Five Best Office Chairs

http://lifehacker.com/5941523/five-best-office-chairs

by barredo • 14 years ago

33 52 14 years ago

MikeCapone2• 14 years ago

I now have a standing desk and I find that much better than any of the desk chairs I've ever had, including the very expensive Freedom Chair by Humanscale.

fudged• 14 years ago

How long do you use a standing desk at a time? After a while, my back and legs start to hurt and I need to sit down.

eru3• 14 years ago

I am not Mike. But I use a standing desk. It took me a few weeks to get fully adopted, but now I can stand (or move in place) for several hours, if necessary. Usually I take short breaks though.

And actually, the ability to take short breaks and walk around is something I really cherish. Removing the (small) barrier of needing to get up has really helped.

But you can not read too much into my experience report with the standing desk: I took up weightlifting at the same time I got my standing desk, and so it's hard for me to say which change was responsible for which improvement.

MikeCapone2• 14 years ago

I use it all day (maybe 8 hours a day), but I move around a lot. Whenever I'm not typing or reading on the screen (thinking), I walk around. That helps a lot. I sometimes go sit down a bit in other rooms, but basically I can stand all day if I have to.

It took my about 3 weeks to get to that point. For the first few weeks, my feet hurt a lot. But at some point I passed a threshold and it pretty much stopped hurting altogether as long as I can walk around and shift my weight from one leg to the other a lot (I couldn't stand still all day).

rwg• 14 years ago

I'm 6'3" (~190 cm) tall. At my last job, I was having severe leg pain from sitting at a too-short desk, which caused me to sit with my legs tucked under my chair all day. Since there was No Money™ to buy another desk (and I rejected the suggestion that I move my existing desk up on top of a pile of cinder blocks), I blew ~$1000 of my own money on a GeekDesk adjustable height desk.

Despite using the desk for a year and a half, I couldn't stand at it for more than an hour or so without back pain. To me, the real benefit of the adjustable height desk was being able to raise it up to a comfortable height for sitting -- I could finally sit with my feet flat on the floor in front of me!

A few months later, after a company in the university's research park folded, we got to pick over the bones and grab some office furniture. I managed to get a rolling, armless, adjustable height drafting stool. The combination of the GeekDesk and that stool was nirvana as far as sitting in an office goes -- I was able to leave the desk at the same height whether I was standing or sitting on the stool, which made it easy to switch back and forth throughout the day.

One downside to the desk: since most people I worked with were shorter (sometimes significantly!) than me, I often had to temporarily lower my chair and desk so other people could easily see something on my computer screen. On the other hand, it was easy (and rather awesome) to have conversations with coworkers who were roughly the same height as me -- I just stood up, pushed the chair out of the way, and had room for a standing conversation with two other people who could all see the screen.

quinndupont2• 14 years ago

Stools are totally under-appreciated for tall people

dsr_• 14 years ago

If your company is successful, at some point you are going to hire people who are much smaller or much bigger than average. (I miss 2m by a few fingers; one of my coworkers is almost a half meter shorter.)

At that point, it is vital that you remember two things:

First, chairs are cheap compared to salaries.

Second, an inflexible policy is an impediment to working at your company.

Don't set a policy like "We buy Aeron for everybody." If you have an esthetic issue (don't laugh, some companies do, I've worked at one) make the policy "All chairs are black". Pretty much every chair can be ordered in black, and nobody outside your company will ever notice a chair that they someone is using at their desk.

vacri2• 14 years ago

My problem is that I weigh 125kg/275lbs and am 2cm shy of 2m (mesomorph territory). I break an office chair about once every two years - they are simply not built to cope with my weight. Thus the idea of shelling out $1k for a chair scares me.

