Are you on a tight budget? Do you need a basic, functional, reasonably comfortable office chair right now?
You may be interested in one of Devoko’s chairs if you answered yes to either of those questions.
We’ll say upfront that most people aren’t interested in the Devoko Office Chairs. The market for budget-priced furniture is crowded, and these days, you can find some surprisingly good deals for not very much money.
The one big thing Devoko has going for it is price. These are some of the cheapest office chairs you’ll find anywhere, and that’s the problem.
Made from the lowest-quality materials and offering a limited set of features, a modest amount of searching will reveal that you can buy a much better office chair for much less.
On the other hand, sometimes, and in some cases, you need a chair right now. You don’t care what it looks like, and you’re not going to need it for long (because you’ll soon get something better anyway), but right now – you need a chair. In those cases, Devoko is a great option.
In the following sections, we’ll explain the company’s various models so you can decide if one is right for you. Before we do that, though, let’s take a top-level view of the brand.
Devoko Office Chairs Comparison Table
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Primary Rating:
2.9
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Primary Rating:
2.9
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Primary Rating:
3.3
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Value:
4.0
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Value:
4.0
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Value:
4.5
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Comfort:
3.5
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Comfort:
3.5
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Comfort:
3.8
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Aesthetic Flexibility*:
3.0
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Aesthetic Flexibility*:
3.0
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Aesthetic Flexibility*:
3.8
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Brand Reliability:
1.0
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Brand Reliability:
1.0
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Brand Reliability:
1.0
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Summary:
This is the best office chair Devoko makes. It doesn’t have a ton of features, but it’s cheap and functional.
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Summary:
Functionally similar to the computer desk chair, but with a slightly different slant to the design.
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Summary:
A surprisingly good, versatile chair. Limited feature set, but better quality than the rest of the Devoko line.
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Recommended for:
Anyone on a super tight budget or anyone with an immediate need.
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Recommended for:
Its bar height and adjustable foot rest make this an even better chair for musicians than the computer desk chair, but it’s a decent pick for anyone on a very tight budget.
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Recommended for:
Anyone on a budget.
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Overall Dimensions:
22” x 22” 48.5”
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Overall Dimensions:
19.7” x 18.3” x 50”
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Overall Dimensions:
24” x 23” x 38.5” to 42”
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Chair Weight:
31.6 pounds
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Chair Weight:
30.7 pounds
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Chair Weight:
28.2 pounds
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Max. Supported Weight:
250 pounds
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Max. Supported Weight:
280 pounds
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Max. Supported Weight:
280 pounds
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Recline Range:
NA (though the chair does rock back and forth slightly)
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Recline Range:
NA
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Recline Range:
NA (though the chair does rock back and forth slightly)
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Seat Width:
22”
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Seat Width:
18.3”
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Seat Width:
18.5”
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Seat Height:
16.5” to 20.5”
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Seat Height:
21.5” to 30.5”
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Seat Height:
17” to 20.5”
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Seat Depth:
22”
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Seat Depth:
19.7”
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Seat Depth:
21”
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Primary Rating:
3.4
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Primary Rating:
3.2
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Primary Rating:
4.3
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Value:
3.7
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Value:
2.8
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Value:
4.0
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Comfort:
3.5
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Comfort:
4.0
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Comfort:
4.8
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Aesthetic Flexibility*:
3.0
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Aesthetic Flexibility*:
2.8
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Aesthetic Flexibility*:
4.0
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Brand Reliability:
1.0
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Brand Reliability:
1.0
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Brand Reliability:
1.0
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Summary:
A reasonably comfortable desk chair, but narrowly focused toward smaller users.
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Summary:
A passable, but not great gaming chair. It reclines to “napping position” but skips the Ottoman, which gives you an idea of what you’re getting here. This is a gaming chair designed by a team that doesn’t understand gaming chairs.
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Summary:
Definitely a niche product, but a decent quality kneeling ergonomic chair.
