Unboxing the Ergo Plus 743 and piecing it together was a simple process, albeit taxing on the old muscles. When put together, the chair weighs about 60 pounds, which I love because it usually translates to sturdy pieces and solid construction. In this case, much of the chair’s weight comes from its aluminum alloy frame.

The next biggest component in the chair’s construction is elastic, premium mesh, followed by a few plastic pieces, like the arms and control handles for adjustments. The actual adjustments are controlled by a wire mechanism, which makes it easy to fine-tune the chair to your preferred settings without bending over.

I had my husband help me put the chair together, and I think it would’ve been much harder by myself. There was nothing complicated about the instructions, but there were a few steps—like attaching the chair back to the base—where it was easier for one of us to hold something in place while the other person fastened it with screws.

Also, along with the tools and allen wrench with a helpful handle, OdinLake also sent a pair of thin, stretchy gloves to protect your hands from the grease on the gas lift piece in the chair’s base. I have tiny hands, so the gloves fit perfectly, but because of its stretchy material, I was curious how well they would fit on my husband’s larger hands. While the gloves clearly didn’t fit correctly—causing a webbing look between the fingers—he said they were comfortable enough to handle the gas lift piece and then take them off.

The black mesh covering the chair is incredibly durable, but it’s not very comfy to bare skin. I tend to sit criss cross in every chair I sit in, and sitting like that doesn’t feel great in this chair. It leaves my bare ankles dry and sore, and it gets worse the longer I sit like that. That said, I know that this is not the most ergonomic way to sit, so maybe this’ll indirectly help me sit properly and ultimately help out my knees, back, and shoulders. Plus, compared to other cushiony mesh chairs I’ve owned, the mesh on this chair seems a lot easier to clean.

Then, the armrests don’t lock in place, but I wish they did. There are multiple ways to adjust the armrests, which I’ll get into below, but there’s no way to lock them once you have them where you want them. In this testing process, I learned that I typically grab an armrest for support when I sit down. This habit of mine is slightly annoying with this chair because the armrest tilts out at an angle, so every time I sat down, I would accidentally move the armrest.

There’s a lot you can adjust with this chair from OdinLake, and I absolutely love it. The features I most frequently adjust include the lumbar support, the neck piece, and the seat height and depth. Then, I occasionally adjust the reclining action and the armrests. It’s so nice to go from sitting upright while working to a comfortable reclining position while gaming. But here’s absolutely everything you can adjust with the Ergo Plus 743:

• Headrest: There are two possible adjustments here. You can hold both sides of the headrest and push it up or down, or rotate it forward or backward to adjust the angle for your neck.
• Backrest: You can move the whole backrest up and down—between five positions in total—to find the best lumbar support for you. Then, you can adjust the backrest’s tilt up to a 135-degree recline angle. You can leave this flexible, or you can lock any tilt position in place.
• Armrests: There are four adjustments to play with for each armrest. You can move them up and down, forward and backward, to the left and to the right, or angle them inwards or outwards.
• Seat: Many office chairs offer seat adjustments like these, but they’re still worth mentioning. You can adjust the seat height between 18.5 inches and 22.5-inches, and then it locks into position as soon as you release the control lever. Then, by leaning on the backrest and pulling up on a separate control lever, you can move the seat forward or backward with a range of 2.5 inches.

This chair has dynamic C-shaped lumbar support that adjusts with your movement, which ensures that you have proper support whether you’re sitting upright or reclining. The shape of the backrest is also designed to support your spine—thoracic, lumbar, and sacral.

Then, the stronger mesh actually supports you, instead of letting you sink down like I’ve experienced in the past. Although a soft padded cushion may feel more comfortable in the beginning, it always seems to deteriorate so quickly. But with this mesh setup, my hips and thighs still feel as supported as they did on day one, which was about a month and a half ago.

OdinLake’s Ergo Plus 743 is a pricey office chair, but it’s not nearly as expensive as other leading contenders—like Herman Miller—but offers a lot of the same adjustable features. If you’re someone who spends a lot of time at your desk, whether it’s to work, play games, or both, I think this chair is well worth the investment for the sake of your back, neck, and shoulders.