Duorest Alpha Office Chair Review 2024

Is your current office chair getting a little long in the tooth? Or maybe you don’t currently have an office chair, but you’re suddenly in the market for one.

Whichever the case, if you’ve spent any time on your quest for the “right” chair for you, you already know that the sheer number of choices at your fingertips is simply staggering. In fact, so many options can lead to analysis paralysis if you’re not careful.

No worries, in the sections that follow, we’ll step you through everything this model has to offer. By the time you reach the end of our Duorest Alpha review, you’ll have all the information you need to decide if this is the chair you’ve been searching for, or if the quest must continue.

Before we get to that, though, let’s take a moment to introduce you to the Duorest brand in case you’ve never heard of them.

They’re not one of the big names in the world of office furniture, but they have been in the business for nearly 40 years and have a reputation for quality and excellent post-sales service and support.

And while we agree that 35+ years of experience is a solid base and something to be proud of, it’s worth mentioning that even with that, they are relative newcomers to the market. 

Some companies selling office furniture have been in the business for over a century. That’s not a knock against Duorest office chairs, but it is worth mentioning.

One of the things that sets Duorest apart is that the design teams they have worked for have done a lot to try and reinvent the office chair. Let’s face it: chair technology moves fairly slowly compared to other industries, but you’ll find Duorest right at the forefront of what change there is, and that’s pretty cool.

Duorest Alpha Office Chair Key Features

Variants

The first thing to discuss here is that this chair has two different variants—the Duorest Alpha 60 and the Duorest Alpha 80. 

They are essentially the same chair with the same overall dimensions and adjustable features. The key difference is that the 80 features a hard shell backing for the seatback, giving it more definition and structural integrity.

Headrest Option

It’s also worth mentioning that you can order yours (the model 60 or 80) with or without the headrest. 

Chairs with headrests are differentiated by the letter H in their name, which is why you’ll sometimes see “Duorest Alpha 80H” or “Duorest Alpha 60 H.” 

Finally, be aware that this chair might be listed as the Duorest Alpha A80H in a few places. 

As far as we’ve learned, the A stands for “Alpha,” making this chair unusual in that the acronym is repeated (so it would be like saying the Duorest Alpha Alpha, or The Automatic Teller Machine).

In any case, if you see different letter/model number configurations and they’ve left you confused, that’s what they mean!

Seatback Design

The big thing about the chair itself is the seatback design. Almost every office chair on the market today sports a single-piece seatback. Here, you’ll find the conventional seatback, but it’s split down the middle, so it’s in two pieces.

While this looks a bit unusual and may be offputting to some, it’s actually a superb design and a great example of what we were talking about earlier when we mentioned Duorest’s tendency to be at the forefront of industry change.

The two-piece seatback design is better ergonomically, and it makes it easier for the design team to create a chair that moves with you as you sit in it and shift your weight. That’s key because the chair is always there to support you ergonomically, no matter how you move and shift around over a given day.

That is at the heart of this model’s design, making this an exceptionally strong component of our Duorest Alpha review.

The only potential problem with that is that some people just want an office chair that will blend in—something that will fade into the background of whatever room they put it in.

This chair doesn’t do that, mostly owing to the unusual design of the seatback, so if you’re looking for something designed along more conventional lines, this probably isn’t the chair for you.

Available Colors

If you’re okay with the overall look, however, you’ll find a delightful number of color and customization options available—some of which we hinted at before. You can choose to get yours with or without the hard shell backing, with or without the headrest, and you can order the base in three colors (white, black, or polished aluminum).

Upholstery

In addition, depending on the type of upholstery you choose, you can order it in various colors.

If you opt for textile upholstery, you can select blue, brown, green, red, grey, or black. 

Whatever color option you select, the seat is padded with moderate polyurethane fill. 

There’s enough present to provide a comfortable seating experience for moderate daily use, but if you consider yourself a power user (more than, say, 6 hours a day), you’ll probably want to invest in some additional padding—perhaps a memory foam seat pad, for example.

If you decide that the mesh seat is a better fit for you, you can select either black, blue, brown, or green.

If you’re not sure which is “better,” ultimately, that comes down to how much time you spend in the chair.

A mesh seat’s big strength is that it’s incredibly breathable. That’s handy if you only use the chair for shorter stints, but the more time you spend in the chair, the more important the padding becomes. Padding trumps breathability at a certain point, which varies from person to person.

The key question, then, is—how big of a block of time are you planning to spend in the chair?

The mesh seat is likely the better choice if the answer is four hours or less. You’ll probably prefer the padded seat if the answer is 4-6 hours. If you plan on spending more time than that in the chair, then the odds are good that you’ll buy additional padding anyway. But even if you don’t, the padded seat will provide more comfort than not.

Chair Specifications

That is good but looks and color choices will only get us so far. We must dig into the numbers defining the model to get to know this chair and see what it offers. With that in mind, here’s a quick overview:

There’s a lot to like about these numbers. First, we love that the seat depth is adjustable. You don’t find that on most office chairs on the market today, though it is becoming more common on chairs offered at this price point and is an excellent addition here.

Second, the seat width is a good, logical pairing with the supported weight limit, which, at 300 pounds, aligns with the informal standard that furniture manufacturing companies have gravitated to.

