In a Nutshell:
The Flash Furniture Hercules Mesh Executive Office Chair is big, rugged, sturdy and durable. It is a basic chair that will serve you well. Recommended for anyone on a budget.
Value for the Money
Comfort
Brand Reliability*
Aesthetic Flexibility**
Overall Rating
3.9/5
Benefits
Drawbacks
Recommended For: Anyone on a budget.
Are you in the market for a good-quality mesh office chair that covers the basics but won’t cost you an arm and a leg?
Have you been pulling your hair out, trying to find a chair that’s big and sturdy enough for you?
If you answered yes to either of those questions, you’ll love this review. Flash Furniture is the best little off-brand most people have never heard of. They don’t have a high profile or much in the way of name recognition, but make no mistake—these guys know office furniture, and Flash Furniture chairs are surprisingly great.
Many off-brands tend to take the following approach when designing products for sale: They’ll use substandard materials to keep the price low and throw many features into their products, hoping that some will be good enough to make whatever they’re selling attractive to the average consumer.
Flash doesn’t do that. It uses better-than-average materials and only focuses on a few key features, implementing them very well. This results in a low-cost product that’s not terribly feature-rich but much higher quality than you’d expect from an off-brand.
It’s a strategy that works and one we’re very fond of, which is why Flash Furniture is so often featured in our “best of” roundup reviews. It nips at the heels of big brands with national or global footprints.
In the sections that follow, we’ll go over everything the Flash Furniture Hercules Mesh Executive Office Chair can do and tell you about the things it can’t do so you’ll have all the information you need to make an informed purchasing decision.
We think you’ll agree even if you ultimately decide that this isn’t your chair. This is a surprisingly great piece of office furniture! Let’s jump right in and take a closer look at it.
Key Features of the Flash Furniture Hercules Mesh Executive Office Chair
The first thing you’ll notice about the Flash Furniture Hercules Mesh Executive Office Chair is that it’s a big, hulking brute of a chair. It looks heavy (because it is). It looks durable. It seems virtually indestructible.
Flash designed the Hercules line for call centers that are open twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, and used by rotating shifts of employees. As such, the company didn’t mess around with the quality of the materials. The mesh seat back is as durable as it gets, and the seat is clad in durable, breathable fabric stretched over conventional block foam, which provides a comfortable sitting experience, even if you spend a full day working from the confines of the chair.
It should be noted that Flash also sells the same chair with a seat upholstered in bonded leather. While we applaud the company for offering some variety here, we can’t recommend that model variant because the bonded leather doesn’t stand up to the rigors of heavy daily use and isn’t nearly as breathable.
Still, if you’re intrigued by the idea of a hybrid mesh/bonded leather chair, you have the option!
Aside from its impressive size, the Hercules Mesh chair is a conventional design, so it’s relatively unobtrusive. This makes it blend seamlessly with most home and office décor schemes.
Chair Specifications
Before we take a deeper look at its capabilities, let’s take a quick look at the basic stats that define the chair:
There are a couple of things to discuss here, but they all point to the same central point. The impressive seat width, depth, and height adjustment range clearly show that this chair was built for giants.
And check out the height adjustment range! Most big and tall chairs have a height range that starts at 18” and goes up to 22.” This monster starts at 20” and goes up to 24” in height. Again, this chair is built for the biggest of the big and the tallest of the tall. Click here for similar chairs.
Spend time sitting in this chair, and anything else will feel like a toy. Its solid steel base and the massive size of its components drive its impressive weight and make the Hercules Mesh one tough customer.
A good office chair is defined by more than just a few raw statistics, though. So, next, let’s look under the hood and see what features make it worth considering.
Adjustability
As we said in the beginning of this review, Flash is in the habit of making furniture focusing on a few key features, so there’s not much to discuss where adjustability is concerned. You can adjust the height within the range we mentioned earlier, and you can set the tilt limiter so that the chair reclines with a range of 90 to 120 degrees.
Many office chairs recline further than this, so this model isn’t the best in class. However, for most purposes, the maximum recline angle offered here works just fine, and this is almost certain not to be a deal breaker for most potential buyers.
Well Padded Armrests
Although the stubby armrests are well-padded and comfortable, we wish they were height-adjustable. Sadly, this is not the case, but they do flip up, so if you’d rather not use the armrests or if you want to have an easier time tucking this giant of a chair under your desk when you’re not using it, that feature will certainly come in handy.
Ergonomic Features
The Hercules Mesh sports two ergonomic features, which are well-implemented and add to the chair’s overall comfort.
Lumbar Support
First, there’s the simple but effective lumbar support pad. Although it’s not height adjustable, the tension and, thus, the level of support it offers are adjustable, giving you a quick, convenient way to optimize your seating experience.
Waterfall-Edge Seat
This model also sports a waterfall-edge seat, which helps improve blood flow to the legs and is especially welcome for those who spend extended periods of time sitting in the chair.
Those two things, combined with the generous amounts of block foam padding in the seat and the breathability of the seat back, make this a much more comfortable chair than you might think.
Assembly Required
On the flip side, if you order the Flash Furniture Hercules Mesh Executive Swivel chair, it will arrive at your doorstep in a gigantic box and in several pieces. Worse, those pieces are big, bulky, and awkward to work with if you’re trying to put the chair together on your own. It’s certainly possible, but if you’re doing the assembly solo, expect some frustration and expect the process to take the better part of an hour.
If you have an extra pair of hands, you’ll probably shave at least fifteen minutes off of the assembly time, and of course, once you’ve put it together, it’s rock solid. You’ll only have to re-tighten the arms occasionally, so be sure you don’t lose track of the included hex wrench.
It should be noted here that the assembly process is somewhat time-intensive due to the size of the parts, not because of low production values. You’ll be pleasantly surprised at the quality of the materials.
The assembly instructions are simple and clear, and all the screw holes line up as they should, although you may notice that some of them are a bit on the rough side. This won’t be notable when you’re using the chair, but watch your hands when you’re putting it together, just in case!
Pros & Cons of the Flash Furniture Hercules Mesh Executive Office Chair
There’s nothing to dislike about this model. It’s a simple chair offering several well-implemented features, including two powerful ergonomic features. Given the price the chair is being sold at, we were impressed and then some.
In our view, the standout feature is the adjustable lumbar support. That’s not typically something you find on low-priced office furniture and almost never on low-priced furniture sold by an off-brand, but that’s one of the things that makes Flash such a remarkable little company.
Flash Furniture Hercules Mesh Executive Office Chair Review Conclusion
This is a tremendously good chair, offered at a super attractive price. The Flash Furniture Hercules Mesh Executive Office Chair is, however, a self-selecting piece of furniture. It’s just too big for most of the market. In fact, it’s too big for a significant portion of the big and tall market.
In our view, that’s what makes it such a great option. It knows what it is and who it’s for. It doesn’t even try to be all things to all people. It was created for giants. If you’re a giant and you’ve been struggling to find a chair you can fit into, put this one on your shortlist. You won’t be disappointed. We recommend it.
Recommended Reading
AmazonBasics Big & Tall Mesh Swivel Chair Review
We outlined all the impressive features of AmazonBasics Big & Tall Mesh Swivel Chair in this review.
Flash Furniture Hercules Mesh Executive Swivel Task Chair Review
We reviewed the Hercules Mesh Executive Chair’s smaller counterpart for moderate to heavy daily use.
REFERENCES & RESOURCES:
- Flash Furniture, Official Brand Website.
- Executive Office Chair, Google Sites.
- General Office Chair vs Executive Office Chair, Office Group.