Gaming chairs are a dime a dozen, but every now and again one comes along that breaks the mold. The Herman Miller x Logitech G Vantum is exactly such a chair. Designed to keep you in an active, forward posture, it offers a unique blend of ergonomic features and gamer aesthetics to keep you comfortable, alert, and sitting pretty for hours on end. And while it uses far too much plastic for its $795 price tag, it succeeds in delivering a comfortable sitting experience that promotes fast reaction times where they matter most.
Herman Miller x Logitech G Vantum – Photos
Herman Miller x Logitech G Vantum – Design and Features
The Vantum is the second chair to come out of the recent collaboration between Herman Miller and Logitech G. The first, the Herman Miller x Logitech G Embody Gaming Chair, was well received but was essentially an update to the company’s already-popular Embody chair. At $1,795, it was also firmly out of reach of many gamers.
The Vantum is the first completely original creation to come out of that partnership. At $795 it’s expensive for a gaming chair, but one of the cheapest chairs in Herman Miller’s line-up. For the uninitiated, Herman Miller is one of the biggest, most well-respected brands in the world when it comes to office chairs, and the bulk of its seats regularly sell for $1,000 or more. They’re also well-known to last for ages with proper care and to actually put ergonomics first, which many gaming chairs do not.
That’s certainly the case with the Vantum. At first glance, it looks like a strange hybrid between an office chair and a racing seat. I say strange in the most endearing way possible, because it’s genuinely one of the most unique and cool looking chairs I’ve reviewed since I began writing about tech back in 2015. It’s open and exposed in a way that’s eye-catching, but not ostentatious in the way many gaming chairs tend to be. Though if you prefer something more overstated, it’s available in bright red as well as black and white.
At a glance you can see that it’s designed with ergonomics in mind. It uses a mesh back and fabric seat for breathability and comfort, but the frame is almost skeletal with large cutouts around its spine. Between the frame and mesh are equally skeletal-looking lumbar and thoracic (upper back) supports. Look a little closer and you’ll find a pair of knobs on the bottom lumbar to adjust its plates in and out. There’s no height adjustment, though, which was surprising and disappointing for a chair of this caliber.
The ergonomics carry through to other elements of the Vantum too. A handle on the side of the seat allows it to move in and out and adjust the depth of the seat base. It’s a useful feature to really dial in the angle your back meets the lumbar support and is completely absent on the majority of gaming chairs.
The seat cushion is made of polyurethane foam that’s soft out of the box. It looks and feels similar to much cheaper task chairs, which I initially found dismaying for the high price of the chair. But after spending some time with it, it’s undeniably comfy and didn’t need weeks of break-in time like many gaming chairs I’ve tried. The seat tapers off to a waterfall edge, which is more comfortable and promotes better leg circulation.
Though the chair is clearly designed to promote the best posture, it has a wide, 20-inch seat base that accommodates different seating styles. Over long stretches at my computer, I often tuck one leg under me or even fully cross my legs, and I had no trouble doing that with this chair. Herman Miller says it supports gamers up to 350 pounds, which is impressive for the lightweight construction of the chair.
The seat is also integral to the “forward posture” that lends it its edge for gaming. At 17.5 inches, its seat is noticeably shallower than the competition, which causes you to sit upright and against the lumbar. It’s nearly two inches shallower than the Secretlab Titan Evo 2022 and more than three inches less than the Razer Enki Pro. This forced uprightness can be alleviated by decreasing the recline tension, but it won’t be for everyone. I admit, it was strange at first, but after two weeks of daily use, I can say it worked to keep me more alert and responsive, especially during late night gaming sessions.
The Vantum is also the only chair on Herman Miller’s website to offer a headrest. Like the seat, it uses a polyurethane cushion and is trimmed in polyester. The implementation is fine once it’s in position but it’s a pain to get it there. Adjusting height is much too stiff (tilt is easy), which often caused me to slam it up or down from the amount of force required to get it to move at all.
Recline functions differently than a normal gaming chair. The backrest tilts backward but doesn’t fall back into a full lay like a racing chair. Instead of a single lever to control its position, two knobs under each side of the seat control its movement. The left knob is a tilt limiter and controls how far the backrest will move. Its lowest position locks it upright. The right knob adjusts the level of resistance you feel when pushing back. A dial above each knob measures the adjustment across six steps so you can quickly readjust it when needed.
