The LiberNovo Maxis Electric is a big-and-tall office chair rated to 399 pounds, sized for a frame between 5'10" and 6'7", with pricing starting at $1,319 direct. Last fall I reviewed LiberNovo's Omni and liked it, but as a big and tall sorta guy it was not the right chair for me personally, so it became my wife's chair and she loves it. This year, LiberNovo sent me the Maxis, the chair they build for guys my size who want something bigger, stronger, and perfectly designed for guys looking for a chair to support them on long gaming sessions or detailed code reviews long into the night.
The LiberNovo Maxis comes in three configurations direct from LiberNovo: the Maxis Manual from $1,119, the Maxis Electric from $1,319, and the Maxis AirFlow with the ventilated seat from $1,701. The Electric reviewed here is also on Amazon.com. LiberNovo sells its StepSync footrest separately from the chair.
A bigger office chair isn't automatically a better office chair, but for a big and tall guy, having one properly proportioned for your body can make a huge difference during long days of coding, gaming, editing, or working at a desk.
- A deeper seat supports more of your legs - Taller guys get better thigh support instead of having several inches of leg hanging beyond the edge of a chair designed for a shorter frame.
- More room between the armrests lets your shoulders relax - Wider, adjustable armrests help a broad-shouldered guy keep his arms in a natural position instead of pulling them inward or letting his elbows hang unsupported.
- A taller backrest puts support where your body actually needs it - Lumbar, shoulder, neck, and head support work better when the chair has enough height and adjustment range to line them up with your body.
- A stronger frame stays predictable when you move around - A chair engineered for a heavier user should remain stable when you recline, shift positions, lean on the armrests, or push yourself up.
- Better fit means fewer physical distractions - Less pressure on your legs, hips, back, and shoulders means less fidgeting and fewer reasons for discomfort to pull your attention away from whatever is on the screen.
None of that makes sitting for eight hours straight healthy, but a properly fitted chair gives you a much better place to start during the hours when you do need to be at your desk.
I have tested a few big boy chairs and they fall short the same way: same base, bigger seat, wider back, call it a day. Put the Maxis next to the Omni I reviewed last fall and they are obviously siblings. LiberNovo has some big guys on the design team, because they redrew the parts that carry the weight on this one.
LiberNovo publishes a fit range for the Maxis of 5'10" to 6'7", which most brands in this category leave off the listing entirely. A weight rating tells you whether the chair holds you. A height range is a claim about the backrest, and the backrest decides whether your shoulders are supported or hanging off the top edge.
That backrest stands 24.8 inches tall and measures 16.9 inches across at the shoulder and 20.5 at the waist, over a seat LiberNovo lists at 52 centimeters deep. The armrests open from 15.7 inches out to 23.6, adjust five inches in height, and slide 5.1 inches fore and aft. The base is aluminum alloy.
The Omni is rated to 300 pounds. In that review, I wrote that it handled more than 300 in practice but gave up adjustment precision at the top of its range, and that anyone who drops into a chair or uses the armrests to push themselves up should buy commercial-grade furniture instead. The Maxis is rated to 399 and not only is it rated to that but the overal feel even for smaller frames makes this a much nicer chair in terms of stability.
Building The LiberNovo Maxis Office Chair
LiberNovo does a very good job at documentation that makes building the chair a pretty easy task, but I'd highly recommend putting it up on a sturdy table or even just turning the box over and making it your build platform.
Once you have everything out of the box though, it mostly goes together pretty easily. The backrest hangs on two heavy brackets that bolt into the seat frame, and the electric cable harness runs up that frame to feed the motorized lumbar - that's already connected; you just need to plug it in. The harness is the physical difference between this version and the Manual, which does its lumbar adjustment by hand.
Power is the same between the two - this battery pack slides into the seat and can be easily recharged as needed.
The ability to adjust the chair through buttons vs manual adjustments sounds like a lazy luxury indulgence, and it sort of is, but I actually really like the convenience.
Comparing The Maxis And The Omni Side-by-Side
Side by side, the family resemblance between these two chairs is immediate, but then the parts start to diverge. The base is stronger, and the back is heavier throughout the whole structure, and the back is visibly wider and more padded. Even the headrest is built stronger and carries more padding. Unlike some chairs that are simply "wider", this chair takes into consideration that the buyer isn't necessarily just a fat guy ... but might simply be taller than a normal gaming chair or office chair might be able to support.
The spec sheets back that up. The Omni's 3D neckrest moves 2.4 inches vertically and 5.1 inches fore and aft; the Maxis neckrest travels 5.5 inches vertically and 4.7 inches fore and aft, which more than doubles the height range while giving up a little reach forward. The Omni wears a mesh back where the Maxis Electric wears micro-elastic fabric, and the AirFlow tier changes again to Gabriel Atlantic.
One frustrating part about the fabric choices here is that the AirFlow model is white ... a color that I refuse to ever endorse for an office chair that is used as frequently as I need. The chair I was using before being replaced by this LiberNovo Maxis was white / light grey and over the years it's gotten stained, scuffed, and the plastic just simply yellowed with age. White looks great in the first couple of years, but grey and black is a far better long-term choice, and so it's disappointing that I can't get the cooling functionality in a darker fabric.
Five Recline Positions Give This Chair An Extra Comfortable Experience That Typical Office Chairs Can't Match
The Maxis stops at five points between 105 and 160 degrees: Deep Focus at 105, Balance at 115, Solo-work at 125, Soft Recline at 135, and Recovery at 160. The Omni covers the same span in four, at 105, 120, 135 and 160. The two sets do not line up, and where the Omni gives you one position between sitting upright and reclining, the Maxis gives you two.
What surprised me was the balance. The chair stayed planted far enough back that I could lean into it and relax for a moment, at a recline that runs to 160 degrees on a frame rated for 399 pounds.
The LiberNovo Maxis Gets The Important Parts Of A Big And Tall Chair Right
LiberNovo warranties the Maxis frame for six years and its electronic components for two, which is worth considering when deciding between the $1,119 Manual and the $1,319 Electric I reviewed. The motorized adjustments are convenient and I genuinely enjoy using them, but the bigger reason I like the Maxis has nothing to do with pushing a button instead of pulling a lever.
What makes this chair work for me is that LiberNovo didn't simply take the Omni, widen the seat, and increase the weight rating. The deeper seat gives my legs somewhere to go, the wider armrest range lets my shoulders and arms sit naturally, the taller back and expanded neckrest adjustment actually reach where I need them, and the heavier frame stays planted even when I lean back toward that 160-degree Recovery position.
Those things matter after several hours at the desk. Instead of constantly shifting because the seat is too short, adjusting my shoulders around narrow armrests, or realizing that the headrest is hitting somewhere below my neck, I can settle into the chair and concentrate on gaming, coding, editing, or whatever else has me staring at a screen late into the night.
That's ultimately what I wanted after reviewing the Omni last year. I liked that chair, but it fit Heather better than it fit me. The Maxis feels like LiberNovo took the same basic idea and rebuilt the important dimensions around a bigger body rather than simply making the chair bigger on paper.
If you're a big or tall guy who has spent years adapting yourself to office chairs designed around somebody else's proportions, that's the strongest reason to look at the Maxis. Check current pricing and availability on Amazon.com, and remember that even a very comfortable chair doesn't replace getting up, moving around, and occasionally using that standing desk.
For current pricing and availability, check Amazon.com, and if the answer is sitting less, the standing desk I wrote about is the other direction.