Secretlab Omega 2020 Review: Best Gaming Chair Of The Year?

If you’re anything like us – you’re probably behind the PC desk for at least a couple of hours a day. And let’s face it, sitting in your IKEA office chair is probably starting to show it’s downsides. From an uncomfortable backrest to the lack of armrests and even gnawing pains and aches – there are plenty of reasons that many people are starting to look into switching over to a purpose-built gaming chair.

Reportedly, gaming chairs can help with healthy blood circulation, drastically reduce muscle stiffness, and ultimately help you spend those long hours exploring fantasy worlds in a totally comfortable and pain-free manner.

And when it comes to the best gaming chairs in 2020, one brand is everywhere to be seen – we’re talking about Secretlab. In particular, their new Omega 2020 is hitting the open market. And many gamers are wondering – does it really hold up to its promises and marketing?

Thankfully, as always, we’ve got your back! 

Today we’ll be taking a closer look at the Secretlab Omega 2020 to give you the low-down on this up and coming superstar in the world of gaming chairs.

Let’s dive right in!

The Design & Looks

Let’s start off with the build, aesthetics, and overall upfront appeal. 

Upholstery Options

First and foremost, let’s talk about materials and quality. The Omega 2020 comes with three main upholstery options – 2PU (polyurethane leather), NAPA Leather (genuine), and SoftWeave Fabric. 

And while I, for one, am somewhat apprehensive about artificial leather, I’m happy to report that the quality is absolutely solid. It’s marketed as being abrasion resistant and surpassing the industry standard for flex ratings. Does it hold up to those promises? One hundred percent! 

As for NAPA leather, any of you luxury auto enthusiasts likely already know just how durable and comfortable it is, so it’s a fantastic upholstery option. However, keep in mind that it will run you double the already hefty price of this gaming chair.

Now, when it comes to the SoftWeave option, I was personally worried. I frequently drink and eat at my desk, which made spills and stains a big question for me. However, at the same time, I’ve just never had any sort of a good experience with fabric upholstered chairs. They retain smells, generally offer little to no comfort, and I just don’t find them to be that attractive. However, I was again pleasantly surprised in the comfort department, as the SoftWeave option is actually insanely comfortable, and the 350GSM short-yarn used in the upholstery is supposed to be very durable in the long term. However, the potential for spills and stains along with it retaining smells are still some of the concerns I have with this particular option.

The Material Composition

The chair’s frame is almost exclusively aluminum, save for some of the controls and the armrest padding, which is, of course, polyurethane. 

The aluminum wheelbase and caster wheels are actually a substantial step up from the typical plastic configuration you’d find with most gaming chairs (even in the price-range of the Omega 2020). 

It’s also backed by a class 4 hydraulics system that makes use of heavy-duty gas pistons to ensure ultimate stability and safety. And when you couple this with the stellar multi-tilt mechanism they’ve added on, you actually get to really adjust everything to be as you like. Allowing you to enjoy total comfort and bliss during even the most prolonged gaming sessions. I, for one, prefer some odd sitting positions, despite having a relatively good posture, and I just couldn’t really “find the right spot” with my DXracer or my girlfriend’s GT Omega chairs. However, the Secretlab Omega 2020 really hit things on the dot, and I’m absolutely in love with just how darn comfortable it is.

Now, the inside is where things really get interesting. The Omega 2020 makes use of a patented cold-cure foam mix for absolute comfort while offering fantastic support and pressure relief as you game or work. As someone that’s suffered from near-constant lower back soreness for the last few years (mostly due to cheap chairs combined with long hours of sitting), I actually felt the difference practically from the get-go. The level of support is just right, it’s not too firm to not be comfortable, yet it’s also not too soft to leave you feeling like you’re sitting in a bean-bag and have to readjust constantly.

All in all, the Omega 2020’s build quality, in my opinion, is one of the best compared to the most popular gaming chairs on the market in today’s day and age.

And it’s also worth noting that the chair comes with two luxurious memory foam pillows coated in cooling gell and upholstered with a plush and luxurious velour. And while I generally don’t use any sorts of pillows when I’m on a chair, these actually added that much more to the already fantastic experience of the chair.

The Look & Feel

The overall design is just as impressive as the material composition that we’ve just covered.

