Secretlab Omega and Throne 2018 review: Just made of better stuff

Note: This article was first published on 25th November 2017 and it has been republished as the products are still relevant.

How’s your chair treating you?

Secretlab probably knows a lot about settling in and getting comfortable. After all, the Singapore-based gaming chair manufacturer has built a booming business off ensuring that you can sit your ass down on one of its chairs and stay rooted for hours.

That said, the company has no intention of slowing down just yet. It recently refreshed its Omega and Throne chairs, with the new models featuring improvements such as better construction, wider armrests, and a memory foam lumbar pillow (more on that later).

While these amount to small, iterative upgrades on the part of the Omega, the Throne 2018 has gotten a much bigger overhaul, and it now hews a lot closer to the design of its bigger sibling. If you own the original Throne, or even the newer Throne V2, 2018’s Throne is looking like a major step up.

And while new models tend to cost more, Secretlab has instead further dropped the price on its 2018 chairs, so they’re effectively better and cheaper. The Omega 2018 now retails at S$469 if you buy it directly from Secretlab’s website, while the Throne will cost you S$399.

If you’re already protesting internally that no chair should cost that much, you’re probably not Secretlab’s target audience. After all, so-called gaming chairs, much like a lot of the products marketed at gamers, can often seem a little puzzling to those who don’t care for that particular aesthetic. I also have no doubt that the IKEA chair that costs a fraction of the price of an Omega or Titan will serve you really well.

My point is that there’s still a sizeable audience for chairs that offer more, or have a particular look, and for these people, Secretlab has proven that it’s up there with the best of them.

That said, I'll dive into the sitting experience offered by the two new Secretlab chairs in the following pages and if the improvements are worthy of an upgrade.

Secretlab Omega 2018

The new Omega feels like a more refined version of its predecessor. The latter was already a great chair, and 2018’s model just builds on that foundation and puts on a few finishing touches.

For starters, the overall shape of the chair has been tweaked to give it a more modern look. The original Omega was decidedly curvaceous, with the backrest wings swooping in boldly as they moved down the chair.

Now, the curves are far more subtle, and if I’m being honest, I wasn’t too sure how I felt about the new look at first. After a while however, I began to appreciate what Secretlab had done with the Omega 2018. For one, the backrest wings are now lower and wider, which is good news if you’re a large person.

Overall, the less aggressive curves made for a more understated look, and it’s a nice move away from the whole race car seat feel toward a more practical focus on just making a good-looking and comfortable chair.

The build of the chair has also been improved. Secretlab says the cold-cure foam now sits more closely to the chair's metal frame, so your weight is more evenly distributed. In addition, the chair is now comprised of a single piece of foam ‒ as opposed to a two-piece design previously ‒ which again helps with support and weight distribution.

Having used the old Omega for close to two years, I can say that the cushioning on the new version feels a lot firmer than before. My first impression of the former was how it was noticeably softer than the competition, and while that wasn’t exactly a bad thing, the new chair does feel like it’s going to do a better job at cradling your posterior (your Crucible teammates may not be able to carry you, but the chair can!).

All the features on the 2015 Omega also make their way over, and there’s the familiar four-directional armrests and multi-tilt mechanism for finer-grained adjustments. The tilt mechanism works as it did before, and you can rock back in the chair and lock it in place by pushing down on the lever on the left.

Note that this isn’t the same as pushing back the backrest, which lets you recline up to 165 degrees. The chair won’t lay completely flat, but if you’re in the habit of sleeping in it instead of your perfectly good bed, you can still probably do that anyway.

That said, I should point out that it’s the tilt mechanism that shows that the Omega is really built for taller and heavier folks. Midget that I am, I couldn’t get the chair to rock back, whereas I was able to do this for the Throne.  

In addition, the armrests are slightly wider than before, and feature thicker and softer padding. And while the original armrests were flat with distinct edges, they’re now more rounded, with a slight concave down the middle.

The hydraulic piston has also been adjusted to cater to a wider range of heights ‒ Secretlab recommends a height of 160 to 180cm ‒ than before.

And finally, for my favorite part of the chair ‒ the memory foam lumbar pillow. I’ve saved the best for the last, and the new pillow really does make quite a tangible difference in terms of comfort. The memory foam is oh-so-plush, while still providing ample pushback and support the way memory foam does. The cover can also be removed and washed, which is super useful. 

I’ve long since discarded the lumbar pillow on my first Omega because I found it more comfortable to go without it, but there’s no way I’m getting rid of this memory foam pillow. It fills the natural gap that exists between your lower back and the backrest perfectly, and goes a long way toward relieving strain and tension. The chair also comes with a neck pillow, but it feels like you have to be pretty tall to take the most advantage of it.

Is there anything not to like about the chair? As with all chairs that use PU leather, it does get hot sitting in it, so you’ll probably have to sit with a fan pointed at you given our humid climate. Some of my friends have also very concernedly pointed out that food might drop into the gap between the seat base and the wings at the side (yes, really). Personally, I don’t find this too much of an issue, but I suppose it would be nice to see that gap removed so that everyone can snack in peace.  

All things considered, the Omega 2018 is a strong upgrade to Secretlab’s line-up. It’s luxurious and business-like, so it’ll be a good fit for both home and office, especially if you spring for that delectable new Ash colorway.

