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The Hbada X7 Smart made an entrance from the moment the box hit my front step. It’s big. And by big, I mean massive.
I’ve reviewed probably coming up on almost 100 office chairs in my time and in that time, very few if any have come a box so large. But while some chairs feel big when you sit in them, but look average. This one is large in feel and looks, giving the term “robust” a very real example.
HBADA X7 Smart Ergonomic Chair: Unboxing and First Impressions
After taking about 15 minutes to assemble the chair from cutting the box open to sitting back and reclining, I got everything plugged in, and then I kicked back to learn the controls.
Most chairs have a combination of levers and dials; the X7 Smart not only has those, but also gizmos and gadgets to go along with its whosits and whatsits. The controller is attached to the bottom-left seat of the chair via a cable and looks and feels a bit like an old iPod Classic.
Once I got over that brief bout of nostalgia, I got to work by plugging in my chair and setting the lumbar right where I wanted it, checking the heat and ventilation, and testing the massaging function.
My first massage was impressive, it’s not just a vibration, but an actual apparatus moving around the muscles in my lower back. Sure, there’s a pattern, but that’s to be expected. I cranked this up to full power and sat back, enjoying the relief in my lower back that I had not felt in quite some time.
Every time after that, I’d choose medium or high power pretty much every time. Letting that chair dig into my lumbar and offer sweet relief from my days.
The cooling and heating worked wonderfully as well. My wife and son would actually fight over who got to sit in this chair when we were all hanging out as a family.
HBADA X7 Smart Ergonomic Chair: Price and Availability
The Hbada X7 Smart is available direct from Hbada in the US here for $1227 (discounted from $1509 at the time of review). From the UK website here, it’s £1299 (also on sale down from £1509).
The chair is also available from Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk for a similar price.
Now, that price putting it into premium chair level, similar to the likes of Steelcase and Herman Miller chairs. And while I’m not convinced the build quality is comparable, it’s certainly got a lot of features here, including a built-in leg rest that often comes as an optional extra from some chair-makers.
These chairs come with a 5-year warranty and a 30-day money-back return policy if you decide this chair isn’t for you. And, for some, that may be the case. It’s a pretty massive chair, but if you have the space and don’t mind the spaceship look, the comfort you get from this seat is impressive.
HBADA X7 Smart Ergonomic Chair: Design & Build Quality
As I say, this office chair is one big beast, with a broad seat and look that wouldn’t feel out of place aboard a spaceship in a sci-fi movie.
Where it falls apart (not literally), is the build quality. The main part of the chair feels robust, yet there are elements that feel a bit rickety. The leg rest could be a little more stable, though it’s definitely nowhere near the worst I have seen. The headrest feels cheap and like I might break it when adjusting.
The controller, while nostalgic, feels dated. But, the chair itself, the mesh seat and backrest, the armrests, the massager, heater, and ventilation/cooler are all spectacular. So, a mixed bag overall.
HBADA X7 Smart Ergonomic Chair: In use
As I mentioned above, this chair has become a firm favorite of my 7-year-old son, who has a taste for the bougier chairs, as well as my (at the time) very, very, very pregnant wife.
When you sit back in this chair, you can pull out the wired iPod Classic-looking controller and choose an automatic mode, which I rarely use, or manually set a power level and a temperature. I’d pretty frequently choose to cool it, since I run warm, but my co-testers loved cranking the heat on this thing. If cooling, a faint blue light would shine through the lumbar, and if heating, a faint red light would shine through the lumbar.
Day-to-day use, this chair is pretty cumbersome. It’s large, can be hard to move, and feels more like an entire monolith rather than just a chair. Other chairs with heating and cooling elements I have tried have been smaller or more sophisticated, though they were not nearly as built-in as this.
Perhaps the cumbersome nature is simply part of the give-and-take of a chair like this. Regardless, if you’ve got the space and the desire for a chair that is far more than just a place to hold you upright while working, then the HBADA X7 Smart Ergonomic Chair is worth the research and consideration.
HBADA X7 Smart Ergonomic Chair: Final verdict
The Hbada X7 is one of the most over-the-top office chairs that I have ever tested. It’s designed to be.
It’s meant to be comfy, feature-packed, and loaded with goodies. The cooling is fantastic, the heating is great, the massaging actually feels good, and the leg rest helps you enjoy it that much more.
I wish the build quality of elements like the footrest and headrest were stronger – while everything else is a delight, this is the sort of issue that makes it difficult to easily justify the higher cost.
Still, overall the chair is very comfortable (just ask my son), and if you can get over the massive size of the chair, there’s not much else like this climate-controlled massaging throne on the market.
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collin.probst@futurenet.com (Collin Probst)
