Elgato Embrace Chair Review: Why This Chair Isn’t Ready Yet (And How It Could Be)

There is something poetic about a chair called Embrace that does not quite know how to hold you yet.

The Elgato Embrace is Elgato’s first real step into the chair space, priced at around 499 dollars. On paper, it sounds promising. A mesh back, adjustable lumbar, a seat that looks shaped for comfort, familiar Elgato branding, and a price that undercuts some of the big name ergonomic chairs on the market.

In reality, it is a bit of a sticky situation. I have been on a full chair journey for a while now. I have lived with Herman Miller Aerons, I sit every day on an Anthros and a Crandall Office Leap V2, and I have sampled my fair share of chairs that went directly to the trash. I have also, purely by accident, found an Amazon chair that the Embrace looks very similar to: the Clatina ergonomic high swivel chair. That one comes in closer to 229 dollars.

So when I sat in the Embrace and felt a lot of parallels to the Clatina, some real strengths, and some serious flaws, I realized this review was not going to be simple.

This is a sponsored video and review, but I am not interested in pretending this is the perfect chair. I would much rather treat it as a feedback letter to Elgato, because they absolutely have the resources to make something genuinely great. This just is not it yet.

Design, Build, and the Plastic Problem

Let us start with the obvious. The Elgato Embrace is basically a modern office style ergonomic chair with a mesh back and a fabric seat. The silhouette is not bad at all. In fact, if you saw it in a product shot, you would probably think “that looks clean, breathable, and minimal.”

The problem starts when you get close and start touching things.

The entire chair is plastic.

• The frame
• The headrest arm
• The joints that attach the back
• The armrest mechanisms
• The wheelbase
• The casters themselves

The only metal you are really dealing with here are the screws holding everything together. For a 499 dollar chair, that is an immediate red flag. Plastic is not instantly evil, but when every single stress point is plastic, you feel it. The chair creaks, flexes, and has that hollow, slightly icky feeling that does not inspire confidence.

The casters might be the worst offenders. They look and feel like the cheapest possible option that came in the parts bin. On hard floors they feel flimsy; on carpet I would not trust them for heavier users at all. They simply do not match the price tag or the brand that is printed on the back.

The Seat: Great Shape, Crinkly Soul

The really frustrating thing is that there are good ideas in this chair.

The seat shape is actually one of them. It has a gentle slope downward and then back up, which cradles you and helps keep you centered instead of sliding forward. From a pure sculpting standpoint, it feels thoughtful.

Then you sit on it and it sounds like a cat toy.

The cushion has this strange crinkly, crunchy inner material that makes noise when you move. It reminds me of those crinkle tunnels for cats or a very cheap mattress where you can hear the innards shifting around. For a chair in this price bracket, this is a fast way to ruin the premium illusion.

The fabric itself is also just okay. It can hitch and fray, and if you have pets, you will be living the “permanent hair collector” life. If the cushion were quiet and a little more refined, the seat would be one of the highlights. Instead, it becomes another reminder that this is not ready yet.

Arms, Lumbar, and Headrest

The armrests are another mixed bag. Elgato gave them an inset groove that actually fits the arms nicely, and they are technically 4D. They move up and down, forward and back, and a tiny bit side to side. That part is fine.

The issues:

• The padding is firm and not particularly luxurious.
• They are very long, which means they bump into desks instead of tucking cleanly underneath.
• The forward and backward adjustment is so loose that you can basically move it by breathing on it.

Once again, you can see the intention. The execution just feels like version 0.5, not version 1.0.

The lumbar is surprisingly decent. It adjusts up and down, moves in and out, and the pad itself is soft and comfortable. Yes, it is built on a plastic track that feels like it could eventually wear out, but when it is in place it actually does its job. It is one of the few parts of the chair where you feel like “okay, this part is close.”

The headrest is the opposite. Every joint that should lock in place refuses to commit. You push it where you want, sit back, and it slides. You can hear the clicks, but the clicks do not mean much. The higher you go, the less play there is, but even then it never really feels dialed in. A headrest that does not stay where you put it is worse than no headrest at all, and on a long workday it will drive you nuts.

Mesh Back and Tilt

I want to give credit where it is due. The mesh back on the Embrace is actually quite good. It has a nice amount of give, it moves with your body, and there are no hard pressure points digging into your shoulders or spine. For a breathable, all day back support, this is one of the better parts of the design.

