I’m Looking for a good office chair.
Thanks! Found a good price for a Steelcase Amia.
Herman miller aeron. they are outrageously expensive but totally worth it. You can get them used from resellers but honestly just get one new from the store. I got a used one and have no complaints other than I didnt get a brand new one to my specifications.
This is the only answer. All office chair purchases eventually converge towards an Aeron because it’s the only thing that’ll last a decade and fix your posture while doing it. I bought one just after the start of covid and is easily the least regret i’ve ever had spending almost a grand.
I didn’t find it comfortable at all.
Come back after sitting in one for a literal decade and report.
Agreed they are crazy overrated
I’ll also recommend the type c.
I have had a Herman Miller Sayl chair for 7 years. I work from home.and game in it, it’s plenty comfortable for 10+ hours if you need to sit that long.
Only downside is no headrest. Upside is more affordable and less weird looking than the Aeron.
Standing desk and a standing desk chair. I got work to buy me a tall Herman Miller. way more expensive than I would ever buy for myself but it is great.
Herman Miller Aeron. Tested reliable and proven.
The most important thing, no chair can solve the problem of uninterrupted sitting for 8+ hours. No matter what you spend or what materials they use. Sitting for 8+ hours will slowly do permanent damage to your body. No matter what chair you sit in, stand up occasionally, take little walks, do exercises or calisthenics or something, whatever feels right for you.
I’m Autistic and when I play videogames I can get so hyperfocused that I don’t realise the outside world has moved forward a whole day. Until something physically interrupts my gameplay. So I set timers now, and I strictly obey them. Nothing short of surgery will ever heal my tailbone issue, but I can at least prevent it from getting worse.
I also have a standing desk, so I will swap it between standing and sitting every 2 hours if I don’t want to take breaks. And I have a VR headset for using my computer from different chairs; a recliner, a kitchen chair, anything different from my computer chair. I also use the VR headset for most of my non-computer gaming. It has become my current console gaming platform.
VR games are a great way to spend 8+ hours uninterrupted in a game without causing body problems, lol. Plus, if it’s mixed reality, you can still do real life stuff while playing, like walking over and getting a glass of water or talking to and interacting with the other people in the room. In full Virtual reality it’s still a good idea to have timers set, just as a check-in, if you have been standing still in the game, your knees could need some exercise, if you are hungry or thirsty or have to go to the bathroom… you know, the kinds of things you might not notice while the game is running, hehe.
For your tailbone, have you had a ganglion impar nerve block? It may help. A pain management facility can do it.
Late to the party but we use these
I’m a 5 axis CNC programmer and can sometimes be glued to this baby for 12 hours excluding breaks. Cant complain at all, super comfortable. Would definitely recommend.
Mine does have an additional lumbar support but I cant seem to find the exact version with google. Pretty sure our company orders via a different distributor than amazon. If you’re interested send me a DM and i will find out the exact model and distro.
Happy hunting.
Does anyone sell KAB where you live? They are the absolute best, 24h-certified chairs money can buy. I have a Director at home and a K4 at work and I would not trade them for anything.
What is the price range for these?
Director is around €1400 if I remember correctly.
Oof. They look nice but that’s hard to justify to me without being able to sit in one. And I’d have to save up for that for a while
I have a Hayworth Zody but would also recommend steelcase gesture, knoll generation, and Herman miller aeron. I got mine from the used office furniture store in town for 200. Ordered new arm rest caps to replace the old ones and it is going strong several years later. Also second those that suggest standing desks, used office furniture place again for that, I have a $1200 steelcase that was 200ish but like new.
Steelcase Karman. All the comfort and ergonomics of an Aeron, but far lighter, and better materials.
It’s one of those, “if you spend a third of your life in it, it’s worth a little extra” things.
I work for a company that specializes in ergonomic work setups and the OTs recommend Ergocentric chairs at least 90% of the time.
They’re expensive, but if you are having health issues due to sitting then your employer has a “duty to accommodate” to get you a better setup.
We also often recommend sit-stand desks because too comfy of a chair can just cause different problems from lack of movement.
Go to a brick and mortar store like Staples and try them out yourself.
The chair that suits one person will be agony another.
You have to find out for yourself.
Second this. Don’t get a gaming one, go to an office store. They build them expecting people to need to sit in them for hours.
Don’t cheap out either. Remember the most important things to never cheap out on are things that go between you and the ground. Chairs, mattresses, shoes.
Personally I found a great mesh one that doesn’t get hot in the summer and is still very supportive after 5 years
Just to add. If you find one you like, don’t avoid it because it’s low cost. Brought the cheapest model at Staples and it’s still going great. Cost is often an indicator of quality, but not always.
