Fractal Design Refine 2 Review: Slightly refined

Fractal Design is determined to be on, under, and in front of your desk — the PC peripherals company best known for its designer PC cases has just released the Fractal Refine 2 — the second generation of its minimalist, “refined” take on the typical racing-inspired gaming chair.

The Fractal Refine 2 is very similar to the original Fractal Refine, but it’s been… refined… just a bit further. It still features a subdued but unmistakable “gaming chair” silhouette, as well as a fairly high level of adjustability and a large, hefty frame. Fractal has definitely made some changes — the 4D arm rests now lock in place, and the tilt limiter, which I found to be way too strong in the original, has been pulled back a little (but not quite enough). The price has also been adjusted — all variations retail for $640, which is on the higher side for a typical racing-style gaming chair. We did like the original Refine, but its scratchy mesh fabric kept it off our list of best gaming chairs — but this time we’re taking a look at the fabric version.

Assembly

The Fractal Refine 2 comes in a heavy box that’s so large you might think the chair is already assembled — but it isn’t. It’s well-packed: all the pieces are individually wrapped and/or boxed, and there’s plenty of eco-friendly packing material keeping everything in its place.

The chair comes with all the tools you’ll need to assemble it, though there’s admittedly not too much assembly. It comes with an allen wrench and several screws — six longer screws for attaching the armrests, two shorter screws for attaching the backrest, and a handful of extra screws, just in case.

Assembly is pretty straightforward and is pretty easy to accomplish alone — unlike most of the traditional racing-style gaming chairs, the backrest of the Refine 2 is quite a bit lighter than the base, and is easy to put into place alone. It also has two pre-placed screws that slot into two holes and slide to “lock” in place, so you don’t need to somehow hold the two pieces together and screw them into place simultaneously. (This might not sound that noteworthy, but trust me — many chairs are virtually impossible to put together without a partner because of this.)

I was able to assemble the Refine 2 by myself in about 15 minutes, and the most difficult part was unpacking everything (because the box really is huge). The Refine 2 comes with a large illustrated instruction panel, as well as an information booklet with more detailed instructions.

Specs

Design

The Refine 2 comes in three upholstery options — fabric, mesh, and hybrid (fabric seat, mesh back) — and two colorways — light and dark. Our review unit came in the dark colorway, a dark slate heathered gray with a black frame, with full fabric upholstery. The fabric feels like soft brushed cotton and is much more comfortable than both the mesh and the fabric of the mesh version of the original Fractal Refine that we reviewed two years ago.

Fabric aside, the Refine 2 looks very similar to its predecessor, with the same “refined” racing-inspired silhouette. It sits on a sturdy, five-spoke metal base with large, hollow plastic casters and a class 4 pneumatic gas lift. It features a glass-fiber reinforced frame with a thick, padded seat that has slightly raised sides — not quite a bucket seat, though it does have the traditional forward hump that bucket seats have. The seat width is approximately 17 inches (431.8mm) between the sides; with the sides included it’s closer to 20.5 inches (520.7mm).

The chair has a tall, racing-style backrest with slightly winged shoulder support and a headrest. The chair measures 18.75 inches (476.25mm) wide at the shoulders, and is approximately 53.7 – 58.5 inches (1365 – 1485mm) tall overall. The backrest consists of fabric stretched over a plastic frame for firm, suspension-style support. The chair also features manually-adjustable lumbar support, which presses through the backrest and can be moved vertically and adjusted for strength.

The Refine 2 is not a bad-looking chair, but it is big, heavy, and difficult to maneuver once it’s been assembled. It weighs almost 80 pounds (36kg), and is fairly bottom-heavy, which I suppose is good for those who want to spend a lot of time tilting in this chair.

Comfort and Adjustments

The Refine 2 is highly adjustable, though it doesn’t offer some of the traditional gaming chair adjustments, such as the ability to lie almost completely flat. There are two levers on the right side of the chair, just under the seat, that control seat depth and height. The front lever controls height, and works as expected — pulling it raises and lowers the chair’s height via its gas lift. The floor-to-seat height ranges from 19.3 – 24 inches (490 – 610mm).

