One chair to rule them all?

K

Kainzo

Gawd
Joined
Nov 12, 2009
Messages
972
It's been like 5 years since I've invested in a chair... what's the best these days?
 
termite said:
Yeah those are pretty amazing. Had those at work.

I have a Noble ICON and would recommend one.
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thanks for the replies
everyone I talked to in the gaming community seems to think DX racers are the way to go.
I have an Aeron right now, but its about 5 years old and I think its sucking for me.
 
Go sit in a DX chair before buying though. I hate them, personally. Maybe because I am tall or something.
 
The Ergo Human chair is more comfortable, easier to adjust and has a headrest. That said, the Aeron chairs are the gold standard for longevity. My Ergo Human is starting to fall apart after about 7 years of hard daily use.
 
Dan_D said:
The Ergo Human chair is more comfortable, easier to adjust and has a headrest. That said, the Aeron chairs are the gold standard for longevity. My Ergo Human is starting to fall apart after about 7 years of hard daily use.
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I have the Hermon Miller Aeron and truth be told its probably approaching 7 years as well... So maybe I should go sit in a new one to see how it feels. I have lower back pain and I'm just trying to prevent it further
 
I have a 10 year old Aeron I use nonstop that's still in perfect condition.
 
I had an Aeron I bought used that was built in the 1990's. I had that chair for ten years before it finally broke to a point where it wasn't cost effective to fix. So the Aeron chairs outlast anything I've ever seen. Meanwhile, the arm rests on my Ergo Human are starting to come apart and the bearings in the piston part seem to be going as it pops if you shift your weight sometimes. The adjustment lever for reclining broke years ago. I tried to contact the manufacturer for warranty service and never heard back. While its been a great chair overall, I will probably look at something else to replace it. I probably won't be looking at the Aeron either, but mostly because of their extreme cost, dated controls and poor lumbar support mechanism. The sliding pad thing is weak sauce. It also lacks a head rest. I think the Aeron was great for its time, but its been eclipsed by newer designs.
 
Dan_D said:
I had an Aeron I bought used that was built in the 1990's. I had that chair for ten years before it finally broke to a point where it wasn't cost effective to fix. So the Aeron chairs outlast anything I've ever seen. Meanwhile, the arm rests on my Ergo Human are starting to come apart and the bearings in the piston part seem to be going as it pops if you shift your weight sometimes. The adjustment lever for reclining broke years ago. I tried to contact the manufacturer for warranty service and never heard back. While its been a great chair overall, I will probably look at something else to replace it. I probably won't be looking at the Aeron either, but mostly because of their extreme cost, dated controls and poor lumbar support mechanism. The sliding pad thing is weak sauce. It also lacks a head rest. I think the Aeron was great for its time, but its been eclipsed by newer designs.
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Just to note, if you click the link the Aeron has been redesigned from "the casters up" according to Herman Miller. There is an entire page dedicated to the changes. It's supposed to be much better at back support (the lumbar support is completely changed as is the mesh for more support). As with all things, YMMV.
 
Kainzo said:
thanks for the replies
everyone I talked to in the gaming community seems to think DX racers are the way to go.
I have an Aeron right now, but its about 5 years old and I think its sucking for me.
Click to expand...

I'm not in the immediately hate DX Racer (or racing type chairs in general) camp but the reason they think that is because DX Racer got in early via marketing those chairs (and the style) as gaming chairs, especially by product placement to streamers (and other influencers). By extension that chair style is also now associated with gaming.

An amusing anecdote by the way since I somewhat follow it the Overwatch League had been using up until recently Herman Miller Aeron's. They've recently now switched to racing style gaming chair due to sponsorship and some players were complaining about the lack of adjustments/ergonomics.

One thing I'm surprised about is that no ones tried (as far as I know) to market one of those mesh ergonomic chairs as a gaming chair as an alternative style.
 
Dan_D said:
I had an Aeron I bought used that was built in the 1990's. I had that chair for ten years before it finally broke to a point where it wasn't cost effective to fix. So the Aeron chairs outlast anything I've ever seen. Meanwhile, the arm rests on my Ergo Human are starting to come apart and the bearings in the piston part seem to be going as it pops if you shift your weight sometimes. The adjustment lever for reclining broke years ago. I tried to contact the manufacturer for warranty service and never heard back. While its been a great chair overall, I will probably look at something else to replace it. I probably won't be looking at the Aeron either, but mostly because of their extreme cost, dated controls and poor lumbar support mechanism. The sliding pad thing is weak sauce. It also lacks a head rest. I think the Aeron was great for its time, but its been eclipsed by newer designs.
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I've had two for about ten years now and I need a part for one of them but other than that no issues.
 
Gotta say that I love the Serta Air Arlington that I bought at Office Depot a couple of years ago for like $170. It's no Herman Miller quality or looks-wise but it's just as comfortable IMO and you can buy 7 or 8 of them for the price of one Aeron.

A friend of mine has a Secret Labs Titan and I feel that the bottom pad is too hard. Chairs are all personal preference though so someone in the market should sit in a bunch to find out what's best for them.
 
