HBADA E3 Ergonomic Office Chair Review: A Piece of Junk

Spoiler Alert: The HBADA E3 ergonomic chair might be one of the worst chairs I’ve ever had the misfortune to use. It’s marketed as a feature-packed, “pro” ergonomic chair that can supposedly go toe-to-toe with high-end models, but in reality, it turned out to be a rickety, overhyped mess. In this review, I would shred this chair to pieces figuratively of course… although the chair might literally fall to pieces on it’s own. I’ll walk you through my nightmare experience with its assembly, the abysmal build quality, and why comparing it to a Herman Miller Aeron is downright laughable(the companies request NOT MINE).

Buckle up (hopefully more securely than this chair’s parts), and let’s dive in.

Assembly from Hell (2+ Hours of Frustration)

Putting the HBADA E3 together was pure hell. I’ve assembled a lot of furniture and gadgets in my life, but the building process is the most convoluted I have experienced in a long time, even with proper tools, it took well over two hours to finish. The instruction manual might as well have been written in hieroglyphs; it was so bad that “the instruction for assembly is so poorly written that Ikea is jealous” – amazon.com. No joke, one Amazon reviewer actually said that, and they’re spot on. The diagrams were tiny and unclear, the parts weren’t labeled properly, and the whole ordeal felt like a cruel puzzle.

To make matters worse, certain pieces were incredibly difficult to install. The headrest in particular was a nightmare. I was sweating and swearing trying to get screws to line up. It’s as if the designers never bothered to test-assemble their own product. By the time I got the chair put together, I was already furious, and unfortunately, the real problems were just beginning.

Wobbly Headrest & Unstable Adjustments

Once assembled, the E3 greeted me with a wobbly headrest that felt like a bobblehead on a spring. I’m not exaggerating: the headrest is the most wobbly thing I have ever experienced on a chair. You nudge it, and it jiggles around freely. Apparently I’m not alone, one owner complained that “the headrest is extremely loose and wobbles constantly”, with no way to tighten it, which matches my experience. Even another pro reviewer admitted there’s “substantial wobble in [the] headrest” along with other partskitguru.net. So if you try to rest your head comfortably, be ready for it to dance around, or fall back unexpectedly, in what feels like an uninvited visit to the chiropractic table.

The wobble-fest doesn’t stop at the headrest. The HBADA E3 is a fully adjustable chair on paper, adjustable lumbar support, reclining lock, seat depth, etc., but what good are adjustments that don’t stay put? Virtually every adjustment on this chair is flimsy and unreliable. The lumbar support and upper back section slide up and down for positioning, but on my unit they wouldn’t stay locked in place for long. I’d set the lumbar height or depth, and the moment I sat back or even slightly rocked in the chair, the rickety piece of shit falls in multiple places at once, pop, the lumbar drops down, clack, the backrest shifts, everything loses its setting. It’s infuriating.

The recline mechanism is just as bad. The chair does have a tilt lock with a few angle “slots”, but the locking points DO NOT LOCK when under real weight. A slight shift of my weight or a lean in the chair and the tilt would slip out of its notch with a loud click, jarring me upright. I found a Reddit user who had the exact same issue: “The locking mechanism for the seat tilt seems poorly constructed. If I move or shift my weight too much it slips out of its track.” – reddit.com. So yeah, imagine leaning back to relax and BAM! the lock gives out, not exactly confidence-inspiring. Essentially, you can lock this chair in a reclined position only if you sit perfectly still like a statue; any movement and it unlatches itself. Useless.

Cheap Build Quality Everywhere (It’s Falling Apart Already)

For a chair that often retails around $500-$800 (with the perpetual “sale” pricing), the build quality is shockingly bad. It’s so bad that even professional reviewers noted it: “Build quality is a big let down” – kitguru.net, and they’re being polite. Let me be blunt: the HBADA E3 feels like a cheap piece of junk dressed up to look fancy. There are countless signs of corner-cutting and poor quality control, for example:

• Wobbly, creaky components: As mentioned, the headrest and backrest wobble. In fact, multiple reviewers have reported the whole chair gets wobbly over time – kitguru.net. My chair creaks and rattles with every minor shift, it sounds like an old man’s bones cracking whenever I adjust it. It took zero time to feel like I was on an old wooden roller coaster if I turned my fan on! One Amazon reviewer noted “the arm rests just move with little to no effort and that is annoying and distracting” – amazon.com, and I can confirm. The armrests jiggle freely (more on those armrests below), and when they shake, the entire chair shakes. It’s like the frame isn’t stiff enough to hold things steady. I’ve sat in $100 budget chairs that felt more solid than this $700 Frankenstein, or is it 479? I can’t tell with the “perpetual sale”.
• Flimsy and misaligned parts: The manufacturing tolerances on this thing must be nonexistent. I noticed certain screws wouldn’t thread in straight because their holes weren’t aligned. One Reddit user found that the pre-drilled holes under their seat didn’t line up correctly, causing a screw to stick out and “make a scraping sound every time I extend or withdraw the footrest.” – reddit.com Quality control, where art thou? The chair also makes a lot of clunky noise with any adjustment, “the chair makes a lot of noise every time you wish to make an adjustment” – reddit.com, as another owner observed. It’s as if every moving part is grinding or catching.
• Hard edges that damage the mesh: The E3 is an all-mesh design (seat and back), stretched over a hard plastic frame. But the plastic edges are insanely hard and rough, and on first opening I could see the mesh fabric starting to fray where it rubs against those edges. That’s right, this brand new chair was already showing signs of wear on its mesh because the frame that’s supposed to hold it is basically sawing into it. Talk about a design fail. The mesh itself is nothing special either; despite HBADA’s marketing about “high-resilience materials”, it feels average, and apparently earlier versions had even lower-quality mesh that they had to upgrade – reddit.com. Regardless, a mesh chair that eats its own mesh due to bad design is unacceptable.
• Fake “premium” finishes: The chair tries to fool you with flashy looks, but it’s all smoke and mirrors. The base, for example, is advertised as metal, and yes, the structural part is metal, but the five-star wheel base is made of hollow thin alloy that feels like it could bend, and then they slapped cheap plastic silver caps on it to imitate a solid aluminum polish. It’s literally faux-chrome plastic pretending to be metal. As one Reddit commenter said after seeing the glossy ads: “it even looks flimsy and cheap in their ads. 900€ for that? No thanks.” – reddit.com. That about sums it up, everything looks good in pictures, but in person you realize it’s a plastic toy masquerading as a high-end chair.

Always on “Sale”: Shady Marketing

The HBADA E3’s official MSRP is outrageous (something like $800+ for the full version with footrest, more on that soon). It’s almost always “on sale” for around $400–$500 on their site and Amazon, which is still way too much. They clearly set an absurd retail price just so they can perpetually discount it and make you think you’re getting a deal. Don’t fall for it. Even at half-off, it’s overpriced garbage. As KitGuru’s review noted bluntly, one of the chair’s biggest cons is simply “Expensive.” I think they are being kind, but you are definitely not getting what you pay for.

And then there’s the cherry on top of this con cake: the site has the gall to scream, “2025’s Biggest Sale Ends Soon – Don’t Miss Out or Wait Another Year!” Oh please. This chair has been on sale every month of every year since it launched. What are we waiting for, the second coming of ergonomics? This kind of fake urgency is the oldest marketing trick in the book, right up there with “limited stock” and “almost sold out” on a warehouse full of unsold disappointment. Trust me, the only thing you’ll miss out on is throwing your back out sitting in this thing. And if this is their “biggest” sale? I dread to think what their “normal” pricing looks like. Probably includes a free chiropractor referral.

The Footrest: A Flimsy Afterthought That Tries to Kill You

Let’s talk about the footrest. Or as I like to call it, the launchpad to your afternoon prayers. This thing feels like someone at HBADA remembered to add it after they finished designing the chair and just bolted it on with hopes, prayers. It slides out from under the seat like a cheap desk drawer, and when you go to actually put your legs on it like a normal person, the entire chair starts tipping forward like it wants to eject you from your own home office.

The weight distribution is so pathetic that using the footrest feels like triggering a self-destruct sequence on an already questionable chairs stability. One leg up? Chair leans forward. Two legs up? Now you’re balancing like a circus act. Lean back while using it? That’s when the whole thing rocks and shifts like it’s had enough of your nonsense and is ready to throw ya out.

One user called it “comically unsafe,” another said theirs bent within days. No surprises there. This footrest isn’t a feature. It’s a liability with a paint job.