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Recommended for:
Shorter people who can make use of the headrest. This would have been a better model if the company had made the back higher.
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Recommended for:
Anyone who needs a light duty gaming chair and can’t afford to put much into it.
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Recommended for:
Anyone in the market for a reasonably priced ergonomic kneeling chair
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Overall Dimensions:
19.5” x 18.5” x 45.5” to 48”
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Overall Dimensions:
19.8” x 20.5” x 46.6” to 50.5”
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Overall Dimensions:
26” x 18.5” x 21” to 28”
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Chair Weight:
38.5 pounds
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Chair Weight:
45.5 pounds
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Chair Weight:
24 pounds
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Max. Supported Weight:
280 pounds
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Max. Supported Weight:
300 pounds
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Max. Supported Weight:
250 pounds
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Recline Range:
NA (though the chair does rock back and forth slightly)
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Recline Range:
90 to 180 degrees
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Recline Range:
NA
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Seat Width:
18.5”
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Seat Width:
20.5”
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Seat Width:
16”
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Seat Height:
17.5” to 21”
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Seat Height:
16.1” to 20”
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Seat Height:
16” to 20”
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Seat Depth:
19.5”
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Seat Depth:
19.5”
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Seat Depth:
12”
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*While aesthetics is a matter of taste, aesthetic flexibility measures how easily a given design would fit into a wide range of home décor schemes.**Brand Reliability is a measure of the strength and longevity of the brand, which by extension, is a measure of the level of support you can expect.
Devoko Office Chairs In More Detail
It’s possible to find budget-priced furniture that offers a one-year warranty. Those companies are the exception, but they’re out there. Devoko isn’t one of those companies. Their furniture comes with a 30-day warranty, which gives you some idea of where it resides on the quality scale.
As with most furniture sold in the value segment of the market, if you buy one of these chairs, when it arrives at your doorstep, it will come in a box, unassembled.
The production quality is higher than the quality of the materials, so assembly is easier than you might expect. On average, if you’re doing it solo, it should take about thirty minutes. If you have an assistant who can lend you an extra pair of hands, you can shave ten minutes off of that.
All the chairs offer basic ergonomic supports, but they’re not especially well-implemented, and none are adjustable. Given the modest price of the office chairs in the product lineup, that’s not much of a surprise, but it’s worth mentioning.
Now, let’s take a closer look at the company’s specific models for sale.
Devoko Computer Desk Chair
Recommended For: Anyone on a super tight budget or anyone with an immediate need.
While Devoko doesn’t have a “flagship model” per se, this chair could reasonably be considered to hold that position. It’s the best and most feature-rich chair the company offers.
The Devoko Computer Desk Chair does not recline but rocks back and forth slightly. The arms flip up, making it easier to store under your desk when you’re not using it. This is also useful for some musicians or other artists.
The base is nylon, which isn’t nearly as strong or durable as aluminum or steel, so don’t expect this chair to last or to stand up well to the rigors of heavy daily use. The seatback is mesh, and the seat is breathable, reasonably well-padded, and comfortable. This model also features a modestly padded PU-upholstered headrest. It’s not adjustable, so check the chair’s measurements against your own to verify that the two of you will be a good fit!
Devoko Drafting Chair
Recommended For: Its bar height and adjustable footrest make this an even better chair for musicians than the computer desk chair, but it’s a decent pick for anyone on a very tight budget.
This chair is functionally similar to the computer desk chair described above in our Devoko Office Chair review, but there are a few design differences to note. In no particular order, these are:
Like the computer desk chair, it keeps the flip-up arms, which makes this a great drafting chair and an ideal choice for musicians. The Devoko Office Drafting Chair also features the same mesh seat back and breathable cloth seat cushion, with adequate but not exceptional block foam padding.
It’s not an ideal chair for several consecutive hours sitting in, and it won’t stand up well to heavy daily use. Still, given its astonishingly low price, replacing it when it invariably wears out is simple.
