 A year ago, I began reviewing chairs of various types and budgets. From my trusty 9-year-old 8,500-peso mesh office chair to my 80,000-peso Herman Miller chair to the infamous Sihu chair which everyone clamored for us to review. A charcoon gaming chair and even a budget mesh office chair costing 3,685, I'll leave a link and the price for each chair at the video description in case you want to check any of those out. But right now, I want to talk about the most popularly requested type of chair for all time by popular demand. Viewers have asked us time and time again to test out even more budget chair options. And so here we are with the most budget yet, also one of the cleanest looking chairs we have ever reviewed. I'm Rafael from Hardware Sugar, the only PC shop in the Philippines with no BS warranty and this is a Nostin which only costs a thousand six hundred sixty pesos. We bought this chair with our own money and so we don't owe the vendor of this chair anything. Let's talk price first. For a thousand six hundred sixty pesos, this is a really budget office chair with an attractive minimalist design. Even the reviews on Shopee which are in the thousands are quite encouraging and might make you wonder why anyone would want to spend more if thousands of people have already given such an awesome rating for a chair under two thousand pesos. And I'm here to tell you outright that I don't recommend this chair for most of our viewers for some very crucial reasons. I am not against budget chairs. I am against our chairs which break quickly, aren't comfortable and which don't meet the basic ergonomic requirements. Being a bit of a chair nerd, I have researched and tested chairs heavily over the years and have concluded that a safe budget you should be working with if you want to buy something which is both ergonomic, long lasting and great value for money should be around the six thousand to ten thousand peso range. And our review of the Nostin is going to demonstrate why. Whether you are or aren't interested in getting this chair, I guarantee you will learn a lot about what to look for before you buy one by examining with me the wrong things about other chairs. The Nostin came in neatly packaged at bubble wrap. The bubble wrap and plastic is quite generous and this is a good thing considering that the Ethan chair which cost almost double the price wasn't packaged as well as this. The Nostin also came with an instructions guide, again something which the more expensive Ethan chair we didn't have. Instead of the wheels which come with the chair, I'm going to be using these roller blade casters. They are really cheap and I cannot highlight enough how everyone should upgrade their chairs with these as they improve rolling and they protect all floors for only an investment of an additional 300 pesos. And you can install these in your existing chair right now if you want to level up your rolling game. During assembly, I noticed two things which immediately turned me off. First, my chair smelled so much so that after assembly, I left it in the sun to bake for a whole day and it still smelled a little bit after that. In fact, it still smells up to now even though it's been like more than a month already since I already assembled this. This could probably be just my unit but it was worth noting anyway. Secondly, while the design of the chair is minimal and clean, immediately upon closer inspection, everything felt quite cheaply made. In short, you can fool someone from far away that this chair costs maybe double the price. It does but immediately upon nearing the chair, the cheap plastic and seemingly frail parts become evident even before you sit on it. Assembling most of the Nostin wasn't difficult at all. What was extremely difficult however was attaching this last arm in which the final nail absolutely refused to get in. I redid it close to four times and got impatient and decided to just give up on the last nail for this arm. The need to perfect a certain angle before attempting to screw it in was incredibly annoying. Let's talk design and comfort. I chose the marshmallow blue option because I wanted a chair which both stood out but which didn't stand out too much. It is actually quite a gorgeous shade of blue and so in terms of looks alone, it looks more expensive than it actually is. Even the small wing-like arms with their blue pads and white plastic frame complement the look of the chair overall and it truly is impressive. The further way you are from it that is. Further problems become apparent the moment I sit on it. First, a lot of people will have problems with the very low height of this chair and it is something I see in most budget chairs such as the Ethan. Whether it is my current desk, my old desk or my dining table, it just isn't tall enough for me to work with. The height of the chair directly impacts the second problem I have with this chair and that's the armrests. In order to optimally support your arms, the armrests must be level without of your desk and so that your arms and hands