E-Win Champion Series CPG Fabric Gaming Chair Review: It Gets the Job Done

If you’re sitting at a desk all day, you shouldn’t cheap out on your chair. With gaming chairs becoming increasingly popular, I wondered if the budget-friendly E-Win Champion Series CPG Gaming Chair cut too many corners or if it was ergonomic enough for long-term comfort. I’d say it’s somewhere in the middle.

Update: How-To Geek readers can get 20% off an E-Win gaming chair by using discount code HowtoGeek at checkout.

Assembly Was Easy; Quality Was Worrisome

As with most direct-to-consumer chairs, E-Win ships its Champion Series gaming chair in a large box, only partially assembled. Once everything is removed, you’ll find a handful of bolts, washers, and a hex key to assemble everything.

The most annoying part of the included instructions is that they showed and provided steps for E-Win’s other chairs in the Champion Series. While it was easy enough to figure out what to do differently, there were instructions on attaching the head and lumbar pillows, which don’t pertain to this CPG Fabric model.

The construction of the gaming chair took less than 10 minutes, but I got worried about build quality during the process. As you can see from the first photo above, some of the exposed plastic plates that cover bolts and connection points were unfished, and some were even sharp. I didn’t notice this in day-to-day sitting, but it definitely cheapens the experience. Also, I wouldn’t say I liked that the backrest adjustment handle only consisted of a thin plastic cap over the piece of metal.

And finally, while installing the backrest onto the seat, I could easily feel the metal frame within the cushion. If I could identify the frame with only a firm grip, I thought sitting on the chair for eight hours daily would be painful.

Thankfully, my fear about the frame potentially poking me vanished after my first day sitting on the E-Win Champion Series CPG Fabric Gaming Chair. The bottom cushion was firm but gave just enough to be comfortable. The same could be said about the backrest. It, though, slightly curves to encompass/hug you. Even as someone with broader shoulders, I found this to provide a relaxing sitting environment.

One complaint I do have is with the fabric. While soft and breathable, it is slightly loose around the foam. After sitting on the chair for an extended period, I found that the material tended to bunch up a bit. It’s not the end of the world, but the creases will quickly exaggerate the gaming chair’s age.

I was pleasantly content with E-Win’s hubless casters. They allowed me to roll around smoothly on hard, level surfaces without issue. The experience wasn’t great on my low-pile carpet, but I don’t know many chairs that work well on softer floors.

The Neck Pillow Works, the Lumbar Pillow Doesn’t

E-Win includes two pillows with the Champion Series CPG Fabric Gaming Chair that, in a perfect world, enhance the chair’s comfort. I’d say the company half succeeded.

The neck pillow is made from a similar fabric as the chair, with an elastic band holding it to the top. This attachment method isn’t great, as I had it slip off on more than one occasion, but the padding it provided was comfortable whenever I leaned back.

I can’t say the same about the lumbar pillow. Shaped like a half-moon, you’re supposed to leave the pad pushed up to the base of the backrest, which should provide ergonomic support to your back. Even if I lifted the pillow, its dense foam was uncomfortable and pushed my sitting position too far forward in the chair. I ended up tossing the pillow away.

Other, more premium gaming chairs, like the Secretlab Titan Evo, have built-in ergonomic systems. These can be adapted to your spine by raising or lowering the support and adjusting how far the lumbar system protrudes. A dense foam pillow doesn’t come close to offering enough support that you might need.

More Comfortable Armrests, Please

The armrests are my least favorite hardware components on the E-Win Champion Series CPG Fabric Gaming Chair. They are hard, feel incredibly cheap, and the ridged border on the inside edge is uncomfortable to rest your forearms on. If you push down hard enough, you’ll find that these are actually made out of some sort of dense foam, but it’s so stiff that it provides almost no comfort in everyday use.

Even if E-Win chose not to include more premium armrests with the Champion Series, I wish it would allow customers to upgrade to something better. Again, more premium gaming chair brands like Secretlab include removable armrest tops so that you can pay to use memory foam instead of whatever is the default.

Thankfully, E-Win allows a good amount of customization when adjusting each armrest’s position. Of course, the three buttons that allow you to move the armrest feel only slightly higher quality than the unfinished plastic covering the bolts mentioned earlier. After getting them to comfortable locations, I never readjusted the armrests, so that wasn’t too big of a deal.

The Adjustable Backrest was Surprisingly Nice

For reasons beyond my understanding, for a gaming chair to be classified as a gaming chair, it has to lay almost flat. With some help from the tilting base, you can basically be parallel with the ground after pushing the backrest as far back as it’ll go. I didn’t find this position to be comfortable at all, but the feature is there.

Beyond lying in your chair, I was extremely happy with the tilt and backrest adjustment mechanisms. Using a lever on the left side of the chair, you can either allow the E-Win Champion Series CPG Fabric Gaming Chair to freely rock (there is some resistance, so you’re not just falling backward), or you can lock it into place at whatever tilt is comfortable.

The backrest angle adjustment uses the metal bar on the right side of the chair, which worried me earlier in this review but worked flawlessly. Lifting the bar brings the backrest forward, but applying backward pressure and releasing the handle is all it takes to get it into the perfect position.

While some office chairs I’ve tested overcomplicated this process, I had the Champion Series configured to my liking within seconds.

Should You Buy the E-Win Champion Series Fabric Gaming Chair?

If you’re looking to buy a gaming chair but don’t want to spend half a grand on the best out there, I think the E-Win Champion Series CPG Fabric Gaming Chair is at least worth considering. It’s comfortable enough to sit in for eight hours a day, but it doesn’t offer the ergonomic or premium features you’ll find by spending one to two hundred dollars more.

Update: How-To Geek readers can get 20% off an E-Win gaming chair by using discount code HowtoGeek at checkout.

Now, if you can get this chair on sale, it’d be hard for me not to recommend it. But for nearly $400, I expect more than unfinished plastic pieces and uncomfortable armrests. Even looking at some of E-Win’s other gaming chairs in the Champion Series (which come in at the same price as this one) might be a better option.