Devoko Modern Conference Chair
Recommended For: Anyone on a budget. Limited feature set, but better quality than the rest of the Devoko line.
This is a simple chair, but it is of much better quality than expected. Its base is stainless steel rather than nylon, which makes it significantly more rugged and durable. Although it’s sparsely padded, it’s upholstered with bonded leather.
Bonded leather is real leather, but it’s made from scraps fused together, making it less durable and supple than grain leather. The relative lack of padding makes it unsuitable for long-term sitting, but if you only plan to use the chair a few hours a day (light duty), it will serve you well.
Given the above, the modern conference chair is a strange mix of features. On the one hand, the stainless-steel base makes it more capable of withstanding the rigors of heavier daily use. On the other hand, the lack of padding and the bonded leather upholstery both work directly against that (the bonded leather because it will start showing its age quickly with heavy daily use).
Even though some of its features conflict with the others, this is still one of the best chairs in the Devoko lineup and the company’s best ergonomic design. This is owing mostly to the seatback’s S-shaped design, which follows the natural curve of your spine.
If they had included even a bit more padding, this model would be one of the best in the value segment of the market. As it stands, it’s above average but falls short of greatness.
Devoko Desk Chair with Headrest
Shorter people who can make use of the headrest. This would have been a better model if the company had made the back higher.
This is a strange design. It’s a chair with a short (mid-back) seat back and a headrest.
Since the seat back is so short, only shorter, people will be able to use the headrest. Taller users will leave it off, giving them the same chair as the “mid-back desk chair” we’ll discuss below.
So, Devoko took the mid-back desk chair, tossed a moderately padded mesh headrest, and called it a new model. Aside from that addition, it’s the same chair as the one we’ll discuss next.
Our best guess is that in response to customer complaints about the shortcomings of the company’s product offerings, they “redesigned” this chair to make it more feature-rich. Unfortunately, they picked a poor model to add a headrest and opted for the shortcut instead of doing it right. That’s the only explanation that makes sense to us. No one who understands furniture would make that kind of change.
In any case, the headrest notwithstanding, it’s a decent mid-back chair with fixed-position arms and an adaptive lumbar support band running along the back of the seat. The idea is that the more weight you put against the seat, the more the support band supports you.
It’s a good idea and, when well implemented, can be super effective. Here, the implementation is adequate but not exceptional. It’s better than nothing, but we can’t call this a great ergonomic design.
Devoko Mid-Back Desk Chair
As mentioned, this is the same chair as the “Desk Chair with Headrest” described above, except that this chair doesn’t have an attached headrest, nor should it. It is, after all, a mid-back chair, so adding a headrest would only benefit very short people.
This chair has all the same features as the one we just described, including the lumbar support band. It’s ten bucks cheaper, too. So, unless you’ve compared your measurements to the chair’s and could benefit from adding the headrest if you’re trying to decide between the two models, this is the one we’d recommend.
Devoko Ergonomic Gaming Chair
Recommended For: Anyone who needs a light-duty gaming chair and can’t afford to put much into it.
As with most of the chairs in the Devoko lineup, you can get a significantly better gaming chair for not much more money. Even so, this one’s not horrible, so if you need something in a pinch, this one will at least get the job done.
Sadly, with just a bit more effort, this could have been a decent gaming chair. Although the Devoko Ergonomic Gaming Chair utilizes a nylon base, it’s reinforced and rated for up to 300 pounds of user weight.
Had the company opted for an aluminum base paired with the stylish racing-style seat, they would have had the makings of a hit. Unfortunately, the chair seems to have been designed by a group that doesn’t understand furniture or gamers.
For instance, it reclines an impressive 180 degrees and lays flat. The company even calls this “napping position,” but good luck napping in it since there’s no Ottoman. You could rig up your own, but you shouldn’t have to. If you spend just a few more bucks, you can get the same basic chair with an Ottoman and an aluminum base.
