Flexispot BS10 chair review: Costly ergonomics trumps the competition

The Flexispot BS10 is a no-frills, ergonomic chair designed with back support. Does it outshine its gaming chair competitors or should it stay at the office?

While gaming chairs seemingly take over the office space and gaming setups worldwide, is there any room for a chair like the Flexispot BS10 in 2022? Well, if you’re like us, who would rather have practicality over branding, this might be one to keep an eye on.

Key specs

• Max weight supported: 125KG/275lbs
• Max height:
  • 111cm/43 inches with headrest down and lift up
  • 175cm/46.25 inches with headrest up and lift up
• Height adjustment: 47cm/18.5 inches – 56cm/22 inches
• Seat length: 45.5cm/~18 inches
• Material: Nylon
• Where to buy: Flexispot US | Flexispot UK

Assembly

The unit we received of the Flexispot BS10 had clearly been built before. We assume that if you were to purchase the chair directly from the store, it wouldn’t have arrived as ours did.

It arrived in an unassuming box, leading us onto the assembly. While it wasn’t particularly difficult to assemble, though we did run into a minor issue where the screws provided for the headrest, which were already bolted in.

This caused a slight panic during assembly, as we were concerned the full chair wouldn’t get constructed.

However, building the chair only took 45 minutes in total. We’d recommend not doing this alone, as you’ll need to carefully balance the backrest onto the seat. It clips into a small gap, which you then screw, but without an extra pair of hands, it quickly tips over.

This was the first instance where we thought we’d snap something on the chair, but the plastic held true, but the worry still nags away at our brains.

Flexispot BS10: Design and build quality

We’re not sure how it happened, but after a week of using the Flexispot BS10, we no longer had slight back pain, which plagued us in our older office chair. After Inspecting our old chair, it turns out that it was at a slight angle, leaving our spine misaligned during work hours.

With the Flexispot BS10, you’re propped up with a sliding backrest, a comfortable seat, and a headrest that, despite its hard exterior, is nice to lean back into. There’s no leatherette or over-cushioned upholstery here, as the BS10 is designed for ergonomics.

The arms are thick plastic, which encases the metal stalks inside. They feel solid and rarely move unless directly pushed. The only flimsiness in the entire chair’s design is the thin nylon frame on the backrest, which helps your back lean into the more solid, sliding backrest that props you forward.

If you’re more accustomed to the Secretlab style of chair, this will come as a bit of a shock. The entire design is not for looking good, but to assist in ensuring that you’re not ruining your body with hours of game or work time.

Sensibility over everything

It’s a sensible chair, with a build quality that backs it up. This thing withstood our poor building job, the haphazard shipping process, and a week or so of use, with not even any evidence of someone having used it.

This isn’t a gaming chair, it has that vague feeling of being with you forever. Literally becoming a part of the furniture.

Flexispot’s understated design and grey, Office Space look, ensures that it doesn’t stick out awkwardly like the rest of its contemporaries at the moment. Even things like the Mavix M9, still try to be more than it really is, with a futuristic or ‘gamer’ look to things that can turn people off from investing in a decent, helpful chair.

We do also love the wheels on the Flexispot BS10. They’re slick, with no real force needed to swing around or move up and down the room to get something.

Armrest issues

Getting the armrests up to your preferred height is pretty easy, so long as you use some force. The issue then, without consulting the manual, because it’s a chair, is getting them back down. Even after looking over at the manual, we still weren’t entirely sure.

As it turns out, you’re required to pull the arms all the way up to their max height, then pull further and you’ll feel it release, allowing you to then put the armrests back down. It feels like a major flaw, but also one that you might have to deal with once or twice until you’ve found exactly where you want your arms to rest.

It still felt needlessly complex, especially when there are two tabs underneath the rests, that seemingly don’t do anything but allow you to maneuver the armrests into outward or inward positions. For a $400 chair, we expected more on this front.

Flexispot BS10: Comfort

This won’t be a chair you lean back into at the end of the day, as you power on your PC to play some Counter-Strike or Monster Hunter. Instead, it prioritizes ergonomics and ensures that you are not bending your back out of shape during extended periods of sitting down.

Even so, it’s an extremely comfortable chair, with the Flexispot ensuring that it isn’t all business. It’s always good to have that firm, comforting support. While this lacks the cushioned materials of a gaming chair, it makes up for it with its thin nylon back offering decent travel the further you lean back into it.

As the armrests are made of thick, grey plastic and some might find them a little uncomfortable after a while. We, however, found them to be perfect and didn’t mind their rigidity at all.

Should you buy the Flexispot BS10?

Our recommendation comes with a massive asterisk next to it. This isn’t a chair if you want to show off. It’s also not a chair you need to take lightly. At $400, the Flexispot BS10 is an investment, more than anything.

An investment in your well-being, and ensures that you won’t need to buy another chair for a long, long time. While we said we feared we were going to break the chair at a couple of points in the review, we did find that it managed to withhold our manhandling pretty well.

There are some odd decisions, like tabs to pull rather than buttons, and the armrest adjustment being more of an oversight than anything, Flexispot doesn’t seem to care about usability in that capacity.

That’s not really a knock on Flexispot or the BS10 as a whole, as we think this makes for an excellent alternative for those who want something practical over flashy looks. The lack of usability ensures that you don’t fiddle too much with the chair, offsetting the delicate balance of ergonomics that the BS10 delivers in droves.

Though, the important message here is that it cured a small back problem of ours, which we’re positive is because the BS10 forces us to sit properly. Maybe ergonomic keyboards are next.

8/10

You can get the Flexispot BS10 directly from their store: Flexispot US | Flexispot UK