For a while now, I’ve been in the market for a second desk around the office: a hobby space on which to do different handy and hobbyist work, as well as setting up a secondary space for gaming. With this in mind, I took the AndaSeat Mask 2 LED Gaming Desk for a spin. This is a pretty good sized single surface gaming desk, and while it’s a bit labyrinthine to set up, it does provide a good primary or secondary gaming and work space that even has a little RGB flash and pizazz to go with it.
The build
So first up, I should mention this comes in a long, and somewhat unwieldy box. That said, I was able to fit the box across the backseat of a town car and then slide it out and into an apartment space with relative ease. I would suggest a team lift or dolly if you can get it.
Once you crack the box, it gets a little trickier. The Mask 2 is an LED RGB desk with lighting effects along the legs, but only half of that comes built in. Sorry to say it, but there’s a bit of wiring that you have to do yourself and it involves running wires through narrow metal bars, connecting it to circuit boards, and sealing up the plastic housing with screws as you go about it. Everything was included properly, including the screwdriver and hex key tool to do the assembly, but I’d say be extra careful about losing anything because there are not that many extra fastener parts to go around should you accidentally lose one.
The assembly itself was a bit tough too, and a large part of that comes from the instructions. I’m a pretty good reader and have done more than a few DIY assemblies in my time. That said, the Mask 2 desk’s assembly instructions don’t have words and the graphics were not all that easy to follow either. There were more than a few times I went through doing the wiring part, assembling the legs, and arriving at the casing stage only to realize the circuit boards and holes for the wiring weren’t at the right orientation. That meant going back a few steps to fix things. Again, I’ve done more than my fair share of builds. It’s just the instructions weren’t all that clear. That said, once the legs are on and the wiring is done, the Mask 2 desk’s assembly becomes much easier to finish.
The finished desk
Once everything is in place and the desk is built, the AndaSeat Mask 2 LED Desk is a pretty sleek work surface for whatever you want to do with it. The desktop is a carbon fiber surface. It looks and feels nice. It’s a little easy to smudge when you make contact with your arms or bare hands, but it’s also pretty easy to clean too. There’s plenty of space to work with dimensions running 120cm across and 60cm deep.
One of the first things I did on it was build a full LEGO set. When I was done with that, I put the built set off to one side and set up a monitor and my Switch on the other with plenty of room to spare. There’s even a couple closable holes on each corner and a wire caddy just underneath the desk to reduce cable clutter. There’s also a hook on either side to hang headphones. The desk also comes with a cupholder that can be fastened into the right or left-hand side. This is good because as I mentioned, the top smudges easy, so it’s nice to have a place to put drinks that won’t leave marks or rings on it.
As for the LED part of this desk, it’s rather neat. One of the few issues I have with it is that the provided power supply is a USB cable and it doesn’t have a wall adaptor included. You’ll have to either supply your own wall adaptor or plug into a device with an open USB port to power it. Plugging this desk in and tapping the power button to turn it on allows the legs to light up in multiple ways. On a first touch it will breath its way through multiple colors including red, green, blue, purple, and cyan. Pressing the button again, you can set it on breathing a single color of one of the five. A held press on the power button will turn it off. It might be something you don’t notice unless you operate in a darkened space since the desktop goes beyond the legs, but it’s still nifty if you like adding color and light to your workspace.
Tricky build, sturdy and stylish outcome
The AndaSeat Mask 2 LED Gaming Desk isn’t a bad piece of furniture at all. The road to arranging that workspace is a bumpy one, and this remained true in our impressions of the AndaSeat Eagle 2 desk as well. The desk retails at $499.99, but you can also sometimes find this one on sale, or check out various monthly payment options. For that, you get a wide and sturdy workspace with a stylish top, color and lighting for your office or gaming space, and solid cord organization hardware built into the desk. It’s not without some small gripes, but once you get past the big one of building it, the Mask 2 is a worthwhile primary or secondary workspace option.
This review is based on a sample product supplied by the manufacturer. The AndaSeat Mask 2 LED Gaming Desk is available now through the AndaSeat website.
AndaSeat Mask 2 LED Gaming Desk
- Wide and deep desktop surface
- Stylish carbon fiber desktop look and feel
- Sturdy once built
- Cupholder for drinks
- LED provides extra style to darkened gaming/workspaces
- Complicated build that requires wiring
- Instructions aren't helpful
- LED power is USB only with no wall plug
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replyTJ Denzer posted a new article, AndaSeat Mask 2 LED Gaming Desk: Sturdy workspace, tough assembly
