Enlarge /. The Herman Miller x Logitech Embody chair.
Sam Machkovech
Recently, our coverage of the work-from-home universe was expanded to include "gaming" chairs. This is because, despite their branding, they aren't that much different from your average office chairs – and in a year when remote working is becoming more common, they are sometimes an affordable home office option.
But what about the reverse idea of a traditional office chair company bringing a gaming chair to market? That's the idea behind Herman Miller's latest line of Logitech chairs that we noticed when the company contacted a rental chair. Herman Miller's decade-long $ 1,000 chairs have never featured a Gaming branded product, while Logitech, better known for peripherals like keyboards, mice, and headsets, has never made its own chairs. We were excited to see what the mashup would produce.
The quick answer is simple enough: it is an existing Herman Miller chair model with a mild aesthetic optimization. And while it's as solid as you'd expect from a $ 1,499 home office chair, the game-specific branding doesn't quite fit together.
Unboxing and (missing) assembly
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This box is 40 cm tall. The reason: The chair is fully assembled and is inside with a few pieces of support cardboard.
Sam Machkovech
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Flip open one more flap and the chair is there, propped up and ready to be removed.
Sam Machkovech
The best thing about the Herman Miller x Logitech Embody chair is the unboxing experience – if your home can do it.
While reviewing a pair of player chairs in October, my colleague Jim Salter received each chair as disassembled pieces, and his initial setup included two different versions of the unpacking and assembly process. Conversely, HM ships the Embody in a larger-than-average, 40-inch box, and the unpacking process is extremely simple: Open the box, pull off a single cardboard holder and roll out the already assembled chair.
Should your ideal office or play environment be within easy reach of your preferred outside door, you'll need to drag the chair (38 "tall, 26" wide in its most shrunken state) inside. However, if you need to move the chair through narrow doors or stairs, or want to ship it in a smaller box in the future, be warned that there is no official way to neatly disassemble and reassemble the Embody. Herman Miller only offers Embody buyers a "recycling" dismantling manual, which may require various torx bits and a hammer to tear apart.
Adaptation for office use
Oddly enough, the model I received included a "welcome" brochure printed on fancy paper, but that brochure did not contain any instructions on how to adjust the chair to my liking. Since this chair has some unique levers and a triple grid of support points on the back, I decided to search the internet for an installation guide. When I received the chair in October, I could only find a non-Logitech manual online for the older Embody model, although Herman Miller has since uploaded a Logitech manual.
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Logitech Release Guide. No indication of how the "correct" setting should be.
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Standard edition manual. Exactly the same functionality – and clarification of the correct fit.
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Logitech Release Guide. No indication of how the "correct" setting should be.
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Standard edition manual. Exactly the same functionality – and clarification of the correct fit.
Unsurprisingly, these manuals are nearly identical and refer to the same seven customization points. Where the Logitech manual differs is the lack of recommendations. The regular Embody manual will point out ideal or correct tweaks and consider things like when your feet are touching the floor or how your shoulders shouldn't rise when elbows touch the armrests. Logitech version manual does not work.
Everything that has proven itself on the Embody applies to the Logitech model. The adjustable seat depth, in particular, is a godsend for adjustment, ensuring that taller and taller users can enjoy as much leverage under the thigh as they want. I easily found an ideal incline adjustment, meaning that when I lean back I can enjoy a smooth, comfortable curve with increasing resistance.
Most of my early tests on the Embody revolved around working on Ars items at my desk, and this was the more convenient way to use the chair. His arm props the fan forward so that he sits upright while typing with his elbows resting, and his back support rotates around a "flat or curved" dial. The latter essentially works as a lumbar adjustment, but less as a pad to sink that part of your lower back into an active support, and more as an active support designed to encourage even posture while actively using a computer.
Dispute with game use
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Take a closer look at the back of the chair. The "G" has been Logitech's publicly available logo for a while now, and while I'm not a fan of it, it's at least inconspicuous as part of this black-on-black fabric design.
