Sihoo Doro C300 Review: Harmony in Ergonomics

PC gaming has changed a lot since I first sat down to play Doom under questionably responsible adult supervision back in the 1990s. A good graphics card can end up costing more than a used car, you don't actually own most of your games, and if you're of a similar vintage, your back now aches a lot more, a lot faster.

The only thing that has remained constant is that you're probably playing the game while sitting on a chair, and that brings us to the Sihoo Doro C300.

This is not my first experience with chairs from this brand, with its M56C ergonomic office chair being my mainstay for most of 2025, replacing the valiant but objectively mediocre IKEA chair I had been using since the lockdown days.

By all accounts, the M56C is a solid chair in the more affordable end of things, but the prospect of finding out what lay beyond in Sihoo's flagship range was enough to tempt me into checking out the Sihoo Doro C300.

Sihoo's Flagship Model

Sihoo seems to have gone all out with the design of the Doro C300, which is only understandable considering this is the company's flagship model.

At a retail price of $559.99 (discounted to $279.99 at the time of writing), this is decidedly a jump from the base models, so more features are only expected here.

The cushion, backrest, lumbar, and neck supports in the Doro C300 are made from a breathable elastic mesh. While the backrest and cushion are fairly standard as far as chairs go, the pride point on this model is the dynamic lumbar support.

The lumbar support is hinged to better adjust to pressure, but it is also mounted on a vertical rail that helps position it as you shift about.

You can move the armrests up, down, back, forward, and rotate them. A similar level of customization is awarded to the headrest, which you can tilt at both the piece itself and at the mounting hinge, while also having a rail for height adjustment.

This is a lot of moving parts for an office chair, and while that increases its customization potential, it also borders on feature creep, but more on that later.

Heavy Weights, Awkward Builds

Upon delivery, the postman gleefully proclaimed he was happy to get rid of the box as it weighed about 30kg, while not having much in the way of handles. The elevator in my building did most of the lifting, but I do not envy anyone who has to drag this brick up a few flights of stairs.

The Sihoo Doro C300 comes packaged cleanly, with a cute little pair of white gloves for those not up for getting their hands dirty or who build better when dressed like Michael Jackson.

The entirety of the set is put together with an Allen key, provided in the assembly kit. One of my main complaints here is that the design and documentation teams did not seem to talk to each other when prepping this, as the manual and the screws package use different conventions.

The manual uses letters to refer to screw types, but this is never referenced in the packaging, which instead groups items by the part they're meant for. Both are helpful, but they only work when the documentation and the items agree with each other.

Another problem I faced here is that mating the armrests to the overall structure requires either a second person or some highly secretive levitation device I don't have access to.

Due to the curved sides on the backrest, the chair does not sit still when you rest it on the ground, making it a pain to actually secure it while finnicking with the small screws and fasteners.

Apart from that, the assembly process was relatively smooth and mostly intuitive, taking just shy of 50 minutes from unboxing to sitting on the chair.

Sit Down, Let's Talk

The first thing I noticed when I started using the Sihoo Doro C300 is that the elastic mesh is noticeably stiffer than the foam cushion I had gotten used to with other chairs. After a few hours of use, I grew to find it more comfortable, but this is fairly subjective.

After that, there were some growing pains. The top of the armrests can swing in approximately 10-degree increments, 10 degrees outward, and 40 degrees inward. I have yet to discover who needs an armrest pointed straight at their ribcage, but the bigger issue is that rotating requires next to no effort, so the slightest bump will do it for you.

Both the armrest height and headrest arm adjustments only move one way, and need you to reach the maximum position before resetting. It's not a major issue, but it can get annoying if you happen to move one click past your intended setting.

I have yet to discover who needs an armrest pointed straight at their ribcage

Unlike the armrest angle, the headrest is quite firm and is hard to move by accident, so once you find your sweet spot, all you have to do is enjoy without worry.

Reclining the backrest needs more resistance than most chairs, though you get used to it fairly quickly. As the armrests share a mounting point with the back, they also recline with it, which was a bit annoying as it made me feel like I had T. rex arms since I couldn't reach the keyboard as easily. A design that left them still or could be decoupled would have been better.

For all the gripes, it is the lumbar support that really conveys why Sihoo is so keen on this model. During my first day using the Doro C300, I did not even notice that it was moving about because the mechanism is so smooth that it always feels perfectly positioned.

The resulting comfort is worth the chair's lofty weight in gold when you are spending most of your waking hours sitting, as is the case for this humble editor.

Sihoo made the cushion here fairly wider than in the M56C, and with little 'walls' around it that help distribute the weight better. As a result, it's not as easy to get into an awkward cross-legged chair goblin position. Better for my posture, but I miss the freedom of it all.

In the abnormally cold winter we are experiencing in Portugal, the breathable mesh has been marginally worse at staying warm. On the other hand, it is bound to fare better when the heatwaves start rolling in come May.

Know Your Worth

Like most things in life, asserting true value depends on the cost, and the Sihoo Doro C300 is not fully settled in that regard.

On the Sihoo store, the regular listing price for it is $479.99, which is a little on the high side but still fair for the build quality and features on display. The comfort from the lumbar support alone is enough to justify the price tag.

However, this is a product that frequently goes on sale, and goes for $279.99 when that happens. Considering that this is just $100 above the no-nonsense M56C, it makes the Sihoo Doro C300 a no-brainer. You'll be hard-pressed to find a chair on this tier in that price bracket, and that's where this chair shines.

The Sihoo Doro C300 is an engineer's dream, and that is down to the bouts of feature creep and ergonomic awkwardness around the assembly part. Once you clear those issues, what you are left with is a chair that provides extreme levels of comfort due to its dynamic lumbar support, and the kind of workplace endurance that will please you and your average LinkedIn-obsessed supervisor alike. When discounted, this is a nearly unmatched value proposition.