I second this. Anyone who says “You get what you pay for” is either trying to sell you something OR they themself are a sucker. Sure, sometimes** you get what you pay for but plenty of other times you’re getting straight up ripped off because the seller realizes you’ll mistake price with quality. Don’t be anyones sucker.
I second the mesh chair. I got this one at Staples for $100 a couple weeks ago and my ass is thanking me. I was using a fancy gaming chair before that felt like sitting on concrete.
Use an office chair instead of a gaming chair…
I have the Haworth Fern chair below and love it. It is expensive, but worth it in my opinion. You don’t want to skimp on something you sit in all day- and I could sit in this chair all day without pain.
My only other piece of advice is to schedule breaks to stand and stretch. I had a standing desk for a while and I did not care for it. I never got used to standing and working- maybe I am just not coordinated enough. But taking standing breaks helped with my back pain and improved my focus.
Good luck!
https://store.haworth.com/products/fern-office-chair?sku=SFTE-U0-7S01A6,4H_FT,MB_SL,TR_7,PM_P
I know this might sound stupid but for several years, I was using a regular kitchen chair with a towel to sit on and a cloth blanket to make the back more comfortable to lean against. Even though I have a different, much more expensive gaming chair, I am still using a towel because the leather sticks to my skin.
Herman Miller
AeronEmbody and Steelcase Leap are both good.Check out Crandall’s Office Furniture for good refurbished chairs.
Edited because apparently the Embody is just way better.
I have the Aeron at work and it’s pretty meh. Not sure how it’s $2k
I think with these chairs the trick is to never buy new and only buy them refurb. Refurbished, you can knock over 70% of the price off. My hermon miller aeron chair cost me C$350 (or like 260 USD).
My Aeron is nearly 10 years old and still great
I’ve owned £80 chairs that lasted that long though. Everything except the cheapest nastiest chairs from Amazon should be lasting 10 years.
If I bought a £1000 chair, I’d expect to be leaving it to somebody in my will.
That’s it, these two. There are more expensive options in those two brands, but these are the baseline. They are actual professional chairs, not Chinese gamer chair bullshit like the stuff that gets marketed everywhere. Because they last forever due to actually being well built, you can oftentimes find them second hand.
When work from home first started during covid, lots of offices liquidated. I got my steealcase leap V2s for $200 a pop.
I highly recommend the Steelcase Leap (v2, is what I have).
However, you may need the headrest, and they are extremely expensive/hard to find, just a warning.
I got my Steelcase from a place that resold them, so it was like 275 Canadian. Still, a great chair.
Will echo the aeron. Have had mine for about 5 years, rock solid.
Bought one from a guy who refurbishes them for $500. Definely get it used and look at Craigslist/Facebook marketplace for local deals. May luck out.
I got a refurbished Aeron for $400. The thing was originally manufactured in 2002 and it is still rock solid.
Heck the aeron!
I used to work in the warehouse where we shipped them. They’re good chairs. If you’re gonna spend that money though, get the Embody. Make sure to get the correct size. After hours of lugging designer couches around and other overly heavy stuff, sitting in an Embody chair makes the hurt stop immediately.
I’m not a promoter and they stopped paying me over some stupid shit a coworker pulled. It’s just a damn good chair. The eames lounge is also sick, but so incredibly expensive.
The leap is an excellent “mid range” one since a lot of these chairs can hit $2000 new.
Probably why decent refurbs are such a popular choice as well.
Yeah if you watch the site for sales the Aeron can get decently cheap. Plus, consider that these chairs have a 10 year warranty, unlike the ones you pick up at an office supply store.
The Aeron really changed everything for me.
Another place that’s got good deals is https://nationalofficeinteriors.com . Learned about this place at an old job. They sell used stuff that’s pretty much new but has like one little stain or scuff on it or something, so places making bulk purchases refuse it. Just doing a search for the Steelcase Leap (which I also highly recommend), they’ve got a bunch for like 50-70% off full price right now.
Can +1 for Herman Miller (and maybe mesh chairs in general), however I went for the Cosm instead. It’s supposed to be a “relaxation” chair in comparison to their Aeron but the taller back on the Cosm I tried was much more suitable for me than a regular Aeron.
That being said, OP, look up where you’re able to try the chairs once you’ve got some recommendations. Not a good idea to go in blind. For Herman Miller, John Lewis is a good retailer in the UK that has their chairs on display.
I have a steelcase chair I like a lot. Not sure of the exact model but it’s got great back support. I paired it with an autonomous standing desk to stretch my legs here and there when I’ve been sitting too long.