are supported during the entire time you are working or gaming. The problem with having arms which are not level with the desk is that you end up having to either not use any armrests at all or if you choose to use them, a lot of strain is placed on the elbow and I am telling you that your elbows will feel pain after a couple of hours of use and you'll end up just giving up on these supports altogether. These armrests also do not adjust up or down but are meant to either be in use or not at all. To be fair, I didn't expect the armrests to be adjustable within this price point. However, what I did want were armrests and a chair height which would at least meet the height of at least one of my desks or tables. Related to the problems with the arms is that there is practically no cushioning here. This cotton pad is purely cosmetic and it is practically as hard as the white plastic it covers. So even if you have a table in which your arms would be leveled with it, expect to feel discomfort after extended periods of time. You can however improve on this by ordering arm foam. In case all you need is a few more inches for your arms reach your desk, arm foam such as this helps raise the height and it greatly improves the comfort of your chair. However, the mere fact one needs to add third-party attachments to make this chair comfortable is already a red flag in which you may just want to spend more overall to get a chair which is both complete and more comfortable rather than researching third-party stuff. Thirdly, while the design of the padding makes it look like it's well padded, it truly isn't. This is most definitely a firm seat. In fact, I actually find some monoblock chairs more comfortable than this because monoblock seats actually have a slight curve which accommodates and wraps around your ass. The Nostin chair however is not only not cushioned but it is completely flat. In short, while this looks better than a monoblock chair, I would still be more comfortable sitting in a monoblock chair for longer than the Nostin. And depending on the price, a monoblock chair runs from 300 to only 600 pesos, thus even cheaper than the Nostin. You might even already have two or more laying about in the house and you can increase the height by simply stacking a few. I'm not kidding when I say I fully respect the design and comfort of a monoblock but you still have genuine fights over specific ones in high school. Fourth, you can slightly recline on this chair which is a positive thing. Of course, I don't really know if this is really a considered a recline or merely the symptom of a possibly unstable chair base. Not to put down things which are cheap but my mind wanders into how safe anything is if it is very cheap. And so I wouldn't recommend rocking like this if you want to extend how long this chair will last with you. Again, a monoblock chair which is cheaper and more comfortable will probably outlast the Nostin. In conclusion, after using the Nostin for a full week at 3 hour intervals before switching back to my other chairs, I can tell you that you pay for what you get but it isn't however a value for money purchase. Again, I really like my 9 year old chair which while it now costs 8,500 pesos is still going strong and I expect it to last at least another 3 years. Not only can I recline like a boss but I am absolutely comfortable in this chair. Similarly, you can look into the CUM-67 which while the recline is not as good as the aerodynamic is still a very comfortable chair which delivers on value for money and sturdiness. Yes, you can buy 5 of these Nostin chairs for one of these chairs. However, the sheer amount of improved productivity in being comfortable while you work or play is worth every peso. My aerodynamic is still going strong and I still use it even though I own a much more expensive chair in my work desk. So while the Nostin's design is very impressive visually for what you pay for, it just really isn't worth investing in and I have my doubts on how long it will last. In terms of comfort and design, you are better off with either a mono block chair or if you want to improve the looks of your desk then one of these Scandinavian plastic chairs which I am very fond of. These go for 850 pesos and just like the benefits of the mono block chair, it also curves around your butt for extended periods of comfort. Neither one of them have armrests but the Nostin's armrest in my opinion are useless for most desks and I would end up not using it either. If you liked this video please consider liking and subscribing as it's super duper helps us out. Let us know what chair you want us to review and we'll put it on our list. We want to give a special thank you to our top fans who helped make all of our effort here in hardware sugar possible. Rafael James, ITX Addict, Ian Meru, Liam Magnae, John Rubin Occhia and Christian Espinosa. Thank you so much. We don't take your continued support lightly and please let us know any feedback you may have for us on the direction our channel should go. Stay safe everyone.