AndaSeat Kaiser 3 Review: A Welcome Surprise!

You live and learn are some wise words to get by. We had heard the name AndaSeat, but we never got to check out how the company’s chairs actually look and feel like.

Lucky us! The brand reached out and, knowing how we’re total gaming chair geeks, offered to let us test a sample. 'You live and learn' is often used with negative connotations, but in this case we had a fantastic time experiencing something new.

Close to a month later, the AndaSeat Kaiser 3 is one of our team members’ favorite new toy. 

While being far from perfect, it towers above quite a few similarly priced competitors. Our rating is a solid 4.3/5 in the context of the broader market in late 2023. Definitely a top 5 chair with several adjustments that could skyrocket it straight in the top 3.

Important preface: The sample we received is a Regular Linen Kaiser 3 in Black. We’re huge fans of fabric chairs. The added breathability over usual PU leather is worth it, despite them being slightly more difficult to clean/maintain.

You can also get the Kaiser 3 on AndaSeat's official site.

Quick intro:
On sizing recommendations

The AndaSeat Kaiser 3 comes in two sizes, two material variations, and seven colors. Here’s a quick guide to what the brand recommends in terms of height/weight:

To clarify, the UGC team member who enjoys the Kaiser 3 currently is a very buff guy hovering just around 250 pounds (~112 kg). He has had zero issues with the Regular (L) chair and its tilt/rocking mechanism.

In general, AndaSeat’s dimensions are quite respectable. Not many gaming chairs go up to 400 pounds (180kg) so you can use this one if you’re a big and tall gamer too.

Kaiser 3:
The arrival and assembly process

We’re going to keep it short here: the AndaSeat team has done some proper homework on packaging. Everything was secured and wrapped to protect the parts. Keep in mind the chair is heavy – around 60 pounds (~27kg) or so. You might need help to haul it over!

The boxes inside the huge outer shell were stylish and well-designed. Being presentable isn’t supposed to be that hard, yet many gaming chair brands skimp on this factor. Not the Kaiser 3, that’s for sure.

Even the armrests come neatly packaged, and the trickier parts (chair base and caster wheels) come extra wrapped to protect them during the shipping process:

As far as the assembly goes, our team member completed the chair within 15 minutes. There are easy to follow, detailed instructions on the booklet included in your package.

Bump the 15 up to 20ish minutes or so if that’s your first gaming chair to assemble. What matters is that AndaSeat has the resources to guide you through, and the chair isn’t that much of a tough nut to crack either.

Several things the Kaiser 3 does right
(Compared to similar-priced competitors)

Let’s be real: gaming chairs in the $300-500 range are dime a dozen, especially the cluster around the $400 mark.

The Kaiser 3 surprised us with several aspects which, combined altogether, make it an improvement on the majority of these competitors.

The armrests & head pillow

A lot of similarly priced chairs either stick to the old news 3D armrests, or if they have 4D ones, they have those dreaded strapped head pillows.

The Kaiser 3 features fully magnetic 4D armrests. You can adjust them however you wish, and they feel more fluid than the standard non-magnetic ones. There’s some of the expected rattling due to them being magnetic, but it’s actually surprisingly toned-down.

What we liked a lot is the magnetic head pillow. There’s one more brand who does that well, and I’m happy to see AndaSeat following in their footsteps.

The usual static head pillows are either too big, or too clunky to adjust/move around. The Kaiser 3 vastly improves on that!

A well-designed seat base

OK, hear us out. The seat base isn’t the best out there if you compare it to more expensive chairs, but it’s miles ahead of most other similarly priced options. Two reasons for that.

The first reason is the firmness. As I’ve mentioned before, having a firmer chair isn’t that bad once you adjust to it. In fact, a firmer chair provides more support and feels more natural.

The Kaiser 3 is firm, but not uncomfortable. If anything, it feels slightly squishier than higher-priced competitors in terms of padding. This might be an issue to some, but for our team member it didn’t feel off.

The seat base is roomy. As pointed out earlier, the guy testing the chair is bulkier – this includes the fitness-toned legs too. He has no issues fitting in the seat on the Regular-sized chair and moving around. I can assure you some other gaming chairs would be tight for him.

