Vari Performance Task Chair review - Come have a seat

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REVIEW -My son has been sitting on a dining room chair at his gaming PC. He says it gets uncomfortable, and I believe it. I’m not a fan of those flashy so-called gaming chairs that look like seats taken from a sports car, so I was very glad to have a chance to look at the Vari Performance Task Chair.

What is it?

The Vari Performance Task Chair is a height-adjustable chair with a breathable mesh back and highly adjustable armrests.

What’s in the box?

The Vari Performance Task Chair comes unassembled with all the tools you need (one hex wrench) plus a spare bolt.

Hardware specs

Breathable mesh lumbar and back support system
Seat is height-adjustable from 16 3/4″ to 21″
Molded seat cushion with cooling gel and memory foam
Armrests can be adjusted in four independent directions
Counter-weighted tilt for smooth, balanced recline
Hard casters glide on carpeted or wood floors
Assembles in minutes with included tools
275 lb weight capacity

Setup

There’s a lot of padding in the box! Remove it, and you’re left with the seat back, bottom, base and cylinder. The arms are pre-attached to the seat bottom.

Here are the cylinder and bolts. You get an extra bolt just in case. One included Allen wrench is all you need.

Flip the cushion upside down and attach the seatback. Five bolts hold them together.

Here’s a view of the seat bottom (seat back attached)

The Vari Performance Task Chair’s seat bottom goes right on the lift cylinder, and you’re done. I measured the low and high seat height and got 19 inches (not feet, as in my diagram) to 22-1/2 inches. This differs from the official specs.

Performance

There is a prominent lumbar curve on the seatback. It’s not adjustable.

There are levers under the seat cushion to control seat height, tilt, and forward/backward motion.

Levers are marked with slightly raised graphics, but you can’t tell by touch alone.

The Vari Performance Task Chair’s seat cushion can be pushed forward and back, a total of two inches of travel.

The armrests are highly adjustable. To pull the armrests up or down, simply pull up on these finger releases.

The armrests also move back and forth, and angle in and out.

Vari calls this “4D” adjustments.

If I had one gripe, it is the packaging. There’s so much plastic foam wrap. It was a nuisance to stuff into my trash bin.

I let my son “drive” the Vari Performance Task Chair. He reports that the armrest adjustments are the standout feature. The one con is the seat levers. Until you get it set “just right”, you fumble around quite a bit without the help of instructions.