The Secretlab Atlas is a new generation of office chair designed for work and rest
Could this be the chair to put Secretlab firmly on the office map?
Secretlab’s new chair is designed for the office rather than the games room, but it still maintains a similar feel. Introducing the Atlas, the first office chair produced by the biggest name in gaming chairs.
The Titan Evo has consistently been the best gaming chair on the market since its launch back in 2022. Rather than seek to top that performance, the Singaporean company has spent the last four years developing a different kind of chair.
Most office chairs use a mesh design and are designed ergonomically for a focused working posture. The Atlas is different in almost every way. It uses Secretlab’s experience in the gaming market to create a chair that can switch between a focused position and a relaxed one, to better serve your spine and your productivity.
The evolution of sitting still
Modern thinking realises that workers don’t want to be continuously in a focused position for the entire day, and doing so is not good for them. Movement is necessary to avoid tension and injury. This chair gives you the option to relax into a more casual stance for contemplation and reflection, or just taking a break.
“If you sit still for so long, it keeps your muscles in this kind of chronic low-level tension, which is really, really bad for you because our bodies are dynamic,” says Dr Lindsey Migliore, Esports Medicine Physician and Ergonomics Advisory Board Member.
“Our bodies are resilient. They will respond to whatever you tell it to do, and if you tell it to not move all day, that's how your tissues remodel. And so, we kind of realised that in order for ergonomics to be effective, you have to inject movement.”
Stress testing differences between a mesh chair and Secretlab's cold-cure foam shows a more even distribution.
Foam over mesh
While mesh provides airflow, Secretlab’s patented cold-cure foam provides superior support over longer periods, spreading your weight evenly through the chair without pressure points. This means the chair can be used for longer periods of time comfortably. There’s a reason so many home workers have chosen a gaming chair for their home office.
“Discomfort over time always goes up, no matter what material you're using, just by virtue of sitting down, but what we found is that foam is much less than mesh,” says Alaric Choo, co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer for Secretlab. “We were we were we were really quite considering mesh at one point, but when we did all of the tests, we couldn't come to a reason as to why we would use it when foam was vastly outperforming the mesh.”
With Secretlab DNA
The Atlas looks every part the Secretlab chair, but is significantly smaller, thinner and lighter than the Titan Evo or Titan Evo Lite. It comes in two sizes, a regular and a large. Two versions, a standard and a plus, which adds a NanoGen memory foam layer. Two materials, a softweave and a leatherette, and five colours, including a new Dune version, which is a sandy tone with a Scandinavian design aesthetic. There will also be skin covers available.
While the standard editions are mostly two-tone, blending the main colour with a black base, arms and adjustments, the plus version is finished in a single colour. This means that the arms, base and adjustment levers are all colour-matched to the chair.
The thickness of the chair back is notably thinner than on other Secretlab chairs, however, a similar amount of foam has been used. This has been achieved by removing the adjustable lumbar support and instead embedding the springs into the foam, with a recurve design.
“One thing that you'll notice is there's no adjustable lumbar. It's a dynamic lumbar with springs, and we've also moulded the springs into the foam itself, so that's also saved a lot of thickness,” says Vincent Sin, Head of Industrial Design for Secretlab.
The back of the chair is all new, with a striking curved design that feels like something out of a high-end electric car. The silhouette of the chair is completely unique from the gaming models, but is equally impressive.
Designed for all sizes
For the first time on a SecretLab chair, there is a seat depth adjustment on this model, allowing you to move the seat forward and backwards. This has been added to help adjust for all heights by minimising the distance between the edge of the chair and your leg.
“The seat depth was a very important function to have in terms of adjustability of the chair, and the reason for that is the leg length, varies a lot more than say the lumbar, says Alaric Choo. “This will allow you to cater to a larger variety of people just by including the the seat pad.”
The chair also drops to a lower height than the gaming models and reclines by 120 degrees. This provides a synchronous tilt with the backrest moving at a different rate to the set to keep your feet planted and promotes hip movement. While this isn’t as far as the Titan Evo, it is more than you would expect on an office chair, and allows you to properly kick back and relax. One nice feature here is that the tilt doesn’t spring back when released; it also requires a press back from your body to unlock it, so it can return slowly.
There’s a full height back support, to allow you to fully recover and the magnetic memory foam pillow is still included here, but has been redesigned for a slimmer profile. “We realised that a lot of the task chairs were actually developed for the office with a mid-back, says Sin. “So it was really tailored for focus mode only. And then when you went into relax mode, you don't get a lot of that support, so you don't you can't recover as well.”
Dr Lindsey Migliore explains to Mat Gallagher how to maintain the best posture at the desk.
More adjustments
The adjustment controls have been completely redesigned for the Atlas. Large triangular dials on each side provide dual functions. On the left a twist allows a forward and backward adjustment of the seat depth, while the extended flap locks and unlocks the chair’s tilt. On the right, a twist controls the chair’s height while the inner dial controls the resistance of the tilt.
Uniquely, these controls are clearly labelled with Locked and Unlocked and colour-coded with red and green backgrounds for the tilt, while on the other side, the resistance is marked with red bars, making it really easy to see what setting you are on.
The armrests are moulded but are still removable if required. These still offer height adjustment, forward and backwards movement, as well as rotation.
I had the chance to try this chair ahead of its release in the Secretlab office and was really impressed with how it feels. While lighter and thinner than the Titan, it still feels extremely comfortable and suited for longer days in the seat. Equally, the smaller profile and lighter weight make it more suited for an office or home office environment than a full-size gaming chair.
The Secretlab Atlas is priced from US$499 / €499 / £399 / SGD$599 for the standard edition. The Plus edition starts from US$699 / €699 / £599 / SGD$849. Both models are on sale now on the Secretlab website.