Secretlab Throne 2018

The Throne has always been Secretlab’s mainstream offering, but it may be even more significant than the Omega. This was the chair that the company first launched with, and it’s in a way emblematic of the progress Secretlab has made since then.

Originally a fairly barebones offering, the Throne 2018 now shares more things in common with the flagship Omega than it does with its predecessors. That’s impressive, and the new Throne has gotten to the point where you won’t feel like you’re missing out on too much despite only going for the so-called entry-level option.

Compared to the Omega, the Throne 2018 has undergone a much more drastic overhaul, and gone are the two cutouts in the headrest. I really like this change, as it just means more cushioning and no chance of leaning into the hard plastic cutouts, which could get uncomfortable.

The racing-style bucket seat has been revamped as well, and Secretlab did away with the aggressive stripes running down the backrest in favor of more tasteful solid-colored panels.

This means the Throne now looks a lot more similar to the Omega, but it will continue to be available in brighter and more visually striking colors, including Spectre White, Flash Red, and a new Rush Purple. Still, if you want to use this in an office setting, it’s going to look a lot less ostentatious than the Throne V2.

More importantly, it now features a thicker layer of cold-cure foam, and follows the Omega in using a single piece of foam for better support. Of course, the padding isn’t quite as luxurious as on the flagship model, but for a smaller built person like myself, it’s more than sufficient and is still a nice upgrade from the Throne V2.

The Throne 2018 is really intended for more petite people, with a slightly shallower and narrower seat width than the Omega. Furthermore, while I was unable to use my weight alone to rock back on the Omega, I’m able to do that quite easily on the Throne.

However, the Throne doesn’t feature the multi-tilt mechanism of the Omega, so while you can still rock back in it, there’s no way to lock it in place. Instead, you can only lock or unlock the tilting feature via the height adjustment lever (pushing it in locks the mechanism).

Nevertheless, I haven’t yet found myself missing the ability to lock the tilt angle, although you may feel differently.

It also shares other upgrades with the Omega, including the wider armrests, their less abrasive coating, and a hydraulic piston that accommodates a wider range of heights.

One thing to note is that the Throne can actually be reclined further back than the Omega, even though that may not seem the case on paper, where Secretlab is only specifying a 155-degree angle at maximum. That’s partly because allowances had to be made for the multi-tilt mechanism of the Omega, which will allow you to lean beyond what the backrest allows on its own.

As a result, the Throne will technically let you lay back further without having to fuss with the rocking mechanism, which may or may not be a boon for you, depending on how you use your chair.

Finally, Secretlab has included a memory foam lumbar pillow here as well, but it’s a smaller version of the pillow on the Omega, coming in at roughly two-thirds the height of the Omega's pillow. It’s still comfortable and an upgrade over its predecessor, but the smaller size means it doesn’t feel as good. 

After all, the pillow on the Omega is taller and reaches further up your back, so it feels like it does a better job at providing support overall. I suppose Secretlab had to take steps to differentiate further between the two products, but it’d have been nice to see a similar-sized pillow on the Throne.

The memory foam pillows will supposedly be available to buy as standalone products on Secretlab’s store in the future, so you could technically just get one to go with your Throne. However, I’m not sure this makes much sense – if you’re going to pay a few tens for an upgraded pillow, you must as well pony up the rest of the S$70 price difference and get the Omega right away.

You don’t have to be a gamer to enjoy these chairs

While Secretlab is ostensibly a company focused on gamers, you don’t have to be a gamer to appreciate its chairs. The term "gaming chair" is also something of a misnomer. It's an umbrella term for racing-style computer chairs, but lest you think that Secretlab is claiming they offer something specific to gamers, they're not.

It's true that gaming types tend to gravitate toward the look of these chairs, but what the company is really offering is top-notch quality and comfort. Gamers do spend inordinate amounts of time in front of their PCs, but so do office workers and students. The latter group is also well-suited to take advantage of the improved level of support and thick cushioning on Secretlab's chairs, even if they've never touched Overwatch in their life. 

After all, the chairs are exceedingly well-built, and everything down to the stitching feels impeccable. Both the Omega and Throne just exude quality, and Secretlab has definitely made huge strides since the first Throne launched in 2015.

Of course, you could argue that there are many good chairs that don’t cost this much. To that, I say that it’s important to remember that this is pretty much par for the course in this product category. There’s no doubt that there’s demand for a more premium sitting experience, as facetious as that sounds, and it can make quite a difference if you’re going to be spending long hours in front of a computer. Your run-of-the-mill office chair will hold you up, but it won't do it quite as well.

Secretlab has also made an effort to price its products more affordably, and I really like that its 2018 chairs are now both better and cheaper. At S$469 and S$399 for the Omega and Throne respectively, they’re pricey, but not exorbitantly so.

And for this level of comfort, quality, and design polish, the price seems well worth it.

The number of options for local customers has grown a lot since 2015. Today, you can take your pick from established brands such as DXRacer and AKRacing, and lesser known names like noblechairs and Tesoro. Competition is always good for consumers, but for Secretlab itself, it looks more than capable of holding its own against everyone else.

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