SecretLab Titan XL

SecretLab makes some of our favorite gaming chairs, largely due to their excellent build quality and comfort. While the Editors’ Choice SecretLab Titan supports users up to 290 pounds, it doesn’t quite cover the full potential span of gamer builds. That’s where the SecretLab Titan XL comes in. This $479.99 chair is designed for bigger users, supporting 100 pounds more than the regular Titan. It’s otherwise identical, and similarly excellent.

For Big Gamers

The SecretLab Omega accommodates users between 5’3″ and 5’11” and up to 240 pounds. The Titan can handle users between 5’9″ and 6’7″ and up to 290 pounds. The Titan XL has by far the greatest capacity, supporting users between 5’11” and 6’10” and up to 390 pounds. It’s close to the AKRacing Masters Series Max’s capacity of 400 pounds.

This translates into a seat that’s 19.9 inches deep and 22.6 inches wide, with a 33.5-inch-long backrest. It’s a big chair, so big that my 5’11”, 240-pound frame practically swims in it. It’s not uncomfortable, however; the chair feels just as supportive and pleasant to sit in as the regular Titan, just with much more wiggle room. If you don’t have a generous build, however, you’re better off buying a smaller model.

Design

While the regular Titan comes in a variety of colors for its faux leather and fabric upholstery including licensed DC, Game of Thrones, and Overwatch versions (and a real Nappa leather version for twice as much), the Titan XL is a bit more limited in style. You can get the chair in SecretLab’s Prime 2.0 PU Leather with your choice of a carbon fiber-patterned Stealth finish or suede, or in SoftWeave fabric with a blue-and-black or light-gray-and-black design for $20 more. (We took a closer look at SoftWeave when we reviewed the SecretLab Omega gaming chair last year.)

In terms of materials and craftwork, the Titan XL is identical to the regular Titan. This is a good thing, because the Titan stands out as our favorite gaming chair thanks to its feel and build quality.

Prime 2.0 PU Leather is the faux leather material used by SecretLab in its chairs, and it consistently feels and wears better than the faux leather of other gaming chairs we’ve tested. It’s a supple, thick material that holds up well to abrasion, and according to SecretLab is four times more durable than typical polyurethane leather.

The chair is stuffed almost entirely with SecretLab’s dense cold-cured foam material, a padding that fills the headrest, sides, and seat of the chair. The back of the chair is hollow, but this provides room for a dial-adjusted lumbar support that can make the area that cradles the small of your back softer or firmer depending on your tastes.

One of the major features that distinguishes gaming chairs from office chairs is the ability to recline. By pulling a lever on the right side of the chair, you can lean back 85 to 165 degrees. It’s a comfortable way to play games if you plan to spend an extended period of time in front of the TV rather than stooped over a desk. Of course, the Titan XL also features a solid aluminum base and five castors that let you wheel the chair anywhere.

Wear and Tear

We’ve had the regular Titan in our test lab for half a year, and the previous version of the Titan around for a year longer than that. They’ve both held up extremely well in that time, showing no scratches or abrasions in the faux leather, and no loose stitches. The most wear I noticed in the original Titan was some very slight peeling of the leather at the very edge of the seat, where two panels taper off to a point under the thighs. It’s maybe five square millimeters of wear across the entire chair, and that’s for SecretLab’s original Prime PU Leather, not the newer material on this version of the chair. This durability is one of the main reasons we’ve been so consistently impressed with SecretLab’s gaming chairs.

Extra Large

The SecretLab Titan remains our favorite gaming chair for its comfortable feel and excellent build quality. This doesn’t mean the Titan XL is necessarily the right chair for you, though. It’s simply a bigger version of the Titan for $80 more. If you have particularly large frame, this is your ideal gaming chair. If you weigh less than 290 pounds and stand less than 6’7″, however, the regular Titan is still your best bet.