Ultimate Gaming Chair products have grown more and more popular in recent years thanks to more mainstream media coverage. In response to the demand for gaming furniture, more and more companies have thrown their hat into the very niche market. Some do it with bean bags, others with low-quality rocking chairs. UGC, however, is the grand daddy of gaming chair makers and you can usually find premium quality in their wares. Thankfully, this is still the case with their Reactor gaming chair.
The Reactor is the lower-cost alternative to their premier model, the UGC ‘v3’. Costing $199 dollars, however, you can be sure that even though its price is not as great as its bigger brother’s $499 MSRP, the Reactor is made from some high-grade stuff. The chair comes shipped in two pieces, the chair back and the chair base. Setup is very simple, as you have to line up the chair back with rails sticking out of the chair base and push. Aside from the basic mechanics of it, you have to connect a couple cables between the two pieces as well, but this is a simple task that even an untrained capuchin with a hangover could figure out. After that, simply plug in the power adapter and your audio input(s). Boom, done.
One thing I loved about the Reactor is that it is not a rocker-style chair. This is a fully-elevated chair that wont break your back every time you try to get out of it. Another benefit to the standard elevated chair design is that you won’t be craning your neck to see the television. The Reactor comes built-in with audio in and out ports as well as a headphone jack. On the same panel as these inputs you will find controls for the vibration motors as well as the chair’s volume knob. The Reactor is equipped with 2.1 channel audio that includes special vibrating motors attached to various points along the chair. These transducers create vibration from base noise which is sent to the chair. You can even use the chair as a massager without playing anything which is a great feature to have. In using it like that however, it makes you wish the chair could recline.
One feature we wish would have made it on the Reactor are armrests. On the higher-end UGC v3 they are prominently featured, but with the Reactor, they chose an open-arm design. While this works with the smaller overall profile of the Reactor in comparison to the v3, it does reduce comfort slightly especially while watching them moving pictures all the kids are talking about.
The sound quality of the Reactor is good overall, but we noted that at higher volumes, the audio would become a bit distorted, although the eight chair-shaking vibration motors do a great job of helping immerse you in the game by helping to make sounds ‘feel’ more powerful then the current volume is set at. Another nice feature is that if you are looking for a quieter experience, you can plug in some headphones and enjoy the chair’s comfort while at the same time playing stealthily.
The Reactor also makes for great party seating, as witnessed at a recent office party with twenty people or so. The chair became the must-sit on piece of furniture in the room. People were talking about it all over the place. So, if you are looking for a solid gaming chair that is a cut above the rest but still not in the completely bank-breaking high end chairs out there you should seriously check out the Reactor. It is available now from Ultimate Gaming Chair for $199 dollars.
