require it.

Design and look

Overall the Atlas still looks like a Secretlab chair, only less bulky. The design is actually curvier than the Titan Evo, with the back of the chair following an S-curve. It’s noticeably thinner and even the side supports look more sculpted than other models.

The result is gentler, softer and more design-led. It’s something that looks much more suited to an office environment. While the Titan is by no means loud, unless you go for one of the special edition finishes, the Atlas is more reserved, even down to the colour-matched logo on the front and back of the chair.

The models that really stand out to me are the Dune editions, particularly the Dune+, which is all one colour. It’s a sandy cream colour that is completely unique to the Atlas. It’s far less stark than the white leatherette we’ve seen on the Titan NanoGen (and remains an option on the Atlas), and has an almost Scandinavian feel – it actually reminds me of the inside of the new Volvo EX90.

All of the premium or plus models have a nicer look, thanks to the colour-matched features. I suspect the Black3 with the SoftWeave material will be the most popular model. This looks great in both the standard and premium editions, the difference being the use of the NanoFoam in the premium model. The Pure Black NanoGen model is also likely to be a winner, with black NanoGen Hybrid Leatherette on the premium version or a Neo Hybrid Leatherette on the standard edition.

Credit has to go to the Secretlab team though for the design of the seat controls on the Atlas. Though I was a little unsure about having a twist movement for the height rather than the traditional lever, the way they have combined all functions into two controls is impressive. The left control twists to adjust the seat depth and the lever flicks up and down to lock or unlock the tilt, with the words unlocked in green and locked in red for clarity.

On the right, the control twists for the height and the centre dial turns to adjust the tilt force, between one and four, with a status bar showing your current setting. It’s certainly the clearest set of controls I’ve seen on any chair, and I hope it’s something they bring to the rest of the range in future.

Overall comfort

The biggest selling point of the Atlas compared to a mesh office chair is comfort. I have always recommended gaming chairs to those looking for a home office chair because they are far more comfortable. Working from home, particularly in summer, can mean sitting in shorts, which is not something you want to do on a mesh chair. Gaming chairs are designed to maintain comfort over long periods, which makes them better for work too.

The thinner design of the Atlas still manages to offer that gaming chair comfort. I was testing the Dune+ model with NanoFoam, and it’s actually a lot more comfortable than my old Secretlab Titan SoftWeave chair I bought back in 2020 – the newer models use the same cold-cure foam as the Atlas.

Though you don’t get the huge recline of the Titan, the tilt here is more than enough for relaxing between meetings, or for some after-work gameplay. With the chair locked upright, into task mode, it feels really supportive on your back, and I didn’t miss the adjustable lumbar support at all.

Should I buy the Secretlab Atlas?

With the Atlas, Secretlab aimed to take their gaming chair formula and put it into an office friendly product. That has been an absolute success here, as this chair feels every bit the Secretlab product while looking suited to a home office with a smaller frame.

It’s a modern interpretation of the Secretlab design that feels more lifestyle living space than gaming cave. Perhaps a sign of the times, when gamers reach middle age and need a grown-up space to work and play. The Atlas doesn’t look like a gaming product, yet still provides that level of comfort.

While the standard model is still a comfortable option, I would recommend going for one of the premium options to take advantage of the NanoFoam, particularly for the white and Dune models.

So is this the ultimate chair for those hybrid or remote workers? The ones that previously might have opted for a gaming chair over your standard Staples ergonomic option. I would definitely recommend the Atlas to those people, but I would also still also suggest looking at the Titan Evo.

With the Titan Evo Lite no longer on sale, the standard Atlas chair is now Secretlab’s cheapest option. However, the Titan Evo SoftWeave is cheaper than the premium Atlas model, and arguably offers better value. Even the NanoGen Titan is only £70/$100 more than the Atlas equivalent.

For adjustment and comfort, the Titan is still the ultimate chair. However, for a home office where you don’t want the bulk of a big office chair, the Secretlab Atlas is the perfect choice.