Bankie said:
Gotta say that I love the Serta Air Arlington that I bought at Office Depot a couple of years ago for like $170. It's no Herman Miller quality or looks-wise but it's just as comfortable IMO and you can buy 7 or 8 of them for the price of one Aeron.
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The point of the Aeron isn't just the quality or the looks, it's that' it's built like a god damn tank and will last a decade even under heavy abuse with minimal work on it. It's an amazing value when you consider the quality and durability of it, the durability is a huge reason why it's been the gold standard of chairs.
 
SOAREVERSOR said:
The point of the Aeron isn't just the quality or the looks, it's that' it's built like a god damn tank and will last a decade even under heavy abuse with minimal work on it. It's an amazing value when you consider the quality and durability of it, the durability is a huge reason why it's been the gold standard of chairs.
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I would consider durability as part of the quality. The way I see it if I can get 3-5 years out of a $200 chair that is comfortable then I'll still have spent 1/3-1/2 the price of the HM after 10 years and come out ahead.
 
Bankie said:
I would consider durability as part of the quality. The way I see it if I can get 3-5 years out of a $200 chair that is comfortable then I'll still have spent 1/3-1/2 the price of the HM after 10 years and come out ahead.
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You don't have to pay full price for them. The floor models routinely go for about 500 bucks or so. I bought two floor models over ten years ago and they are still going strong. They are also often discounted from retailers to about 500.
 
limitedaccess said:
I'm not in the immediately hate DX Racer (or racing type chairs in general) camp but the reason they think that is because DX Racer got in early via marketing those chairs (and the style) as gaming chairs, especially by product placement to streamers (and other influencers). By extension that chair style is also now associated with gaming.

An amusing anecdote by the way since I somewhat follow it the Overwatch League had been using up until recently Herman Miller Aeron's. They've recently now switched to racing style gaming chair due to sponsorship and some players were complaining about the lack of adjustments/ergonomics.

One thing I'm surprised about is that no ones tried (as far as I know) to market one of those mesh ergonomic chairs as a gaming chair as an alternative style.
Click to expand...
So I think the reason why my chair isn't doing so hot for me is because I have chronic lower back pain and it just doesn't feel comfortable. It feels like there's little support.
On the very same note for at least 2 years I forgot it could tilt backwards.... So I feel some of this was my fault. I'm selling it to someone on Craigslist for $180 (I paid $300 6 years ago for it)
I think I'm going with an office Depot executive chair.. after testing several out they just feel better
 
It's on the expensive side, but I'm really liking the Steelcase Gesture.

I have an Aeron at work. It's good, but I prefer the Gesture.
 
I have a Steelcase Gesture at home and a Herman Miller Embody at work. I like both.

Both will easily last more than 5 years... More like 20 years +...
 
If you're willing and able to invest, I suggest a proper high end ergonomic chair.

As some others have mentioned, brands like Herman Miller (Aeron, Embody), Steelcase (Gesture, Leap), and Humanscale (Freedom Headrest) are typically better options than normal task chairs or "gamer/racer" types, but can be priced accordingly. Note that each of these models typically have customizable options - both aesthetic (ie what fabric, color of the base/frame, casters) and functional (arm style, upgraded seats, headrests. No matter what you pick, if you don't mind taking some time I'd look around for used office furniture warehouses near you - sometimes you can pick up a $1000+ chair like those I listed, for $200 or less! Lots of businesses close, buy a whole new setup for their execs or board room, a startup outfitting their coders etc.. and sell well maintained high end chairs to resellers.

I've owned or used pretty much all of the above and let me say I've found one ergo task chair company that blows away all the others I've found to date - Lifeform! https://www.lifeformchairs.com/ . They're a small boutique company out of Canada that makes the best exec/task ergo chair I've found short of one of those mid 5-figure recumbent/hanging workstation setups. They have several models, but the top of the line is the Ultimate Executive, which comes in 2 variants - a High Back and a Mid Back, which can then be customized further. It has a ton of adjustments (it can even rock, or really lean back if you choose) and is among the most comfortable I've found . Also, some may not care as much as I do, but they use healthful materials all around - no vinyls or anything that outgasses, no cheap anything or corners cut, and all manufactured in Canada. The padding on these is the best I've found in that it is temperature sensitive memory foam style, and can even be upgraded with a cooling foam which is really nice. My Mid Back is configured with a 6DOF adjustable Headrest which I've found works very nicely indeed. There are quite a few other functional upgrades that may be to your liking depending on body size and preference, and aesthetics have a ton of options too.

The only downside is that it is a bit more expensive than even most other ergo chairs, but I do feel that it is worth it. I bought one of their custom footrests as well which uses the same foam type too! As I recall, they use RelaxTheBack as the only major chain in the US, but if you don't have one near you you can go through an independent vendor and/or directly. If you have any questions let me know and if your'e seriously interested, I may be able to give you a referral/discount code depending on how/where you buy.
 
Those lifeform chairs look nice I picked up a killa bee chair but the cold cure foam seat really sinks in it ok for gaming but I can tell it strains my body as a whole I've been using a serta i5000 one of the better chairs they offer but the lumbar is fixated so your spine might not care for it depends on your desk setup. I've had every type of chair under the sun never found one I really liked a lot of them were too low to the ground due to the lift they should make a chair with a manual screw like setting to adjust the height.
 
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