Quick Links

Key Takeaways

SIHOO’s M18 Ergonomic Office Chair is a comfortable, supportive option that’ll leave your back feeling great at the end of a long work day. Though you can’t adjust the armrests, you can adjust the headrest, the lumbar support, and the chair height. In short, the chair provides ergonomic comfort at a budget-friendly price.

Over the years, I've developed a lot of bad habits when it comes to my posture. I'm not even 30, and I have bulging discs, sciatic nerve pain, and constantly achy shoulders. SIHOO's M18 chair hasn't been able to fix my poor posture habits, but it has helped significantly with some of my daily discomfort while working long hours.

The M18 ergonomic chair from SIHOO retails for $299.99, though you can often find it discounted to around $200, which is an absolute steal for all the ergonomic support you get. I've been testing the chair out on a daily basis for about a month, and there's a lot to love. I wish the armrests could adjust more than simply up and down, but that's such a small complaint next to everything else I like about this chair.

Build Quality & Setup

Putting SIHOO's M18 chair together is a simple 30- to 45-minute process. There's an easy instruction manual to follow with eight simple steps, and I didn't have to guess at anything while assembling. You'll also find a pair of gloves included for handling the hydraulic piece, but I didn't use them and my hands weren't stained at the end of the process.

You build the chair base first, which consists of five aluminum alloy legs, five wheels to stick onto each leg, and the middle piece that the legs connect to. Then, the base piece is flipped over and you set the hydraulic piece in the center hole.

Next up, you attach the two armrests and the mechanism piece with bolts to the underside of the chair's mesh seat. The mechanism piece works with the hydraulic lift to adjust the chair's height and switch between an upright position and a tilting position in the chair. While the seat is flipped upside down, you also attach the back piece with bolts.

Once all of that is attached to the seat, you lower the mechanism piece onto the hydraulic piece. Then, the headrest simply slides into position above the back piece and you'll hear it click into place when it's seated properly.

Related: Why It's Worth Investing in a Good Office Chair

The chair's legs and hydraulic lift piece are made of aluminum alloy, and the mechanism piece is made of a different metal. Other than that, the rest of the chair's hardware is made of a sturdy plastic. The armrests are softer and covered with a more flexible plastic, the backrest is covered with hollow mesh, and the seat and headrest are decked out with a comfortable, cushy material and finished off with a breathable mesh outer layer.

SIHOO M18 office chair underside showing the installation of the backrest to the hydraulic mechanism
Sarah Chaney / Review Geek

After the chair was fully assembled and I sat down in it for the first time, there was only one thing that worried me. When I sit down in an office chair, I often use the armrests to lift myself into the chair or to adjust myself while I'm sitting. The first time I did this with the SIHOO M18, there was this weird sound, almost like ripping, coming from where the armrests connect into the chair's base.

After a few uses of the chair and accidental moments of pushing up on the armrests to adjust myself in the chair, I didn't notice the creaking, ripping sound anymore. I'm not sure if it was just the washers or screws settling or whatnot, but the sound isn't as noticeable after regular use of the chair.

Related: OdinLake Ergo Plus 743 Review: My Neck and Back Love This Chair

I know that office chairs probably aren't meant to support your weight on the armrests, but surely I'm not the only person who does this in a chair, so I thought it was worth mentioning. Other chairs I've reviewed, like the OdinLake Ergo Plus 743, have the armrests built into the bottom piece rather than manually screwed in, and I've never heard this weird sound with chairs built like that.

Comfort & Design

When you're sitting in a chair all day for work, or even just a few hours every day doing homework or answering emails, you want it to be comfy. Sure, part of that comfort stems from ergonomic features, which I'll talk more about later. But much of a chair's overall comfort is dependent on the materials used and design choices.

Front view of the SIHOO M18 office chair
Sarah Chaney / Review Geek

The first design element I noticed on SIHOO's M18 chair is the shape of the armrests. Some armrests come covered in a cushy material that'll compress when you set your arm on it, but that can wear over time. The M18's armrests are covered in a soft plastic with a concaved dip in the middle to fit your arm more comfortably. I love this design because it kind of hugs your arm when you rest it, and the soft plastic won't wear down as quickly as a cushiony material.

Then, the mesh-covered seat cushion is a great overall design choice, but it comes with the same pros and cons as any mesh-covered seat. The seat is definitely breathable and comfortable to sit in, especially with the W-shaped elastic sponge cushion underneath. However, any mesh-covered cushion is difficult to clean because crumbs (or in my case, cat litter) get wedged in between the layers.

Closeup of the mesh seat of the SIHOO M18 office chair
Sarah Chaney / Review Geek

Adjustability

If a chair doesn't come with adjustable features, that means it'll only be good for a few different heights and body types. So any chair worth its salt, so to speak, will have quite a few adjustable features. Luckily, SIHOO's M18 chair offers plenty!

One of the most standard chair adjustments is the overall height. With its built-in gas lift made of steel, the M18 can raise or lower within a 3.15-inch total range. The chair is listed as being suitable for people 5'6" to 6'2" tall. For reference, I'm 5'5", and I still found the chair super comfortable and well-fitting.

