Desk chairs (yes, this thread again)

[eldaec]

I need a chair.

What else should I look at before I stop wasting my time and accept that I have to blow far too much cash on an Aeron?

I know we've done this thread before but it has been a few years.

[ghost]

Just get it.  You'll be happier.

[jakonovski]

I have one of these at work: http://backapp.eu/en/

It's great.

[Signe]

I use one of my mom's very old black walnut Hitchcock chairs with a comfy pillow on it.  I have three more but my sister uses one, too.  You could have one, but it'll cost you.  

Comfy pillow not included.

[Sky]

I've got a shitty $50 chair from 2002. The old ones were worse. I can't even imagine having a nice chair.

[Arthur_Parker]

I bought one of these a couple of years ago and I'm fairly happy with it, I didn't want to spend a fortune on it at the time.

Boring chair

It's a nice height for the Gallant range from Ikea which is the best computer desk you can get imho

[jakonovski]

Scrounging for businesses closing or renovating is a great way to find good desk chairs btw, I'm sitting on a fairly expensive Kinnarps that was heading to a landfill, nothing wrong with it except that it had been used. There's also places that refurbish chairs and sell them for cheap.

[Merusk]

We have Mirras at the office.  A few hundred cheaper than Aerons and just as comfy, IMO.  I also know they're pretty damn durable as the 6'-4" 320# guy who sits near me only breaks the back on one every year or so. The seat holds up fine.

http://www.hermanmiller.com/content/hermanmiller/english/products/categories/seating/performance-work-chairs/mirra-chairs.html

[apocrypha]

If you have any kind of back problems at all then the best option is one of these.

Not a chair I know, but I've been told by several physiotherapists that it's the best thing for preventing back/disc troubles. You basically cannot slouch and have to keep your legs and back muscles active all the time. It's kind of an extreme option though and takes some getting used to.

[Baldrake]

A chair for a desk? How quaintly old-fashioned.

Obviously you want a treadmill desk.

They are very reasonably priced at only $3,999 for the base model.

[Ingmar]

Go to a furniture store and sit in all the chairs. Pick one. Chair comfort varies greatly from person to person and the only way you're really going to be able to tell what is right for you is actually trying them.

I've been sitting in an Aeron since 2001 at work and in that time I've broken probably 12 of the lumbar support things, and I am not a big fat guy. They're comfortable chairs otherwise but that one piece breaks constantly and without it they're a little lacking.

[Merusk]

Yet another reason I'd recommend the Mirras over the Aeron.  It doesn't go for the same lightness in its design and has a sturdier "T" brace with moving lumbar support to Aeron's "This one piece here in your back" approach.

But Ingmar has the right of it. Go to a proper office furniture store and sit in a bunch until you're comfortable. Not Office Depot and not any of the big-box residential furniture places who stock the shittiest of shit chairs.   My mom stills has my dad's wheeled office chair from the 80's and a Steelcase desk chair from the 70s because we bought office furniture instead of residential.

[ghost]

I've got one of the cheaper Herman Millers and it does just fine.

[Trippy]

A chair for a desk? How quaintly old-fashioned.

Obviously you want a treadmill desk.

They are very reasonably priced at only $3,999 for the base model.

This one is a lot cheaper.

[Trippy]

Yet another reason I'd recommend the Mirras over the Aeron.  It doesn't go for the same lightness in its design and has a sturdier "T" brace with moving lumbar support to Aeron's "This one piece here in your back" approach.

There's an optional "Y" brace for the Aeron. Still doesn't offer great back support, though. It's one of the weak points of the design. I don't have regular back issues, though, so the Aeron works the best for me.

[Trippy]

I need a chair.

What else should I look at before I stop wasting my time and accept that I have to blow far too much cash on an Aeron?

I know we've done this thread before but it has been a few years.

If you are willing to spend the bucks here are some of the chairs that are semi-comparable to the Aeron:

HumanScale Freedom and Liberty - I love the headrest and general comfort of the Freedom. It's really really comfy if you like to sit in a reclined position. Unfortunately neither the Freedom nor the Liberty can lock their positions which makes them unusable for my upright but slouched sitting posture.

Steelcase Leap and Think - Leap is built like a tank and highly adjustable but not as comfortable for me as the Aeron. The Think seemed like a good cheaper alternative to the Aeron but it has/had plastic parts in some of the key areas which ruled it out for me (since I'm a fatass). The Think is a pretty trendy design, though. If you watch TV shows you see it show up a lot as an alternative to the Aeron. Steelcase has some newer designs out now that I haven't tried out myself that might be worth considering.

