REVIEW – Office and gaming chairs are rarely a one-size-fits-all solution, so the variety of models on the market help people of different sizes, shapes, and preferences to find their perfect fit. GTRACING offered to let us review their Cozy Series GT205 chair, which features a wider than average seat and what looks like extra padding all over the chair. Will it be a luxurious fluffy throne for extended gaming sessions, or will it fall short?
What is it?
The GTRacing Cozy Series GT205 gaming chair is an office chair geared towards gamers with features including the extra wide seat, padding around the shoulder and neck area, padded arm rests, and a slide out footrest to accompany the generous lean-back angle for a nearly horizontal position.
What’s included?
- Padded seat
- Seat back
- Footrest
- Padded armrests
- Installation hardware and tools
- Manual
- Under-seat levers and bracket
- Base hub and arms (x5)
- Roller wheels (x5)
Design and features
From the front, you can see that the GTRacing Cozy Series GT205 gaming chair is a throne-like office chair, with extra wings around the shoulders and neck, a quilted pattern on the upper back and seat areas, and padded arm rests. There are multiple colorways available, I reviewed the black faux leather model.
From a distance, the chair looks luxurious and large, but as you get closer it has a less-than-premium look and feel to it. It doesn’t scream cheap, but there are lots of little things that give me cheap vibes like multiple seams showing ripples and a bent connector between the seat and back that resulted in a crooked seat back (I had to put it in a vice and bend it straight to fix that).
In the photo above you can probably spot the off-kilter angle of the seat, and there’s lumps and bumps under the back fabric cover as well.
Two levers control the up/down lift and the lean-back angle of the seat back (which can be locked).
The footrest slides out and can be used to support your legs when laying back.
The maximum lay-back angle is shown above, which is farther than I’d want to lean in most chairs, but it seemed sturdy and stable even with my large mass on it. The “foot rest” is really a calf-rest and works fine for a short nap but I’d imagine it would become a pressure point after more than a few minutes.
The seat itself felt like it could have used another layer of padding as soon as I sat down on it, and over time it feels like you’re just sitting on a board. I’ve sat on worse, but this chair is near the bottom of my list for butt comfort.
The arm rests will be good for a small subset of people, but they are too low for me, and they’re not adjustable. They are nicely padded though.
The lumbar support has some of the best padding on the chair, but it’s not enough for me, I can barely feel it in a regular sitting position. If you prefer minimal lumbar support, you’ll like it, otherwise you might have to add a pillow. The neck pillow is nice, but was also too low for me and isn’t adjustable.
Shiny legs seem sturdy enough, and the rollers included are good ones. They roll well on both carpet and hard floors.
The seat back attaches to the base with these exposed bolts, which make the chair look cheaper to me (or more industrial, if you’re going for that kind of look).
The footrest slides out of the way when not being used.
Assembly, Installation, Setup
Assembly of the GTRacing Cozy Series GT205 gaming chair was like most office chairs, except for the step shown above where 10 bolts and washers secure the 5 arms to the hub. Most other chairs I’ve purchased or reviewed previously have the base as one piece or already assembled, this added a couple minutes to the install time.
Installing the footrest was also an extra step compared to most chairs, but was pretty easy. Besides that, you’re just bolting the seat back to the seat, putting the gas lift into the assembled base, and setting the seat on top.
Assembly overall was just a bit longer than a usual office chair, maybe 30 minutes total. The instruction book was easy enough to follow and the packaging and labelling on the installation hardware made it easy to follow.
Performance
I tested out the GTRacing Cozy Series GT205 gaming chair with a series of multi-hour work and gaming sessions. Every time it felt fine when I started, but quickly became uncomfortable. The lack of padding on the seat was the most pronounced issue, followed by the lumbar and neck support areas not fitting my body very well. I am just slightly over their recommended maximum height, but my partner (who is right in the middle of their height recommendation) had the same feedback after using the chair as well.
What I like about the GTRacing Cozy Series GT205 gaming chair
- Deep recline option if you’re looking for that
- Wider seat than most – would be good for wider butts
What needs to be improved?
- Fixed armrest position isn’t great for most people
- Looks more padded and comfortable than it is
- Fixed lumbar cushion wasn’t enough for me – back pain after an hour or so
- Expensive for a non-adjustable with poor seat padding
Final thoughts
Unfortunately, I have a hard time recommending the GTRacing Cozy Series GT205 gaming chair to most people. The lack of adjustability and seat padding alone make it uncomfortable to use for extended periods, and the price is higher than budget chairs that would have similar levels of padding. I avoid reading other reviews before writing my own to minimize bias, but I did read some on their website after finishing most of my writing and see similar feedback from customers for this model (poor seat padding, nonadjustable). Hopefully they do an updated model in the future to address some of these issues!
Price: $209.99
Where to buy: GTRACING
Source: The sample of this product was provided for free by GTRACING. GTRACING did not have a final say on the review and did not preview the review before it was published.