The Aeron doesn’t even need a footrest because it’s actually built with balance and quality. The HBADA slapped one on as a gimmick and called it a day. It’s not a comfort add-on. It’s a trap.

If you value your dignity, avoid the footrest entirely. Use a stool. Use a stack of books. Use literally anything else. Just don’t trust this thing with your weight unless you’re also ready to eat dirt.

Mesh: The Worst Choice When Your Chair Looks Like a Junkyard

Imagine this for a second: your bathroom, kitchen, bedroom, and every garbage can in your house made out of clear plastic. No walls, no covers, no privacy, just full visibility into your dirty dishes, laundry piles, and banana peels. That’s exactly the vibe you get with the HBADA E3’s mesh design. It’s like they thought, “Hey, this thing is kind of ugly and poorly constructed… what if we made every flaw visible from across the room?”

The ultra-thin mesh and washed-out grey color scheme don’t just fail to hide the chair’s structural disasters, they highlight them. Every misaligned screw, unused mounting hole, sloppy weld, injection-molded plastic seam, weird crack, and glob of glue? Oh yeah, it’s on full display. You don’t sit on this chair so much as you sit in front of a diorama of manufacturing regret.

You’d think someone at HBADA would’ve looked at the prototype and gone, “Maybe we shouldn’t showcase the mechanical equivalent of a meth lab.” But no. They doubled down with semi-transparency, which might work for a high-end Herman Miller with elegant engineering, but on this? It’s like stretching pantyhose over a pile of scrap metal and calling it design. It’s not modern. It’s not sleek. It’s just ugly with a spotlight on every design failure.

If mesh is supposed to look airy and minimal, the HBADA E3 missed the memo.

Ergonomics Done Wrong (Huge, Uncomfortable & Unusable Features)

On paper, the E3 Pro has a laundry list of ergonomic features and adjustments. In practice, many of them are either poorly executed or outright counterproductive. Let’s talk about those armrests, for example, easily one of the worst aspects of this chair.

The HBADA E3 comes with big, “6D adjustable” armrests (meaning they can move in pretty much every direction, up/down, forward/back, sideways, etc.). Sounds great, right? Except the range is completely inadequate where it matters. Even at their lowest height, the armrests are too high to fit under most desks. I have a standard desk height, and I couldn’t slide the chair in close because these chunky armrests hit the tabletop. Essentially, you cannot get close enough to your desk to type comfortably because of the arm design. One Reddit reviewer called it a bizarre decision, noting how the arms only tilt upward (when you recline) which makes it “impossible to reach your keyboard or mouse” when leaning back. I agree 100%, if you recline even slightly, the armrests angle up and your arms slip away, making any kind of work impossible unless you sit bolt upright.

A Reddit review described it well: to use these armrests at a normal desk, your arms would need to be at a 45-degree angle outwards, which is absurd and ergonomically awful. And remember, they also can’t lower enough, so you’re forced to either raise your chair (and strain your legs) or just let the armrests sit above your desk surface. What kind of “ergonomic” design is that? “Such a stupid position,” the Reddit reviewer ranted, adding that when you recline, it only gets worse as the arms go up with the backrest. I couldn’t agree more. These armrests are an ergonomic disaster.

Oh, and did I mention how loose and shaky they are? I did, but it bears repeating: the armrests wobble at the slightest touch. They’ll rattle if you shift around, which contributes to the whole chair feeling unstable. They even make noise. One owner said the armrests had “little to no effort” required to move, and it was incredibly distracting – amazon.com. In my case, if I grab an armrest and shake it (out of frustration, say), the entire chair wobbles along with it. You can feel the play in every joint. It’s as if the armrest attachment to the seat is loose by design (or by poor build). This thing just does not inspire confidence.

The lumbar support is another theoretically nice feature that fails in reality. It’s “3-zone dynamic lumbar” according to HBADA’s marketing, basically a piece that can move up/down and in/out, with two “wing” pads that can pivot to hug your sides. In use, I found the lumbar support doesn’t stay put (as mentioned earlier, it slides down when you sit). It also leans back oddly when you put pressure on it. Others noticed this too, “the lumbar support leans back every time you sit on it” – reddit.com, meaning it doesn’t really maintain pressure on your lower back; it just collapses backward. So much for support. The idea was good, execution terrible. Additionally, some users reported the hard plastic “wings” of the lumbar poking them if they lean to the side, I can see that being an issue if you’re not seated perfectly centered. (Also, sorry, but if you enjoy cookies… you will feel EXTREMELY uncomfortable, like being in your friends super awesome sports car that makes you want to sign up for 10 extra gym memberships)

They are meant to hug you but they just make you sweat and feel like a fat guy in a little coat.