Herman Miller Embody - This is the chair to get if the Aeron isn't "extreme" enough for you. I was seriously considering it since the Aeron has a number of flaws but sitting in one wasn't as comfortable for my butt compared to the Aeron so I stuck with the Aeron.

There are other Herman Miller chairs that are cheaper than the Aeron like the Mirra mentioned above and also the the Celle and SAYL. I sat in the Mirra and didn't like the seat bottom compared to the Aeron. The Celle back felt too weird for me. Haven't tried the SAYL yet.

Basically the Aeron Pellicle material is still the best for me. No "hot spots" on my ass and the weight is more evenly distributed. I can literally sit on that chair for 16+ hours and not feel tired. There are lots of other chairs now that have a similar type of "suspension" material and design but none of them are even close to the Aeron in performance.

[Ingmar]

Yet another reason I'd recommend the Mirras over the Aeron.  It doesn't go for the same lightness in its design and has a sturdier "T" brace with moving lumbar support to Aeron's "This one piece here in your back" approach.

There's an optional "Y" brace for the Aeron. Still doesn't offer great back support, though. It's one of the weak points of the design. I don't have regular back issues, though, so the Aeron works the best for me.

Hm, I'll have to ask if our facilities people will get me one of those.

[Signe]

That Mirra chair is really nice.  I like it a lot.  If I get all the options, like lumbar support and adjustable everythingamabob, it'll only cost me $969.  I could  buy a whole computer for that.  Or pay another $1k towards my cat's $6k operation.  Or a plane ticket to someplace where no one can find me.  See?  These are all the thingies I think about before I buy anything like an office chair.  That's why I sit on my mom's old Hitchcock chair.  I wish I could make my mind stfu sometimes.  But, yeah, that Mirra chair is bausome.

[Ghambit]

For the price of that chair, you could also get an MRI of your back.   

[Merusk]

Steelcase makes awesome furniture, IMO. 

Find a friendly interior designer/ architect and see if you can get an extra chair tacked on to their next office job (or if they can put you in touch with a supplier).  As with anything, there's big discounts for buying in bulk and only suckers pay retail.   

[ghost]

Your cat needs a $6,000 operation?   

I hope that's translated into real money and not really pounds, because if so it would be  .

We had to pay $6,800 for two lens dislocations in one of our dachshunds, but not all at once.   

[Signe]

Yes, he had to have surgery to make his penis a pegina.  He had crystals forming in his pee pee hose and so he needed an emergency vet.  It probably would have been much less if we had had time to wait and figure things out. There was no other vet in this area capable of doing this particular surgery.  Oh well.  I would do it again.  MY Lister is my  .  I had to beg, borrow and steal to get the money to pay half up front and half after.  They wouldn't have given him back if I didn't pay.  :(  I have 4K to go, I think.  It was the third most traumatic event in my life!    But he's here, he's healthy again and he's awesome.

[Venkman]

A chair for a desk? How quaintly old-fashioned.

Obviously you want a treadmill desk.

They are very reasonably priced at only $3,999 for the base model.

This one is a lot cheaper.

Personally, for that cost just get a real treadmill with the bells and whistles for 2/3 of that, put computer on a flat surface near and rig a tray for your keyboard.

I kinda liked mine but honestly I'd rather jog 45 minutes while watching whatever I can scrounge on Netflix than walk slow enough to be able to use the computer for much longer.

Now, if I could get my company to get me one for work, I'd be pushing for Baldrake's

[Baldrake]

Did you actually use one, Darniaq? I've been really tempted for a while, but am not sure it wouldn't be gathering dust within a month or two. Most testimonials I've read online are glowing, but mainly from people who just got them. And yeah, I'd only get one if work was paying, duh. 

[Trippy]

A chair for a desk? How quaintly old-fashioned.

Obviously you want a treadmill desk.

They are very reasonably priced at only $3,999 for the base model.

This one is a lot cheaper.

Personally, for that cost just get a real treadmill with the bells and whistles for 2/3 of that, put computer on a flat surface near and rig a tray for your keyboard.

I kinda liked mine but honestly I'd rather jog 45 minutes while watching whatever I can scrounge on Netflix than walk slow enough to be able to use the computer for much longer.

Yes you can put together a setup like that but there are definite advantages in going with a specialized treadmill desk product.

