Nitro Concepts C80 Pure Series Gaming Chair Review

Overview

 

It’s been some time since we looked at our last Gaming chair, that was the DXRacer Drifting Series back in November 2015 and before that we took a look at the impressive Vertagear Racing Series SL4000. Both of these Gaming Chairs would be considered as premium chairs, both costing over £200 at the time of review. So this time we’re going to bring it down a level or two and look at a Gaming Chair costing just £140.

Today I’ll be taking a look at the Nitro Concepts C80 Pure Gaming Chair from their Pure Range, this is one of the cheapest gaming Chairs sold by giant retailer Overclockers UK. The chair itself is available in a variety of colours (we have the Black/Blue version) and there’s also the Comfort and Motion ranges. The C80 features a Pure Breathable perforated PU artificial leather covering, soft cold foam upholstery, carbon PVC rear, Safety class 4 gas lift and rocking mechanism with 50 mm casters.

 

 

 

The Nitro Concepts C80 Pure arrived at pcG in a very large brown cardboard box that featured the main Nitro Concepts brand along with the product name (C80 Pure Carbon Class) and model number (NC-C80P-BB) information.

Packaging for the chair is best described as adequate as you can see from the image above. Although I would have to say, even though most of the parts were in the box in a somewhat haphazard way all parts were found to be in good order. It just doesn’t look pretty, but I guess we have to remember this is a budget Gaming Chair and not a Premium product.

 

 

The instructions provided are simple consisting of a single sheet of paper that features six main steps. But what is here does appear to be clear and concise, I’ll guess we’ll see once we start assembly… 😉

 

At the time of review, the Nitro Concepts C80 Pure Gaming Chair is retailing at Overclockers UK for approximately £140 and comes with a 1 year warranty.

 

Specifications/Features

courtesy of Nitro Concepts

 

* Additional details available here

 

Assembly

 

Assembly of the Nitro Concepts C80 Pure was relatively easy, I say relatively as the latter stages proved difficult on my own, but with a little help and that all important extra pair of hands things were far simpler. I pretty much followed the instructions step by step, these are outlined below.

 

 

STEP 1: The first step is effectively the assembly of the base of the chair, this comprises of the base itself, the wheels, and the gas strut and its associated cover. The five black/blue wheels simply slot into the base itself at the end of each arm, it’s a simple press fit and they’re tight but with a bit of brute force each one was inserted without issue. The gas strut was then inserted into the centre of the chair, note that again it’s a press (interference) fit and will be forced home into position once sat upon, so be prepared for a clunk when first used. The gas strut is then simply covered by a plastic telescopic cover. With that done Step 1 is complete.

 

 

The next step requires the seat of the chair itself, but once out of the plastic cover I noticed that while it looked good one of the inserts had come away from the faux leather leaving just a hole. The insert was still there in the correct position and this issue shouldn’t really have any impact on assembly per se. The correct positioning is shown above centre while the faulty one is shown above right. It’s a shame especially as it looks worse than it really is…

 

 

STEP 2: Step two sees the chair’s lift/tilt mechanism screwed to the base of the chair. The first task is to orientate the seat correctly with the mechanism, note the seat itself already (handily) features a sticker pointing towards the front of the chair as does the mechanism (hidden by the knob in the images above). The mechanism attaches by way of the four screws provided and everything was found to line up well. Each screw was tightened, using the supplied allen key, until nice and tight, you don’t want these coming loose especially as there’s no locking washers to help out. The image above right shows Step 2 complete.

 

 

STEP 3: Step three has two main parts, the first of which is to fit the arms to the side of the seat itself. Note that the two arms are fixed in nature and attach to the seat of the chair by four screws, two each side. This in turn will cover up the holes (and the faulty one) found on the sides of the seat. The holes lined up well enough and this task was completed without issue, but an extra pair of hands would still be useful at this point. With the arms now securely attached to the seat the seat could be lowered onto the gas strut and pushed into position, again here it’s an interference (push) fit. That’s Step 3 complete and things are looking good… 😉

 

 

Before we get into the next step we get to take a look at the back of the C80 Pure Gaming Chair and again it looks good too and appears well made enough. That’s apart from the threaded holes again that suffer the same problem with the material coming away from the threaded insert. Worth noting is also the carbon effect on the back of the chair that actually (while obviously fake) looks kind of cool.

 

 

STEP 4/5: This is where the fun starts or not! For me this was the most frustrating part of the build, where I had to attach the back of the chair to the arms. The problem is that as there’s so much cushioning and where the tolerances are so loose, nothing really fits together easily. Well that’s a little unfair maybe, but what is required is some brute force and ignorance (note angle of seat back in Step 4 instructions) as one trys to position the seat back and get the screws into the threaded holes. Argh… 🙁

After some time and a lot of cursing and swearing I actually had to give up as all of the man-handling had now damaged the chair back (above left). Note, this is self inflicted but it was caused by the fact that it was simply too difficult to accomplish this task (easily) on my own. Luckily my wife came to the rescue and after a short time the chair back was in position with all of the screws in place.

