Tom's Guide Verdict
The Boulies EP460 is a budget office chair with a range of premium comfort features, including a full mesh design, adjustable (and effective) lumbar support, a leg rest and foam padded arms. For the money, it’s a pretty hard chair to beat, and it’s especially good for those with lower back issues. The build feels a little flimsy in places and with no manual, you’re left figuring out some of the awkward controls yourself, but those issues shouldn’t be enough to put you off this otherwise excellent office chair.
Pros
- +
Very comfortable mesh design
- +
Lots of support and adjustment
- +
Flip-out leg rest
- +
Easy to assemble
- +
Highly affordable
Cons
- -
A little flimsy feeling in places
- -
Awkward controls and no manual
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The Boulies EP460 is a fully mesh ergonomic office chair which offers lots of features, support and adjustment for a very reasonable $299. Many of the best office chairs at similar prices only offer half mesh (or no mesh) designs, while full mesh chairs are often more than quadruple the price.
Mesh is often far more comfortable than foam cushioning, as it essentially suspends you in air rather than just putting some padding between you and a solid plastic seat base. It’s like sitting on a trampoline!
However, while the EP460 gets a lot right, it isn’t perfect, and the corners cut to meet its low price tag are readily apparent. Should these put you off? Find out in my full Boulies EP460 review.
Boulies EP460 review: Cheat sheet
- What is it? A budget mesh ergonomic office chair
- Who is it for? If you want the comfort of a mesh chair (especially if you have back problems) but don’t want to spend a large quantity of cash
- What does it cost? $299 / £269 from Boulies
- What do we like? It’s super comfortable, highly adjustable and provides lots of support, all for much less money than other full mesh rivals
- What don’t we like? Aspects of its construction are lacking, there’s limited basic support from Boulies and it only comes with a two-year warranty
Boulies EP460 review: Specs
| Price | $299 / £269 |
| Maximum user height | 5’7” - 6’3” |
| Maximum load | 287 lbs |
| Seat height | 19-23 inches |
| Backrest height | 33-38.5 inches |
| Material | Airy Chenille Hybrid Mesh fabric |
| Warranty | 2 years |
Boulies EP460 review: The ups
The Boulies EP460 ergonomic chair provides the fundamental comfort and ergonomic benefits of a full mesh design at a very attractive price. It’s also highly adjustable and super easy to assemble.
Comfortable mesh design
The Boulies EP460 is an all mesh chair, meaning its back and seat are entirely mesh. I suffer from coccyx pain and lower back issues and I’ve found the EP460 an absolute joy to sit on. My previous home office chair was the cushion-based IKEA Markus ($289), which required a coccyx cushion and foam arm pads to be comfortable. With the EP460, I can do away with all that. If you suffer from back pain, this is definitely a budget office chair to consider.
The EP460’s mesh lumbar cushion is supportive without being too firm or digging in, and the arm rests are padded using moderately firm but forgiving foam. Similarly, the mesh headrest is firm enough to support your head, neck and shoulders, while pliable enough to stay comfortable.
Plenty of adjustment
The Boulies EP460 features plenty of adjustment points, so you can tailor its support to you. The locking recline function has three levels of recline available — I would personally have preferred a lower final recline, but alongside the footrest I’ll discuss shortly, the fully reclined position is still very comfortable.
The EP460’s armrests have 6 height levels, three rotation settings and 7 forward/backward positions, so you can tailor the arms to your desk setup or requirements. The armrests can also be adjusted to accommodate wider users by slackening the bolts holding them in place and moving them outwards.
The seat back has three height settings, and at its highest (seat back and headrest) I have about 2-3 inches of space between my shoulders and the headrest, depending on how far forward the base is slid. I’m 5’11”, so I’m not sure the EP460 will adjust high enough for tall users over 6’2”. The back adjustment can also be quite fiddly (more on that later).
The headrest is mesh and is both height- and tilt-adjustable, and despite no locking tilt mechanism, stays firmly in place when tilted — this is a nice change from the Autonomous ErgoChair Pro ($499) I use in our testing lab, whose headrest constantly droops back to its lowest tilt.
A mesh lumbar support is included, which can be adjusted up or down by hand, while in/out adjustment uses a lockable lever. You can adjust the lumbar cushion to suit upright sitting, forward sitting and reclined positions, to ensure your lower back is always adequately supported.
