Blacklyte Athena Pro Review: Watch out, Secretlab?

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. A company releases a new gaming chair. It makes big promises about ergonomics and adjustability, targeted support and adjustments so that you can play your best — no matter how long the gaming session. And of course, the chair is dressed to impress, with eye-catching designs and premium materials.

But when you look a little closer, there’s deja vu? You’ve seen this chair before. The backrest is tall and has bolsters. It has 4D armrests — proudly proclaimed like this hasn’t been a standard feature on premium chairs for years now — and even the levers, knobs, and adjustments are curiously close to other brands selling gaming chairs.

That’s what we have with the Blacklyte Athena Pro. To its credit, it executes on these features surprisingly well. And to be fair, you could also say that, familiar or not, it checks all of the boxes of what you expect from a gaming chair priced around $600. While we tend to look for a bit more excitement from the best gaming chairs, the Athena Pro still manages to be a high quality chair that’s worth considering if you’re partial to its style and you want a soft seat straight out of the box.

Assembly

The Athena Pro comes in a large box weighing close to 70 lbs. Inside, the chair is completely unassembled but each part is well-positioned and securely packaged to make sure it arrives safely to your door. There’s a lot of styrofoam and cardboard to break down, so make sure you have a box cutter handy.

Like the design itself, the assembly process is identical to most other gaming chairs but is simple enough that most steps can be intuited. If it’s your first time assembling a chair, Blacklyte has included a step-by-step assembly guide printed on a sheet of over-sized cardboard. Simply prop it up somewhere you can easily reference and you’re good to go.

I was able to build the chair myself in about 15 minutes once everything was laid out. Unboxing included, you should plan on around a half-hour, even if you’ve built chairs in the past. Blacklyte includes a screwdriver and fasteners in the box (including one spare), so everything you need is in the box.

There are also a couple of newbie-friendly features present that simplify attaching the backrest. First, the screws are pre-threaded, so you don’t need to guess where they go. Both sides also have metal brackets that guide the backrest into place which saves you from having to fuss with getting the threads aligned. The plastic covers for both brackets attached with magnets and snapped right into place, no screws required.

Overall, the Athena Pro offers a beginner-friendly build experience that — for me, at least — was free of hiccups and rough edges that could lead to frustration.

Specs

Design and Construction

The Blacklyte Athena Pro doesn't break the mold when it comes to design, but it's well-constructed, stylish, and it feels like a premium product overall. I was sent the fabric version and I genuinely love the feel of it — even more so than Secretlab's SoftWeave. There isn't a stray thread to be found. The embroidery and presentation of the upholstery is top notch.

That same level of consideration applies across the board. The presentation is up there with the best gaming chairs we've covered. I was sent the black fabric version and I was surprised to find that it's actually dappled with gray, giving it a heathered black appearance that I find very appealing. There are velvety strips along the backrest and the seat, as well as a large center strip on the rear of the backrest that bears the company's branding. It looks very sleek and, just as importantly, it is nice to the touch.

The other material choice is equally well done. The recline lever and armrests feature mirrored chrome accents, and the cushions are firm enough to be robust, but offer enough softness that you can lean your elbow on them without making yourself sore.

The cold cure foam used in the cushions is decent. The chair uses dual-density foam, which means that a soft layer of foam is placed on top of a firmer bottom layer so that it's more comfortable out of the box while maintaining its durability. The seat cushion isn't as thick as some other chairs that I’ve tested but it's about equal with the Razer Iskur V2 NewGen that I’m also testing right now. Regardless, it hides the frame well and doesn’t feel too thin.

Both the seat and the backrest have bolsters to guide you toward the center. While it's not quite at the same level as an early DXRacer racing seat — where the bolsters were steep enough that they almost hugged you in place — these aren't purely aesthetic. Even as a smaller person, I felt them if I had to turn my body.

Image 1 of 3

Inside the backrest is the Athena Pro's lumbar support system. Knobs on either side of the backrest control the height and depth of its lumbar arch. At 5'8", I wish it got just a little bit lower, but it still worked well enough that I could sit comfortably throughout the day.

There really isn't any upper back support to speak of outside of the magnetic neck pillow. That pillow is very nice, with a velour finish and a very soft memory foam that's exceptionally comfortable to lean back on. The range of its magnets reaches just far enough to make up for some of that support, but integrated support would have been better. Taller users may not have issues with the backrest like I did, though.

Moving down the chair, the wheelbase is made out of sturdy painted aluminum, so breakage shouldn't be an issue in normal use but chipped paint could be if you’re not careful. The casters really impressed me, though. Instead of being made from hard plastic, these are closer in softness to rollerblade wheels and are hardwood-floor safe. This type of caster is usually an optional paid upgrade, or something you need to pick up from a third-party.

Finally, we come to the gas piston. It's a Class 4 hydraulic, which allows Blacklyte to give this chair a 330-pound (150kg) weight limit. The issue is that its maximum height is only 20.1 inches, which is just about an inch shy of many gaming chairs and the majority of those I’ve personally tested over the last ten years. While this may not seem like a lot, it’s immediately noticeable and made me feel like I was sitting too low — even at max height. And taller users are likely to feel even lower than I did.

Comfort and Adjustments

The Athena Pro offers the standard range of adjustments for a premium gaming chair without breaking the mold or adopting ergonomic features from other markets. It’s ergonomic in the way that Razer, Corsair, Noblechairs, and countless others are. It is a big upgrade to the average Staples office chair, but you shouldn’t expect anything outside the box features here.

Image 1 of 2

As I mentioned in the previous section, the hallmark feature is its adjustable lumbar support built into the backrest. Using the knobs on either side, you can move it up and down and adjust how pronounced the curve is so most people can dial in solid support for their anatomy. There’s enough padding on the internal lumbar plate so you can’t feel it and the implementation is overall very solid.

Image 1 of 2

The backrest can also recline using its vehicle-like recline lever. You can lean back up to 155 degrees, which is on par with the Razer Iskur and Razer Enki, but is shy of Secretlab and Corsair’s offerings. It’s definitely enough to relax with your feet up, especially since you can lock it into a tilted position, but I wouldn’t plan on cat-napping in this one.

Image 1 of 2

The chair accommodates different computer work styles, and gaming, well. Since the armrests are unlocked for four dimensions of movement, I was able to shift them to support everything from typing on a keyboard to holding a controller. The softness of the arm cushions and width of the seat make changing positions easy, including tucking a leg under or crossing both legs.

The height of the chair was just plain annoying to me. I prefer to sit higher up at my desk and that single inch difference left me adjusting my desk and looking into longer pistons. It’s entirely possible that this is a “me” problem, and won’t affect users who prefer a lower seat in the first place, but for me it was the equivalent to sitting in a kids’ seat.

Bottom Line

Short maximum height aside, my overall impression is positive. Blacklyte may not have reinvented the wheel with the Athena Pro, but it’s a high-quality, stylish, comfortable gaming chair with lots of style options in fabric or leatherette.

If you are on the taller side, there are better picks to keep you level with your desk, such as the AndaSeat XL Kaiser 3. For better ergonomics capable of supporting a full day of work and hours of evening gaming, both the Herman Miller x Logitech G Embody and the Herman Miller Vantum are worth considering for different budgets.

But if you’re looking for a racing-seat inspired gaming chair and you enjoy the appearance of the Athena Pro, it’s a solid option that seems made to last well into the future.