AmazonBasics Big & Tall Executive Chair Review 2024

Amazon offers various products, selling them alongside companies specializing in specific product classes. Among other things, AmazonBasics office chairs are surprisingly good, and they haven’t forgotten to include some products aimed squarely at the big and tall market segment.

Amazon’s products are quite good, and this office chair is no exception. As you’ll see, AmazonBasics’ Big and Tall Executive Chair has limitations and shortcomings. Still, if you’re on a budget, it’s worth considering and definitely belongs on your shortlist.

In the following sections, we’ll discuss the chair in detail, highlighting its best and worst features so you’ll have all the information you need to make an informed purchasing decision. If that sounds good to you, let’s get right to it!

Key Features of the AmazonBasics Big and Tall Executive Chair

Unobtrusive. That’s the first word that will probably spring to mind when you see the AmazonBasics Big and Tall Executive chair for the first time. Amazon didn’t take any chances with the design, opting for a tried-and-true approach by designing an office chair along purely conventional lines.

That’s not a bad thing, and the result is a reasonably good-looking chair but unobtrusive enough that it won’t stand out in whatever room you put it in. Note that the big and tall office chair is either black or brown, making it even easier to blend seamlessly with the other furniture in your home, whatever your décor scheme.

Chair Specifications

Here are the chair’s basic stats:

There are a couple of important points to discuss here. First, we love that this chair features a wide, deep seat and a height adjustment range ideal for big and tall users. Second, the weight limit is surprisingly modest, reaching 350 pounds.

This is acceptable for big and tall office chairs, but plenty of other products on the market far outstrip it. While it’s suitable for a big chunk of the big and tall market, that limitation won’t make it the right chair for everyone.

We’ll have more to say about some of the other stats in the next section.

Adjustability

This section has a surprising amount to discuss because, for such a modestly priced chair, the AmazonBasics Big and Tall offers quite a bit of adjustability.

As mentioned in the last section, the height adjustment range puts this chair firmly in the big and tall category. Its base height is just over 18″ and rises to 22.25″. That’s impressive and, in our view, comes close to the ideal.

Adjustable Lumbar Support

The big thing to discuss here is that this chair offers lumbar support and an adjustable lumbar support system.

That’s huge. It allows you to customize your seating experience without sacrificing the chair’s most crucial ergonomic feature. We love it. Honestly, we believe this should be a standard feature of every office chair. Sadly, it’s not, but it would be awesome if it were!

Comfort

Turning our attention to comfort, we find that this model falls short. Granted, it’s far from uncomfortable and is solidly above average. Still, finding a more comfortable office chair on the market is not difficult, even among comparably priced offerings.

Padding

Upholstery

The other thing that detracts from the chair’s comfort is that it’s upholstered in leather. It looks pretty, no doubt, but there’s a problem. If you spend more than a few hours in the chair, you’ll get hot and start sweating because the leather doesn’t breathe.

The company has taken one important step to counter that fact: the seat back is perforated, which allows for better airflow.

Even in the best cases, bonded leather doesn’t tend to stand up well to the rigors of heavy daily use. After about a year, you can expect it to start peeling and splitting. This will happen where the leather is weakest, typically the stitching and perforation areas.

Double stitching would have helped some at the seams, but that’s more expensive and would have raised the price of the chair. Unfortunately, nothing will help the perforated seatback. That was a design decision that would eventually shorten the useful life of the upholstery. In our view, it wasn’t a worthy trade-off because it didn’t do enough to improve the seatback’s breathability.

Assembly Required

It probably comes as no surprise, but when the box is delivered to your door, the chair is inside several large pieces, so you’ll have to assemble it before you can use it.

One of Amazon’s strengths is providing clear instructions, which makes assembly straightforward. You won’t find yourself scratching your head, trying to figure out how the pieces fit together.

The process will take 30-45 minutes from start to finish, although you’re bound to run into a few problematic moments if you assemble it on your own. If you have extra hands helping you, you can cut the assembly time by about ten minutes and save yourself some frustration.

Pros & Cons of the AmazonBasics Big & Tall Executive Chair

The AmazonBasics big and tall executive chair is certainly capable, but it’s not perfect. Its key selling points are its low cost and surprising adjustability.

That said, though it has a relatively modest upper weight limit for a big and tall chair (350 pounds) and is clad in bonded leather, it’s not ideally suited for the rigors of heavy daily use.

Kudos to the company for making an effort to make the seat back more breathable, but at the end of the day, this is still a leather office chair, and you’ll find yourself sweating if you sit in it for long periods.

You’ll also find that the bonded leather doesn’t stand up well over time. It will show its age quickly (peeling and cracking), especially if you plan to use it for several hours a day.

AmazonBasics Big and Tall Executive Chair Review Conclusion

This isn’t the strongest office chair in the Amazon Basics product lineup, but it’s still a cut above and offered by a company with an impeccable track record for service and support.

On that basis, we provisionally recommend the AmazonBasics Big and Tall Executive Chair. It’s ideal for big and tall folk looking for a good office chair for light to moderate daily use, provided you fall within its recommended weight limit.

Recommended Reading

Official Manufacturer Support

REFERENCES & RESOURCES:

• AmazonBasics, Official Brand Website
• How to Reupholster an Office Chair, The Mermaid’s Den.
• Executive and Task Chairs: A Confrontation, Grendene Chairs.
• Computer Office Chairs For Home and Office Use, Carehomedecor.