The Right Chair for a Workstation

[Frank Petronio]

So I am happy with the state of my workstation except now I'd like to get a better chair. I'm a typical fat ass carnivourous American male, 230 pounds, 40 inch waist... so it can't be wimpy. But I definitely do not want any sort of plush "executive" chair that is easy to sit back in, I work erect (!) and have pretty good posture. Right now I am using a Grainger task chair, like an assembly line worker (remember those?) with a molded plywood seat and steel five legged non-rolling base. I'd like to find something a little larger and also something that won't cut off circulation to my bent legs. I can afford up to $500 -- I don't want a $129 Office Max Made in China knock off and I don't want an $800 Herman Miller Aeron (I already did the dot.com phase, thank you). And my wife has these God@#$% cats that would mess up the black Nylon mesh of the Aeron anyway.

I figure having a happy butt is as important as a good monitor and lots of RAM....

So what say the esteemed brain trust of the forum? And Denny too?

[Gem Singer]

Frank,

Take a look at the chairs offered on the Office Depot website. They have 50 specialized chairs listed under "big and tall".

Most of them fall within your budget constraints.

[Bruce Watson]

...I don't want an $800 Herman Miller Aeron (I already did the dot.com phase, thank you). And my wife has these God@#$% cats that would mess up the black Nylon mesh of the Aeron anyway.

I'm sitting right now in the Aeron chair I salvaged from the dot.com I used to work for over a decade ago. Still looks and feels like new. I couldn't believe they let me take it with me when they got scared out of the market by the dot.com bust. Best parting gift I've ever received. :rolleyes:

Seriously, I had back trouble in my 40s, right when the Aeron came to market. I tried them all, and I do mean all, and the Aeron was far and away the best chair available at any price. And lucky for you, they had a "C" size chair for big-ass American males who aren't smart enough to figure out that it's the meat that's killing them. Um... that would be you?

Oh, yes, I had a cat for 17 years (RIP) who spent a fair amount of her life on either my lap or my wife's, and she never did a thing to either of our Aeron chairs. If you don't count her spring-time "projectile shedding". I don't know what you're worried about. :D

Just sayin': Without doubt, the Aeron is the best task chair made. Still. It's the perfect chair; even Herman Miller hasn't been able to top it.

[Brian C. Miller]

Take a look at the chairs offered on the Office Depot website. They have 50 specialized chairs listed under "big and tall".

-1

Instead of that, don't go online for a chair. Get up and go visit one or two office furniture specialty stores. In Seattle, there is "Ducky's". You need to go somewhere and sit in several chairs for yourself. I don't remember what I bought for myself, but it has plenty of adjustments, cost less than $500, and is a great chair.

Office Depot and similar do not carry a large line of chairs. You need something of quality, and you need to park your hind end in it for a while. Trust me, I really know what I'm writing about, because I have a bad back, and I need good chairs.

[Frank Petronio]

Yeah I know the Aeron is probably the best.... geesh

[David Carson]

The Aeron is probably the best. HM's soft pad aluminum group chairs are very comfy as well, but I've only sat in them at DWR. But maybe try not sitting. Stand instead. I know I started getting fat the second I got a sitting job in 1997. I'm still sitting, still fat. Here are some links: [Link removed at the request of the site owner], Stand up while you read this! (http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/02/23/stand-up-while-you-read-this/)

If I was following my own advice, I'd get an anti-fatigue mat like barbers use and build a desk like this one:68648

[Bruce Watson]

But maybe try not sitting. Stand instead.

I built a standing desk and used it for years at the height of my back trouble. The Aeron was the first chair I could sit in for any length of time. Made my bosses much happier -- you'd never believe how much bosses hate it when you stand in meetings and at your "desk". Really, really, hate it. Probably a power / control thing. Engineers like me sometimes just don't get it though. Sigh... I never did figure that out. And I still stand in meetings. Oy.

[jp]

I'm more interested in a happy back than a happy butt. I have a simple solid wooden dining room chair at the computer. It's cooler than a padded chair. At work I have some sort of 1-piece plywood thing with 3 holes in the back.

