FlexiSpot C7B-Air office chair review — Your back will thank you

Choosing an office chair can be daunting. It’s not like a couch or a bed that you can go to the furniture store and try out first. For most people, you are going to buy one online and there are a million options. FlexiSpot is one of those online options and, spoiler, I am going to tell you why I recommend giving the C7B-Air a try.

For most of my adult life I have used a mix of second hand office chairs, dining table chairs, and even a wingback chair (it was college) when sitting and doing work or playing games on my computer. That was all fine and good. Why would I spend money on a nice office chair when I could use that money for new games instead? When I moved in 2022, I was sitting in my empty house waiting for the moving company to deliver my stuff several weeks late and had nothing but a folding table and chair and my computer. A couple days of that and my back was screaming at me. Apparently I can’t torture it the same way I did when I was in my 20s and get away with it anymore. Reluctantly I went out and bought a cheap office chair at the local big box store.

That chair served me well for about a year. The fake leather upholstery was worn off in places, it had a slight lean to the right side, and the non existent lumbar support forced me to steal a throw pillow from our couch to shove behind me if I was going to be sitting for any length of time. When I was offered the opportunity to review the FlexiSpot C7B-Air, I jumped at the chance.

Office chairs come in all shapes and sizes and all price ranges, from the cheap big box store ones like I had before up to the truly luxurious and ridiculously expensive models. When it comes to something you are going to be spending a significant amount of time in, coughing up some extra cash for a chair that is supportive, comfortable, and has nice features is well worth it. The C7B-Air ticks all those boxes and is surprisingly affordable as well! It turns out at $369.99 you don’t need to spend an arm and a leg to get a great chair.

Let’s talk about the features. The C7 is the actual chair model, the B just means it is the all black version as opposed to the black and gray G model, and Air means it has a mesh seat instead of foam. While the mesh may not give you the same level of cushion, it’s still very comfortable and supportive. I live in Florida where it is hot all the time so the breathable material is a big plus for me. No sweaty cheeks here. There are an array of levers and knobs under the seat and behind the back to adjust the chair to your liking. It goes up. It goes down. The seat can tilt forward or back. It can recline. You can lock the recline and even adjust the resistance it takes to lean back. The lumbar support can be locked in different positions or left open to adjust to you as you move around. The head rest goes up and down and tilts as well. Finally, the armrests can be raised, lowered, and rotated to your liking. I can’t think of another way a chair could even be adjusted. The C7B has it all. There is even an add on for a fold out leg rest if you want to get really comfortable but that was not included for this review.

There is a lot to like about the C7. The ability to set the seat with a slight forward tilt makes for a comfortable sitting position while working that places your feet firmly on the ground without pressure on your legs from a hard 90 degree angle. I like to keep my recline unlocked but with max resistance. It’s great for taking a break and reclining back without feeling like you are going to fall out of your chair from a sudden drop. It has a nice smooth resistance that feels natural to my body weight. I have been using the chair every day for about 2 months at the time of this review and it is still rock solid. Absolutely no indication of the hydraulics wearing out or anything coming loose.

The lumbar support is the real highlight of this chair. It is its own separate piece, not merely a bar embedded into the back rest. It spans the full width of the chair and has a nice curve to it that really gets into your lower back and supports it. Sitting for long periods of time no longer hurts my back. I don’t have any serious back injuries so your mileage may vary depending on your needs. The single lever adjustment makes it easy to move around to support your current posture or you can even leave it unlocked and it will move with you.

It isn’t all sunshine and rainbows though. I do have a few gripes with the C7, though they are pretty minor. The adjustable armrests have no way to lock their position. They do lock in at whatever height you set but rotation and lateral movement is free all the time. I am constantly having to adjust them back to my liking if I lean on one or put my weight on them when standing up. They move easily and I really wish they didn’t. In fact, non adjustable would be preferable to these ones sliding around when I don’t want them to. The only other negative I have is the headrest. It is adjustable but if you actually lean your head back on it, it will move if it is at any position other than all the way down. Fortunately my sitting and working position is leaning slightly forward so I don’t really ever use the headrest except for lounging back and watching videos. If a good headrest is important to you, it’s not here.

Assembling the chair is about the same as every other office chair I have assembled. It’s hard to mess up but if you are a person that needs to follow step by step directions, the included book is not great. The same directions apply to several chair models and didn’t always match up with my particular model. There aren’t a lot of moving parts here so I can easily forgive the lackluster instructions.

The C7 is rated for persons up to 320 lbs and each piece carries its own warranty. You’ll get a two year warranty on the wheels and hydraulic stem, three years on the seat and seat base with all the adjustment levers, and ten years on the armrests, headrest, and wheel base. Warranties are great to have though it does feel a bit disingenuous when they advertise a ten year warranty but that only applies to some pieces. Fortunately, this chair feels rock solid so I am not concerned about it breaking from normal use.

Overall, I am very happy with the C7B-Air. It’s comfortable and adjustable in all the ways I would want it to be. It feels very sturdy and the materials are high quality. Despite a few misses with the arm and headrests I would recommend checking it out.

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