FlexiSpot C7 Morpher Ergonomic Chair with Dynamic Back System
design
Assembly is about as painless as a chair this size and with this many moving parts gets. A lot of it comes pre-assembled so I was comfortably able to solo build the C7 Morpher without ever needing to call in a second pair of hands, and nothing about the process held me up along the way. There are two variants, both are all-mesh and black, but one comes with an optional pull-out footrest and one doesn’t. I’ve been testing the variant with.
I’m generally a foam seat kind of guy, I like a traditional cushion and while I’ve tried other options like the Elgato Embrace and AndaSeat X-Air Pro, none have ever really impressed me. Sitting in the C7 Morpher, though, and the first thing I noticed was just how much more give the seat base has than what most mesh chairs manage. It’s not as tightly strung and it really works in its favour. There’s plenty of give to both the main base cushion and the backrest, and I felt supported while not feeling like it was trying to reject the idea of me sitting on it. The mesh material itself is reasonably soft to the touch too, much more forgiving than the slightly plasticky feel you get on a lot of competitors.
Shape wise, despite not having that many individual sections, I felt like there were more contact points between you and the chair than I’ve experienced on other mesh designs. It means you’re properly aware of it being there and supporting you, constantly feeling it moving underneath and against you. It’s a distinctive feeling, I’ll give it that, though I’m not convinced it’s actually better or worse than what’s already out there. It’s just different, and there are moments it feels like it’s chasing that difference for its own sake rather than because it solves an actual problem.
Tucked under the main seat is an integrated footrest, and while I’ll be critical and say a lot of the FlexiSpot C7 Morpher feels somewhat overengineered, by contrast, this is really cleverly done. The folding mechanism is neat, flipping over on itself to provide plenty of support under my calves without requiring any tension adjustments to extend or retract. Best of all, it tucks well out of the way when you’re not using it and doesn’t impact the chair when you’re in upright work mode. Unlike Secretlab’s bolt-on Recliner which for my mind ultimately made the chair worse as a chair, here I could still move the chair around comfortably and tuck my legs under without the folded footrest getting in the way.
performance
Clearly a lot of work has gone into the FlexiSpot C7 Morpher’s various ergonomic elements and they certainly add up to the most unique arrangement I’ve tested. After a couple of weeks of using it as my daily driver, however, I’m not convinced all that effort has particularly paid off.
The backrest features a sliding mechanism that almost rocks down inside itself like a hamster wheel, tucking under with your back to work in sync with the synchronised tilt. FlexiSpot calls this Flexlide and the logic is sound, though I can’t say I particularly noticed it having a huge effect on overall support. It does work, you can feel it jumping into action as you lean back as only the backrest moves when reclining, but you can also hear it working because it has a scrapey, plastic-on-plastic noise to it every time it moves. The components here are plastic, and they’re moving against each other so it’s hardly a surprise, but it doesn’t give off particularly premium vibes.
The Flexlean forward tilt was subtle, allowing you to ever so slightly lean the backrest forward to better support you. I adjusted this once when I first got the chair and forgot it existed after that, which is probably a good thing but also suggests it’s not necessarily a game changer. It sits quietly in the (literal) background, doing its job without demanding any attention.
The AirLumbar system has you pumping up a hidden cushion to change the feel of this main lumbar support area and it’s surprisingly impactful, I could clearly feel the change in support as I inflated and deflated it. I’m not usually one for aggressive lumbar support bulges so tended to run this at a pretty minimal setting, but there’s an impressive range here that should have a setting for all users. I also can’t fault how simple it is to adjust, just a few presses of a button on the back changed the feel of the chair quite significantly.
The armrests, as is so often the case with expensive modern chairs, are where things fall apart on the FlexiSpot C7 Morpher. Multi-directional movement is a trend across every premium chair right now and I hate it. Stop making my armrests move in every conceivable direction, I just don’t need it. On the C7 Morpher it’s particularly bad, in fact it’s possibly the worst I’ve tested. On top of the classic up and down, the generously-padded armrest cushions spin 360 degrees and the supporting arm underneath them spins 270 degrees, too. That’s too many degrees. You simply don’t need armrests that move in this many directions. I could get over it though, they do arguably provide an excellent level of adjustability. Except once you’ve found the perfect position, they don’t stay there. Except for height, there’s no way to lock in the position of these armrests and they constantly move anytime you nudge them.
The headrest suffers from exactly the same issue. It adjusts easily enough and I was able to dial it into a position I was happy with, but there’s no resistance holding it there and no way to lock it in. So, the moment you actually lean your head against it, it slides straight back down to its lowest position. For a chair built around dialling in precise support and maximum customisation, it seems to have forgotten that I’d like that to be a consistent experience.
summed up
Don’t get me wrong, the FlexiSpot C7 Morpher is a comfortable enough sit if you’re already sold on mesh chairs, and it’s definitely the best mesh chair I’ve tested. The extra give in the seat base is what wins it for me, it’s almost a hybrid between a traditional cushion and a mesh seat. The ergonomic support is decent too. It reminds you it’s there and has a couple of unique differentiators that fall somewhere between gimmick and upgrade.
But the C7 Morpher is undermined by little things that ruin that premium experience, and there’s not much room for that in a chair you’re asking £829 for. The armrests move all over the place and won’t hold a locked position, the headrest is the same and collapses the moment you actually put any pressure on it, and the overall feel just lacks that high-end edge I expected. I’m not a mesh, strong-ergonomics kind of guy by habit, and while this is the best mesh chair I’ve tested, it’s not going to convince me to make the jump from foam.
