CHITAGenuine Leather Reclining Swivel Chair with Adjustable Headrest and Ottoman for Living Room, Black

I'm sure there are many kinds of customers with many kinds of needs and preferences for a recliner, or in my case, for a dedicated A/V room chair. So, first let me explain mine...This is replacing a 30+ year old Danish recliner for which the top grain leather surfaces were still in very good condition, but the mechanicals have been steadily declining over the past few years.The CHITA recliner caught my eye because of the resemblance to a Coalesse Bob chair (not a recliner) which we used in the lobby of the national HQ of the German semiconductor company I worked for, for 35 years. Those chairs always felt like they were designed just for me, as regards height, support, and comfort. But they are not inexpensive, coming in at about $2900 in the US, and lacking the ability to recline or an ottoman.I am familiar with some Scandinavian made chairs, having shopped around and bought a Stressless for my wife in 2022, but not really being enamored of it. It was close to the Coalesse Bob price, but did recline and has an Ottoman. Just doesn't feel like it was designed for my back and physical structure (6'1", 220lb, into walking, hiking, and working with heavy power tools- same jeans size for 4-5 decades, and I'm in my mid 70's)I do a lot of wood working and mechanical prototyping for a small outfit back East (I'm in Idaho) so even things like the basic chair structure with steamed folded high density plywood caught my eye- including the use of high density felt damper pads as primary contact points after one inserts and tightens the mounting screws. I did cheat a little, and though I used the supplied Allen head wrenches to start the bolts into the threaded inserts, I finished up with my own DeWalt mm Hex wrench tool.My opinion is that whoever developed this chair is either clairvoyant, or an SME. (Subject Matter Expert). Let me explain why, from my viewpoint.* Very high quality self centering swivel bearings on the chair and ottoman. Almost no effort to rotate the chair side to side, (unlike every other Danish style recliner I've bought) and it smoothly, (not to fast, not too slow) returns to the centered position after you get up.* Excellent design of seating surfaces and support (for me, anyway)- I've had major back surgery decades ago, functionally I'm fine, but some chairs or seats bug me- for example, my Toyota FJ Cruiser is fine for 600 mile drives, but my wife's seats in her Lexus RX350 just cannot be adjusted to provide the right support for either me or her for long drives. Firm, where it needs to be. Again, feels a lot like my memory of the Coalesse chairs, in the upright position.* Additionally, high quality top grain leather, in what I call an old school weight and style similar to my 3 decades plus recliner that I had to retire, though the leather surfaces were still fine.* VERY good recliner functionality- a simple pull up lever on the right to release the lock, very easy to move into position, and release the lever and the back stays where you put it until you pull it up again. Reclines far enough to make naps comfortable for me. (Mind you, I'm not the princess and the pea sort)* Easy to adjust headrest (well, for me, much easier than the other newer more expensive recliners we have), with adequate height range and three angle positions.Any drawbacks? Well, since it seems designed to work so well for me, it would not work well for my 45 yo nephew- Why? well, the seating area on most recliners is of a general size to accommodate a wide range of folks of different sizes and degrees of adipose. Most recliners have a seating area 24" wide. The CHITA Elvin (its official name in most markets, though not used in the Amazon listing) has a seating area width of 18". Some folks may undoubtedly say, "Well, what do you expect, made in Vietnam (Asia), for small people, right". Well, I'm not a small person. But my proportions are obviously much different from my 45 year old nephew who is about 5" shorter and 60-70 lb heavier. So, this chair may not be a good fit (or possibly even a feasible fit) for him.But me, I'm totally charmed with the operational characteristics, the comfort, the rock solid physicality (no wobble or tilt getting into it) - maybe you could say this is an engineer's recliner. Oh, given it is well constructed, it is heavy, but that comes with the territory.