Third, the seat height range is good, straddling the line between big and tall territory and seat heights that better fit shorter folk. These are great numbers from top to bottom; having said that, we’ll leave this section to take a deeper look!

The Duorest Alpha Is A Wonderfully Adjustable Chair

This is another incredibly strong component of our Duorest Alpha review. In the previous section, we discussed the adjustable seat depth and the height adjustment range, so there’s no need to do so again here. Besides that, there are plenty of adjustable features to highlight here!

Let’s start with the seatback. The seatback is moderately height adjustable, though it’s important to remember that it has two sections, so you’ll need to adjust both. You can do that by moving it up as much as 1.7”. 

The range is a bit underwhelming, but the fact that the seatback can be adjusted is huge and something you rarely see in the office chair world.

Also note that you can adjust the seatback width, which you can’t do in office chairs that feature a single piece. By having two separate sections, you can slide them further apart, giving you a bit more seatback room if you need it.

In addition, the headrest can be height-adjustable, with a range of 2.8”, and it can also pivot, allowing you to set the angle to as much as 64 degrees if you wish.

If that wasn’t enough, the chair tilts and reclines to a maximum of 20.5 degrees. 

This feature and the tilt tension control are accessed via a lever under the seat. Four different tilt levels are available, giving you surprising flexibility.

In addition, the armrests are insanely adjustable. You can adjust them for height within a 2.4” range. You can move them backward or forward (also within a 2.4” range) and adjust their angle, pointing them inward or outward by up to 15 degrees in either direction.

The Duorest Alpha Has One Incredible Extra

We regard this as yet another incredibly strong component of our Duorest Alpha review because, let’s face it, when you think of office chairs, ”extras” usually aren’t at the forefront of your mind.

Here, we regard the Ergonomic Duorest System, which we mentioned at the start, as the “something extra special” that this model brings.

No matter how you shift and move in the chair, it moves with you to help keep your posture ergonomically correct. Of course, the chair offers many color options, two different seat design options, and a whole raft of customization and personalization adjustments.

The long and the short of it is that if you decide you want one of these, you can get it your way⁠—the color you want, the kind of seat you want, with or without the headrest.

And when it arrives at your door, you’ll be able to tweak the adjustment settings so that when you sit down in the chair, it fits you like a glove, and that’s awesome.

Some Assembly Is Required

File this away under “Things That Should Shock Exactly No One.” As is the case with almost every office chair on the market today, if you decide you want one, it will arrive at your door in a big box and in several pieces.

You’ll have to play the whole “Unbox and Sort The Pieces” game before you can start putting the thing together.

Putting it together, though, is pretty simple. From unboxing to sitting down for the first time, it will probably only take you fifteen minutes, which is good.

Pros and Cons of Duorest Alpha Office Chair

No matter how you slice it, this is a good office chair.

Having said that, there are a couple of potential drawbacks and limitations to be mindful of. First, there’s the weight limit. If you weigh more than 300 pounds, no matter how much you like the design, it just does not work for you.

Second, there’s the design itself. We like the two-piece seatback design. It gives the chair an interesting look, has a good ergonomic design, and is an almost guaranteed conversation starter. Not everybody will agree with that assessment, though, and if you don’t, it’s easy to find a different chair that gives you the same level of adjustability without “looking weird.”

Finally, there’s the cost. 

This is a pretty pricey piece of office furniture. It’s not the most expensive on the market—not by a long shot—but plenty of cheaper options exist if you’re on a budget.

Those are the “Big Three” potential gotchas. In every other respect, this chair is awesome.

Duorest Alpha Review Conclusion

We like this chair, but we don’t quite love it. Assuming the aesthetic isn’t a big deal for you, we recommend it. It’s a great chair with many customization and personalization options available, and what’s not to like about that?

Other Options To Consider

If, having reached the end of this review, you’re not completely sold on the Durorest Alpha, and you’re curious to see what other options may be available, here are a couple of others that are well worth considering:

Offered by the South Korean office furniture juggernaut, the T50 is an insanely good chair and nearly as adjustable as the one we just talked about. The catch, though, is that this one is only offered in mesh, so if you’re looking for a fabric-clad chair, this one won’t work for you. Otherwise, it’s a great alternative.

Once you sit in a Herc, every other office chair will feel like a toy. This chair is a monster. It’s not only physically huge but also the final word in rugged durability. 

It’s a basic chair, so it doesn’t offer nearly as much customization and adjustability, but it supports an incredible amount of user weight and is delightfully comfortable.

Author’s note: As I write this review, I am sitting in a Flash Furniture Hercules I’ve had for nearly five years. The fabric is getting a little tattered, but the chair itself is just fine. I think if I threw it into an active volcano, I’d find it on my front porch the next morning, smoking but ready to get back to work—these things are tough!)

Official Manufacturer Support

REFERENCES AND RESOURCES

• Duorest Alpha Office Chair, Official Brand Website.
• Duorest Alpha Office Chair User Manual.
• Proper Sitting for a Healthy Back, University of Michigan Health.
• An Empirical Study of Preferred Settings for Lumbar Support on Adjustable Office Chairs, Taylor and Francis Online. 
• Does Using a Chair Backrest or Reducing Seated Hip Flexion Influence Trunk Muscle Activity and Discomfort?, SAGE Journals.