Our Verdict
76%
An attractive color scheme and overall comfort make the Vertagear SL5000 a decent mid-range gaming chair, although it’s a shame you don’t get a better reclining system.
With its middling price, the Vertagear SL5000 offers just the sort of mid-range feature set you’d expect, but you’d be forgiven for thinking it was a pricier chair from its design. The dark blue PUC (this time a polyurethane and PVC mix) leather marries really well with the black fabric material and yellow stitching to create a surprisingly stylish overall look.
The Corsair T3 Rush still just takes the overall crown in this regard, to our eyes, but the Vertagear a clear step up from several other options. That step up in quality and price is also reflected in the costlier use of PUC leather, which is why the SL5000 is a more expensive option than the Corsair and Nitro Concepts S300.
At Custom PC, we’ve been reviewing the latest PC hardware since 2003, and we’ve been testing chairs for over a decade. For more information on our gaming chair test process, see our How we test page.
However, the upgrades don’t extend to the tilt mechanism, which is of the more basic variety. It will lock upright and tilt back but won’t lock in a tilted position. Also, the tilt isn’t well balanced and raises the front of the chair in an awkward manner.
The fancier 4D armrests are present and correct, though, offering side-to-side sliding along with height, rotation, and forward and back slide adjustment. Like all the chairs I’ve recently reviewed, I do wish they’d drop a bit lower, though, so you can drop them almost completely out of the way.
You also get good-quality castors and an attractive, muted-looking black aluminum base and wheels. In other words, the price of this chair is bang on for its selection of features, as compared with the other chairs I’ve recently reviewed.
One feature this chair offers that you won’t find in any of the other chairs we’ve recently reviewed, though, is RGB lighting! For a cool $300 you can equip the plastic-lined holes in the back of the chair with RGB frames. For the same amount of money, you can also get an RGB-equipped base, with lights under the arms and even in the rims of the wheels. They’re both battery-powered and sync with your PC, and a charger is included, but boy, that is quite the price. We didn’t get to try these additions, so we can’t comment on their ease of installation or quality.
As for comfort, the SL5000 is a mid-sized chair for those up to 6ft, 4-inch in height and weighing up to a hefty 120kg. However, we’d be a little surprised if someone of that weight would be fully comfortable in this chair, as it has quite aggressive side and leg wings. Like the AKRacing Master Series Premium, the latter really constricts how wide-legged you can sit. It’s not uncomfortable but it limits your options a bit.
The seat padding is good, though, offering a gentler base than the aforementioned slightly harsh Corsair and Nitro Concepts chairs. The neck pillow is good too, with its cosseting plush finish, but the lumbar pillow is a bit aggressive for our liking. It also doesn’t include straps for adjusting its height.
One extra addition for US buyers is that if you order direct from Vertagear, as well as specifying a color (several variations on black with another highlight color are available), you can also choose a type of castor. For an extra $5, you can get locking wheels or larger 3-inch wheels while $10 gets you locking 3-inch wheels. Sadly, however, UK buyers are limited to just the standard wheels.
Vertagear SL5000 pros and cons
Pros
- Stylish dark blue design
- Good seat padding
- Solid build quality
Cons
- Basic tilt system
- Restricted leg space
Vertagear SL5000 price
Price: $349 (£329).
Vertagear SL5000 review conclusion
The Vertagear SL5000 is a solid mid-sized gaming chair that makes for a particularly attractive option in its midnight blue color scheme. It has plenty of attractively muted design details and offers a comfortable overall sitting experience. Its lumbar cushion isn’t the best, though, and its middling price makes it feel a little more disappointing that it only offers a basic tilt system.
If the Vertagear SL5000 isn’t quite right for your gaming chair needs, have a read through our noblechairs Hero review, as this gaming chair really impressed us. You can also read our full guide to getting a comfortable ergonomic gaming setup, which includes help with finding the most comfortable gaming chair.