SecretLab Titan Evo review (2022): refined gaming chair class

T3 is the world's foremost expert when it comes round to the best gaming chairs, with us reviewing the very finest models in detail.

In our gaming chair reviews we aim to show gamers exactly what you get out of the box, how easy the gaming chair is to build, and then what performance it offers.

And, with the Titan Evo, we've got the latest entry in SecretLab's very well received gaming chair line-up. What's so notable about the 2022 Titan Evo, though, is that it is the result of the firm combining its Titan and Omega gaming chair lines into just one.

As such, now SecretLab offers just one design of gaming chair, and the Titan EVO is it, with the Titan and Omega phased out for this chair, which is available in three sizes.

Anyone who has been reading T3 for a while will know that I am huge fan of SecretLab, with me getting on brilliantly with both the SecretLab Titan SoftWeave and SecretLab Magnus on review recently. As such, I was very keen to see how this new Evo chair was going to measure up.

Let's get stuck into T3's SecretLab Titan Evo review, then.

SecretLab Titan Evo review (2022): price and release date

The SecretLab Titan Evo release date was 12 July, 2021, and is now available. The chair is available in three different sizes, small, regular and extra large, as well as two signature variants in terms of upholstery, NEO Hybrid Leatherette (the type tested) and SoftWeave Plus fabric.

USA pricing for the SecretLab Titan Evo is as follows:

SecretLab NEO Hybrid Leatherette

Small = $429 | Regular = $449 | Extra large = $499

SecretLab SoftWeave Plus fabric

Small = $449 | Regular = $469 | Extra large = $519

UK pricing for the SecretLab Titan Evo is as follows:

SecretLab NEO Hybrid Leatherette

Small = £359 | Regular = £379 | Extra large = £449

SecretLab SoftWeave Plus fabric

Small = £379 | Regular = £399 | Extra large = £469

Australian pricing for the SecretLab Titan Evo is as follows:

SecretLab NEO Hybrid Leatherette

Small = AU$569 | Regular = AU$619  | Extra large = AU$729

SecretLab SoftWeave Plus fabric

Small = AU$619 | Regular = AU$669 | Extra large = AU$759

More information about pricing and availability for different territories can be found on SecretLab's official website.

SecretLab Titan Evo review (2022): package and setup 

I've called this out a few times now, but SecretLab is the best in the gaming chair business of providing super clear instructions and a streamlined assembly procedure.

The assembly instructions come printed on a large card sheet within the box, and as you can see from the image below, the chair itself actually doesn't come in many pieces out of the box at all.

You've literally got the seat base (with pre-installed arm rests), seat back, hydraulic life and tilt mechanism as well as casters, adjustment levers and magnetic arm rest top plates.

SecretLab includes a dedicated toolkit in the Titan Evo box, too, meaning that there's no hunting for obscure screwdriver sizes or that hex key you once used three years ago. Everything you need to build the chair is in the box and, overall, I'd say it takes about 25 minutes to go from in-box to fully assembled seat.

SecretLab makes the assembly even easier by affixing a load of easily removable stickers to the various components which supply advice and installation help. The result is it is literally impossible to make a mistake. Trust me, I've built plenty of SecretLab gaming chairs now and I've never had an issue.

Indeed, assembly literally involved the following: first you mount the seat back to the seat base with four bolts. Next you slot the chair casters into the caster frame. Then you bolt in the hydraulic mechanism onto the base of the seat, again with just a few bolts, and then you basically put everything together.

There's a few small extra steps in-between, such as clipping on magnetic covers and slotting on the chair's adjustment levers, but that is basically how easy it is to build.

One thing I need to mention here about assembly, though, is that after I had fully built the SecretLab Titan Evo I found that its arm rests had come pre-installed on the seat base at their fullest extent away from it. This meant that even when I adjusted the 4D armrest top plates to their closest orientation in toward me, my elbows still only just managed to rest on them.

This was uncomfortable so I then needed to flip the chair back over so the bottom of the seat base was exposed and unscrew the three bolts on each side that held the arm rest struts in place. I then slid  the arm rest struts closer in to the chair and re-affixed the six bolts. This wasn't a massive time sink, but it was awkward as the chair's adjustment levers were partially in the way and required me to manipulate the fully constructed chair, which was heavy and ungainly.

Now, maybe your arms are longer than mine, but I'm 6ft 2in tall and have pretty average size arms, so I am guessing that most people will have to adjust these struts in they do all indeed come out of the box fixed on their furthest out setting. My advice to SecretLab to rectify this? Have the struts fixed on a middle setting out of the box.

SecretLab Titan Evo review (2022): performance and features

Ok, let's move on to performance and features. Firstly, the Titan Evo comes with plenty of stuff that already exists on SecretLab gaming chairs, including its cold core foam, multi-tilt mechanism that allows for 165 degrees of backwards tilt (perfect for napping), and extra large PU casters, the latter being very kind to most floor types.

The design of the chair is, as you would expect from a seat that is the offspring of the Titan and Omega chairs, like a mixture of the two, but it definitely leans more towards that of the Titan. It's like a tweaked Titan visually, so if you liked the Titan before then chances are you'll like the looks of the Titan Evo.

But there's also plenty of new features on the Titan Evo, too. Let's first talk about the chair's upholstery offerings.

