In a Nutshell:
A lightweight, versatile chair, that has the basics covered, offered by a company you may never have heard of. Officient Compact Ergonomic Fabric Chair is recommended for anyone weighing 250 pounds or less, looking for a chair for light to moderate daily use.
Value for the Money
Comfort
Brand Reliability*
Aesthetic Flexibility**
Overall Rating
3.2/5
Benefits
Drawbacks
Recommended For: Anyone weighing 250 pounds or less, looking for a chair for light to moderate daily use.
Have you been struggling to find a worthy successor to your current office chair, which is getting a little long in the tooth?
If so, you’re certainly not alone. There are so many chairs out there, offered by so many companies (some you’re familiar with, many that you’ve never even heard of) that it can lead to analysis paralysis. There’s just too much information to make a good decision.
If that rings familiar, then you’re going to like this piece. The Officient Compact Ergonomic Fabric chair is offered by one of those little brands you’ve probably never heard of. But if you’re not especially brand-conscious and looking for something that provides a comfortable platform to work from that’s also attractively designed and blends seamlessly into most home or office environments, this is an excellent option and well worth considering.
We’ll be quick to point out that it’s not a perfect chair, and if you don’t like buying from off-brands, you probably won’t give it a second look. We think it will impress you if you can get past that. Let’s take a closer look at what Officient’s little chair offers.
Key Features of the Officient Compact Ergonomic Chair
Stylish simplicity. That phrase will likely enter your mind the first time you see the Officient Compact Ergonomic Fabric Chair. Although it is designed along purely conventional lines, something about the black and burgundy combination makes it look delightful (Note: You can also order the chair in basic black if you prefer).
Bear in mind that this is a task chair, and as such, it’s not optimized for use by power users. We’ll discuss that in more detail in a moment. Before we do, though, let’s take a quick look at the core stats that define this model.
Chair Specifications
Looking at these numbers, a few things jump out at us. The first thing we noticed was that the depth of the seat is adjustable. That’s a rare, highly prized feature. You don’t find it very often, even on chairs that cost several times more than Officient’s offering here, and that’s a very good thing. We love it!
Second, check out the height adjustment range. Remember that the big and tall range typically starts at 18” and goes to at least 22.” This chair falls slightly under that, which might make you think, “Oh, so it’s for people on the smaller side of the big and tall range.”
Unfortunately, there’s a catch. The maximum supported weight is relatively modest, which discredits the idea of this being a big and tall chair.
Put all those factors together, and it’s a great fit for:
The seat depth adjustment range supports this. At its smallest setting, the 18” seat depth is perfect for shorter users, and the fact that it opens up to a maximum of 21.5” deep makes it a much better and more natural fit for average-sized and taller users.
That makes it a fairly versatile piece of furniture and useful to a broad market, but it does have certain limitations.
Adjustability and Comfort
Let’s start with adjustability since we’ve already discussed the height and seat depth adjustment range. In addition, the Officiant Compact Ergonomic Chair offers the usual adjustment options: 360-degree swivel, tilt, lock function, and height-adjustable arms.
Padding
The armrests are reasonably well padded but not ergonomically sculpted, but we honestly weren’t expecting them to be. That fact doesn’t detract from this model’s surprising adjustability, though. You don’t often find that kind of adjustability on an off-brand chair, which is another nod in this model’s favor and a clear sign that Officient knows its way around the office furniture market.
Comfort-wise, you’ll find generous amounts of conventional padding in both the seat and the seatback. The seat tries hard to be a waterfall-edge design but doesn’t quite get there. It’s close enough to provide at least some ergonomic benefit, which is another plus for the chair.
Ergonomic Feature
Officially, this model only has one ergonomic feature: lumbar support. While it’s not adjustable in any way, it is very well implemented, which definitely enhances the chair’s comfort. Comfortable and adjustable or not, though, as a task chair, it offers no head and neck support. While the fabric is breathable, task chairs just aren’t great for extended periods of use, so if you’re looking for a chair optimized for heavy daily use, this isn’t your best bet.
Assembly is Required
It will probably not surprise you to learn that if you decide to order the Officient Compact Ergonomic Office chair, it won’t arrive at your doorstep fully assembled and ready to use. It will come in a box and several pieces, which you’ll have to take a few minutes to put together.
The fact that it’s a task chair works very much in its favor. None of the pieces are big or bulky and go together fairly easily. Although the Compact Fabric chair is built using fairly low-end materials, the production quality is better than we were expecting, and you won’t have much difficulty on that front.
The instructions aren’t great, but they are certainly adequate for the task, and everything you need to complete the assembly is included.
Putting the chair together will take about 20 minutes from start to finish, and enlisting the aid of an assistant on the day the chair arrives will not yield any real benefit.
Pros and Cons Officient Compact Fabric Chair
There’s a lot to like about the Officient Compact Fabric chair. In no particular order, here are the things we found most compelling about the design:
However, there are some design flaws we’d like to see the company work on in a future model upgrade. These include:
Honestly, though, the biggest obstacle this chair faces is that it’s offered by a brand that almost nobody has heard of. If you’re not brand conscious and remove the brand weight dimension from our scoring, this chair re-scores at 3.92 stars out of five, a solid score that falls just short of greatness. That’s impressive and is the main reason this model is considered in your shortlist.
Final Thoughts on Officient Compact Ergonomic Fabric Chair Review
Not every off-brand chair is worth a closer look. For that matter, not every off-brand chair is even worth reviewing. The Officient Compact Ergonomic Fabric Chair is an exception to that rule. We find this chair to be surprisingly versatile and robust, and we look forward to seeing what the little brand can produce in the future.
Where this chair is concerned, it’s got some limitations, and we haven’t been bashful about pointing them out. Even so, this model impressed us, and assuming its measurements and yours are a good fit, we recommend it for light to moderate daily use.
Recommended Reading
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Herman Miller Embody vs Aeron vs Steelcase Leap by Steelcase Review
We compared the Aeron, Embody, and Leap–three of the best office chairs on the market today.
REFERENCES & RESOURCES