Even the recline feature, which should be a strong point since this chair is clearly designed to recline deeply (especially if you have the optional footrest), has issues beyond the faulty lock. The recline tension isn’t adjustable at all. It’s springy and way too light by default, meaning if you’re not a heavy person, it’ll flop back with little resistance. A 90kg (~198 lb) user noted “it’s far too light. I have to lock the seat in a position and stick with it.”. So if you’re lighter weight or just prefer some resistance when leaning, tough luck, the chair basically forces you to either rock freely (like a hammock) or lock it (and pray the lock doesn’t slip). Why on Earth a chair at this price wouldn’t include an adjustable tilt tension is beyond me. Herman Miller Aerons and Steelcases let you dial in the recline feel; this thing gives you two extremes (limp or rigid) and neither is pleasant.

And here’s a final hilarious (or sad) ergonomic fail: the chair is HUGE. I’m not kidding, it occupies the space of about two Herman Miller Aerons. The seat is very deep and wide, the backrest tall with a headrest that juts out, and those armrests stick far out. The back “design” is just inches upon inches of extra wasted space. If you have a smaller build or a tight office space, this chair will dwarf you and your room. So much for “one size fits all.” In my office, the E3 looked like a monstrosity, a bulky white blob that made my previous chair (the Aeron) look slim and elegant in comparison. It’s both visually and physically overbearing.

To top off the aesthetic issues I mentioned earlier: because my unit is the white version with light-grey mesh, it’s also completely see-through. That means every ugly mechanical bit, screws, bolts, plastic brackets, internal frames, are visible behind the mesh. The back of the chair looks like a cyborg skeleton. You can literally see every flaw, every off-color screw, every gap in the panels. Nothing is hidden. It’s like someone took an X-ray of a crappy chair and decided to hang it in my room. If you want a chair that showcases its own shoddy construction for all to see, the HBADA E3 has you covered!

The Audacity: Comparing HBADA E3 to Herman Miller and Steelcase?

Given all of the above, you might think no one in their right mind would compare the E3 to a top-tier $1500 Herman Miller or Steelcase chair. And yet, believe it or not, the HBADA company rep actually wanted me to do exactly that. When HBADA sent this chair out for review, their representative asked if I could make a comparison video between the E3 and the Herman Miller Aeron (or a Steelcase)! The sheer audacity of that request is both hilarious and infuriating.

Here’s how that went down: We politely warned HBADA that doing a direct comparison might backfire, I literally told them, “Regarding a comparison video — while it’s certainly possible, we generally advise caution unless you genuinely believe the HBADA E3 Pro can stand up against chairs in the $1500+ range like those from Herman Miller or Steelcase.” We basically gave them an out, implying that unless they truly thought their ~$500 chair could stand up to an Aeron (widely considered one of the best chairs ever made), it would be unwise to go head-to-head.

Incredibly, the HBADA rep doubled down and insisted on the comparison. They responded with something along the lines of: “Yes, there is a big gap between us and those two brands… They are the benchmarks in the industry that we learn from. But we have also invested a lot in ergonomics research and development, and we have great advantages in terms of functions, and the price is also reasonable. I think we can make a comparison. It’s fine for us. When introducing it, you can highlight its functionality and cost-effectiveness.”

In other words, they fully acknowledged “a big gap” in brand prestige and presumably quality, but they still wanted to push the narrative that the E3 has similar functionality and a lower price, so hey, why not compare? They even asked again: Would it be ok to make a comparison review video with Herman Miller or Steelcase? as their intro!

What a crock of crap. Pardon my language, but seriously, that request was beyond absurd. Comparing the HBADA E3 to a Herman Miller Aeron is like comparing a Boeing jetliner to a paper airplane that’s on fire and missing a wing. The Aeron (or any Steelcase Leap, etc.) is on a completely different planet in terms of build quality, comfort, and durability. Those chairs cost 3x as much for a reason: they’re actually well-engineered and tested. The HBADA E3, by contrast, feels like a cheaply made knock-off that tries to imitate the features without any of the refinement. The rep’s talk of “investing in R&D” and having “great advantages in terms of functions” is just laughable corporate spin. Sure, on paper the E3 has a lot of adjustability, but what good are those adjustments when the chair is wobbling, creaking, and collapsing under you? No amount of “cost-effectiveness” can bridge the chasm between this and a real high-end chair or even the chair against itself.