[George Stewart]

Aeron, without a doubt. I've had mine, for the workstation, for about seven years and it's great. Fatigue is never a factor, nor is a sore back. If you do order one, make sure to order the correct size.

[Oren Grad]

I had a cheap office chair from Staples that was cutting off the circulation in my legs. Since I sit at my computer much of the day I had to do something about it. I ended up with a Steelcase Leap - same target market as the Aeron, though the details are a bit different. But yeah, if at all possible you should find a dealer that you can visit to try different models for yourself, rather than picking one from a catalog.

[rdenney]

About 15 years ago, I opened an office in a new city for the company I was working for at the time. I found a used office furniture store, because used stuff of high quality is better than the cheap stuff the Office Depots of this world sell. In that package of furniture, I managed to get a couple of Herman Miller Equa chairs. When my employer was acquired, I bought the chairs from the outgoing owner and kept them for myself. I used one of them at my office after the acquisition for another dozen years, and now it's my office chair at home. My wife uses the other one. They still look good after such continuous usage.

These chairs are simple. The back is fixed to the seat (unlike too many desk chairs) and thus, when you do lean back, it doesn't automatically untuck your shirt or make your shorts ride up. It lacks all the fru-fru adjustibility of the Aeron, and it also lacks the high-tech aesthetic. Only the height and the tilt tension is adjustable. It's just a good, firm, well-fitting, durable desk chair.

The current version is the Equa 2, and it seems largely the same. They are out of your price range new, but I found this outfit that sells refurbished models for much less than the retail price of new ones. I've never bought from these people, but if I wanted another of these chairs, I'd probably give them a try.

I'm 6'0" and 235 with the same waist as you, Frank, so I think this might work for you. My wife is of a (thankfully) much different shape, and it works for her, too.

http://www.newchairparts.com/products/remanufactured-office-chairs/herman-miller-equa-2-office-chair

Rick "wishing the gubmint-issue chair in his current office was anywhere near as comfortable" Denney

[Frank Petronio]

I used to have a knock off of that chair I think, but $227 is pretty reasonable. I'm going to a local used office furniture place tomorrow and agree, probably better to buy a top quality used chair than a new mediocre one.

Looking online it seems like you can get Aeron's with most of the important features for $700 to $900... I wonder if I need arms? There are also good chairs from other brands but I think I need to go sit in some ~ I know the Aeron is comfy but that's a lot of money!

[bdkphoto]

Just get the @#&!$ Aeron, it's worth every penny.

[Juergen Sattler]

I got my Aeron at a used furniture store here in Phoenix for $450. Best chair I have ever sat in. If you spend a lot of time in front of your computer you will never regret spending that kind of money.

[Frank Petronio]

But the options!? Lumbar or Posture? Tilt or not? APO or soft focus? Dektol or Pyro? Hell I'm not sure I need arms!

And then... what color doesn't show cat guts... I mean fur?

[rdenney]

A good-fitting chair is a good-fitting chair. People are not so different that every freaking thing on the chair must be adjustable. And all those freaking levers and crap hanging out the side of the chair get in the way of my feet, not to mention that anyone sitting in my chair in my absence (such as my wife) will fiddle with it, requiring me to spend another freaking hour getting it right again. Just get a good-fitting chair in the first place and forget the chair with 15 different adjustments. Height adjustment is all I need. That assumes a well-balanced chair that won't lean back too easily, and the better the chair's balance, the less it needs a big adjustable spring to control it.

A good-fitting chair provides sufficient lumbar support. Lumbar support is conspicuous by its absence--if it is conspicuous by its presence, there is too much of it.

My chairs are covered in gray cloth. Our cat is a gray and white tabby. That's the only surface in the house that does NOT show cat hair.

I require a chair with a back that is fixed to the seat, though I don't mind a bit of springiness in the frame that holds the back. You should sit in a chair such that the force exerted by your body is at right angles to the surfaces on which you are sitting, or so that those forces hold you in the chair, which keeps your body from wanting to slide on the chair surface or slide out of the chair altogether. I've never sat in a chair with an independently sprung back that fulfills that requirement. I end up moving inside my clothes sitting in such chairs, and the result is annoying discomfort. I think they were designed by skinny dipshits who never lean back, or who have so little upper body that it takes nothing to prop it up, not that I have an opinion on the matter.