Related: Everything You Need for an Ergonomic Office

The headrest can rotate 45-degrees to adjust the angle and pressure on your head and neck. Then, it can go up and down 3.5 inches to accommodate different upper body heights. Because of how I typically sit in a chair, I didn't use the headrest a lot, but man, it felt nice on my neck when I relaxed and leaned back in the chair.

Speaking of leaning back, there's an easy push/pull mechanism to take the chair from a sturdy upright position to a relaxing tilted position. When you push the mechanism in to lock or pull it out to enable reclining, there's a strong click sound.

SIHOO M18 office chair recline lock and seat height adjustment lever
Sarah Chaney / Review Geek

Some chairs make you readjust all your settings when you tilt back, or they just feel awkward to lean back in, but I didn't experience either with the M18. This chair feels great to lean back in, and the pieces of the chair kind of slide with you, so they're still supporting you everywhere you need it. With other chairs, I've often had to readjust the lumbar support because it's no longer in the right place, so it was nice not having to do that with this chair.

The M18's lumbar support adjustment can move in two different ways: up and down, and forward and backward. You can move it up and down with a range of 1.9 inches, and this moves the support into the right spot on your back. Then, you can adjust it forward and backward to find the perfect amount of support, within a range of 1.2 inches.

Closeup on the SIHOO M18 office chair adjustable lumbar support
Sarah Chaney / Review Geek

I love the shape of the armrests, but unfortunately they can only be adjusted up and down, with a range of 2.8 inches. Some armrests can flip up to be moved out of the way completely, or they can be adjusted forward and backward or swiveled inward and outward. But with this SIHOO chair, your only adjustment option is up and down.

Adjusting each armrest is also a two-hand job, which was a little annoying. The button you need to push in to adjust the armrests is too far away from the armrest itself to move it with the same hand you're using to push the button in.

Sarah Chaney / Review Geek

I think the overall shape of the chair makes the lack of adjustments kind of okay. SIHOO thought out the shape of the M18 chair well enough that you don't need to make too many adjustments for it to fit your body well. Even when you haven't made any personalized adjustments to the chair, it's still a lot more comfortable than a lot of other $200 chairs.

Ergonomic Features

Before getting into the ergonomic features of SIHOO's M18 chair, it's important to define the term 'ergonomic.' When a product is ergonomic, it's designed with comfort and efficiency in mind for long-term use. You should be able to use this product that's marketed as being ergonomic for hours on end without any major discomfort to you.

There are no tests or guidelines needed for a product to be labeled as ergonomic. That said, it's not always just attached to a product as a selling point. Usually, companies who label products as ergonomic will also tell you what exactly was designed to be ergonomic for users, like which of your vertebrae are targeted with a certain design element.

Adjustable headrest on the SIHOO M18 office chair
Sarah Chaney / Review Geek

SIHOO says its M18 chair provides four unique support points at your head, back, hips, and hands, as well as proper lumbar support. I'm not sure where the support point for the hands comes into play because your hands never really settle on the armrests, and if you're typing or working at a desk, your hands are on your desk and not on the chair. But everything else that SIHOO mentions in its marketing materials is spot on.

The M18 is supposed to help fit and relax your cervical vertebrae through the headrest, as well as support your shoulder vertebrae and a proper sitting posture. Then, the lumbar support provides muscle pressure, relieves strain, and supposedly can even help improve the shape of your lumbar vertebrae over time.

Related: The 5 Best Ergonomic Office Chairs

I struggle with a lot of sciatic nerve pain that goes from my back down to my foot, and I have two bulging discs in my back. In the days leading up to trying out the M18 chair, my back was hurting a lot. I had been sitting on the couch and on the bed a lot while working, which is never good for my back. After a day or two of sitting in the chair for maybe 3 hours each day, my back felt significantly better.

The lumbar support is fantastic on this chair, and I felt like it was helping to not only support my back in the moment but also reverse some of the damage I had caused myself by sitting on the bed and couch so much. The lumbar support almost felt like a massage to my lower back because of how sore I was. I also did feel relief from the pressure points within the seat on the underside of my legs.

Verdict: Budget-Friendly Ergonomic Support

There are other ergonomic office chairs out there that will provide you with more features and better support for long hours, but they're incredibly expensive. A lot of people don't have $1-2,000 to drop on an ergonomic chair, but their backs can't take sitting in a crappy $50 office chair with no support. That's where great options like SIHOO's M18 chair come in to fill the gap.

For $200, the SIHOO M18 is a great budget-friendly office chair that provides lumbar support and decent adjustable features. You can comfortably sit for multiple hours a day in this chair, doing homework, answering emails, or making work calls. Then, you can recline it and prop your feet up when the day is over, and you're ready to play some games or stream something on Netflix.

b85635ea
SIHOO M18 Ergonomic Office Chair
$150 $270 Save $120

Pros
  • Super comfy and budget-friendly
  • Lumbar support adjustments are great
  • Breathable mesh keeps you cool
  • Feels just as ergonomic when reclining
Cons
  • Mesh-covered seat is hard to clean
  • Arm rests only adjust up and down