That being said, at my last work there was a significant remodeling of the office space by a designer. As in, the techboys roll their eyes type designer. She was there to customise our area, as long as we fitted into the grand design. So we had these chairs that fit into the grand design. Attractive chairs. But terrible for sitting in, and the seat pan was way too low. I cited my height and kept my old chair. "But it doesn't fit in with the design!" was followed with "We'll get you cushions!" (which were never seen...). Over time, I noticed other staff were taking my lead and going with chairs that worked for them rather than chairs that looked good. Long story short, I like your 'all chairs must be black' idea, it's far better than making all chairs the same.

whichdan4• 14 years ago

Have you considered just calling Herman Miller or Steelcase? They should be able to give you a definitive answer on the weight limits for their chairs.

rdl4• 14 years ago

Size C Aerons are pretty robust and should be reasonable for 6'6" 275-300#. Plus, if anything breaks, you can get spare parts and just fix the broken part, so a $800 Aeron ends up not being as expensive as a $250 chair every couple years. There's also a 12 year warranty if you buy new (or buy used for $300 or so instead)

notJim• 14 years ago

For what it's worth, I weigh about what you do (a bit more, sigh), and used a sized-B Aeron (which should've been too small) at work and a Steelcase Leap at home, and didn't ever have any issues with breakage. I also found that regular $100-$200 office chairs would break yearly or so, so I think we must put comparable strain on our chairs.

I will also note that you can find Aerons for about half-price used and the Steelcase Leap for an even greater discount (as it is not as well known.) I paid $350 for my current Steelcase Leap, and that included delivery (of myself and the chair) right to my doorstep in the nice older gentleman's Mercedes, complete with heated seats.

doktrin• 14 years ago

>> First, chairs are cheap compared to salaries.

While we agree on this point, I feel that this is bandied about a little too liberally. I love comforts and toys as much as the next, but this has been the general progression of the above argument at my current company :

  1. "GeekDesks cost *nothing* next to a developer salary" : GeekDesk acquired ($900 per)
  2. "Ergonomic chairs cost *nothing* next to a developer's salary" : Steelcase Leap chairs acquired ($1k per)
  3. "30 inch Dell UltraSharps cost *nothing* next to a developer's salary" : Dell UltraSharps acquired ($1.2k per)
  4. "New machines cost *nothing* next to a developer's salary" : Retina MBP's acquired ($2.2k per)
  etc.

I am not arguing that the above were all frivolous expenses (geekdesk is worth every penny, whereas the jury is out on a 30 inch display), just that the argument has potential for being applied very liberally.

When compounded with other perks such as paid conferences, travel expenses (hotels etc), office meals and books, the costs of maintaining an office can rapidly spiral upwards.

thomasjoulin• 14 years ago

I'm a strong supporter that when it comes to office furnitures, a company should really spare no expense. This is stuff we use everyday, so better feel comfortable with it. And yes, totally agree that it depends on the person. Would be stupid to buy an expensive Aeron for someone that don't like it.

whichdan4• 14 years ago

Anyone write code in an Eames?

eropple• 14 years ago

I have a couple of leather Eames shell chairs (bright red ones; I can't find model examples of them anywhere on the Internet). They're good for slouching with a laptop, but I prefer my IKEA Markus at a table.

twelvechairs• 14 years ago

What kind of Eames? The Eameses designed many different office, lounge and moulded plastic chairs (see http://www.eamescollector.com/furniture.html)

whichdan4• 14 years ago

Sorry, good point - I meant the Herman Miller Eames Lounge and Ottoman.

timr2• 14 years ago

If you're talking about the Eames Management chairs, I've done it. They're surprisingly good, given that the arms are fixed and, well...metal. You just have to adjust the height so that your elbows aren't clonking on the armrests while you work at a desk.

The Eames put a lot of thought into ergonomics and quality, so their stuff is better than your standard OfficeMax special. But I'd still pay for a Steelcase Leap or an Aeron (especially since they're cheaper on the used market).

rdl4• 14 years ago

I hate those chairs, mainly because you can't take off the armrests. We had a designer propose the EQ3 version for an office, and there was almost open revolt -- some people love aerons and some people just tolerate them, but there wasn't another single chair which was at least ok for everyone and liked by most people.

I've really never understood Eames fetishization in general.

jonah2• 14 years ago

Over 10 years ago the company I was working at bought everyone the chair of their choice. I spent a lot of time testing and trialing a number of different high-end models and ended up with the Steelcase Leap. It doesn't look as "techno" as the Aeron but I feel it's superior in every way.

The company I worked for is long gone but chair's moved on with me and is still serving me well. A good chair is probably an even better productivity investment than a fast computer - especially in the long run.

[Edit for clarity.]

Matt_Cutts• 14 years ago

I love the Steelcase Leap that I've used for the last ten years. Not sure what you mean by "the company is long gone" though? You can buy a Steelcase Leap today: http://store.steelcase.com/brochures/leap/

jonah2• 14 years ago

* The place I worked is no longer.

