Our Verdict
The Boulies NUBI Series chair is a great office chair for mid-range budgets. It offers sensible adjustments to help you get comfortable and aid circulation while you’re sat down for long periods, and looks clean and modern. There are no fancy features here, just a neat, compact design and a squishy seat pad that makes the NUBI ideal for a wide range of home uses.
Reasons to buy
- Compact sizing for smaller spaces
- Modern, clean design
- Good value for the comfort
Reasons to avoid
- Seat warmer than mesh
- Not the sturdiest build
Boulies has been around since 2015, but it’s only in the last few years that the brand has become well-known for its ergonomic seating options. Boulies makes chairs for gamers and office pros, and sits within the middle range of the market – nowhere near as expensive as Herman Miller, for example, but far higher quality than budget chairs on Amazon.
I’ve previously tried and tested the Boulies Master Series chair, which safely made its way into the best gaming chairs guide down to sheer comfort and quality of materials. But the Boulies NUBI Series is a more subtle, foam-padded option for people who mainly work from home. It’s stylish, modern, and designed to offer ergonomic support like the best office chairs from FlexiSpot. But does it do enough to warrant a space in your home? Find out what I loved and didn’t about the Boulies NUBI Series chair.
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Specifications
Boulies NUBI Series specifications:
| Max load | 120 kg (265 lbs) |
| Materials | Boulies UNO polymer fabric, steel, engineering plastics |
| Seat height | 43.5 – 54.5cm |
| Warranty | 3 years limited |
| Colors | Beige / Charcoal |
Price & Availability
If you compare the Boulies NUBI Series price to the best office chairs, the $300/£300 pricing feels very reasonable. You get a resilient fabric, attractive design, and some quality-of-life adjustments that make for a more comfortable and ergonomic seating position. The build isn’t the best out there, but I think it’s good value for the overall package.
Assembly
Like most office chairs that arrive from an online purchase, there’s some assembly involved. The NUBI came in a giant cardboard box, with simple step-by-step instructions, separate boxes, and an Allen key for assembly. You don’t need any of your own tools, which is a bonus. it took me about twenty minutes to assemble the chair, and unlike the Boulies Master, it was a one-person job. The wheels push into the castors securely, and then there are a few screw-in bolts to get the arms on and the seat and backrest together.
Design
The Boulies NUBI comes in two sizes – standard and Lite – and either a beige or charcoal colorway, the latter also having a black rather than white frame. The NUBI Lite has a slightly shorter backrest, but otherwise, the two chairs look identical. The chair has a minimal look, and I was pleased to find the beige colorway is more of a warm gray than the photos online suggest, meaning it blends in well with my light garden office.
The NUBI is a chair that’s designed to blend in generally. In terms of build, it’s one of the more compact seats I’ve tested, and while that makes it a good fit for smaller office spaces, it doesn’t feel as sturdy as more heavy, premium options. The armrests have too much give when you lean on them heavily, and the wheels roll around more than I’d like on a hard floor.
While I initially thought that NUBI was built with a cheap polyester fabric, I discovered made from a unique fabric called Boulies UNO that’s designed to be as hard-wearing as a car seat. Boulies claims to have tested the fabric through more than 80,000 cycles of durability, and while I haven’t gone this far, I can say that it’s holding up extremely well after a few months of use.
The fabric is also soft rather than scratchy on your skin. The only real consideration is that it does attract hair, but I don’t think you’d notice this with the darker, charcoal colorway (and a quick lint roller removes the majority of fuzz and debris anyway).
Comfort
I’ve got a fairly petite build, although I’m not short at 5 foot 7 inches. I found the NUBI large enough for long periods, but my partner looked very large in the chair and struggled to get comfortable or stretch out. If you’re of a larger set build, I think the NUBI could feel too flimsy beneath you, which is a shame given how good it looks.
The cold-cured foam set pad is plush though, and molds to your posterior after about fifteen minutes. Again, Boulies has a special name for this foam, calling it BioCurve Sponge and explaining that it distributes pressure evenly as you’re sat down. I used the chair regularly for 8-hour work days and didn’t experience any discomfort or fatigue while doing so – impressive, as I’m usually such a fidget. While I didn’t find the chair’s material as cooling as the FlexiSpot BS11 Pro‘s mesh, it’s much more supportive.
In terms of adjustability, you’re able to shift the NUBI’s seat in several subtle ways that add to a better user experience. One is being able to shift the seat depth backward and forward so that you line up your knees with the edge of the seat. This is a genuinely useful shift, and I wish more office chairs allowed you to do this.
The gas lift system is smooth to use and allows further adjustability for your seating position. The backrest recline allows you to move around more naturally without feeling fixed in place, and the armrests – while being movable – are slightly padded to avoid feeling too hard.
I found the Boulies NUBI Series chair comfortable, but missed the headrest support of the Boulies Master – though I admit this makes the chair much larger in proportions. It’s not the best chair I’ve ever sat in, but it’s not promising to be. It’s just very nice, and I can see it being a great mid-range option if you’re kitting out a modern office. Is it for gamers? Not specifically. Will it keep most users sat ergonomically for large portions of the day? Probably.
Should You Buy?
Yes: if you want a low-profile, attractive, comfortable office chair without spending a fortune. Unlike Boulies’ hybrid Master Series, the NUBI is an office chair first and not designed for gaming.
No: if you get too hot on foam chairs, want a taller bucket-shaped design or a premium build. It’s nice, and I enjoyed sitting on it, but it didn’t excite me in the same way that Herman Miller or Secretlab can.