The back lever controls seat depth, which starts at around 16.7 inches (425mm) and can be adjusted to approximately 19.69 inches (500mm), which is pretty deep. Under the two levers there’s a knob for adjusting the strength of the chair’s tilt limiter — twisting forward (clockwise) makes it stronger, while twisting backward (counter-clockwise) makes it weaker. One of my main issues with the original Refine was that the tilt limiter was far too strong, even at its weakest setting. I’m pleased to see that the Refine 2 has toned down the absolute strength of the tilt limiter, but unfortunately it’s still just a little too strong for me to be able to easily lean back. While I did manage to find a comfortable position with the Refine 2 by tilting back and locking the chair into a slightly reclined position, I would still prefer more flexibility in the seatback while I’m working.

The Refine 2 has adjustable lumbar support in the form of a moving lumbar pad that presses through the seat’s suspension back. The lumbar pad can be moved up and down (you’ll need to move it manually), and support can be dialed up by twisting the knob clockwise, or dialed down by twisting the knob counter-clockwise. The lumbar support now features dual pads on either side of your spine (instead of just one pad, like the original Refine had), which flex and adapt as you move to better support your lower back. The dynamic support was nice, though I think I still prefer vertically-adaptable support (like what’s on the Herman Miller x Logitech G Vantum).

Like its predecessor, the Refine 2 has 4D adjustable armrests — you can adjust the height, width, depth, and angle. Unlike its predecessor, these arm rests do fully lock in place, as the depth (back/forward) movement is now locked to the small button (on the inside of the armrest, near the front) that also locks angle. There’s a lever on the outside of each armrest for adjusting height, and a button on the inside (in the middle) for adjusting width. You can also adjust overall armrest width at the base, though you’ll need to break out the hex wrench to do this.

The armrests have wide, padded polyurethane-covered tops and are fairly comfortable. I did find the depth/angle lock to be a little difficult to easily maneuver — especially when I wanted to adjust angle (there are only three angles — neutral/straight, and about 20 degrees inward and outward), but I suppose that’s the price we pay for locking arm rests.

The chair has a built-in, detachable neck pillow implemented the same way it is on the original Refine — attached to the chair via two sturdy metal attachments that click into place. The neck pillow can be manually raised or lowered, or it can be removed completely by pressing the button at the top of the backrest. The neck pillow is very similar to the one in the original Refine — moderately dense fabric-covered memory foam with a bottom-heavy sloped shape designed to sit at the base of your neck.

The maximum recommended weight for the Refine 2 is approximately 300 pounds (135kg). However, the recommended weight range is 132 – 300 pounds (60 – 135kg) and the recommended height range is 5’5″ – 6’7″ (160 – 200cm). I’m right at the lower end of this range (I’m around 5’7″ / 171cm and I weigh around 135 pounds / 61kg), and the chair still seemed too heavy for me. While the tilt limiter was weaker than the tilt limiter on the original Refine, I still found it hard to easily tilt back and ended up having to lock the chair into position for comfort. My husband, who’s 5’11” (180cm) and weighs around 190 pounds (86kg) had a much easier time tilting and maneuvering the chair.

Bottom Line

The Fractal Refine 2 is actually a pretty nicely refined version of the original Refine. The company definitely took some feedback into account and made some adjustments — but are they enough? This chair is practically identical to its predecessor, and the relatively minor changes aren’t really enough to warrant an upgrade if you already have the original. If you don’t already have the Fractal Refine, the Refine 2 is a pretty nice halfway point between racing-style gaming chairs and pricier task/office chairs — and the price is about halfway, too. At $640, this is a little more than you’ll spend on a typical racing-style chair, such as SecretLab’s Titan Evo NanoGen, but it’s significantly less than you’ll spend on most office-style chairs, such as SteelCase’s Karman.