Yeah, I'm looking at getting another for home.

jotux• 14 years ago

A lot of office chairs enforce a sit-up-straight posture which I really don't like. When sitting at a computer for long hours I like to lean the chair far back and put my feet up or out in front of me. I've found that I never get back or wrist pain this way and have run across some articles that say this is better for your back.

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/57654.php http://rsna2006.rsna.org/rsna2006/V2006/conference/event_dis...

The only downside is that many people will associate leaning back in your chair with your feet up as being lazy. For this reason I printed out that article and pinned it to my cubicle wall.

whichdan4• 14 years ago

My preferred way to code is leaning back in a chair with my legs resting on an ottoman or something similar. I'd be really interested if anyone else has more (anecdotal?) evidence supporting this.

For the record, I tend to develop using a laptop resting on my legs, and my arms at my side, since my desk chair is pretty wide.

I do wonder whether I'm going to regret this in 20 years.

kzahel• 14 years ago

I use a range of postures throughout the day. I spend a lot of time in an armchair in a common area, where I alternate between crossed legs, legs in front, or sometimes legs lying on the short table. I spend some time standing at my (not high enough) desk. The geekdesk looks amazing ... I am going to ask for that next week. I think you can get away with a lot of bad posture stuff if you get out and exercise during the day. I take a 3-4 mile run followed by a workout most days. That keeps me feeling great even when sitting with "bad" posture.

fbuilesv• 14 years ago

I'm the same when it comes to typing and I've found out that the Aeron is perfect for this. It leans back enough for me to put me legs comfortably in the desk and due to its robust build, I know it won't be breaking in a year.

seltzered_• 14 years ago

not mentioned in the article, but I like the swopper. it's a wobbly stool that uses a car spring. think medicine ball without the ball crushing. costs about 400ish.

beyond that i just work standing up on a kitchen counter.

quinndupont2• 14 years ago

I have a wobble stool that's slightly less insane than the Swopper, and I really enjoy it. Stools are great for tall people, since you can sort of lean rather than sit. Ideally, this would be coupled with an adjustable-height desk.

rsl7• 14 years ago

I've had a swopper for a good five years or so in my home office. It's good for a time, but I ended up getting a second chair to go with it. Seems ridiculous but I like to switch between standing and sitting in various ways. I guess I just can't sit still.

m0nastic• 14 years ago

A month or so back I mentioned that I'd recently switched to doing most of my computing while sitting in one of these:

http://www.dwr.com/product/lc4-chaise-lounge-cowhide.do?sort...

and I can now offer as an update that it's really working out well from a comfort perspective. Obviously, this isn't necessarily feasible in most offices; but if you work from home, I highly recommend it.

kbenson• 14 years ago

I used to do all my home work (consulting ~10 hours a week) on a recliner in a similar but less exaggerated position using a laptop. After replacing the couch (a hand-me-down) with one that has a flat chaise instead of a recliner, I find I really miss it. If I have to do anything work related for more than a short duration on the couch, I now find that I end up using pillows to simulate the exact positioning of the chaise you linked.

I should probably build myself a better work area here, and that recliner plus laptop combo worked out really well...

dakrisht• 14 years ago

Absolutely nothing better than an Aeron chair

hiroprot• 14 years ago

Missing from the list: Knoll Life Chair

http://www.knoll.com/products/product.jsp?prod_id=188

I tested most of the other ones in this post, and liked this one better.

chamakits• 14 years ago

I've spent the last year with one of these at work. Though I haven't tried any of the others mentioned here, I absolutely hate this thing. Not only does it break easily, but it quickly becomes uncomfortable, and have had incredible back pains because of it.

idiot900• 14 years ago

We have a few Life chairs at the hospital I work at. I wasn't too impressed - much happier with my Aeron at home and Knoll Bulldog at my own desk (sadly, discontinued). We also have a ton of Knoll Chadwick chairs, and they are terrible - remarkably uncomfortable and they started falling apart just a few months after they were acquired. At the moment you'd be hard pressed to find more than a few in the entire institution where at least one armrest hasn't broken off. YMMV of course.

daeken• 14 years ago

I'm a very, very big dude (6'2" and around 375lbs). That combination means that chairs are generally too small and too brittle; my last chair ($300 or so) lasted less than 6 months. Then I discovered this: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000PWGZKW/ref=as_li_ss_til?tag=ih...; (Warning: referral link)

It's large enough to accomodate me very comfortably, it's built like a tank, it's adjustable to hell and back, and it's less than $400. The casters that come with it seem to be solid as well, though I replaced them with a set of nice rubber ones that would glide a bit better under the weight.