Overall durability

We like seeing well-designed components that ensure the longevity of a $400+ purchase. Sometimes you see brands skimping on these, especially the lower you go with the chair’s construction.

Yeah, I’m talking about things like the tilt mechanisms, the gas piston, the wheel base, and the caster wheels.

When it comes to these components, AndaSeat has done their job tinkering around and delivering something solid. The gas piston is Class-4 which makes it both durable and fluid when going up-and-down on the chair.

We like the wheel base too. It isn’t made of steel, but rather aluminum – thus making the chair lighter, but still tough in the long-term.

The caster wheels are PU-coated and larger size. They’re plastic, but a strengthened take on the usual flimsy plastic. There’s room for improvement here in terms of total durability, but they are sturdy enough and glided nicely on the laminate floors.

Several improvements to make the Kaiser 3 chair better

As we said, the Kaiser 3 is up there, but not quite there if we’re talking about the top 3. It borrows a lot of inspiration of a gaming chair classic – and while we won’t name the brand, you can guess who it is, I’m sure.

There are some fixes that can a) make the Kaiser 3 the ultimate leader in its price range and b) even shoot it up to compete with slightly higher-priced options. Here’s what we think.

Improve the lumbar support a bit  

What the Kaiser 3 does right is having integrated lumbar support. You don’t have to deal with these uncomfortable, awful lumbar cushions slapped on the seat base. Yuck.

However, the lumbar support the chair has needs more polishing. It’s...somewhat weak and not as fluid as a popular counterpart of the Kaiser 3. We tinkered around with the options, but there’s something missing still.

The integrated lumbar support needs to be more pronounced as it currently stands, was the verdict we agreed on.

The backseat holes

Both me and my colleague at UGC might be biased, but here it goes:

We absolutely hate the holes on gaming chair backseats. I guess brands leave them there to let airflow or whatever the reason is, but a) it doesn’t really help with air circulation that much and b) it’s inconvenient.

The issue with the backseat holes is that they are ridged with plastic around the edges. So – depending on your body type and height, sometimes your back hits against this plastic. It might not be an issue if you’re there for an hour or two, sure.

However, once you sink in your long-hour gaming sessions, the pressure on your shoulder blades builds up and ends up being uncomfortable. A full-bodied backseat is way more comfortable, in our opinion.

This will also help with the magnetic pillow smoothly moving up and down. As it stands, it feels clunkier around the holes.

Reinforce some of the stitching

Far too many people underestimate the importance of stitching in gaming chairs. To be fair, AndaSeat has done well overall in lining the Kaiser 3 with good stitch work.

However,some of the stitching work towards the top of the backseat would benefit from a little extra QA. It’s not that it’s bad, but we can see it possibly being vulnerable to abuse if you’re a gamer who thrashes around their chair more than usual.

The final UGC verdict:
 AndaSeat Kaiser 3

All things considered, this is a pretty great gaming chair option. You’ve got a sturdy, chock-full of features chair that has several work-in-progress innovations but still performs well.

We forgot to mention that you have a generous recline of up to 165° and a built-in 15° rocking mechanism. The latter feels great as sometimes you want to move around and you don’t want to apply unneeded pressure on the backseat.

At a 4.3/5 score, the Kaiser 3 has earned our respect. In its price range (mid to slightly high $), it excels over most other competitors and yields tangible defeat only to market leader behemoths who are anyways priced a bit higher.

Several factors help it stand out, too. The 7 color schemes are visually attractive, while a lot of Kaiser 3’s competitors stick to the usual 2-3 color options.

Additionally, the Kaiser 3 also features a Linen Fabric version, unlike the hegemony of PU leather gaming chairs we usually see. Fabric is way more breathable and gamers in hotter climates won't sweat like pigs, detracting from their long-hour sessions.

While it’s not at the top yet, AndaSeat has shown a certain motivation to getting there at one point. A few improvements, and the Kaiser series might raise its flag on the peak of gaming chairs soon enough.