The tilt mechanism also behaves more like an ergonomic office chair than a gamer recliner, which I personally like. You have a tilt limiter, you can lock it in, and it never feels like the chair wants to throw you backward into streamer void. People who like the Herman Miller and Leap style of motion will probably be okay with the way this feels.

The downside is that when you combine that motion with a mostly plastic skeleton, you end up with more wobble than you should at this price. It never feels like it will snap, but it absolutely does not feel like a chair you will trust for 8 hours a day, 5 years in a row.

Value and the Clatina Problem

If the Elgato Embrace was a 199 or 249 dollar chair, this review would read very differently. We would still be talking about plastic, wobbly headrests, and crinkly cushions, but the price would at least match expectations.

At 499 dollars, it is going up against:

• Refurbished Crandall Office Leap V2 chairs that are built like tanks
• Used or refurb Herman Millers with proven long term ergonomics
• High quality ergonomic chairs from specialized brands that focus their entire business around chairs

And then there is the Clatina ergonomic high swivel chair on Amazon. From the way it assembles, to the layout, to the general feel, it clearly shares a lot of DNA with the Embrace. That chair is around 229 dollars. Elgato has added a mesh change, different arms, and some design tweaks, but nothing that justifies doubling the price.

That is what makes this so tricky. This is not a disaster of a chair. It is a chair with decent bones, some smart ideas, and a lot of plastic shortcuts that do not match the price tag or the brand reputation.

Sponsored Reviews, Honesty, and Why This Matters

One of the most important things around this launch has nothing to do with the mesh or the casters. It is the way the chair was rolled out.

From what I have seen, there was a big coordinated push: packets were sent, launch dates lined up, and then suddenly there is a wave of videos all talking about how this is the greatest chair ever made. A lot of quick cuts. Not a lot of time spent actually living with the chair.

If you send a chair to creators and frame everything around sponsored launch day hype, you make it harder for people to be honest. They do not want to risk future campaigns. They do not want to be the only one saying “this is not great.”

My take: Elgato should have sent this chair out purely for testing first. No deliverables. No launch day. Just “tell us what is wrong so we can fix it.” Then iterate. Then launch.

Viewers are not stupid. People can feel when a chair does not deserve the title “best chair ever” and a flood of identical videos does not help anyone. The company does not get better feedback, and you do not get better products.

Who Is This For?

Right now, at 499 dollars, I have a hard time recommending the Elgato Embrace to anyone other than someone who:

• Really wants a matching all Elgato ecosystem for aesthetic reasons
• Is quite light in body weight
• Gets it heavily discounted or as part of a bundle

If you are spending full price, I think you are better served by:

• The Clatina Amazon chair if you want this basic layout at a more honest price
• A refurbished Leap V2 or Herman Miller if you want long term comfort and durability

Elgato is absolutely capable of building a killer chair. This has glimpses of that in the seat shape, mesh back, and lumbar concept. It just feels like a prototype that accidentally shipped as a finished product.

Pros and Cons

Pros

• Mesh back feels good and breathable
• Seat shape holds you in place comfortably
• Lumbar pad is soft and genuinely supportive when adjusted correctly
• Tilt behavior is more “ergonomic office” than gamer recliner
• Assembly is extremely easy and fast
• Entry point price is lower than a lot of high end chairs on paper
• Clean, minimalist look that fits modern setups

Cons

• All plastic construction from top to bottom
• Wobbly headrest that will not stay in place
• Armrests feel cheap, are overly long, and are too loose in some directions
• Crinkly, noisy seat cushion that ruins the premium feel
• Very basic, low quality casters that do not inspire trust on carpet
• Value problem when a similar Amazon chair exists for about half the price
• Competes directly with refurbished premium chairs that simply feel better built
• Launch felt more like a marketing blast than a carefully tested product release

Final Thoughts

I want Elgato to stay in the chair game and try again. The market needs more truly affordable ergonomic chairs from brands that understand creators and desk life. This could have been that chair. Right now, it is not.

If you are on the fence, I would say hold off, look at refurb options, or go for the Clatina if you like this style. Then hope that an Embrace V2 arrives one day that takes real user feedback seriously and trades plastic for proper structure.

Until then, consider this review my polite but firm “please go back to the drawing board.”