I’m in the market to replace my desk chair and looking for recommendations.
In particular, what thoughts do you have about this Kickstarter project:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/libernovo/libernovo-omni-worlds-first-dynamic-ergonomic-chair
Thank youTwo quick thoughts:
(My current desk chair is a first generation Aeron that I grabbed from a local startup that was closing down its office)
Personally, I’d only buy from a chair manufacturer that has a long and well established positive reputation.
I use HÅG chairs. I have a Credo/Creed in my studio and a Futu at home. Both with arms. I tried them both in person before buying.
These are normal looking office chairs (so not the one in the thumbnail below) that have benefits for building core and back strength as the chair rocks slightly with your body. Not sure about USA but I’m in the UK and they’re readily available. A worthwhile investment, new or used.
I have been using balans(R) chair for more than 20 years. https://www.balans-japan.com/balanschair
HÅG used to sell it, but the original chair designers started a new company Balans Management in 1996, and later acquired the license from HÅG.
The photos on https://www.balans-japan.com/ show some usage examples. It is really important that the chair don’t move/wobble/swing. If you want to prevent back pain, chairs need to stay rock solid.
(I tried Google to find “balans chair in the U.S.”, but couldn’t find anything that are not wheeled and not swaying chair, both I do not recommend. Chairs need to stay rock solid.)
Several years ago while shopping at The Container Store (near Boston MA US), I found and purchased a Euro Style Bungee Chair for the home office.
https://www.containerstore.com/s?source=form&q=bungee+chair
I liked it so much I bought one for my work’s office. My wife liked it as well so we bought one for her. Then my Dad tried it and bought one for himself. I sit in these chairs for 8-10 hours a day with no problems. If you can find one at a local store, I recommend giving it a try.
-Mike
I agree with previous comments on wanting a chair that has some “backing” from a good company (see what I did there?). I swear by my Aeron chair, which I bought myself for my birthday,
Or less expensive Cosm chair from the same company.
You may be able to get the Aeron chair cheaper (DWR has a sale going on now), but your back is worth a good investment.
Mind you, I am a Superbacker with Kickstarter, but some things you may have trouble returning, fixing, or getting help with, and I have learned the hard way to imagine the worst scenario and if I would be out of a product if something went wrong.
I have a new Steelcase Gesture. It also has a dynamic spine-conforming back that changes shape as you recline, but without all the moving parts in the Kickstarter project. And it arrives almost fully assembled.
I’d predict that the Kickstarter chair would last about a year before it starts breaking.
That’s a real expensive chair (the Kickstarter price of about $7000 HKD is about $900 USD. Not something I’d consider recommending without personally trying one first, and even then I can’t imagine it being worth that price.
My current chair is an Ikea JÄRVFJÄLLET. At $400, I considered it very expensive, but I was sick and tired of “bonded” leather surfaces un-bonding after a few years. This one has a mesh back and actual leather, not bonded.
Years ago, I used a cheap (<$150) chair from Staples, with fabric upholstery. But those have gone completely out of fashion. The cheap chairs today all have bonded leather (that is, a super-thin layer of leather glued to cheap fabric), and the leather peels off after a few years.
I only got rid of that Staples chair when the hydraulic cylinder failed. I tried to replace the cylinder, but after a decade of use, I was completely unable to remove the old one. So I had to trash the whole chair.
I also used an Amazon Basics chair for a while, between the one from Staples and the Ikea one. It was comfortable, but its leather unbonded after a few years.
I’m a huge fan of Steelcase, and I love working in offices that use their furniture. But they are very expensive (that Gesture starts at around $1500 for cloth upholstery and goes up from there). On the other hand, you can often get them used on auction sites when offices close, and that might be more reasonable.
That’s exactly why I bought the new Steelcase chair! My previous chair is a Realspace MFTC 200 on sale for $130 from Office Depot, but the gas cylinder leaks. I have a replacement cylinder, but I can’t get the chair apart to replace it. The cylinder is just press-fit into the chair legs and seat, but they will not pull apart. I even went at it with a mallet following video instructions from the manufacturer.
Ah, I wondered what happened. Thanks for the info!
This may be true for Balans, but not for every chair. Witness the two HÅG chairs that I use which tilt/move by design to prevent back pain.
If you mean that you personally believe that chairs should remain rock solid, that’s different.
(if you see this, I agree)
I waited until it was 25% off at Amazon, via the Steelcase distributer Pattern. I got it for $1,091, which is still a lot of money but after the cheap chair let me down (literally!), I figured you get what you pay for.
A lot of suggestions here:
I’m a fan of Steelcase chairs. Used them at home and work for decades. I got our current Steelcase Leaf chairs from someone that was selling off surplus from offices that closed during the pandemic. $1,600 chair for about $200. It’s been great but I did swap out the caster wheels for rollerblade type, much smoother motion.
My previous Steelcase 431 chair lasted over 30 years when the hydraulic cylinder gave up the ghost and the fabric was showing its age so time to ditch it.
Anecdata: I have a Hon chair from 2019. (They were a good bit cheaper back then.) Have been using it full-time since the beginning of the pandemic. The seat tilt/recline mechanism broke last month; after a few emails, they sent out a replacement under the “lifetime” warranty, no charge. I did have to install it myself, which was a minor chore.
I think I may switch to Steelcase next. They are pricey, but they do go on sale during the usual sales holidays. And there are lots of secondhand ones.
I’ve used Aeron chairs both at home and at work for many years. I was able to sit comfortably even when significant spinal surgery was pending (on two occasions). They’re expensive but, from my experience, worth every penny.
A great chair, another item to add to my wish list…
I just have a crappy ikea model.
Which chair are you referring to?
My chair started to spontaneously lower me. It’s stopped doing that, but while searching for hints I discovered lots of places suggesting that the cylinder failure is due to a failing seal, and that adding lubricant (or doing some set of things involving sitting the chair upside down for several days) can rejuvenate it. I haven’t tried first hand – as I said, after about two days of trouble my current chair has stopped having problems – but it sounds like there are some very cheap solutions that may revive the hydraulic cylinder on an office chair.
I do not want to speak for @tommy or anybody else, but I’ll point out that this board automatically removes quotes of previous posts (I only realized this recently, no idea how long this has been going on). So I would assume without any quote, a post is referring to the immediately preceding post unless otherwise mentioned. In this case that preceding post is @tommy’s and he does mention Aeron chairs.