The first problem is that most treadmills have large control panels up front. If you stick an elevated desk behind the panel then you have to reach across the panel to use a mouse and keyboard. If you are tall enough (or the panel low enough) that you can stick a desk over the panel then you have the problem that the desk blocks the controls. You can also stick the desk in front of the panel (like this product*) but then you have to reach across the desk to reach the controls. This is why there are specialized treadmills now (like this product) that have a separate control panel that you can mount on an existing standing desk.

The next problem is that the cheaper home treadmills do not have motors that are designed to be run for hours at a time. You would have to get a commerical/fitness center grade treadmill if you wanted to get something durable enough to let you walk on it for more than an hour or two on a regular basis. Another motor issue is that treadmills are typically geared to operate at running speeds not walking speeds and this can cause extra stress on the motor if you are using it at walking speeds for long periods of time, possibly leading to earlier motor failure.

* BTW, I would not recommend that product, there's not enough cross bracing on that thing and it will wobble.

[Trippy]

Did you actually use one, Darniaq? I've been really tempted for a while, but am not sure it wouldn't be gathering dust within a month or two. Most testimonials I've read online are glowing, but mainly from people who just got them. And yeah, I'd only get one if work was paying, duh. 

I have the LifeSpan TR1200-DT5. Amazon had it on sale during Christmas for $1000 which was a good price point for me. I have very bad knees so I don't use it as much as I would like (on good days 90 minutes is about my limit for walking on it) but it's working very well for me and I like it a lot except for the fact that the Bluetooth interface and software is absolutely horrid. It's actually easier for me to keep track of my results in a text document than to try and use that thing.

It's also not height adjustable after you set it, unless you unload the top, so it doesn't work like a standing desk that goes up and down so you can sit at it with a regular chair. A tall stool might work but I have a separate desk (with my Aeron chair ) I move to when I'm not standing at it.

[Margalis]

My desk chair came from my neighbor's front yard.

[Viin]

I tried the exercise ball for a desk chair, which I like, but they get dirty and I can't sit on one for hours on end - I need a back to relax on when I'm not typing.

I'm pretty sure our current office chairs were found in a dumpster in 2001.

[Tale]

I'm pretty sure our current office chairs were found in a dumpster in 2001.

Ha! When they replaced ours last year after various injuries, we were told the previous ones had been bought to match the office decor, not with ergonomics in mind. They're still in our meeting rooms and people still sit on them and say WTF.

[MrHat]

I tried the exercise ball for a desk chair, which I like, but they get dirty and I can't sit on one for hours on end - I need a back to relax on when I'm not typing.

I'm pretty sure our current office chairs were found in a dumpster in 2001.

I'm sitting on one right now and I can attest that you can slouch on it.

Also, you unconsciously put a lot of stress on your wrists/elbows as they provide stability.

[Salamok]

The treadmill desks I can sort of understand but I sometimes wonder when looking at the $750+ sit/stand workstations, why people just don't get a good drafting chair and opt for a taller fixed height workstation.  This would actually work really well with most standard office cubes as there is usually (depending on if the file cabinets are attached to the work surface) nothing preventing someone from raising their work surface to any height they wish.

[Tale]

The treadmill desks I can sort of understand

They're the exercise equivalent of a poopsock.

[Salamok]

The treadmill desks I can sort of understand

They're the exercise equivalent of a poopsock.

Maybe if being at your desk 8+ hours a day was optional and the treadmill desk was intended to replace actual exercise (hint: it isn't, it is only supposed to replace sitting on your ass).

[Baldrake]

I have the LifeSpan TR1200-DT5. Amazon had it on sale during Christmas for $1000 which was a good price point for me. I have very bad knees so I don't use it as much as I would like (on good days 90 minutes is about my limit for walking on it) but it's working very well for me and I like it a lot except for the fact that the Bluetooth interface and software is absolutely horrid. It's actually easier for me to keep track of my results in a text document than to try and use that thing.

It's also not height adjustable after you set it, unless you unload the top, so it doesn't work like a standing desk that goes up and down so you can sit at it with a regular chair. A tall stool might work but I have a separate desk (with my Aeron chair ) I move to when I'm not standing at it.

Interesting. Thanks. I'm definitely thinking about it.

I've read testimonials that people find it helps concentration, reducing the ADD impulses to check mail etc.

[Trippy]

I've read testimonials that people find it helps concentration, reducing the ADD impulses to check mail etc.

They are deluding themselves

If anything it makes you concentrate less cause you are spending some additional conscious brain cycles on the walking/standing part and you tend to fidget more on your upper body.