Wow! I was a little worried based on some other reviews.I thought it might be hard to put together. It wasn't.It took about 15 minutes total to set up. No issues with the base, alignment, or screws.I thought it would be lower quality.It was so much nicer than I expected. Top grain leather and looks even better than the pictures.I thought it wouldn't fit someone my height (6ft).It's a perfect fit and I love how it leans back with the lever.I thought the auto-spin back to it's start would be weird or wonky.It's so cool that you can swivel in it and it's very easy to get into and out of.This is 5x better and cheaper than an Eames chair.I LOVE the streamlined armrests and the contour of this chair.If you're thinking about it, go for it.

The manufacturer must have listened & acted on customer reviews in the past.No problems assembling the chair. Although the shipping box was kinda beat up, chair, ottoman & headrest appear to be perfect without scratches, etc.LOVE the teal color & the smell of leather.The weighted bases keep the chair & ottoman stable, it’s easy to swivel the chair & it returns to neutral position. Simple positioning with right-hand control lever. Headrest is height adjustableI’d describe this as MCM style. The seat is only about 18” wide, so keep that in mind. Nice lumbar support ! Great functionality for a lounging or reading chair.

This is not a small purchase, I paid just over 1k for this. I have been trying out and searching for a comfy lounge chair for a few years now. I have previously owned lounge chairs from IKEA and Living Spaces. This Chita Elvin caught my eyes via a YouTube recommendation. Since then I have read many reviews and done a fair amount of research before making this purchase. There are mixed reviews, mostly on the hardware/assembling side, but seeing that everyone said they have excellent and responsive customer service, I bit the bullet and ordered the saddle color one.Order, delivery and packaging:Everything came in within 3 day’s time in two boxes. One large and one small. I got the legs of the chair and ottoman in one box on the second day, this is the smaller box. It came in good shape, packaging inside was top notch. Then the chair body and ottoman on the third day. This is in a large L-shaped box, that is 65 lbs. However, it came damaged and partly opened. Thankfully, the inner packaging job was done brilliantly, Styrofoam took most of the hits, nothing important inside was damaged.Assembly:It was surprisingly simple to put together. Four bolts join the legs to the ottoman, and another four bolts and washers join the chair body to the legs. These legs have a nice heft to it. With that said, you can definitely put this together on your own, but it is much easier to have a second pair of hands to help. I'd recommend doing that just to avoid scratches and dings to the chair during the assembly. There were many buyers before me that complained about bolts being too short and/or misaligned. I am guessing that the issue has been sorted by the seller because this didn't apply to me. I am also not too crazy about the silly amount of warning labels that are stuck on the bottom.Customer Service:I found the hardware for the ottoman in a bright red plastic bag taped to the ottoman's wrapping plastic. It's 4 [M6x25mm] bolts plus a wrench. Nothing to it. However, hardware for the chair is nowhere to be found. According to the user manual, I am missing: 4 [M6x25mm] bolts, 4 [M6] spring washer, 4 [M6] flat washer. I contacted their customer service via the Amazon portal, and they got back to me in around 24hrs, on a weekend. They said they are going to send out the replacement hardware, and it is going to take another 5-10 days. Unacceptable, given I paid good money for it. The saving grace was that they are very polite and responsive. Anyway, I remember about another reviewer that went to a hardware store for new bolts and I did just that. I got myself longer bolts M6x35 with washer and spring. It did the job perfectly and I am happy that it got sorted.Final Verdict:I am 5'8" 165lbs. This chair is the right fit for me, cushioning is just right, not too pillowy and not too firm. The memory return feature also is very nice. Mechanical recline function is very smooth. The control for the recline is also situated in a good position and the part doesn’t feel cheap. I can sit in this chair for hours and don't have any weird aches after. Legs on the chair are heavy and it obviously works well on a carpeted surface. It does slide just a bit on a hard surface floor, but it has hard plastic caps on the bottom so it doesn’t scratch your floor.TL;DR?It’s nice. Legit. Get it. Customer service is responsive and polite.