Fractal Refine Mesh Chair Review
Up Close
Up Close
Building a chair at home is getting ever easier. Fractal definitely deserve a lot of plaudits for their method. Most of the Fractal Refine Mesh chair is built already. You need a bit of space on the floor, but you can genuinely build it on your own. The majority of the fiddly bits – height adjustment etc – are pre-built. If you’ve ever laughed at certain ‘build at home’ brands that promise this oak wardrobe can be assembled by an old pensioner, then know that the Fractal Refine is simplicity itself to put together.
Once you do you can’t focus on anything but how little chair appears to be there. Our mesh model looks like they’ve forgotten the rest of it. Or to cover it. In actuality this minimalist approach is its primary selling point. Without tons of material the chair is light, and with lots of air flow it’s cool too.
A lot of headrests on “gaming” chairs are attached with velcro or elastic. The Fractal Refine instead goes old school with a properly mounted headrest. Not only that, but the shape is perfect too. If, like us, you struggle with neck issues then the comfort available here is exceptional. Why has nobody else gone with this approach? It stays where its put, discussion over.
A close up of the fabric and mesh combination. You can see that our light version isn’t really white or beige or grey. It’s a very nice material. Soft, but feels robust. Like a great pair of jeans. We know that’s an odd comparison, but we’ve all owned jeans that were soft but fell apart after a week, and others that felt like wearing a burlap sack. This material oozes class, and the mesh is woven tight, but airy. It’s lovely.
About the weakest area of the Fractal Refine are the castors. It’s always difficult to find a design that works. If anyone does and sells it to supermarket trolley manufacturers they could afford to own the world. So it’s not just chairs where it tends to be a weakness. Even still the Fractal ones feel particularly recalcitrant. It’s not a negative, merely in comparison to the rest of the chair and the build quality found they feel less high quality.
