Smugdesk High Back Mesh Recliner Office Chair Review 2024

Are you looking for an excellent ergonomic office chair that can be used more when and as needed?

Do you have some money to spend but want to make sure the dollars in your budget stretch as far as possible, giving you tremendous functionality and versatility for your money?

If you answered yes to either of those questions, you’ll enjoy learning more about the Smugdesk high-back mesh recliner office chair.

Don’t be surprised if you’ve never heard of Smugdesk. Most people haven’t, but they know their way around the office furniture market and make surprisingly good Smugdesk office chairs. If you’re not especially brand-conscious and don’t mind buying from an off-brand that doesn’t have a big, well-established presence in the market, you’ll find a lot to like here.

In the following sections, we’ll describe what this chair can do and where it falls short.

Key Features of the Smugdesk High Back Mesh Chair Recliner

When most people see the Smugdesk reclining office desk chair for the first time, they come away at least a little impressed. It’s a surprisingly attractive chair, a significant accomplishment, given that mesh chairs aren’t known for their stellar looks. It has a vaguely futuristic appearance but not to the point that it would have difficulty blending in seamlessly with almost any home or office décor.

Chair Specifications

An ergonomic office chair is a lot more than a simple appearance, though, so let’s take a look at the basic statistics that define the model:

A couple of things jump out at us right away here. First, it is reasonably sized and weighty. Despite that, however, it’s incapable of supporting big and tall users. Not only is the seat depth not up to the task, but the relatively modest maximum supported weight limit makes this model unsuitable for most big and tall markets. This is a chair for average-sized and some shorter folks.

Adjustability and Comfort

In terms of adjustability, this chair has the basics covered well. It swivels 360 degrees, has a tilt tension control knob, and reclines to a maximum of 135 degrees. The slide-out ottoman/footrest is generously padded and can be engaged at any recline angle.

Where comfort is concerned, this chair is quite good but falls short of greatness. The mesh back is highly breathable and well-suited to the rigors of heavy daily use, but the seat padding isn’t as plush as you might expect, being just under four inches thick.

To Smugdesk’s credit, though, they don’t rely solely on conventional block foam. They use a two-layer padding approach that helps compensate for the lack of volume. It more or less works, but if you’re a power user, you’ll probably want to either get up to take regular stretch breaks or lean back in the chair and periodically take advantage of the recline function. Overall, Smugdesk does a good job on the comfort front, but not exceptional.

Ergonomic Features

The heart and soul of the chair, though, lies in its ergonomic features. There are four on offer here:

Lumbar Support

Taking these in the order we mentioned above, the lumbar support feature is the best-implemented of the bunch, offering decent but not exceptional support. You’ll love its height (not tension), which is adjustable and allows you to customize your seating experience to get support exactly where you need it.

Head & Neck Support

The head and neck support is probably the weakest ergonomic feature. While the headrest is height adjustable, it’s not articulated, limiting its ergonomic value. Still, some support is better than none, so this feature is not awful.

Armrests

The ergonomic armrests are well-padded and comfortable, which you’ll appreciate if you use the chair for several hours daily. Unfortunately, they’re not height-adjustable, which we found surprising and disappointing, given how many other adjustable chair elements are.

Seat Design

The seat is the second most robust ergonomic feature of the Smugdesk high-back mesh recliner office chair. Given the presence of the pull-out ottoman/footrest, a waterfall-edge style seat wouldn’t work here, so we like that Smugdesk didn’t even bother to try taking that approach. The sculpted design works well and provides the same essential benefits as a waterfall-edge seat.

Overall, this chair impresses us. Often, when an off-brand attempts to offer a whole raft of features like this, they are poorly implemented. Still, Smugdesk did an admirable job incorporating multiple elements into a surprisingly modestly priced offering.

Oversized Casters

There are a couple of other things worth a brief mention. First, Smugdesk incorporated oversized casters into their design, which can handle everything from hardwood and laminate flooring to carpet. Granted, the casters will struggle on shag or very plush carpeting, but that’s true of any desk chair. We like the approach and wish more companies would offer casters big enough to handle a variety of flooring surfaces.

Warranty

Second, Smugdesk offers a better warranty than expected for an off-brand. You get eighteen months on the chair itself, and the company provides free component exchange (gas lift, control knobs, and levers) for up to two years after the date of your purchase.

This Chair Does Not Come Assembled

As with most office furniture, if you order the Smugdesk high-back recliner, it will arrive at your door in a large box and unassembled. It’s a sizeable, weighty piece of furniture with a few extra parts not found on most other office furniture, complicating the assembly process. This fact is further complicated because the materials used in its construction aren’t top-of-the-line, and the instructions are a bit cryptic.

While you can assemble the chair, expect it to take half an hour. You can reduce that by 10-15 minutes if you’ve got a trusty assistant to pitch in on assembly day.

Pros and Cons of the Smugdesk Reclining Chair With Footrest

As we said at the start, this is a surprisingly good chair. It didn’t rank higher on our chart because Smugdesk isn’t very big or well-established as a brand. Its features are well-implemented, though not quite as strongly as some of the other finalists on our list. The production quality is slightly lower, but you’re getting many chairs for your money.

It’s also one of a relatively few office chairs that can serve as a recliner and do an admirable job in that regard. Granted, this isn’t a feature that many people will want or need, which makes this more of a niche product than the other chairs on our list of finalists. After all, there’s no point in paying for features you’re not interested in or plan to use regularly. Even so, those are about the only negative aspects of the design. Smugdesk did a great job here, from our point of view.

Final Thoughts on Smugdesk High Back Mesh Recliner Office Chair

This chair isn’t for everyone. Given its modest height adjustment range and modest maximum supported weight limit, big and tall folks will give it a pass by default. Similarly, anyone who doesn’t want or need an office chair that’s also a recliner will give it a pass.

The design and feature set of the Smugdesk high-back mesh recliner office chair make it almost entirely self-selecting. Potential purchasers will tend to either be interested in and excited by what it offers or not interested. On that basis, we provisionally recommend it. For the right user, this is an excellent choice.

Recommended Reading

Hbada Ergonomic High Back Office Desk Chair Review

Check out our review of the Hbada Ergonomic High Back Desk Chair, an undervalued gem perfect for most users.

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Official Manufacturer Support

References & Resources

• Smugdesk, Official Brand Site.
• Your Office Chair Is Trying To Kill You, Vogue.
• 9 Ways to Create a Workspace That Enhances Your Productivity, Entrepreneur.
• How To Transform Your Workplace Into A Better Place To Work, HowToGetRid.org.
• Why Using the Right Furniture In Your Office Is Important, Entrepreneurship Life.