It's held me well for around 6 months now with no sign of letting up, and I have very few complaints (namely, that the headrest adjustment is done via discrete notches rather than a continuous adjustment). Can't say enough good things about it.

_JamesA_• 14 years ago

I've had several of the Office Star branded chairs over the years. As another big fellow (height and weight) I have found every one of them eventually failed. It usually starts with the pneumatic cylinder leaking as they aren't rated for more than 200 lbs.

I eventually bought a Hon 7800 Series chair (http://www.hon.com/Products/Chairs/7808.aspx) and haven't had any issues at all for the last 3 - 4 years.

I easily spent more for all of the Office Star chairs that I discarded than the one Hon 7800 Series.

nabilt• 14 years ago

I spent a few months evaluating a few of these chairs after I started feeling pressure points in my legs. My pain is gone, but no chair will ever replace stretching every hour or so. Here are my short reviews:

Herman Miller Embody: The chair I like the best and bought for around ~$850 here http://www.businessinteriors.ca/. More details about the deal here: http://forums.redflagdeals.com/herman-miller-embody-841-a-11.... Everything about the chair is adjustable, which I think is very important for many reasons. People tend to shift sitting positions after a while, one size never fits all and the chair must adjust to fit the table. The full mesh construction and deep recline are also important if you are sitting for long periods of time.

Herman Miller Aeron: Only tried this in the store for a few hours. Very comfortable. Same pros as the Embody except for the full back support and a few adjustable features like seat length, which was important for me because of my leg pain.

IKEA Markus: I've heard good things about this, but I had to return it after sitting on it for 2 weeks. My leg pains got worse and I suspect that is because the seat was too hard and long for me. The price was right, but the lack of adjustable features meant it was no good for me. Also, why make the back out of mesh, but not the seat? Our butts are where we feel most of the pressure.

Humanscale Freedom Chair: Only sat on it for a few minutes. I felt they might have compromised on comfort to build an easy to use chair. The lack of mesh also makes me sceptical that I could use it for long periods of time.

tl;dr: The most comfortable chairs that fixed my pressure points were fully adjustable, were completely constructed out of mesh and had a deep recline.

teh_klev• 14 years ago

If your finances can't stretch to $700-$1000 for a chair I can thoroughly recommend the Ikea Volmar [1].

I had the previous version and just replaced it with a new one. The old one gave me 10 years of great service but the seat padding needs replaced and re-upholstered, and there's something gone a bit shonky with the backrest adjustment.

I work from home and after using it for 8-12 hours a day (with usual sensible breaks) my back and backside feel just fine. It's a pretty comfy chair, even for a big lad who's enjoyed too many pies, like me.

[1] http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/S59896332/?query=...

spaghetti• 14 years ago

FWIW the IKEA Markus is really nice. I previously had an Aeron and if I had to choose today I'd go with the Markus.

Sindisil• 14 years ago

As a smaller guy, I find the Mirra to be the best fit for me.

The Aeron small is too narrow, and the medium seems to fit, but doesn't (major pain within an hour or so).

ScottBurson• 14 years ago

My favorite is the Neutral Posture 9700 (the 8000 series back with the headrest and deep contour seat). Though it's more conventional-looking than an Aeron, I think it's much more comfortable. It's very adjustable (including an inflatable lumbar pillow) and leans back far enough to nap in.

rdl4• 14 years ago

I wish there were office chairs with electronic/memory adjustments. I hate it when someone sits in my aeron, changes settings (especialy unlocking the lean back!) and I sit in it unaware. My car has power seats with multiple memory; doing that for a desk with NFC to identify the user and switch to preferred settings would be nice.

eru3• 14 years ago

What's NFC? (And wouldn't just going by weight be good enough?)

rdl4• 14 years ago

Yeah, doing weight to ID multiple users would work in most environments (which is how the withings wifi scale works with multiple users). NFC = nearfield communications = RFID = short-range RF, useful for opening doors, unlocking computers, etc. Basically a contactless smartcard.

Five Best Office Chairs

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