Is this office chair REALLY a recliner?

The Odinlake pro is the first chair I’ve tried that includes a footrest so it can be used as a recliner. This is an interesting concept for those who want to relax in their chair. I wanted to take a closer look at the chair and these are my first impressions after spending time with Odinlake.

Need help? Get our free office chair buying guide!

Full Disclaimer: We are an office furniture dealer and we sell some of the products we review. To learn more about the products we sell, our review process, and why you can trust us, visit: Why We’re Different. Who is BTOD.com and The Breakroom Blog?

Odinlake Links

🎥 Odinlake video

The unboxing of Odinlake was easy and everything was well packed inside the box. There were some small boxes inside to protect the parts from banging into each other, but unfortunately, these boxes didn’t prevent me from scratching the cheap plastic chrome on the base when putting the wheels on it. I would recommend using a blanket to protect the sub-floor while you put the wheel on. A reviewer on Amazon complained that the assembly process was difficult for them because the holes didn’t line up correctly for some of the bolts. That was not my experience and everything went well.

The unpacking process

If you follow Odinlake’s instructions in the order they recommend, I can see how the step where you put the mechanism and the back on the seat can be a bit cumbersome with the size of all the parts. Now I think this could be done in a different order, but once everything was together it was time to test the chair.

A big draw for me to the Odinlake was the thickness of the seat pad in the Amazon pictures. It looked like a nice soft pillow to sit on and since many of you want something with more comfort I thought this might be it. The seat itself looks good with well-stitched black upholstery.

However, looks can be deceiving, and honestly, it happens more often on Amazon. The actual thickness of the pad itself is no more than three inches and it sits pretty firm. Now the firm seat pad is a good thing in my opinion. Since the pad is not too thick, it helps not to bottom out. Now, firm pads also tend to hold up better. There is definitely a point where the chairs can be too firm, like what we have seen with the Secret Lab chairs.

Now, I don’t think the upholstery used for the seat pad really helps with firmness. It felt really cheap and scratchy and you could actually hear how scratchy it is when I rub it with my hands. I also don’t think this is a great option if you’re working from home in shorts.

There is a seat depth adjustment, which I found really easy to use. The lever under the rear left side of the seat activates the feature and you can easily move it back and forth from inside the chair.

One of the first things I noticed about the Odinlake is that it was very low. Now this is the opposite of what I’m used to with Chinese brands as most sit too high up. When I tried to move the chair up, it also had a super short height range and only moved about three inches. This put me right on the edge of where I should be using a six foot tall chair. But I would definitely worry about users who are 6’1” or taller.

Since Odinlake has lower-end casters, a solution for taller users might be to invest in something like skate wheels that would raise the chair another inch. Now this would also fix the problem you would run into if you had hard surfaces as the wheels that came with the box are made for carpets.

Even without an adjustable lumbar support system, the Odinlake had ample bottom support. Now, I personally really like the lumbar support, and this even felt great for me. There’s no seatback height adjustment on the Odinlake, and the rear frame is a bit exposed, too. We didn’t have any issues with pressure points in the frame of the backrest here, but if you’re heavier or have very broad shoulders, this might be something to consider.

My only real complaint here is with the headrest, it makes it a bit more difficult to move, and this is very similar to the Fern chair. So if he’s read that review before, Ryan mentioned with the headrest, it’s a little more difficult to use. So if he were to remove it, I guess like with the fern, it would probably move a little more freely. The mesh upholstery is very similar to the seat upholstery, being extremely thick. Now, my real concern here is that if it does come in contact with your skin, it probably won’t be as comfortable. Also, this type of mesh is often more aggressive in pulling on the fibers of loosely woven clothing.

The armrests are probably the weakest point of the Odinlake. However, this is not due to settings; It comes standard with three-dimensional armrests that include height adjustment, depth adjustment, and pivot adjustment. There’s pretty decent range of motion for all settings, too. The real problem with arms is how tough they are. They are rock hard with no filler. They also fall short when leaning back in the chair, which we’ll talk about next.

Odinlake features one of the deepest chair recliners we’ve tested that isn’t a gaming chair. They even claim it will back up to 135 degrees, which I believe after resting in the chair for a while. Now, this is really where the Odinlake’s headrest shines. When fully reclined, adjusting the headrest to fit my body wasn’t a problem. There’s also a fair amount of height range in the headrest, so I can see it working for those who are a bit shorter than me. It was also easy to rotate the headrest into a comfortable position so you couldn’t feel any of the hard edges on the frame.

How good is a chair with a deep recline that includes a headrest but no footrest? I guess it doesn’t matter here because the Odinlake has a footrest, and this is the first time I’ve used something like this, and it’s different. I like the concept for those who use the chair for homework and then like to kick back to consume some content. The recline feature is quite comfortable. The headrest fits me well. The seat and back are also comfortable when fully reclined.

Now the footrest also provides good support for my legs and it fits me well. The only problem with the footrest is that it feels really cheap. It also slides freely and doesn’t want to lock into place, which was definitely annoying. The actual place to rest your legs is bare plastic. Adding some padding or even some nice vinyl here would be better in my opinion. There was a slight pivot feature, which I found nice to provide some extra flex, depending on how you like to rest your legs on the footrest.

The biggest problem I had with the Odinlake recliner was the armrest. Unfortunately this is too big a gap as you recline and have no support. This is a big miss. Overall, the Odinlake is a decent pick if you can get it for, say, the price of $399, but at full retail price of $500, you’d probably look at a Haworth Soji or EuroTech Vera as a more comfortable alternative.