Frankly, it seems HBADA’s strategy is to slap a bunch of features together, make it look futuristic, flood Amazon and Instagram with ads (the chair is always on sale and heavily advertised), and rope in customers who can’t afford a Herman Miller. It’s a cash grab, plain and simple. They know their “brand influence” isn’t on the level of Herman Miller or Steelcase, the rep even admitted those are the industry benchmarks, yet they want to ride on their coattails by inviting comparisons. It’s cynical marketing, and it backfired spectacularly in my case because I don’t hold my punches.

Just Don’t Buy This Chair

In case it wasn’t crystal clear by now: I do not recommend the HBADA E3 chair to anyone. It is, without question, one of the worst chairs I have ever used. Yes, it’s that bad. The idea of it being “ergonomic” or “premium” is a joke, it’s an ergonomic failure with atrocious build quality hiding under a slick coat of paint. Using this chair actually made me appreciate cheaper no-name chairs I’ve tried in the past, because at least those didn’t pretend to be something they’re not.

Let’s quickly recap why the E3 earns a giant thumbs-down:

• Torturous assembly: Be ready to spend hours deciphering awful instructions and wrestling with parts. Even then, you might end up with misaligned screws or half-broken pieces – reddit.com. Not a good start for a “premium” chair.
• Unstable everything: Wobbly headrest, wobbly backrest, jiggly armrests, nothing stays firm. The tilt lock doesn’t reliably hold – reddit.com, and adjustments slide out of place at the slightest provocation. It’s a chair that constantly undermines its own features.
• Abysmal quality control: From creaking noises to mesh fraying to cosmetic flaws, it looks great in pictures but up close you see the flimsy reality. As one Reddit user said, “it looks better constructed than it is.” – reddit.com Exactly, the HBADA E3 is all show, no substance, well unless you look through the mesh… AHHHH!!!!!
• Terrible ergonomics: Supposedly an “ergonomic” design, yet the armrests are practically unusable at a desk (too high, too far out – reddit.com) and the lumbar support doesn’t actually support (it collapses). Unless you’re really tall, the chair is likely too large to fit you well – amazon.com. It’s more likely to hurt your posture than help it. I’ve never seen a seat pan so large!
• Overpriced & overhyped: Even at a “sale” price of $400, this chair is a rip-off. It’s competing in a price range with far superior chairs from more reputable brands. The fact HBADA dares compare it to a $1500 Herman Miller is downright insulting. You’re better off buying a used Herman Miller or Steelcase than spending half that money on this crappy chair that might not last a year. Actually here, buy one from Crandall Offices. Amazing value:

Speaking of which, I wouldn’t be surprised if this model (or HBADA as a company) doesn’t exist a year from now. These fly-by-night ergonomic chair brands come and go. They pop up, spam the market with a “too good to be true” product, rack up sales (with perpetual “discounts”), then disappear when the returns and complaints pile up. HBADA’s E3 has all the hallmarks of that pattern. As one disappointed customer put it, they had to fight to return the chair despite a touted “30-day free return” policy, which shows you the kind of customer support you might expect.

In the end, the Aeron might cost a fortune, but at least it works as advertised and has lasted me for 15 years. The HBADA E3, on the other hand, might be gone by the time I hit publish on this review. Save yourself the headache (and backache) and steer clear of this lemon. No amount of cool features or cost savings can make up for a chair that fails at the basics of being sturdy, comfortable, and well-built.

Bottom line: The HBADA E3 Pro ergonomic chair is an outright disaster. Don’t buy it. You deserve a chair that supports you, not one that makes you rage and regret your purchase every day. Trust this blunt consumer advice, keep your money and run far, far away from the HBADA E3.

Chairs I CAN recommend:

• Crandall Office Refurbished Leap V2 – My review: https://youtu.be/DkAwxvL4008
• Herman Miller Aeron – My Review: https://youtu.be/2lMSDstvrM
• Anthros (review soon)