[HOT] USED Herman Miller Embody

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raclimj

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Feb 20, 2011
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This chair is regarded the best office chair money can buy and sells brand new for $1200+


Item condition:
"Fabric may be worn down, have some staining, or be torn in some areas. Some arms show wear, though...
These chairs were used in an office setting. They show some use, but can easily be reupholstered to look like new."

Herman Miller EMBODY Chair adjustable Ergonomic Office Beige/Black
 
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I have one at work and these are great chairs for sure. Awesome price but I will say, and I am a little surprised Herman Miller hasn't developed something better like microfiber or mesh like Aeron, the material they use on these gets absolutely disgusting after a few years. Super unsightly looking staining in the crotch and head/neck area from spills, oil, stains etc. Also tends to retain BO/butt sweat more than other chairs. Put simply, I'd be a bit of a prima Donna about it if they tried to give me a used one at work bc they get nasty lol

The ones in the pic look decent condition but I expect they snapped pics of their best and not their worst condition chairs. I don't believe the upholstering is easily replaceable but for this price it may be worth looking into
 
Im so tempted, but I have reservations on the fabric. With the mirra/areon, its not THAT big of a deal as liquids would end up on the ground.

Areons/Mirras are going for like ~$350 locally, not sure if the extra $100 is worth it.
 
chizow said:
I have one at work and these are great chairs for sure. Awesome price but I will say, and I am a little surprised Herman Miller hasn't developed something better like microfiber or mesh like Aeron, the material they use on these gets absolutely disgusting after a few years. Super unsightly looking staining in the crotch and head/neck area from spills, oil, stains etc. Also tends to retain BO/butt sweat more than other chairs. Put simply, I'd be a bit of a prima Donna about it if they tried to give me a used one at work bc they get nasty lol

The ones in the pic look decent condition but I expect they snapped pics of their best and not their worst condition chairs. I don't believe the upholstering is easily replaceable but for this price it may be worth looking into
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I thought Hermann Miller is the one who makes the Aeron.
 
DeeFrag said:
I thought Hermann Miller is the one who makes the Aeron.
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They do, but Aeron uses a mesh that holds up much better and is much more stain resistant and easier to clean. These embody chairs use a silky perforated material that makes them a pretty nasty lint, oil, stain and dander trap. Surprising they have not improved on the material given the same company makes both.
 
They probably figure that if your office is budgeting for $1200 dollar chairs they are also employing cleaning staff and will replace the chairs when necessary.
 
CruisD64 said:
Better than an Aeron? I didn't think that was possible...
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Never used these, but I picked up an Aeron, locally, last year for about 350-400. I sit in weird positions, so I ended up buying a memory foam cushion to put on top of it, but if I sat like most people, I wouldn't have done that. I'd rather buy locally where I can see the chair than buy one blindly from NY on eBay.
 
chizow said:
I have one at work and these are great chairs for sure. Awesome price but I will say, and I am a little surprised Herman Miller hasn't developed something better like microfiber or mesh like Aeron, the material they use on these gets absolutely disgusting after a few years. Super unsightly looking staining in the crotch and head/neck area from spills, oil, stains etc. Also tends to retain BO/butt sweat more than other chairs. Put simply, I'd be a bit of a prima Donna about it if they tried to give me a used one at work bc they get nasty lol

The ones in the pic look decent condition but I expect they snapped pics of their best and not their worst condition chairs. I don't believe the upholstering is easily replaceable but for this price it may be worth looking into
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Not to be a dick, but wtf are you doing in your chair man?! lol

I have had an embody for about 3+ years now. It's a darker color, but there aren't stains and there for sure aren't odors in it.
 
mope54 said:
If you sit in weird positions you might want to try a HAG Capisco.

I got mine in white leather.
Ergonomic Chairs
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$1400 for a chair that looks like it was literally made with $50 worth of materials. Actually, I could probably take apart a $20 chair for the stand/wheels and make the rest of that with some wood and HD foam covered with some fabric. At least the HM chairs offer customization and many features.
 
