Most gaming chairs are overbuilt hulks with huge backs that recline when you pull a lever. They’re comfortable, but they’re also bulky. Stylish, functional alternatives are available, but they tend to be expensive like the $1,500 Herman Miller X Logitech G Embody. Mavix makes similar Herman Miller-styled chairs, with highly adjustable yet visually minimalist designs. Although they’re pricey (the high-end Mavix M9 is $1,000), they aren’t Herman Miller pricey. The M5 is Mavix’s entry-level gaming chair, and it’s an attractive, ergonomic gaming chair without much bulk. It’s also fairly expensive at $555.55, but that price at least puts it in range of other, conventional gaming chairs. As the most affordable way to get an elegant, minimalist gaming chair with adjustable ergonomics, the Mavix M5 earns our Editors’ Choice award.
Assembling the M5
The M5 doesn’t come fully assembled like the Herman Miller X Logitech G Embody chair does, but putting it together is simple. Pop the wheels into the base, insert the gas piston cylinder, and then place the seat onto the cylinder. All that you need to screw in are the arm rests, chair back, and headrest, from an upright position. It’s one of the smoothest assembly processes I’ve seen for a gaming chair.
The chair seat and upper chair back are each made of strong mesh suspended over a sturdy frame. They don’t have cushioning, but they’re springy and supportive enough to feel comfortable. The lower chair back is made of faux leather applied to a sturdy fabric, also suspended on a frame and mounted on a flexible hinge that provides a pleasant amount of give to fit comfortably against your lower back. The headrest is also made of suspended faux leather on a frame, attached to the top of the chair back with two screws and mounted on another hinge to adjust to your head position. You can optionally remove the headrest, and the M5 includes a small plate that screws in place where the headrest would attach to make the top of the chair appear seamless.
The wheels are wide plastic wheels that fit securely into the thick plastic base. They feature locking mechanisms you can set by sliding a switch on each wheel, preventing them from rolling if you want to keep the chair in place. When unlocked, the wheels roll smoothly over most materials, though they aren’t quite as smooth or soft as the thinner, rubber M-Wheels that Mavix includes with the M7 and M9 chairs. Fully assembled, the M5 has a 20.5-inch seat width, and a 300-pound maximum weight capacity.
Tweaks and Adjustments
While the M5 doesn’t offer quite as many adjustment options as the Embody, it still features plenty. The armrests can each be rotated to three set positions, and the height is similarly adjustable. The chair back can be raised and lowered with a ratcheting system to fit your height, and the seat can be slid forward or backward to best suit your build and posture. And, of course, the chair itself can be raised and lowered with a lever pull.
Like the Embody, the M5 lacks a lever-based, reclining mechanism like most gaming chairs. You can easily lean back to a 135-degree angle, as both the seat and the chair back tilt by pulling outward on the height adjustment lever. This lets the chair freely recline as you lean back, and spring upright as you lean forward. You can adjust the tension of the reclining motion using a dial located under the seat, and lock the chair at any reclining angle between that and the upright position by pushing in the adjustment lever. It isn’t the same springy, adjustable chair-back-only motion you get with most gaming chairs, but it offers a comfortable range of motion.
My only complaint with these different adjustments is the ratchet for the chair back. The back freely lifts upward, and clicks a set number of times to indicate where it’s set. On the last click, the mechanism resets and the back drops down to its lowest position. If you want to set the chair to its highest position, it’ll stay in place most of the time. Unfortunately, if you accidentally push upward a little with your lower back while sitting on the chair, it will click over and the chair back will drop down. A locking mechanism to keep the chair back’s height in place would have been welcome.
You won’t get any accessories, such as lumbar or head cushions, with the M5. Since adjustable lumbar and head support are built-in (and the headrest can be removed if desired), the chair doesn’t come with any such accoutrements. That said, it includes a small plate that covers where the headrest would attach to the seat’s back.
Actually Sitting
After assembling the chair and adjusting it to suit me, the M5 felt very comfortable. While it lacks conventional padding, the suspended mesh and faux leather materials feel just soft enough, while providing a sturdy springiness. The lumbar support and headrest both fit my back and neck well, letting me lean back in the chair with ease. The entire chair feels sturdy for such a light model, though I would have preferred to see a solid metal base instead of a (still quite solid) plastic one.
The Warranty
Mavix offers a limited, 12-year warranty for all of its chairs, which is impressive on paper. Any defect is covered for both replacement and shipping for the first two years. For the next three years after that, defects are covered for replacement, but you’ll have to pay for shipping. All non-moving metal parts are covered for an additional seven years. It isn’t close to the 12-year catch-all warranty that Herman Miller gives the Embody, but it meets or exceeds most other gaming chairs’ warranties.
High-End Style at a Less High-End Price
The Mavix M5 is a capable, offbeat gaming chair for anyone looking for a premium, Herman Miller-like look and feel at a third of the price. It’s a bit pricey compared with most conventional gaming chairs, but it costs a third as much as the Embody while offering a similar experience.
If you want a more premium chair that still costs less than the Embody, the Mavix M9 is the company’s high-end model that adds supple faux leather, a cooling memory foam seat, and softer, smoother-rolling wheels. It costs twice as much as the M5, but that’s still only two-thirds as much as the Embody.
If you want to spend less for a more conventional, overbuilt gaming chair, our Editors’ Choice pick in that category remains the SecretLab Titan. It’s bigger, thicker, and well-made, with a pull-lever reclining back and plenty of dense, supportive memory foam.
