Assembly

After having assembled many chairs, we ask all of you to read the instruction manual before assembly as there is always a good chance to miss a step and make a mistake. The user manual is just a folded page and quite easy to follow since it mostly uses graphics. On its backside are a few words describing the chair's ergonomic features.


Starting with flipping over the five-star base, we press the stands into the openings and, after having placed the five caster wheels, turn the base the right way to insert the gas lift into its opening. In order to continue, we need to turn the seat's base upside down to remove the four bolts which are pre-installed to the metal brackets.


With that done, we install the base support's mechanism by securing it with the four bolts we initially removed. Make sure the label with "front" points towards the front. The footrest is then inserted through the two tubes that are underneath the seat's base, before it is secured with a couple of small bolts.


There are two openings for the bolts, which should be on the upside. If not, remove the footrest and reinsert it into the tubes. After having installed the footrest, flip the base the right way up and align it with the opening of the gas lift, which is under the seat's base.


Two metal brackets, which are attached to the seat's base, must be inserted into the openings of the backrest. Lift the backrest, align it with the metal brackets, and slide the backrest downward. Two bolts have to be inserted into the openings on each side of the backrest to secure the backrest. The bolts have a round design that appears to be decorative and does not ruin the aesthetics of the chair. Lastly, one can install the two provided cushions for additional support and comfort.

Assembling the Achilles was easy and took us about 15 minutes to complete. We would recommend two people since some parts of its assembly are much easier with another pair of helping hands around.

Initial Impression

First impressions are important. If something or someone makes a bad initial impression, you just hope your impression will change someday, be proven wrong, but it usually is not. We came across the Achilles for the first time at the Gamdias booth during Computex 2018, and it struck us as an interesting chair for more than one reason. The stitching design is impressive, as is the perforated upholstery cover. It appears Gamdias paid lots of attention to the details and produced a chair that looks good and doesn't cost a bomb. The cushioning is voluminous, which makes this chair comfortable to sit in for even larger users.


Even though the Achilles uses high-density foam, its overall profile is pretty slim. Also, the 4D armrests are adorned with a pattern that resembles carbon fiber, and they are broader than most we have come across so far, and smooth to the touch. The RGB lighting and its control software surely are assets since fancy lighting enjoys great popularity nowadays.


We need to be thorough in checking on how useful RGB lighting is in a gaming chair since chairs are meant to move around a lot, and this one will have to be connected to either a PC or a power bank through a USB port; large movements could create problems if the cable is not long enough and the chair is connected to a USB port that can't move (of a PC, for example).

A major advantage of this product is its support for extra large users since it can cope with a body weight of up to 200 kg (440 lb). Unfortunately, we don't know someone as large we could ask to try out the Achilles.


The integrated footrest was left to last because we never before encountered a chair with this feature. After having tried it out, we believe that every chair should come with a footrest, even as an extra accessory.

All of these features make for a chair that has some interesting aspects we closely examined and evaluated during our try-out period, which lasts for about a month.