Boulies Master Series review: a premium gaming chair with comfort at its core

If you're on the hunt for the best gaming chair, chances are you've already stumbled upon T3's back catalogue. We've been dutifully testing the best gaming chairs – as well as other accessories like gaming keyboards and gaming headsets – for years now, to bring you honest and accurate advice on what to buy.

Lately, I've taken up the reins of these tests – what can I say, my sitting down skills are unparalleled. I've had the pleasure of testing a host of superb seats from top manufacturers, highlighting the benefits and pitfalls to help you make informed purchasing decisions.

The Boulies Master Series is the latest chair I've gotten hands-on with. The company makes a host of gaming and office chairs, with the Master series sitting at the cheaper end of their of the product range.

Boulies Master Series Review: Price and Release Date

The Boulies Master Series is available to purchase right now. You can pick one up from the Boulies website, where you can view the full range of finish options. The chair comes in either a PU leather or a fabric finish, with a range of colour options from sleek blacks to beautiful blues. The model I have here is the Red PU leather.

The Master Series chairs retail for £339.99 / $389.99 / AU$584.

Boulies Master Series Review: Package and Setup

The Boulies Master Series comes well packaged, with all of the components intelligently arranged for maximum space efficiency. You can be confident that your purchase will arrive in one piece, with any of the smaller or more fragile items boxed inside for safe keeping. The box is around 15% smaller than other chairs, too – worth noting if you need to cart it up multiple flights of stairs, for example.

The chair comes more broken down than others I've reviewed – the under-seat mechanics need to be installed, where others send them pre-installed. It's not the end of the world, in fact it's really only four screws, but it's a bit more of a nuisance. Otherwise, everything here was pretty standard fare.

You'll be supplied with a double-ended hex tool / screwdriver, which is sufficient to complete the build without external tooling. The instructions are minimal, but clear enough to feel confident in what you're doing.

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Boulies Master Series Review: Performance and Features

This was my first experience of PU leather on a gaming chair, and I'm thoroughly impressed. Other faux leathers I've used have ranged from fairly dreadful, to utterly terrible, but Boulies have clearly hit upon a secret formula. It's soft and supple, with just enough graining to feel like a natural product and not something cooked up in a factory.

The red finish is great too – perfectly vibrant without looking unnatural. It's not subdued, but if you're buying a block colour gaming chair, that's probably not your goal. The black, grey and brown options will definitely do a job in a more toned-down  setting, if you need something with a bit more professional range.

It's a brilliantly comfortable chair, too. The seat, with its cold-cure foam filling, is exceptional, and exceeds all expectations. You won't find loads of scope for adjustment – there's only a unidirectional lumbar adjustment, for example. You do get 4D armrests, though, as well as a strap-on head pillow with a rubber backing to help it stay in place.

All-in-all though, I never found it to be uncomfortable. The lumbar support was at just the right height to be effective – a trait which not all chairs are blessed with. In testing, I used it for around two weeks straight, replacing my old faithful Secretlab Evo SoftWeave. It became my daily driver for working, gaming and entertainment. And I never once felt fatigued, which is a huge plus for the Master Series.

Boulies Master Series Review: Verdict

All of this left me with a question: who should buy the Boulies Master Series gaming chair? If you've made it this far, there's a good chance the answer is "you".

The cool colour selection will definitely appeal to many, but there's a really good range for the Master Series thanks to the more traditional colourways. You wouldn't bat an eye seeing that brown PU leather option behind the head of a CEO, for example.

But this chair really excels because of its price point. It's around £100 cheaper than the Secretlab Titan, which has become the yardstick by which other chairs are measured. And ok, it doesn't have the feature set of that chair, but four-way lumbar adjustment and magnetic pillows are hardly necessities. 

If you're looking for a gaming chair that offers superb value, look no further.