Razer Iskur Gaming Chair review

The Iskur is Razer's first gaming chair. I'll let that settle in for a second, but that's right, one of the world's biggest gaming peripheral makers has only just released something for gamers to sit on. Gaming chairs are practically ubiquitous in 2020 and have been for a few years so it's a bit of a surprise that one of the biggest gaming peripheral makers, Razer, has never had one.

That glaring hole in its impressive product line up has finally been remedied. This $500 chair isn't the cheapest nor is it the most expensive (that dubious honor belongs to the Herman-Miller/Logitech collaboration) but the middle of the road price doesn't mean an average chair.

No sir, the Iskur comes packed with the very best of gamer-centric features designed not just for comfort but better health through better posture. The Iskur is a formidable looking chair with it's all black multi-layer leather and almost luminescent green stitching. The frame is beefy, giving the chair more of a throne look than a gaming chair. And if you weren't sure just by looking at it, then the emblazoned 'For Gamers, By Gamers' tagline should erase any doubts as to the function of this chair.

I was concerned it'd be quite a challenge to assemble considering the massive box it arrived in. The delivery truck had to stop in the middle of the street to unload my gigantic package and I couldn't help but feel rather smug. Too bad there wasn't anyone around to watch. But I digress. 

Assembling the Iskur was actually an easy enough process, thanks to the included visual aid. There's also a QR code that brings up a handy video tutorial for those less inclined to figure out charts and icons. It took me about 40 minutes to put the Iskur together, but that's mainly because I was savoring the experience and taking tons of pictures and videos along the way. In reality, it would take less than 20 minutes to put it all together. 

Once I sat in the Iskur, I was struck by how much the chair enveloped me, immediately reinforcing the idea of a throne. That's also because of the solid feel of the chair, from the tough leather to the soft-touch armrests—the Iskur is not flimsy. The cushions are tough, offering support for weights up to 130Kg. I did find the seat cushion a little too tough for me though, and I kept shifting my weight around throughout the course of the day. 

There's plenty of control for height and tilt although it's rather difficult to lean back in the Iskur. It's designed to keep you sitting upright and it requires quite a bit of effort (and balance) to put the chair in a leaning position. The armrests are 4D, which means they can not only move up and down but also move further in or out and even swivel. You really can't fail to find a good fit.

But the real star of the show is the new adjustable lumbar support mechanism. Unlike other gaming chairs that have a permanent contour shape or use extra pillows for lower back support, the Iskur uses a piston actuated lumbar curve that pushes a panel forward and outward to give you more or less lumber support. 

Simply pull a lever and the lower back panel comes out to help align your spine for that perfect posture. To adjust it, simply pull on the lever and push back on the panel until you get to a comfortable fit for your height and back. 

The system works wonderfully but to be honest, I didn't like it. My biggest gripe is that the panel rises from the bottom where your butt is, forcing you to move forward in the chair to accommodate it and forcing me to lean backward to get support for my shoulders. I just found this incredibly uncomfortable.

Adding the sexy memory foam neck pillow only aggravated my discomfort as it forced my neck to bend forward out of alignment with my shoulders which got painful in a matter of minutes. After playing around with a variety of positions, I left the lumbar in its default position and got rid of the pillow which immediately made the Iskur far more comfortable for long use. 

The Razer Iskur is a handsome and imposing gaming chair, with excellent attention to detail and an enormous number of ways to adjust to your particular needs. Unfortunately, the lumbar support mechanism, while a brilliant idea, simply caused me far more strain than comfort. I'm sure an Iskur V2 will improve on this mechanism but until then, if you can try it out in a store, do that before buying.