Blacklyte Athena Pro Gaming Chair
design
As is so often the case with gaming chairs, you’re spoiled for choice when it comes to colour and material. While I’m sitting in the pretty restrained black FlexKnit version, there’s also a DuraGen leatherette in black, white, blue and wine red, a chalk fabric option, and no shortage of esports collab editions if you fancy sitting in a Team Liquid or Fnatic paint job. Assembly is simple and similar to every other chair I’ve put together. Everything you need is in the box, the screws are pre-threaded, and the backrest slots onto guide brackets that do most of the alignment work for you.
The FlexKnit weave is a touch coarser and more open than Secretlab’s SoftWeave, but it’s still a clear step up from anything on a standard office chair. It’s noticeably pleasant to run your hand across and the microfibre detailing is a nice touch, too. Build quality is strong across the board, though I did spot a couple of loose stitches around the embroidered logo detailing, and one of the gel stickers on the lumbar knobs is already trying to peel itself off. This is me going looking for problems though, rather than anything you’d really notice more casually.
On either side of the Athena Pro’s sculpted backrest are two knobs that handle height and depth of the lumbar support. It’s a similar system to what’s available on other chairs and there’s a decent range on offer, from barely-there to a fair bit of presence. I tend to run mine pretty low, not being one for an aggressive curve, and overall the backrest comfort matches the Titan Evo, maybe edges it with a slightly more padded feel.
Strangely, the Athena Pro’s maximum seat height is particularly short, I’d almost say it’s the lowest of any chair I can remember testing. I’m a pretty standard 180cm and I found myself hopping straight back off the chair to check nothing was restricting or holding the gas lift down. Nothing was. That’s just how tall it goes and it meant that my feet were firmly flat on the floor and my legs angling very slightly upward, even at the highest setting. There’s no XL version to fall back on either, so if you’re taller than average, or you simply like sitting high at your desk, this is not the chair for you and there’s no way around it.
performance
Sit down and the first thing you notice is how firm the cushion is. This isn’t sink-in, marshmallow foam, it holds its shape and barely gives, which should pay off for posture in the long run but is worth knowing about going in if you’re expecting something plusher. Comfort overall lands close to the Titan Evo, firm and supportive rather than a sofa on wheels. The magnetic head pillow does the softening work instead, plush and wonderfully squidgy. This pillow is technically a £55 add-on, but every time I checked the website through testing it was included as a free extra.
The armrests are a breath of fresh air, mainly for how simple they are. Rather than chasing an outrageous number of directions of movement for the sake of it, Blacklyte has kept things to height, width and depth, and every one of those locks solidly into place once set. It’s a small thing, but so often recently I’ve tested chairs that try to get funky with armrests that don’t fix in place and they’re a nightmare to live with day to day.
The recline lever is a chunky thing mounted low on the right side, and it unlocks an equally chunky amount of travel, officially 149 degrees. That’s more than enough unless you’re planning to lie flat mid-session, and I’m not convinced many people actually do that. Rocking mode is smooth and stable too, with a decent amount of give if you’re someone who leans and shifts while you work.
I rarely talk about the wheels on a chair because everyone seems to use the same supplier, but on the Athena Pro, Blacklyte’s caster wheels might be the standout feature of the whole chair. They’re made from a soft, translucent PU rather than hard plastic, not dissimilar to rollerblade wheels, so they roll without any of the scratchy resistance cheaper casters bring. They’re up there with the smoothest and quietest I’ve tested on any chair, including some costing twice as much.
summed up
At full RRP, there’s £70 between the Athena Pro and the Titan Evo, and Blacklyte does well to deliver a chair that doesn’t feel £70 worse. In fact, I’d even go as far as to say it’s slightly better than Secretlab’s benchmark in a couple of areas. Once sale pricing kicks in it can stretch out further, and at that point I’d call the Athena Pro an easy recommendation over the Secretlab on value alone. Even when the gap narrows back down, there’s a decent argument that Secretlab’s extra polish doesn’t fully justify the difference.
The Blacklyte Athena Pro is a well made, comfortable gaming chair, but neither that nor the price changes the problem of just how low it is. If you’re on the taller side, or you just like sitting high, look elsewhere in Blacklyte’s own range or beyond it. It may be nice to sit in for your back and backside, but the long-term impact of your legs not being able to go where they need to isn’t something to overlook. Bizarrely the FAQ section of the Athena Pro product page confidently claims this chair is suitable for big and tall users. Trust me when I say it’s not. If you fit, however, the Athena Pro is a comfortable, well-adjusted seat that makes a solid case against paying Secretlab money.
