Humanscale Freedom Chair with Headrest review

Office chairs can be pricey things. Professional furniture gets that way. You might look at a $500 Secretlab and think it's a bit hard on the wallet, but that's just peanuts when it comes to the sort of ergo-inspired gear you might find arrayed around the swankiest of offices.

'Proper' office furniture can easily cost double that of the best gaming chair, and sometimes even more than that. Right here I have my bottom parked on a Humanscale Freedom Headrest task chair, and it's a serious grown up chair. And it's also $2000.

I guess, in the sort of office where you've spent at least that much on your pink iMac and the same again on some beautifully engineered 'executive toy', that sort of outlay to support your spine and sooth your buttocks makes sense. But can we justify that as a PC gamer?

Honestly, this PC gamer cannot. But this isn't a chair that was really designed for me, though it certainly feels like it from the way it cradles my body as I'm sat at my desk right now. I've been using this chair for months, and have been loving it. But this is a chair for serious people who are serious about ergonomics, and serious enough to want to spend the same amount of money on a chair as we might dream about spending on a gaming PC.

But ergonomics and comfort are not the same thing, and when it comes to the difference between a gaming chair and an office or task chair, then usually that's it: Where most gaming chairs are designed more for kicking back and gaming in comfort, a task chair is primarily created to keep you focused, and ensure that when you're in the office you don't snap your spine on the company's dime.

This is where a chair, such as the NeueChair, differs from its Secretlab stable mates. I have both NeueChair and Secretlab Titan Evo NanoGen seats in my home office—not one for each cheek, thank you; multiple people share the space—and there is a clearly defined difference between them.

The NeueChair is fantastic when you're sat in the active position, angled slightly forward, engaged with the task you're doing. But it's not a seat that encourages lounging by any metric. The Titan Evo, however, our pick as the best gaming chair, will largely cater for both positions, but is arguably at its most comfortable when you're leaning back with a controller in your paws.

But surely there's got to be a chair that will do both? Well, there is, you've just got to pay an inordinate amount of cash for the privilege. In fairness, that's where we've been for a little while with the Herman Miller X Logitech Embody chair—that's a $1,995 place to park your posterior that is sold to offer comfort for gaming and ergonomics. And it is a great gaming chair, to the point where we're almost comfortable justifying the price for this gaming-focused Herman Miller seat.

The Humanscale Freedom chair, however, has not been designed nor marketed for anything gaming related, and yet I've been thoroughly enjoying its support on all counts. It's my current office chair of choice, and I can be supported as I lean forward tapping away on my keyboard and when I want to make a show of leaning back in my chair in what I hope comes across as a brooding and/or thoughtful way.

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The advanced mechanism behind the Dynamic Headrest really is something else. The standard movement of the chairback is impressive, too, in that it maintains the same level of support around the curvature of your spine whether you're sat forward or reclining. Other chairs can do this, maybe not quite so well, but they manage it. Nothing else I've ever tested has been able to shift in such a way as to support my neck and head in every position.

The only physical issue with the chair for me, however—aside from that eye-watering end price—is that I cannot comfortably sit in the worst position: one leg folded under the other in a way that will give any ergonomist a minor stroke. But that's on me. I'm a masochist and I like to switch things up and give myself pins and needles on the regular. But because the seat pan is relatively small, there's no real opportunity for me to sit cross-legged at all.

The other thing I find impressive about the Freedom chair is the distinct lack of knobs and levers. There is a single lever under the seat pan to adjust the height of the chair, and another in the backrest to adjust where you want it to sit in the small of your back. And that's it. No messing around trying to push lumbar support around to try and find a position that actually works, no toying with pushing the seat forward or backwards, it's incredibly simple and kinda just gets the job done without you having to get involved.

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You don't even have to fuss about with the arms. There is a synchronous design to them, where they have a levered adjustment that means you just have to lift one of them up to adjust both of them. There will be some chair brands that suggest gamers need more arm adjustments, and there is maybe something to be said for being able to give your elbows more tight support when you're using a controller, but the default positioning already feels good in the reclined position.

But the Freedom chair is nothing if not customisable. For another ~$200 you can pick the advanced armrests which do come with lateral movement.

Then there's the look. When chasing this review sample I asked for something bright, and, what I believe is Hallingdal 65 colour 0840, is certainly that. The blue fabric certainly brightens up the office, as does the polished chrome of the mechanical bits. Though that side of the customisation dance adds another near $400 onto the pricetag. Pretty, but ouch.

But is any of that enough to convince me I ought to be saving my pennies to drop on a hugely expensive office chair? Honestly... no. I do really like the Freedom chair, and the Dynamic Headrest really works for me. But my rear is regularly, and happily ensconced in a Secretlab chair that is almost a quarter of the price, and it's yet to come close to making me feel like my spine is in danger. So, for most people I would say just pocket the difference.

But if you are not most people, and yearn for some expensive office furniture to write off against tax, Humanscale has sure got the chair for you.