So there's two new upholstery finishes available on the Titan Evo, SecretLab SoftWeave Plus fabric, which is an evolved version of the firm's SoftWeave fabric, as well as a brand new NEO Hybrid Leatherette option, which looks to ape the look and feel of NAPA leather. This latter upholstery is the version T3 has tested.

Now, for those who aren't aware, NAPA leather is the finish that the most expensive gaming chairs use. The genuine leather looks, feels and smells great, and is one of the softest and most elegant upholsteries on the market today. It also cost a lot, meaning that gaming chairs finished with it often ring in hundreds of dollars/pounds more than faux leather finishes.

The NEO Hybrid Letherette, though, does a valiant job at looking to ape that NAPA quality, and offers a tougher evolution of SecretLab's PRIME PU leather from past year's chairs. It is 12 times more durable than PU faux leather according to the firm, while also improving softness and suppleness, too. I can confirm that of all the faux leather finishes I've tested, the NEO Hybrid is the best in feeling and looking genuine.

Whether or not you prefer that leather look to the fabric finish offered by the SoftWeave Plus is only something you can decide, though, which is apparently more breathable than the standard SoftWeave fabric (I have not tested this, though).

The Titan Evo's highlight feature, at least for me, is its 4-way lumbar support system, which is actually built in to the chair's backrest. This lumbar support can be moved up and down , as well as in and out, meaning that no matter your size or body shape you can tailor the support to your back.

The support comes from a flexible sheet within the backrest that is made up of a lattice of malleable hinges that flex to the exact curvature of a person's back. This lattice is controlled via two knobs on either side of the backrest.

I've used the system and think it works great. I also love the fact that it is hidden, meaning that you have the support you need without ruining the chair look and line with exterior cushions or lumbar sheets. It's smart hidden ergonomics and I feel SecretLab deserves a big hat tip for it.

And talking of hidden ergonomics, the Titan Evo's new pebble seat base also delivers on this. On first glance the seat base looks similar to that of the outgoing Titan, but it's actually been redesigned so that it better channels the gamer's body towards the middle while also letting them stretch out over its sides if desired as they are now soft.

This is basically the best of both worlds. For gaming, where optimal body position is preferred, the chair guides the gamer to sit optimally, while then when they want to relax while streaming a movie for example, and body position isn't so key, they can recline over the seat base's side guidance wings without discomfort. This is simply something that you couldn't do easily on past SecretLab gaming chairs.

The last two Titan Evo upgrades of note are its magnetic head pillow and arm rest top plates, which both as you would expect use magnetics to keep them fixed in place.

The arm rest tops literally clip on and off, and are designed so that gamers can own multiple arm rest tops with different designs on them, or made from different materials, and swap them in and out as desired.

The more notable upgrade is the magnetic head pillow, though. This is really smart as thanks to some clever placement of magnets in the chair's upper backrest and the head pillow itself, the cushion can be positioned wherever the gamer needs it to be without an unsightly strap to hold it in place.

I can confirm that the magnetic head pillow works great, and gives the chair an even cleaner look than one possible on the outgoing Titan and Omega.

Overall, then, from a performance and features point of view I can confirm that the Titan Evo remains just as comfy as the Titan for gaming, working and relaxing in, but now comes with a bunch of extra smart features. I'd argue each of these is really quite small in the grand scheme of things, but when combined I feel that they add a suite of real world benefits that most gamers will get a lot out of every single day.

SecretLab Titan Evo review (2022): verdict

I gave the outgoing Titan a maximum of 5 stars on review here at T3 and there's no doubting that the Titan Evo is the (marginally) better gaming chair. As such, I find it impossible not to give it, too, a maximum score of 5 stars on review, even if it does cost a little bit more.

There's just so much gaming chair quality on display in the Titan Evo, both pre-existing from SecretLab's outgoing Titan and Omega chairs, as well as in the form of smart new features that evolve the product.

The new NEO Hybrid Letherette upholstery, for example, does feel scarily like genuine NAPA leather despite costing a fraction of the price, while the magnetic head pillow and arm rest system are smart and well executed. I like that SecretLab has banished those unsightly head pillow straps to the gaming NetherRealm specifically.

The real star feature, for me at least, is the Titan NEO's 4-way lumbar support system, which is really cleverly built into the chair. It's easy to configure, too, and adds even more comfort and support to an already very ergonomically friendly gaming seat.

The Titan Evo's pebble seat base is a subtle but smart upgrade, too, as it provides more ergonomic support while also allowing for more unorthodox, relaxed seating positions to be taken up on it, as its wings are soft to place your legs over.

The small price rise on the Titan Evo is obviously not ideal, though, and obviously you've now got to actually like the physical design on the chair in order to ring one up, as there is only one model to choose from in three sizes, rather than multiple models with slightly different designs.

I also had to alter the Titan Evo's armrests out of the box as, by default, they were installed on their widest setting. This latter point is a small thing and the toolkit included the tools to do it, but it was a pretty annoying extra step I had to undertake, and one I had to do after I'd built the chair. This felt suboptimal.

Overall, though, it would be ludicrously harsh to mark down such a quality gaming chair for such small things, and especially so as I personally think the Titan Evo looks class. It's a refinement of SecretLab's pre-existing output and it offers gamers a smart and premium seat on which they can enjoy their favourite games.

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