Modway Articulate Ergonomic Mesh Review

To pick out which office chairs are worth your purchase, we bought a fleet of promising products from a wide field, then tested them against each other in a series of side-by-side tests. We split this testing procedure into four weighted metrics. Read on to learn how the Modway Articulate fared in each one.

Performance Comparison

Comfort

Comfort is what comes to mind first and foremost when you think of a chair. We had a panel of judges spend at least a full day evaluating each product in our lineup and then aggregated their results. We took a close look at the comfort of the backrest, seat, and armrests, as well as how long each person could comfortably sit, to determine the final score.

Starting off with the armrests, the Modway was received favorably by our panel of judges — all but one, that is. Our tallest tester, at 6'2", found they were uncomfortable.

While none of our testers thought the backrest was uncomfortable, it didn't have anyone ranting or raving. We found an almost identical story with the seat — none despised it, but no one particularly loved it either. Most of our testers were happy sitting in the Modway for an eight-hour workday but weren't exactly thrilled with the prospect of sitting in this chair daily for a full workweek and beyond. The seat has some curvature that does not work with all bodies, which caused some testers to squirm around quite a bit after a few hours.

Adjustability

Next up in our testing procedure, we looked at adjustability. We specifically compared and ranked how much customization each chair offers in regards to back support, armrests, seat position, and reclining options, as well as if you can easily adjust the chair to get into a proper ergonomic seating position at a desk.

Our testers were surprised by the level of adjustment that the backrest of the Modway offers. Again, compared to pricier options, it's not exceptional, but for such a budget-friendly chair, we were impressed. This chair has decent lumbar support that can be adjusted up and down. It also has a reclining lever that you can use to lock the position in at a certain angle. However, there isn't a headrest, and the back doesn't come up very high for most testers.

The armrest adjustability was less well received, as they only move up or down, and the range is not particularly wide. The armrest spacing is also quite wide, which renders this chair less versatile regarding overall fit.

Seat adjustments are also minimal for this chair. The height is the only adjustment you can make, and it just barely went low enough for our shortest tester, whose toes barely touched the ground.

The saving grace of the Modway is that the reclining tension knob is very easy to reach and adjust. The tension is very responsive, allowing the user to make adjustments with only a moderate amount of effort.

Durability

For our third rating metric, we assessed and scored the durability and construction quality of each chair. The Modway wasn't particularly impressive here, which didn't surprise us considering the bargain price point.

In addition to assessing how well each chair held up to our months of testing, we also took some time to research common user issues and reports of frequently damaged parts. We found a handful of people complaining that the fabric stretched out, that the adjustment levers broke, or that the chair was simply “falling apart.”

For our part, we didn't notice any damage on our chair during our testing period, but this period is only a few months, and the Modway didn't radiate the same sturdiness that the top performers in our test suite displayed. However, that is a bit of a tough standard to meet, as those chairs cost ten times as much — or more.

Ease of Assembly

The last metric we addressed is ease of assembly. We paid attention to the quality and straightforwardness of the instructions as well as the time it took for us to unbox and build the chair. Like many budget-friendly items, the Modway left a bit to be desired.

This chair doesn't come fully assembled, so plan to build it when it arrives. That said, this process isn't too much work and took us about half an hour while following the directions. The directions are somewhat sparse, but the assembly procedure is fairly intuitive.

Value

While the Modway is far from the greatest office chair out there, it's a perfectly decent option for the price, making it a solid value for those shopping on a tight budget.

Conclusion