My office has a wide array of Steelcase and Herman Miller among other stuff, so I've tried practically everything, HOWEVER, it's really hard to say what I prefer, because I just can't say I trust a chair with my ass for certainty without putting some serious hours into it. I've sat in a chair for a few minutes and thought it was super great, then a few days later I just hated it. But my list with caveats is probably Gesture, Embody, Leap, Aeron for the big ticket stuff.

I currently use a Leap at home, but I'd trade it in a heartbeat for an HM Embody or Steelcase Gesture. Unfortunately it just never seems to reach the top of my priority list since the Leap has served me so well and there are so many toys to buy.

wra18th said:
I own a Leap. I've tried the Embody and the Aeron. I'll take the Embody over anything.
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Even over a Steelcase Gesture?

mope54 said:
They probably figure that if your office is budgeting for $1200 dollar chairs they are also employing cleaning staff and will replace the chairs when necessary.
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Replace the chairs is the key here. Offices tend to sell the old chairs in bulk to used office equipment warehouses (which is how so many end up on ebay from the same seller in giant batches), then get a whole bunch of new chairs to replace them. Reupholstering or repair is not as common as I once had thought, and I have visited a LOT of fancy offices with fancy chairs over the years (and currently work for a company with lots of offices around the world with fancy chairs). Cleaning the chairs is also not a big priority either, unless it is obvious that the chair is in need of immediate attention, like someone spilled food on it or something. Otherwise slow accumulation of dirt and oil is going to happen fairly unimpeded. Cleaning crews don't give the place the white glove treatment. They just kind of do a once-over thing every night. It'd be actually pretty annoying if they did clean so well all the time as it would displace a lot of stuff.
 
I'd love to buy one especially at that price, but I just can't get myself to buy a used chair. I guess I can't get the idea of what some "stains" might be out of my head. Even if I were to steam clean it the image just would keep popping into my head every time I sat down on it.
 
ocbaud said:
Not to be a dick, but wtf are you doing in your chair man?! lol

I have had an embody for about 3+ years now. It's a darker color, but there aren't stains and there for sure aren't odors in it.
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Mine's fine as well, but I guess you should ask the people who leave stains and smells all over their chairs about their personal hygiene because I have seen and chosen not to sit in many that are foul. Eating at their desks is usually the biggest problem followed by oil/sweat on the headrest. Not something I'm interested in inheriting second hand.
 
Neurofreeze said:
I've sat in a chair for a few minutes and thought it was super great, then a few days later I just hated it.
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It goes the other way, too. I have a Herman Miller Mirra right now, and at first I didn't really care for it at all. Thought it was too firm and it hurt, especially for longer sessions. Gave it a week or two and now I can sit for very long periods, and I feel like I have much more focus at the computer, regardless of what I'm doing. At work, I snatched someone's Steelcase Leap and we have Aerons lying around. I tried out the Aerons and... really didn't care for them. The Leap at first I thought was great but now I don't think it's nearly as comfortable for long, non-leaning sessions as my Mirra.

So all of these things are relative and you pretty much need to plant your butt in some chair and do it for a long time. Not sure how the Embody is compared to the Mirra (which seems to sell at that price fairly regularly), but it looks like a slightly fancier version of the Mirra? Either way, I'm fine with my Mirra so IDC really. I'm just putting a word of warning out there... chairs are super subjective. I kind of lucked out in that I forgot that my office even had a lot of these chairs and ordered the Mirra blindly. Eventually it ended up working out well for me. But it may not always work out. Tread carefully. Well that or just prepare for a few weeks worth of pain as your body adjusts to your new chair very gradually. In the end these Herman Millers have pretty good build quality so you will probably win out in the long term. If you can get used to it, it's probably the last chair you'll ever buy.
 
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raclimj said:
Have you tried both?


I currently have Steelcase Leap V2 and I am wondering if you have any experience with the Embody.
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I tried both but I will admit I only Sat in the embody at an office equipment store, I should have also prefaced my comment with the fact that I am a bigger dude, 6'3 260 and the Steelcase Leap felt more solidly built to me, the 300lb max weight in the embody was something concerning me.
 