STEP 6: The final task is to simply fit the plugs that plug up all of the holes where the screws are in position.

 

First Impressions

 

With the Nitro Concepts C80 Pure Gaming Chair complete and with most of the assembly woes forgotten it’s easy to bask in the glory of this newly assembled Gaming Chair. It looks good too, hopefully the images below do it justice. Ok so some of the stitching isn’t perfect and there’s a few frayed ends sticking out here and there, but let’s not forget this isn’t a £200+ Gaming Chair, it cost just £140!

 

 

Hardware Performance

 

CHAIR ADJUSTMENT

 

 

The Nitro Concepts’ Pure Series chairs only feature two forms of adjustment that being the tension of the chair’s tilt function and the height adjustment. The former height adjustment is implemented via the usual gas strut that allow the chair to raise when there’s no load, and to lower when there is, adjustment is handled via the lever beneath the chair (pull up) and adjustment is both precision and immediate.

The round control knob on the underside of the chair (above right) allows for control over the tension of the tilt mechanism. This mechanism when enabled (by pulling the lever out) allows the whole chair to tilt backwards. This knob effectively controls how much pressure is needed to force the chair back. Or the chair can simply be locked into position by ensuring the lever is pushed in. Again it all works well, although I did find that the knob can be over rotated and the plug that hides the thread inside was simply pushed out…

 

COMFORT

 

The most important factor though really has to be the chair’s comfort and what’s important here is how does this budget chair (and its comfort) compare to some of the more premium models that we’ve seen in the past. Due to the chair’s ergonomics and fixed back design the chair sit you in a very specific position and one that naturally supports the lower back. To be honest the first time I sat in the Chair I was amazed at just how comfortable it was!

Comfort is in fact very good indeed, this is brought about by the inbuilt lumbar support and the sheer comfort and softness of the cushions used. Now while these cushions may deteriorate over time all I can say for now is that the general seating comfort of the C80 Pure is as good as any chair yet tested. But please bear in mind it still lacks the adjustment options the other (more expensive) chairs offer. One thing that’s also important is that the back of the chair is not very high, this means that should you want to lounge back in the chair your head isn’t well supported as the chair simply isn’t tall enough. But again in a chair such as this, this posture (i.e. lounging around) is not really supported.

Overall though and for the money I have to say that I’m really impressed with the level of comfort offered by the Nitro Concepts C80 Pure Gaming Chair. OK so it might not be beautifully made and it might be a bit of a pig to assemble. But the most important aspect of the chair, the comfort they’ve got right and for that Nitro Concepts should be applauded…

 

Final Thoughts

 

Ok so the Nitro Concepts C80 Pure Gaming Chair may not feature the best build quality and it’s a pig to assemble especially on your own. But once you sit in it all those woes will be forgotten as the C80 Pure is one comfy Gaming Chair.

The Nitro Concepts C80 Pure arrived at pcG in a very large box with its contents adequately packaged and presented. As with most modern Gaming Chairs the first task is assembly, therefore after finding the simple instruction sheet and an Allen key I set about this task. As you can see the full build is detailed above using the six steps detailed in the instructions.

For the most part the assembly went well although I was somewhat disappointed to find that a couple of the threaded inserts had already come away from the chair’s material (see images above). Now while this didn’t really affect the assembly (as these holes get hidden by the arms) it is a sign of the chair’s budget nature and possibly a sign of poor quality control. But later on in the build (Step 4) I ran into a bigger issue. Trying to man handle the chair base, the back and the arms while trying to line up a screw into a threaded hole was nigh on impossible, well for me on my own it was impossible! After some time of trying it was now time to get help as I had also now damaged the chair itself. With the wife’s help things were a lot easier as now I could hold everything in place and she helped to line up and start the screws. Note to others: for me Step 4 was a two man (or woman, thanks Nets!) job. After calming down, the final parts of assembly were completed and I could look at the C80 Pure with new found fondness…

Once you are sat in the C80 it is in fact easy to forgive the chair for the fight that it had put up during assembly, as this is one comfy chair. In fact I have to confess given the chair’s budget nature I wasn’t expecting such good levels of comfort. Ok, so it doesn’t feature some of the ergonomic bells ‘n whistles of more expensive chairs, but it is rather cosseting yet manages to support your lower back well, especially when Gaming where I find myself craning over the keyboard somewhat. The adjustments also work well enough with both a height and a tilt (tension) adjustment, although this is not a chair you’re likely to lay back in.

Overall I’m pleased with the Nitro Concepts C80 Pure as they’ve produced a chair that looks good and more importantly is very comfortable straight out of the box. Just a little more quality control would help this Brand massively and that shouldn’t be too hard to do either. So if you’re in the market for a Gaming Chair and your budget doesn’t stretch to £200+ then I’d recommend the C80 Pure, but I’d also recommend to get a fried to help you with the assembly… 😉

 

Verdict

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Many thanks to Nitro Concepts for providing this sample for review