The RAE Essential Black is a high-end gaming chair model designed and designed by the German Recaro. It has recently become available in France and the rest of Europe. What better period than the end of the year celebrations to have fun and test such a product?
Recaro is certainly not the best known manufacturer of gaming chairs, but the German brand already has a good reputation after a few years of high quality products. It can rest on an eloquent history while the equipment manufacturer has made a name for itself as a partner of the biggest automotive (Porsche) and railroad (Shinkansen). Today, the company has two ranges of gaming chairs in its catalog, the EXO and the RAE. The latter is broken down into three models and in order not to take half measures, we have set our sights on the best, the Essential Black. Our sitting deserves nothing less.
Delivery in kit and assembly in 30 minutes
As is the case with all gaming chairs, the Recaro RAE Essential Black is delivered as a kit, in a large, but relatively thin cardboard box. When opening the box, we are not drowned in the elements and things are rather tidy. In a fairly practical way, Recaro had the good taste to assemble all the “mechanism” part which takes place under the seat. This obviously simplifies the task for us and all that remains, at this point, is to insert the wheels into the star of the base before mounting it in the seat.
The next step – or previous for you to see: Recaro could perhaps explain things better on its assembly sheet – is to put the other parts together, and adjust the whole. The mounting of the backrest is not more complicated than on another seat and the relatively limited weight of the assembly allows the thing to be done, alone, without too much difficulty. Everything necessary is of course delivered and we also appreciated that Recaro does not forget the small accessories: for example, it provides washers and clamping rings to keep everything perfectly … and for a long time.
A robust design to say the least
We obviously expected no less from a manufacturer that used to specialize in cars and railroads, but the RAE Essentiel Black nonetheless impresses with the feeling of robustness that emanates from it. Certainly, at more or less 600 euros, some will regret the “all plastic” side of certain elements such as the base, but no complaints can be made against the metal frame. The moving parts do not seem to have let us go quickly, and if we still have only three weeks of hindsight, the whole inspires confidence.
Once mounted, the beast is rather elegant. Obviously, the whole is quite massive, but we don’t really have the impression of having a kind of monstrosity in the middle of the room. The cutouts of the backrest and the different parts of the RAE Essential obviously have a lot to do with it, but so does its color. Recaro sent us the black model here, but other colors are available. We keep a preference for the uniform and sober aspect of black while the orange and blue versions seemed too garish and too colorful. Question of taste.
Comfortable… like a cocoon!
Another question of taste: the general shape adopted by Recaro. Like many gaming chairs, the RAE Essential takes a bit of the design of a bucket seat from motorsport while still much less enveloping its user. Regarding the file, we are not far from perfection, even if – here again – the feeling depends all the same a lot on our own morphology. Your devoted servant is sometimes in delicacy with his lower back and the “cushions” offered by some manufacturers are a little “too much”.
Recaro has not used such an accessory and, in reality, the curvature of the backrest hardly needs it: it is naturally perfect and the support is pleasant without feeling like you are being too maintained. Better still, a five-position adjustment system adjusts and synchronizes all the settings set up by the user very precisely. It is interesting to add that Recaro uses a very pleasant textile which avoids the sensation of slipping over long sessions.
In terms of comfort, we must also mention the padding of the various elements of the RAE Essential Black. Recaro speaks here of an “ergonomic, multizone and dimensionally stable foam”. We did not butcher the seat to verify the manufacturer’s claims, but the point is that after three weeks of use, the comfort remains impeccable with the feeling of being well maintained over the entire body. Not to spoil anything, Recaro takes care of up to the armrests which it baptizes “4D”: the fact is that they are perfectly adaptable, they can be turned in all directions. Height, pivot and locking are thus on the menu.
Technical sheet
- Price : Around 600 euros
- Color : black, black / gray, black / white, orange, blue
- Coating : Polyurethane
- Armrests : Yes, adjustable
- Reclining backrest : 180 degrees
- Back height : 82 cm
- Max backrest width : 58 cm
- Seat depth: 54 cm
- Seat width : 58 cm
- Maximum charge : 150 kg
- Total weight : about 20 kg
- Guarantee : 2 years
- Or buy : Recaro