The EP460 also features a sliding base, so you can ensure your back is always in proper contact with the chair. There’s a flip out leg rest, too, which is basic, unpadded and cheap-looking, but nice to have nonetheless. I’ve enjoyed using the leg rest combined with the chair’s recline to relax during lunch breaks or lower intensity gaming.
Straightforward assembly
The Boulies EP460 came well-packaged, with all its components individually and securely wrapped. There’s an assembly manual included, which lays out all the components at the start, so you can check everything you need is in the box. All screws and tools are included.
The assembly took me around 25 minutes and was very straightforward thanks to Boulies’ clear assembly booklet and labeled bolts. Some of the chair’s components get in the way when tightening up the bolts, but this was a minor grievance and didn’t cause me severe delays or headaches.
Very reasonable price
The best thing about the Boulies EP460 is how all of the above comes at such a reasonable price. The chair costs just $299 directly from Boulies in the U.S., or £269 from Boulies in the U.K., which is a very good price for a mesh chair, let alone one with such extensive support, adjustment and comfort.
Other full mesh chairs include the Sihoo Doro S300 at $799, the OdinLake Ergo Butterfly 753 at $999 and the Herman Miller Aeron at $1,499, so the EP460 is a super affordable way of attaining mesh-level comfort. Those chairs all offer more premium construction than the Boulies, and most offer better manufacturer support too with longer warranties. If you want the benefits of a mesh chair on a budget, though, the EP460 is the way to go!
Boulies EP460 review: The downs
While the EP460 isn’t built terribly, the corners cut to hit its low cost are readily apparent in its construction. Some of the controls are also rather awkward, and with no manual or online instructions from Boulies, you might be left a little confused.
Lackluster build quality (in places)
There are a few elements of the EP460 which hint at the corners cut to hit its low price. The leg rest, for example, feels very cheap and flimsy, and its extending mechanism neither pulls out nor stows away smoothly. There’s a plastic chrome-effect plate covering the chair back, which looks tacky, while all the levers and handles feel similarly cheap, lacking weight and inspiring little confidence in regards to longevity. The seat back height adjustment is also pretty janky and doesn’t feel built to last — it’s also incredibly frustrating to use, which I’ll cover in the next section.
In general, the EP460 is built to an acceptable standard given its price, so I think it’ll still be a sound investment for several years of use. There’s also a two-year manufacturer warranty (extendable to three years via a paid plan), although note this is voided if using the chair for commercial purposes.
However, you can reasonably estimate how long a chair is intended to last by the length of warranty its manufacturer is willing to give out (and therefore the level of financial risk it’s willing to expose itself to over time). If you have the cash, the OdinLake Ergo Butterfly 753, which is a fabulously constructed chair, comes with a 15-year warranty, while Herman Miller covers the Aeron for 12 years. Go figure.
Awkward controls and limited basic support
The Boulies EP460 has a very frustrating seat back height adjustment mechanism. You have to pull it up, but not too far, and wait for it to lightly click to lock into one of three height settings. Go one too far, however, and it resets back to the bottom. This confused the hell out of me, as I was pulling the chair to its maximum height then wondering why it was dropping down immediately. I contacted Boulies’ representative who explained to me about the fourth top click being the reset click.
It would’ve been nice if the company had supplied a manual explaining the above, or hosted a manual online to use, but no such luck. Only an assembly guide was supplied to me and after scouring the Boulies site I couldn’t find any user manual. If you’re stuck trying to figure this chair out, you’ll just have to work it out for yourself or contact Boulies for support.
I raised the lack of a user guide as an area of concern with Boulies’ representatives: Boulies replied to say it will be adding an explanatory note about the seat height adjustment to the chair’s assembly guide (viewable above) and that the design will be altered for the 2025 model, which is a good start, although there was no promise of a user manual.
Boulies EP460 review: Verdict
The Boulies EP460 ergonomic chair isn’t perfect, but that’s forgivable given its low price and the excellent features it still manages to offer. Many people won’t have the cash to afford a premium $1,400 full mesh chair from the likes of Herman Miller, so it’s great that the EP460 brings the basic elements and benefits of mesh at an affordable price.
The EP460’s mesh seat back, base and head rest are supportive and comfy; the armrests are surprisingly forgiving; and there’s plenty of support and adjustment, including lumbar and leg support. If all that matters to you, I think it’s perfectly reasonable to overlook the slightly subpar build quality (in places) and limited basic support. The Boulies EP460 offers no frills comfort and is well worth the $300.