Sam Machkovech
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The back of the embodiment. This plastic back tension system is usually made of white or black plastic to match pure white or all black Embody models. However, this version of the Logitech brand is getting an exclusive blue-green version.
Sam Machkovech
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Closer enlargement of the restraint system.
Sam Machkovech
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Zoom in a little deeper. The left lever adjusts the preferred slope depth. The lever for the right backrest adjusts the curvature of the chair's backrest.
Sam Machkovech
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Pull this hand-sized lever to pull or push the thigh support to the desired size. With the blue buttons on the armrests you can adjust their height and width.
Sam Machkovech
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Bikes.
Sam Machkovech
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Raise or lower your chair with this switch.
Sam Machkovech
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Build-up of hair and dust after a month. This means: the material adheres to the fabric in an easy-to-clean manner.
Sam Machkovech
After focusing on playing on the Herman Miller x Logitech Embody chair, I ran into personal usability issues.
My biggest problem is the armrests, which allow the right hand to be guided either to a keyboard or to a very mild mouse. When I play on the pc at my desk, my right hand is attached to a mouse, but the specific shape of the armrest of the body is sloped and weighted so that it doesn't support my elbow as I step over the mic. Movements with my mouse. I'm surprised that the Logitech version of the Embody doesn't allow users to change the angle of the armrest to better aid the rotation of an arm toward a mouse pad.
Worse, the armrests' clear focus on using the mouse and keyboard upright, which is wonderful for average daytime computer tasks, but less so when you sit back and hold a gamepad. This will expose the flatter bases of the armrests closer to the back of the chair. If I'm not in Herman Miller's preferred "upright" position while holding a gamepad, my elbows will slip. The solution was to adjust the back support curve so that my elbows lead to the sweet spot of the armrests. But even if I do, my posture continues to deteriorate over time with a gamepad. This is when my forearms fall back and become the resting point of my arms, which is worse in terms of posture. A lower position where my elbows can comfortably rest would fix this and prove to be better for my back.
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More than anything, the feel is that the Embody is designed to keep you forward and upright when seated. This is arguably the right call for an office chair that is open for hours every day. But when I turned the chair away from my desk and toward my living room TV, I always felt like I was at work. There is nothing in this chair that manages to combine first-class postural support with comfort. The adjustable back support either presses firmly into your back to ensure lumbar support, or it gives way as an uncomfortable curve. And there's no headrest my noggin can splash back on when something goes wrong in a tricky, modern game like Demon's Souls.
Aesthetics, substance and profit
In good news, the aesthetic improvement is in line with Logitech's tastier moves in recent years. From the front it is hard to tell that it is a "gaming chair" as the only indication is a "G" mark on the face of the chair. (The letter has a different black seam than the rest of the black chair, so it is visible, but mild.) On the back, the plastic back support grille of the Embody is set off in a strong blue-green color and black-and-black hue. The blue-green grid corresponds to personal taste. Personally, I'm a fan as this shade of teal doesn't look particularly garish or clashing, but the color makes it easier to tell it's a plastic grille than you might notice with the same grille in black.
Otherwise this is again identical to the standard embody, with one obvious exception to its fabric construction. While I don't have another Embody to compare, I've seen reviews of the fabric used for the Logitech model, including a minor change to the upholstery – enough that dedicated Herman Miller users said the Logitech update was the preferred option for it have a model for anyone who uses the Embody as a home chair option.
This assumes you have $ 1,499 for a new chair, either for your home office or your favorite playroom. And if we take a close look at the ergonomics of a frequently used chair, the Herman Miller x Logitech Embody hits a lot of key points – adjustability on multiple axes, room for comfortable shifting, and promoting correct posture. The thing is, you can probably find these in solid chairs for hundreds less, whether or not they have gaming logos or branding in them.
I enjoyed testing this version of the Embody as it is a reliable chair with no issues like uneven wheels, squeaky joints or other things that are easy to take for granted. And I appreciated that it was left alone well enough instead of adding questionable updates like "racer" -oriented redesigns. Even so, I didn't send the lender back convinced that I had to replace my existing chairs or that Herman Miller had solved problems in the gaming chair spectrum.
