Boulies Ninja Pro review: gaming chair springs ergonomic surprises

I've had a fair few chairs wheel through my home office in the last few years, but the Boulies Ninja Pro stands out from that crowd for several reasons.

For one, it's the most 'gaming chair'-looking office throne I've had, ever. With the bucket-seat-like design, the flared shoulders, red Ninja Pro logo emblazoned across the right-hand side, the faux-leather-seat-and-hard-plastic-armrest combo, the near-complete lack of space-age ergonomic features, even the red stitching, it drives home a clear message and focuses squarely on one segment of the market: gamers.

But I've found that it not only works as an office chair that can keep my back pain at bay, but it does a banging good job of it too.

Boulies Ninja Pro: Key specifications

Unboxing and assembly

Unfortunately, Boulies doesn't go the Herman Miller route to deliver fully assembled chairs, so that task was left to me and my ten thumbs. Thankfully, the instruction booklet is fairly clear, with plentiful illustrations (the Lego nerd in me is very demanding in this department), and screws and fastenings were all clearly labelled, which helped make the progress more straightforward. Allen keys are provided too, so if you're not like me, that is, someone who has collected every Allen key they've ever had in their house so now has a separate plastic tub full of them, that's very handy.

Some elements were a little fiddly, such as fastening the armrests to the underside of the seat, but nothing too arduous considering the heft and sturdiness of every element here.

All put together, though, the entire unit is fairly heavy, so I recommend making sure you're on the right floor in your house when you put the seat and back part onto the wheel and gas lift part.

Design and features

When assembled, the chair looks mightily impressive, and more than a little imposing in a compact office space (a converted extra bedroom in my case). The back is tall, and the seat is fairly deep too, but the provided lumbar-support pillow will come as a help to any shorter people sitting in it. I'm 5'10" (177cm) and I found my desired sitting position using the lumbar pillow, with the seat raised just a little from its lowest position, which indicates it may not suit very short users, which fits with Boulies stated fit range of 5'7"-6'7" (170-200cm) for the chair.

The maximum stated load is 135kg (300lb), so it will accommodate bigger users too, with the backrest relatively wide at 64cm, and the adjustable armrests capable of up to 54.5cm of space between the inside edges.

Speaking of the armrests. That's one of my few niggles with this chair, as the 6-way control is a little janky at times, lacking in fine control and smoothness, and the hard plastic wobbles a bit on top of the aluminium construction inside and below it. The hard plastic doesn't feel as premium as the rest of the chair either, but at less than £/$400, beggars can't be choosers, I guess.

You get your usual range of adjustments; the back can be reclined back, and there's a 15-degree rocking function, with a seat-leaning lock available. The seat height can be adjusted between 47 and 55cm from the floor, and the armrests can travel from a height of 64 to 77cm.

There's a headrest pillow included too, and while I always have my head too far forward when working to ever use it in that scenario, it was nice and comfy when I reverted to my Gaming Posture(tm), although I will note, again, that it may be too high up for shorter users.

It comes in four colour options, with the Black, Red and Teal variants providing a different colour flair to the 'wings' of the backrest, while the White looks most radically different, with nearly the entire chair presented in brilliant white. My review unit came in Black, which also sports red machine-thread stitching joining all the bits of PU leather together. The Red and Teal have what looks like blue-green stitching and black on the White one, for a pleasant-looking contrast effect.

Price

The Boulies Ninja Pro is sold on Boulies' own site for $399.99 in the States and £319.99 in the UK, but at the time of writing, both territories are offering a discount, to $339.99 in the US and £259.99 in the UK. This places the Ninja Pro competitively against Hinomi and Sihoo models, for example, which the Boulies handily outperforms on quality and comfort, and puts it at a competitive price against other high-quality gaming brands such as SecretLab and Vertagear.

Who is it for?

The Boulies Ninja Pro is aimed squarely at game-first users, but I've found it does its job just as well as many bespoke ergonomic chairs when it comes to day-to-day use at work. Its strengths lie in keeping the gaming spec simple, and instead of a subpar lumbar adjust built into the backrest (which often sparks more pain than relief), you get a nice, cushy pillow to put exactly where you want it.

Should I buy the Boulies Ninja Pro?

Buy it if:

• You want a good-looking, comfortable gaming chair
• You enjoy following a good instruction booklet
• You like your chairs roomy and adjustable

Don't buy it if:

• You're under 5'7" (170cm) tall
• Wobbly armrest sounds bother you
• You don't like the colour red