Pull up a chair

Arden

Arden

Where mah "any" keys at?
I'm not sure where this goes. It's a technical question of sorts, but it doesn't have anything to do with stuff that you actually use with a Mac. You could call it hardware, but it's supposed to be soft, so anyway, here goes:

What kind of desk chair would you guys recommend? I'm thinking about replacing my desk chair, since we're already renovating the family room (new floors, new paint, soon new easy chair) and I figured I'd try to throw a desk chair into the mix.

Currently I have one of the cheapo static rolling chairs with a pad for my arse, a pad for my back and a lever to raise and lower. The chairs at Nexus (my local LAN arcade) come in 2 types: one is super-comfortable, nice and soft and reclines with smooth sloping armrests, and are either fabric or leather; and the other is not so refined, not as comfortable, made of mesh, crappy arm rests, but (I imagine) not $60 like the first.

I'd like your opinions on chairs. I know the best thing for me to do is to actually test them and see what I like in my price range, but I want to know what you guys sit on. I'll take any recommendations, from footstools to La-Z-Boy recliners with the speakers in the top, and I may make a decision based on someone's recommendation if it's something I wouldn't have thought about.
 
Get one of those cool looking ergonomic chairs that don't have backrests -- they are supposed to feel really nice when you sit on them for extended periods. But $60 for a real nice leather chair isn't that bad, try going to a big office retailer like officemax and look at the chairs they have there.
Just find something that you like the looks of, and also can sit in comfortably for however long you would need to sit in it, and then if the price is too high either work somewhere for the money or keep looking.
Chairs really need to be shopped for, you can't really take anyones advice on which one is the best without going out and trying them first.
 
arden - I have a Herman Miller Aeron chair - famous for dot coms and on almost any news show on TV. I can sit in this thing for 12 hours and never get sore or tired. It is pricey, but I work at home most of the time and it is one of the best. They even have one on display the Museum of Modern Art.

Speaking of dotcoms, there was a time when you could buy these used from failed dotcoms and/or people who cleaned out the failed dot coms. Also, you can get them online for a little less than what most stores charge. Also, they have different sizes.

http://www.hermanmiller.com/CDA/SSA/Product/0,1592,a10-c440-p8,00.html

They have a new chair worth checking out:
http://slate.msn.com/id/2085064/
http://www.officedesigns.com/mirrachair.html

Any way, go sit in a few. You'll know it when you feel it!
 
Karavite: That Aeron actually looks a lot like the second kind of chair I was describing above. I'm not sure if it's the same, but it's really similar. And that was the one that I didn't like as much.

There are (or were) a number of broken chairs at Nexus, so I the guy might let me have one (and then I'll fix it), especially if I design their website. He can't pay me, so he's going to give me free hours, or possibly a chair if I request it.
 
Sit in the chair before you get it home. Adjust it to you and pretend you are working at your computer. You want a chair that will support your back and not give you aches and pains three days later.
 
Yeah, I really want a chair that reclines. My current chair does not, and neither does the chair I'm in right now, which is same model, and I'm always reclining in it anyway (like right now). It's probably not very good for my posture.
 
Hey arden, slouching is okay. Sorry you don't like the Aeron - just keep trying them out until you find a chair that "speaks to you."
 
For the benefit of anyone else reading this thread, I'll endorse karavite's endorsement of the Aeron.

My roomie and I were replacing chairs in our home office at least once a year. They'd either break, or develop other weirdnesses that forced a replacement.

We both worked for a now-failed dot.com that supplied us with the obligatory Aerons. We were hooked.

Through some careful shopping (and ebaying) we able to snag 2 chairs at less-than-going rate.

That was 4 years ago, and we haven't had to even think about chairs since.

The chairs also helped with some ergo problems each of us was having.

Yeah, they're over-hyped. And yeah, they've got the dot.com stigma. But heck, they're great chairs.

bear
 
Well, I looked at the pictures of the Aeron again, and it's actually a bit different than the meshed chairs at Nexus. It's probably better. I don't like the way they look a whole lot, but that's not the important thing in a desk chair. I haven't gone out to test chairs yet, but I may do just that some time this week. Since everyone's lauding them, I can't just dismiss them with no firsthand experience, so thanks for the suggestions and endorsements. After I do go out and try chairs, I'll give you guys my opinions (though that won't necessarily mean I'm buying, since that actually requires *money*).
 
It doesn't matter what any of us say. The only chair you should get is the one that fits you the best.

You really do need to try them out.

We used to have aeron chairs in our office. I tried them but could never get them to fit my body right and always had a sore back. Finally switched to a low-back chair.

My newest job had semi-expensive, but rather crappy office chairs. I got rid of mine and swapped it for one of the legged conference room chairs.

In my case, the cheaper the chair, the better it seems to fit me. ;o)

Also, some of the best chairs I've ever sat in are the old office chairs from the 40's and 50's with the really small back on them.

All that said, I can probably safely say that you should stay away from anything at any of the office super stores. Most of their stuff is crap.

Good money on a good chair is money well spent.
 
Well, what kind of build do you have? You might not be built for a larger chair. I personally have few problems with chairs the size of the Aeron, unless there is something sticking into my back.
 
Right. That's my point. To each their own. You really need to take the time to sit in the chairs yourself.

BTW, the aeron chairs do come in different sizes, so if that's the way you go, be sure to get the right size for your frame.
 
I used the Aeron at my former job. One negative thing I noticed was that; if you carry your wallet in your back pocket (as I, and some of my coworkers do), the hard plastic area around the seat frame of the Aeron would cause a wear mark on our pants. I'm built on the heavy side; but many of my coworkers who had this same problem weren't. So that's something else to consider. Other than that though... The Aeron was a very comfortable and durable chair.
 
Hmm, thanks for the tip. I am one of those with a back-door wallet on the slight side, so I'll keep that in mind when I'm shopping around.
 
A used areon is a good chair. But they are had to find because of "trickle down ergonomics"...where employess take their furniture home when the company goes belly up. ;-)

Anyway, I use an areon at work, and have an "executive chair" from a thrift store for home... kinda like a Sam-Spade meets guidance counselor type of chair...but it was only $10 and needed to be recovered on the arms (another $10 DIY job) but I love that chair more than the aereon.

As for desks, I made my own out of 1 4x8 peice of oak. I can send you plans, and its a custom-sized fit...

All I can recommend is that you carefully measure up a desk height that you like, then make sure when you buy a chair it will fit under the desk all the way, and the arms dont bump into the desktop!
 
You're going to be cursing yourself if you ever have to move that desk very far, BitWit. I did about the same thing...oak gets damned heavy after carrying it a while.
 
Originally posted by Darkshadow
You're going to be cursing yourself if you ever have to move that desk very far, BitWit. I did about the same thing...oak gets damned heavy after carrying it a while.
Click to expand...

Not a big deal with this design, they're light as can be, and if you look carefully you can see how they are custom-sized to our height prefs (a coworker of mine in the background has his set higher)

desk2.jpg

desk1.jpg


Like I said, those are each made from one 4x8 sheet of furniture-grade oak, (about $35) plus some screws, putty, tung oil, and casters.
 
Do you have locking castors on those desks (nice desks, by the way)? I don't think I'd get (or make) heavy furniture with castors unless they could lock in place and not move.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top