A comfy, stylish, subtle gaming chair held back by one frustrating design flaw.
Corsair’s answer to the Secretlab Titan Evo, the Corsair TC500 Luxe, is the most annoying product I’ve tested in quite a while. And not because it’s bad, either—far from it. No, it’s annoying because it could have been close to perfect if Corsair had done one simple thing differently.
If it was a bad chair, I wouldn’t find this so annoying, because then I could just write off the chair as a no-go from the off. But there’s a hell of a lot to love about the TC500 Luxe, from its understated design to its ergonomic adjustability. But there’s one thing to hate, and that’s its armrest placement.
Yes, I said armrest placement, not just « armrests ». The rests themselves feel nice and are incredibly adjustable in almost every way. Every way, that is, except arguably the most important: their distance from the chair.
Now listen, I’m not exaggerating here. I’m a big lad and even I feel a little reluctant to traverse my arms across the gaping cavern either side of the seat and drape them over the otherwise lovely armrests. If I was a slimmer person, I might not bother at all. It’s not as if Corsair didn’t consider adjustable armrest widths, either. You can adjust them by loosening the screws underneath, but the closest placement just isn’t close enough.
As I said, the most annoying thing about this is that it would be a simple thing to fix. All it would require is drilling the adjustable slots a little wider on the underside of the arms so you can scoot them closer to the chair base. Nothing’s preventing this other than a bizarre design choice.
After scouring the internet to see if anyone else was as bothered by this as I was, I discovered that yes, they are. For instance, one Reddit user even said they drilled new holes in the armrests to move them closer. And hey, if you’re a DIY-er, maybe this is the solution for you—but it shouldn’t be required for a product that costs $500.
In my case, I’ve ended up angling the armrests inwards by a few degrees so that at least the fronts of them are closer to the seat base.
Despite this annoying quirk, in every other way, this gaming chair justifies its premium price tag. Especially if you’re like me and prefer understated office designs to garish « Look mom, I’m a gamer! » ones. The TC500 Luxe really would fit the bill for any above-board, no-shenanigans office setup. It still has that bucket racing seat style, of course—it’s just more subtle.
I noticed how premium this thing looks and feels from the moment I unboxed it to put it together. Which was a pretty smooth process, I should add. The seat had the armrests already attached, and there was only a little screwing-in needed throughout the whole process.
