You might have guessed it, but we appreciate comfort here at The Test Pit. Sure, we like nothing better than hitting the road to test a new drone or review a flight or city break, but given the choice we'd much prefer to veg out in front of Netflix on a comfy chair. Which is why we're happy to report that our friends at Beanbag Bazaar recently bunged us the ultimate in bean-filled luxury - the ICON Valencia Real Leather Beanbag. Let's have look, shall we?
The ICON Valencia Real Leather Beanbag from Beanbag Bazaar is, as the name suggests, a large 'man-sized' beanbag made from real, soft-to-touch leather. As well as offering great comfort to our 'man-sized' behinds, the beanbag also comes with a leather footstool to prop up your weary feet. Good combo, that.
Available in black, brown or tan, the ICON Valencia Real Leather Beanbag features 'free-flow' bean technology (yes, there is such a thing, apparently) which means the beans easily move around inside the bag as you sit, so you can squash and mould it to the correct shape. Oh, and it smells incredible, being a huge mass of real leather. Seriously, you gotta breathe that goodness in!
The seams on the leather are double stitched, which offers great peace of mind. When we first got ours (in black, obvs) all we wanted to do was leap onto it and stay there for good - so good to know it won't burst. Also, the bag is double zipped, meaning you have to go through two layers to reach the actual beans inside. Again, great peace of mind to avoid leaks.
In fact, you probably will find yourself unzipping it once it arrives, as we found it was initially over-stuffed. We can only assume Beanbag Bazaar do so on purpose to offer buyers the choice of how full they want it, and we quickly decided to ditch a few scoops of beans to achieve more of a deeper seat when sat in it. It's great that you have that choice, rather than needing to buy extra beans to fill it up.
The footstool is nicely over-packed to keep it as stiff as possible - something we did wonder about before it arrived. The thought of a floppy footstool wasn't appealing, but thankfully it is rigid enough to both keep it's shape and hold up your tired plates of meat.
So, what purpose could a luxury, huge, and admittedly expensive beanbag serve? Well, thanks to the back support and changeable shape, the ICON Valencia Real Leather Beanbag made an excellent gaming chair. We could sit in it for hours, and because of the sink-in shape our elbows were supported while gripping a controller. Nice.
But it's also just a great piece of furniture. Love or hate the 'lumpish' appearance, you can't deny that beanbags are damn comfy, no matter your age. The addition of a footstool makes the ICON Valencia Real Leather Beanbag even more so, and the real leather exterior pushes it into the realm of grown-up, serious adult furniture.
It's comfortable, it's well made, and it's different. We heartily recommend the ICON Valencia Real Leather Beanbag from beanbag Bazaar.
£199.99
Visit www.beanbagbazaar.co.uk