AK Octane chair
Last week I purchased my latest cheap office chair. It’s an AK Designs Octane chair purchased from Best Buy. My experience is that any of the sub-$200 chairs purchased from retail stores will last about two years before the mechanism that allows the chair to rock and turn will wear out to the point that it loudly squeaks when you use it. At $150, I fully expect this chair to be no different.
The good
This chair is just really comfortable. The sides of the back wrap around you so it feels similar to a sports car seat designed to hold you in place while cornering. Also, the back has a bit of a lumbar bump built into it that feels great on the back.
The armrests adjust up and down, side to side, and pivot. I’m not sure if this is useful, or just fun to play with. Either way I like it.
The chair has big, roller blade style, wheels that roll smoothly on a variety of surfaces. They are even pretty good on carpet.
The blue and black color scheme is a perfect match for my blue walled and black furnished home office.
The bad
It’s still a cheap chair that will wear out in a couple years. The mechanism underneath the seat looks almost identical to the ones on all of my previous cheap chairs and nothing like the ones on the professional chairs we use at work.
The tall wheels have a couple side effects. First, the legs that attach the wheels are now a little higher than normal. Achilles tendon height. If you roll it into your heal while sitting it will break skin and hurt. Trust me. Secondly, the taller wheels mean the lowest setting for the seat height in taller than my previous chairs.
me said:
Nov 30, 09 at 11:26 amNice chair, had it for a few years now. Can’t get parts for it now (the armrest material is cracking / fraying). Oh well, eh?
James said:
Dec 26, 09 at 12:27 pmLove the chair, works great for my hardwood floors. Wish I could find another one, but have not been able to do so.
Jeff said:
Dec 29, 09 at 6:14 pmI too have had the AK Design Octane chair for a few years. Love it. If anyone knows where to find another or contact the mfg, let us know.
Thanks
Scott said:
Dec 31, 09 at 12:52 pmOk, so I’ve had a few comments on the chair lately on this 2 year old post. Here’s an update:
This chair was only available from Best Buy from what I can tell, and I think it’s been discontinued. I’m not even sure the company that make it (AK Designs) is still in business.
The good: I am still using it and for the most part it’s holding up well for a cheap chair. The cloth material is still in good shape, the armrests still look like new, and the rocking and lift mechanism still work great. After using it for a while I decided it wasn’t as good on carpet as I originally thought, so I bought a fake wood chair mat to put under it. That worked great.
The bad: A couple of the plastic pieces on top of the legs pop off occasionally when I roll and catch my heal on the leg. They are just decorative, so no big deal and I could just leave them off. It also kind of hurts if I’m not wearing shoes, but that’s not the chairs fault. The bigger problem is that sometimes if a leg comes up off the ground when moving it around a wheel will fall out, and the base will drop all the way on the floor. If I was using it on a hardwood floor this would probably scratch it, but I’m not, so it’s really another minor inconvenience for me.
shawn said:
Jan 18, 10 at 9:03 amI also have had this chair nearly 2 years, I purchased it at Best buy, The only thing That has had a problem was the decorative plastic pieces on the legs as somebody else mentioned..I have it on a Cherry Hardwood florr and it doesnt do the floor any harm at all, I on a mission to buy another in case this one wears out.