Sadly, this is par for the course with Devoko. Most of their products seem…unfinished, and some feature downright strange design decisions, like this one and the conspicuous absence of an Ottoman for a chair that lays flat, or a headrest on a mid-back chair, or a chair with a rugged, durable stainless-steel base paired with limited padding, so the features work against each other (one making the chair better suited for heavy use, and the other making it poorly suited to heavy use).
If you have to have a gaming chair right now, and you don’t have a lot of money to spend, this one will (barely) get the job done, but honestly, you’re better off saving just a bit more cash and getting something that’s substantially higher quality.
On the upside, it’s a decent-looking chair and is offered in five different color configurations:
Devoko Kneeling Chair
Recommended For: Anyone in the market for a reasonably priced ergonomic kneeling chair
Although this is not the company’s “flagship model,” it is the most expensive office chair they currently have for sale. We were pleasantly surprised by this model. It’s lightweight and more durable than expected, although it has a relatively disappointing maximum supported weight.
Kneeling chairs are a niche product used by a very small slice of the chair-buying public. While they’re the company’s best chair overall, they’re so narrowly targeted that few people will bother giving them a second look.
The frame is hollow aluminum tubing, and the cushions are PU-coated bonded leather. They’re reasonably comfortable, but as with all bonded leather upholstery, it’ll show its age much sooner than you’d prefer.
If you’re in the market for a decent kneeling chair, this one’s recommended, but there aren’t many potential buyers for a product like this.
Pros and Cons of Devoko Office Chairs
The chairs that makeup Devoko’s lineup have two things going for them: Except for the kneeling chair, they don’t cost much money and are not too difficult to put together. On the other side of the equation:
In short, this furniture is about as basic as it gets. That’s not always a bad thing, but the budget segment of the market is crowded, and there are some surprisingly high-quality products for sale for not much money. Because of that, chairs like this tend to be purchased only in the direst of situations when people need something immediately and just for a short period.
Think about people whose homes have been damaged or destroyed by storms and need a few basics to get them by until the insurance rep can write them a check to replace their stuff. College students who are just starting. Starving artists who need something to get them by in the short term. That kind of thing.
It’s not that it’s bad furniture; it isn’t. It’s just that with so much significantly better furniture readily available, chairs like these only make sense in certain particular circumstances and situations.
Devoko Office Chairs Review Conclusion
For just slightly more money, you can get a significantly better chair than any of the models Devoko offers, and on that basis, we can’t recommend the brand. There are just too many other office chair manufacturers offering higher-quality products at the budget end of the market.
Having said that, we’ve all been in situations where we needed simple, functional furniture immediately, and money was tight.
If you are in such a situation, the Devoko Office Chairs are well worth considering. They won’t hold up to long, heavy, or even moderate use, but they’re delightfully inexpensive, reasonably comfortable, and fairly easy to put together.
Note: The kneeling chair is a notable exception in the Devoko line, and we recommend that anyone interested in acquiring one use a specific model.
Recommended Reading
Furmax High Back Ergonomic Desk Chair Review
Our review focuses on the Furmax High Back Ergonomic Office Chair, a stylish and budget-friendly choice.
Giantex Executive Office Chair Review
Our Giantex Executive Office Chair review explores its ergonomic features and overall performance as a budget desk chair.
REFERENCES & RESOURCES
- The Various Types of Gaming Chairs: What’s the Difference?, iHuman Youth Society.
- How to Choose an Office Chair, PhysioMed.
- Analysing How Ergonomic Chairs Can Make Your Staff Happy, Business Matters.
how do I get the drafting chair to go up when I am sitting on it
Hi Donna, and thank you for writing in!
Unfortunately, there’s no good way to get the height of the chair to adjust while you’re sitting in it and putting all your weight on it, because your weight is working against the gas lift. You’ll need to lift yourself off of the seat slightly (just enough to take your weight off of it), then engage the height adjustment lever, and, with your hand still on the lever, holding it in the engaged position, move the chair to its desired height, then release the lever and settle your weight back in the seat. At that point, you’re all set!