You need arms. That is noted in every discussion of chair ergonomics, and I use mine.

I have spent about half my career in public-sector jobs sitting in chairs designed to make grown men cry. I had a chair in one job that had a broken spring that drilled holes in my pants and occasionally caused blood loss. When I complained, I was provided a cushion that squeezed down to nothing when I sat on it and did not address the problem. I had to threaten a lawsuit to get a replacement chair. I noted, however, that the chairs in the purchasing department were nice and new. The chair I got didn't have height adjustment and it was apparently designed for someone who was 5'-2". I separated the chair hinge from the base and shimmed it up with a couple of pieces of 2x4, which I painted black though I didn't want to.

In my current public-sector position, I'm sitting in the only chair in the entire office that has a back fixed to the seat. It has a layer of crust comprising God-knows-what from years of being used by God-knows-who. I put a towel on it just to keep that crust off my clothes. But the chairs in the conference room are the fancy new Herman Miller mesh types. I usually have to find a straight chair to take into the conference room with me, because nobody--not one single person--has figured out which controls do what on those chairs, and I've spent hour-long meetings trying to figure out how to keep the chair I'm in from flopping over backwards or attempting to remove my clothes.

All of that is why I bought my own for most of the private-sector half of my career.

Rick "not inexperienced when it comes to dealing with workstation chairs" Denney

[Noah A]

I'm in the market for a new chair as well. My knockoff was ok but it fell apart.

I think I'll build a standing desk and save the money for film. $900 buys a lot of portra and the possible health benefits are interesting. However after going through several cheapo chairs, I'd say that if you want a chair, it's worth the money to buy right.

It's like tripods. If you buy a new knockoff every few years, you would have saved money in the long run if you just bought a gitzo...

[David Carson]

I liked the Lumbar version of the Aeron, and make sure you order the version that has the lock-off tilt function. Sounds like Denney's office bought the basic Aeron without lock-off. You will flop backward without it.

Armrests, I feel, are a personal preference.

[rdenney]

I liked the Lumbar version of the Aeron, and make sure you order the version that has the lock-off tilt function. Sounds like Denney's office bought the basic Aeron without lock-off. You will flop backward without it.

Maybe they have them. None of us can find it. It's not like the controls came with usable instructions.

I have two degrees in engineering and have reverse-engineered some extremely complex systems, and I get tired of mechanical devices so obtuse that I can't figure them out.

Rick "not at all sure they are even Herman Miller chairs--everybody's copying those now" Denney

[Michael Cienfuegos]

How about a chair for us 5'6" 235# short fat guys? My short, fat little legs need something that won't cut off circulation. The kitty generally stays off my chairs, she prefers the sofa arms for her shredding exercises.

[false_Aesthetic]

How about a chair for us 5'6" 235# short fat guys? My short, fat little legs need something that won't cut off circulation. The kitty generally stays off my chairs, she prefers the sofa arms for her shredding exercises.

inflatable gym ball... make your core work.

and a gym membership :P

[Frank Petronio]

Got the Aeron with tilt, adjustable arms, the usual black carbon. Guy told me they make 8,000 a week and 6,000 are black. That's 400K chairs a year at $800 a pop or a $320M business. Damn.

Anyway my butt feels like a million bucks.

[Daniel Moore]

I'm recently having to take sitting more seriously myself. Checked out the Aeron and then the Embody (http://www.smartfurniture.com/products/Embody-Chair.html?utm_source=google&utm_medium=productsearch&utm_content=NS&utm_campaign=7946&gclid=COLHw5uA664CFWcHRQod2h8ALQ). It has to be experienced. The wallet needs a whole lot of persuasion. Weighing the long term benefit is the best and possibly only rationale.

[jeanshumake]

If you're looking for just $200 budget, I suggest you take a look on Lorell Executive High-Back Chair. It's mesh back so it feels cooler and it has high backrest, better support for your back, bro.