The left knob also has a height adjustment lever which can raise or lower the chair four inches. That places the height of the seat between 18 and 22 inches, which is perfect for most desks. At its highest setting, I even found it got me a little higher than my Secretlab Titan Evo 2022. At its lowest, it can easily slide underneath my standing desk and its bulky aftermarket drawer.
The armrests are fairly standard fare for gaming chairs. They’re made of firm, but slightly flexible, polyurethane foam that isn’t great on the elbows. They adjust up and down, left and right, and forward and back. The edges taper off to promote comfortable console play, but they’re not easy on the elbows for hard leaning.
Taken as a whole, I really like the chair but I can’t get past just how lightweight and plastic it is. At $800, it’s cheap for a Herman Miller but it’s expensive for a gaming chair, and it doesn’t compare well to construction of much smaller brands. The Cougar Gaming’s Argo is far more solid and makes good use of metal for $300 less. Virtually every part of the Vantum is plastic, including the wheelbase which is a common failure point.
Thankfully, Herman Miller offers one of the best warranties in the business. The Vantum is covered for 12 years, so should anything fail, you should be able to receive support.
Herman Miller x Logitech G Vantum – Assembly
Herman Miller chairs usually don’t require assembly, and though the Vantum does, it can be done by a single person in less than a minute. It comes in a massive box, but that’s because while it’s not completely assembled, it’s most of the way there. The backrest and seat are one unit, and the wheelbase already has the wheels and gas piston in place. The only thing left to do is put the chair on the piston and slide the headrest into its slot. Even taking the time to snap a picture of the headrest, I was done in less than a minute, completely toolless.
Herman Miller x Logitech G Vantum – Performance
I’ve spent years hearing about how great Herman Miller chairs are and was excited to try one for myself. And though I initially took the company’s marketing claims about promoting alertness with a grain of salt, I have to admit that they’re onto something with this design. It took some getting used to, but once I did, the Vantum completely replaced my usual task chair, the more expensive Vertagear Trigger 350 SE for both gaming and work.
During the day, I spend hours at my PC. After my day job, I’m writing reviews like this one. After my kids are down, I settle in for some late night gaming. Sitting for so long, especially at the end of a long day, the body will unconsciously relax and begin to slouch. That posture can make you feel sluggish and lethargic, slowing reaction time and typing speed.
The Vantum forced me into a ready posture, which sounds rigid and uncomfortable, but isn’t. The upper and lower supports in the backrest provided just enough support to make sitting that way feel natural — after I got used to it at least. At first, it felt like I couldn’t get far enough back in the seat. That faded after an hour or so and sitting more upright began to feel more normal than not.
If you’re like me, you may be thinking that any gaming chair can sit upright, and that’s true. None of them force you to slouch, after all, and most can lock in an upright position to keep you that way. With a normal chair, even an ergonomic task chair, you have to actively remember to sit as upright as the Vantum positions you normally. It takes effort. Racing seats also tend to lack the necessary support in the upper back, or are too contoured, which can cause you to lean forward, promoting back and neck pain.
The upper and lower back supports did a good job, even if they do seem a bit too plasticky for the cost of the chair. The lower lumbar support would benefit from being height adjustable to make it perfect but was wide enough to work well for me. I’m 5’8”, though, so taller users may have a different experience. The upper thoracic support seemed gimmicky at first, but came in clutch providing that extra bit of upper back support for its upright posture.
Just as claimed, the result of this design is indeed faster reaction times and more alertness. I felt the improvements in late night rounds of Battlefield 2042 but was able to measure them in an unlikely place: typing speed tests. Across the nights I used my normal chair, I averaged a typing speed of 108 WPM in MonkeyType. On nights with the Vantum, I averaged 121 WPM. Posture makes a difference and, at least for me, it was measurable.
No one wants to be on task all the time, and that’s where the Vantum falls behind the competition somewhat. Lowering the recline tension allows you to kick back and put your elbows up with a controller, but you can’t add inches to the seat and a deep recline just isn’t possible. I was able to get comfortable, but if you’re the kind of person who likes to nap in their gaming chair, it’s probably best to look elsewhere.
Verdict
Gaming chairs often leave you paying for looks, and though that may partially be true of the Vantum too, you’re also getting a chair that delivers on its promise of increasing alertness and reaction time. For some gamers, that forward-postured, ergonomic design is going to make this chair great. But if you’re stretching your budget to afford it, the heavy use of plastics may be disappointing. So, the Vantum may not be for everyone, but it remains a comfortable, supportive seat with one of the best warranties in the business, and is one of the most affordable ways to have a brand new Herman Miller gaming chair to call your own.