Introduction
Plenty of ergonomic office chairs offer back-boosting support – but how many of them are also your personal masseuse? The LiberNovo Omni is a Kickstarter success story that’s more than just a comfy place to park your posterior. Its electronically controlled lumbar support can give spinal stretches after a day of being desk-bound.
With over 10,000 backers and $7 million raised, there’s more buzz about this desk throne than any bucket-style gaming chair I can remember. The firm’s comfort claims could even put names like Herman Miller on notice – but you’d hope as much, given that’s where LiberNovo is pitching the Omni price-wise. With Kickstarter incentives now closed, and only a small presale window to snag a smaller discount, most shoppers will need to part with $1099 to get one in their home office.
Did this chair rub me in all the right places to justify a four figure spend? After several weeks of sitting, I’m convinced it’s one of the most comfortable I’ve ever used.
Unboxing and setup
Almost all of the LiberNovo Omni’s wired bits come pre-assembled, so putting the chair together was nearly as easy as a regular office chair. It helps that the assembly instructions come on a giant piece of cardboard as big as the box the chair ships in, with clear diagrams for each step.
The castor feet, seat cushion, armrests and back rest all click together easily enough, then there are just a few screws to tighten to secure it all together. LiberNovo even includes a screwdriver in the box. One screw was a bit tricky to get at, but I eventually managed it without needing a second pair of hands to assist.
The last step is sliding the battery pack – about as big as a smartphone battery bank, with a useful handle on the protruding edge – into its slot beneath the seat cushion. It locks snugly in place, but pulls out with a small amount of force when it’s time to charge. The USB-C port is on the inner edge, so don’t think you can connect the chair directly to a power socket. LiberNovo reckon it’s good for 30 days between refuels if you use the stretch function once a day; for more occasional adjustment, it’ll likely keep going for up to a year. I’ve yet to run it flat after two weeks of testing.
LiberNovo also sent the footrest accessory, which became a Kickstarter stretch goal and is available to buy separately. It’s not very adjustable, having just two positions based on your height, but the cushioned portion gives you somewhere to prop your trotters when getting a massage in the full recline position.
Comfort and adjustment
From the back, the LiberNovo Omni’s segmented back rest gives me a real sci-fi vibe – particularly in the (appropriately named) Space Gray version I was sent for testing. There’s also an all-black model if that better suits your room decor, or you can’t be trusted with materials that easily show up stains.
The backrest and seat cushion are wrapped in plush fabric and stuffed with memory foam. It doesn’t breathe quite as easily as a mesh-backed chair, but feels like you’re sitting on a cloud. I was comfortable and sweat-free after a 9-to-5 of working in my stuffy home office during a particularly hot day.
It helps that the back rest has 16 pivot points that wrap themselves around the contours of your body, so lumbar aside, there’s very little to adjust here. The same can’t be said of the 4D armrests, which move every which way, and the headrest, which both slides and pivots. Finding the ideal sitting position took a little while, but it’s a one-and-done deal because the headrest and armrests move in sync as you lean back.
The arm rests are perhaps a little too easy to knock out of place once you’ve settled on a position, but this was a minor quibble. Overall comfort and adjustment was a league ahead of the Vertagear SL5800 gamer-style chair I’d been using previously.
Recline and lumbar
Having lumbar adjustment available at the push of a button made me feel like I was sitting in a high-end car seat rather than an office chair. Buttons on the left arm rest raise and lower the level of support, letting you really dial it in from your usual sitting position – good luck doing that on some chairs with fiddly manual lumbar adjustment.
While I found it lined up perfectly with my lower back, the single direction adjustment won’t suit every body shape. If you’re particularly short or tall, it might prod you higher up than you’d want (I’m 6 feet tall, for reference).
I doubt many people are adjusting their office chairs frequently enough that electronic lumbar is a must-have, but it does let the LiberNovo Omni play its trump card: a five-minute spinal massage, which uses the lumbar to stretch you out while fully reclined. The steady rising and falling was a welcome way to relax just after clocking off for the day.
The Omni also gets top marks for its range of recline options. I mainly used the 105-degree Deep Focus and 120-degree Solo Work modes, which are ideal for virtual meetings and more relaxed typing respectively. There’s also a 135-degree Soft Recline, while the 160-degree Spine Flow position is more lay flat than some business class airline seats.
LiberNovo Omni verdict
As someone who works from home, I can absolutely see the appeal in investing serious money on a comfortable chair. The LiberNovo Omni is wonderfully adjustable and properly comfortable once you take the time to set it up properly, while the electronic lumbar and massage functions are the icing on the cake.
LiberNovo doesn’t have the track record of more established chair brands, so long-term reliability and repairability are a bit of an unknown: the chair frame has a five year warranty, but the electronics only get two years. Even fully-funded Kickstarter projects should be approached with a little caution.
However, if you’re after the sort of throne that James T. Kirk would trade his USS Enterprise captain’s chair for, then look no further.