There are a total of 18 variants that Secretlab is making available with their first release. The basic colors-schemes are:

• Stealth – a black leather body, interlaced by red stitching with a prominent gold stitched omega logo on the center of the backrest.
• Black Suede – this variant replaces the stitching and the sporty lumbar front-panels with a luxurious suede instead. However, I personally feel that this option is only a stylistic element, as it won’t really impact your sitting experience whatsoever.
• Royal – if you replace the carbon-fiber lookalike lumbar fronts of the Stealth color-scheme with a blue 2PU leather face, you get the Royal option. It’s a cool option to add a splash of vibrant yet elegant color to your chair.
• Ash – this option replaces the familiar black 2PU leather body with an ash-gray one, with black stitching and accents.
• Classic – keeping the black leather body and the red stitching of the Stealth option, the black leather accents are replaced with a pearlescent white instead. As someone that enjoys a black, white, and red color scheme, this is my personal favorite!

However, they do also have ten other options for you to choose a design after your favorite esports team, as well as multiple additional game, movie, and music artist themed options.

The Assembly & Warranty

When you get to unpacking your chair, you’ll find that the package contains a backrest, the seat, armrests, the wheelbase with five wheels, and their multi-tilt mechanism along with the hydraulic pistons, side covers, lever handles and all the hardware you’ll need. 

And to guide you through the task ahead, Secretlab threw in a whopping 30×25 inch posted with detailed step by step instructions (yes, they’re better than IKEA assembly instructions). But hey, if deciphering pictograms and trying to match words to reality isn’t your thing – they’ve got a handy video that will guide you through the assembly process step-by-step.

So, with years of experience in putting together IKEA’s wealth of intricate contraptions and furniture – it only took me around two hours to get the job done. However, it was a near-effortless process, despite being a bit tedious due to the fact that I had to manhandle some of the parts into place. Notably, the one issue I faced was me trying to wrap my head around how to make the backrest align with the seat frame. But, once I passed that hurdle, it was smooth and seamless.

What’s The Warranty Like?

The advertised warranty period is five years. However, by default, you only actually have three years of manufacturer extended warranty. 

You’re able to get an extra two years on top of the default period if you share a picture of your chair online. I think for most people, that’s not a total dealbreaker, and it’s one of the best publicity moves that I’ve seen gaming gear companies pull off in recent times, so yes – my picture is floating there out on the web, and I’ve got all five years accounted for.

From my entire experience with Secretlab so far, it seems like they are really trying to move the market towards a better direction by bringing a real quality product to customers along with stellar service. After all, it’s no secret that many of the gaming accessory companies popular with the “affordability crowd” aren’t exactly known for the best product quality of customer service if anything should go wrong (and it often does). On the other hand, Secretlab is stellar in this department, which is evidenced by a lot of public reviews, unboxings, and even their approach to working with industry influencers and preorder customers.

The Sitting Experience – A 24 Hour Test

As with most chairs, the first few minutes of sitting down in my newly built Omega 2020 was bliss, maybe due to the two hours of hard work that I had put into assembling it. But, to really pass with flying colors, the chair needs to pass my personal “stress test.” So with coffee in hand, I geared up and settled in for an allnighter, one that lasted 24 hours.

So, did it pass?

Heck yeah! After years of desk work, I’m used to getting up with a sore lower back and crawling over to the couch or my bed in absolute pain. And while gradually going through a series of gaming chairs did sort of help alleviate the problem – the Secretlab Omega 2020 was like a break of light in a cloudy sky for me.

Generally, I try to stand up every 20-30 minutes for a 5-minute break to stretch and unwind a little. However, in this case, I didn’t even notice that I was sitting for close to 5 hours in a row at one point. I didn’t feel any pain or soreness, and sitting back down was just as comfortable (which may have even added a bit of much-needed motivation for me to get back to work at times).

All in all, I’m happy to report that the Omega 2020 definitely lives up to its promises in the comfort department. In fact, I’m still using the chair and am as happy and comfortable as I could possibly be.

However, with some time spent, I did notice that at times the armrest padding can feel a little hard at times. Though, according to my girlfriend, it’s just me being picky.

The FragMeta Verdict

So now that we’ve covered the ins and outs, build quality, material composition, and design options of the Secretlab Omega 2020 – it’s time for a final FragMeta verdict on this chair.

Is the Secretlab Omega 2020 the best gaming chair of the year?

After much consideration – the answer is…ABSOLUTELY!

Our unanimous verdict comes from the fact that aside from being one of the most luxurious gaming chairs with a stellar build quality and high-quality material composition – the Omega 2020 offers so darn much for the money you’re putting down. This makes it one of the best-value picks on our list, and given everything else we’ve covered, we are confident in saying that this is a gaming chair purchase you will absolutely not regret!

So, with everything said – it’s our turn to hear from you. Have you had a chance to check out the Omega 2020? Is there anything you’re wondering about before you order yours? Let us know in the comments below!