REASONS TO BUY
Acceptably comfortable
REASONS TO AVOID
Mediocre adjustability
Harder to build
Alera ALEEL42BME10B Elusion Series Review
Struggled to distinguish itself from the pack with its overall lackluster showing
By Hayley Thomas ⋅ Review Editor ⋅ June 25, 2021
Contributions From: David Wise & Austin Palmer
RELATED: The Best Office Chairs of 2025
Our Verdict
Putting up relatively mediocre results in each of our testing metrics, the Alera ALEEL42BME10B Elusion Series is relatively uninspiring compared to the other office chairs in the group. It only had a minimal amount of adjustability, and our judges rated it far from the most comfortable chair of the group. In addition, it can be a bit of a hassle to assemble and didn't seem as well-built as the top-of-the-line products. On top of all that, its list price seems disproportionately high.
Our Analysis and Test Results
The Alera is fairly comfortable, but far from our favorite.
Credit: Jenna Ammerman
Comfort
A handful of our panel felt they could easily sit in this chair for eight to 10 hours a day without any cause for complaint, but a few testers felt they would only want to sit in this chair for four to six hours a day at the maximum.
Not all of our testers were happy about sitting in the Alera for a full work day.
Credit: Jenna Ammerman
When it came to judging the different parts of the chair, the seat cushion was almost universally rated on the more comfortable side, with only a single judge scoring it more on the mediocre side.
Most people liked the comfortable seat cushion on this chair.
Credit: Jenna Ammerman
The response to the backrest was a bit more split, with half the testers rating it highly and the other half scoring it average or below. The Alera's favor fell even more when it came to its armrests, with a majority of our testers giving them uninspiring scores with regards to comfort.
You need to get out of the chair to reach some of the adjustments on the Alera.
Credit: Jenna Ammerman
Adjustability
The backrest is reasonably high and can be moved up and down to adjust the location of the lumbar support. However, we weren't terribly impressed with it, as the small protrusion, purportedly for lumbar support, didn't seem to do much for many of our testers.
The lumbar support on the Alera is a bit uninspiring.
Credit: Jenna Ammerman
The armrests have about half the adjustability of the top models, only allowing you to move them in or out and set the height, not change the depth or angle. You can't adjust the seat much beyond setting its height, and the reclining tension knob doesn't have the largest response, with even the lowest setting being on the stiffer side. We did like that the Alera has a tilt limiter to lock you upright. It's also fairly easy to set up this chair according to proper ergonomic seating guidelines.
The Alera isn't the most durable chair we have seen but still seemed fairly well-built.
Credit: Jenna Ammerman
Durability
The backrest began to stretch out after a few months of testing, allowing us to see it wearing out quickly. We found a handful of other user experiences online that backed this up, noting that the backrest on their chair had completely stretched out so that their back was resting against the plastic frame. We also found a group of user reviews complaining that the chair began to squeak after a while or that one of the adjustment levers broke off.
The Alera took a fair bit of time to put together.
Credit: Jenna Ammerman
Ease of Assembly
This chair took us 35-45 minutes to assemble, as you have to build most of it before sitting down. The instructions aren't particularly clear, and the photos could be improved, but you can still follow them without too much difficulty.
Value
This chair isn't a great value, with less expensive options significantly outperforming it.
Conclusion
The Alera screamed mediocrity in almost all of our tests, and there are other chairs that we preferred much more in the same or lower price range, making us reticent to recommend it.
Credit: Jenna Ammerman
—Hayley Thomas, David Wise, and Austin Palmer
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