Thanks for posting this, I picked up one to try out. I recently purchased a Steelcase Gesture (and had it for a month or so), and really did not like it. It caused me quite a bit of tailbone pain, but fortunately I purchased locally where they have a generous return policy.

My coworker that sits next to me at work has the Embody, and I borrowed it for a few days and seemed to like it. I guess we will see what kind of shape this one is in, and how I fair in it after extended testing.
 
I would get this if it was easy to reupholster the chair. It doesnt seem that cheap or easy.
 
I contacted Office Designs who I have ordered a replacement aeron part from before and they wanted $500 for a new fabric portion / seat.

Assuming the seat in the photo is the best condition one they had, I don't think I'd want to use one of these as my daily driver at home without being able to refurbish the seat for around $150 or so.

Found a replacement fabric on eBay for $300, I dont know about you but around me people post embody chairs they barely used for around $800 quite frequently, so if I was to refub this ebay one it would approach the price of a used like new one pretty quickly that didnt have all the heavy use of an office environment.
 
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VulcaN said:
I would get this if it was easy to reupholster the chair. It doesnt seem that cheap or easy.
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That is my concern, how much is this going to cost me to get redone? Gonna do some research.

Edit: Just saw your next post about some fabric set prices. Thanks for the update.
 
ocbaud said:
Not to be a dick, but wtf are you doing in your chair man?! lol

I have had an embody for about 3+ years now. It's a darker color, but there aren't stains and there for sure aren't odors in it.
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Just take the chair to your local upholsterer and have it done for a $100. No need to spend $300 on some over priced crap on eBay -- Cloth is cloth.
 
Streiw said:
Just take the chair to your local upholsterer and have it done for a $100. No need to spend $300 on some over priced crap on eBay -- Cloth is cloth.
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Agreed but reupholstering usually means stitching whereas the official replacement fabric looks like it has attachments to hook right in. It would increase the resale value as well.

I think I'm going to wait for the holiday sale and just buy a new one for 15% off. It's a lot of money but berry blue on white is just too sexy to pass up.
 
That pic looks like shit. Two slabs bolted together upholstered with perforated cardboard.
 
I refuse to buy another Herman Miller chair. I know this is a different chair, but FUCK I hate the Aeron.

I have spent too much time tweaking and adjusting Aerons over the years. Neither the medium nor the large fit. Got a Steelcase Think - all those problems went away.
 
CruisD64 said:
Better than an Aeron? I didn't think that was possible...
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Aerons suck. The hard plastic front edge of the seat makes it uncomfortable on my thighs after long times.

Steelcase Leap or Amia is much better. The Embody also looks like they got rid of the front edge, so it's probably better than an Aeron too.
 
Snowknight26 said:
For anyone that actually bought and received one, how bad was the fabric?
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I picked it up yesterday. The fabric on mine is a little discolored and slightly torn on the corners. I'm looking into Herman Miller's warranty or getting the chair reupholstered, partly because this color is kinda ugly. An arm rest also shows some wear, but that doesn't bother me.

The good news is this is the most comfortable seat I've ever sat on. Every part of me feels supported and I don't get stiff or have to fidget and stretch all the time. The adjustability is also fantastic.
 
Ozymandias said:
I picked it up yesterday. The fabric on mine is a little discolored and slightly torn on the corners. I'm looking into Herman Miller's warranty or getting the chair reupholstered, partly because this color is kinda ugly. An arm rest also shows some wear, but that doesn't bother me.

The good news is this is the most comfortable seat I've ever sat on. Every part of me feels supported and I don't get stiff or have to fidget and stretch all the time. The adjustability is also fantastic.
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Glad to hear you have positive experience.

How much did you pay on the eBay Auction?
 
I own an Embody and love it. Had an Aeron before and currently have a Steelcase Leap in my office as well. I absolutely hate the Leap, I just can't find a comfortable posture for extended periods. The Aeron is nice, but I agree that the plastic edges can make it a bit uncomfortable. Overall, I still liked it though and it is definitely much better than the Leap, for me at least.

The Embody, on the other hand, is fantastic in all aspects. Really supportive and comfortable at the same time. The fabric will probably need to be cleaned every once in a while, but totally worth it.
 
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