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Ask HN: Best office chair for home office work?

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71–80 of 140 posts

Re: Ask HN: Best office chair for home office work?

#71

Stools. Yes, Backless stools, particularly those made for desk usage. Paired with a standing mat and sit/stand setup (either via sit/stand desk or some adjustable desktopper like the ergodesktop Kangaroo) stools can be easily thrown under the desk and hidden away if your home office doubles for exercise or breakfast room use. My bookmarked list of stools: The Swopper - http://swopperusa.com/ - Expensive. Use this reg…

I use drum thrones for the same reason: https://www.guitarcenter.com/ROC-N-SOC/Nitro-Throne.gc

Re: Ask HN: Best office chair for home office work?

#72
post #16

Go second-hand. If you've had a good experience sitting on a particular chair in the past, consider one of those. I'd sat in Aerons in workplaces, so I bought a second-hand one on Craiglist for about 50% of list price. It's still going strong 5 years later. Be aware of the options. Aerons come with one of two forms of back brace (or neither) and in three sizes, for instance.

Can't recommend this option enough. I got a Steelcase Leap V2 from a used office furniture dealer for $200 or so after negotiating a bit. For another $50 or $75 they would have replaced the fabric as well but it didn't need it as it was in really good condition. They had Aerons and other chairs too but I liked the Leap better.

Re: Ask HN: Best office chair for home office work?

#73
post #16

Go second-hand. If you've had a good experience sitting on a particular chair in the past, consider one of those. I'd sat in Aerons in workplaces, so I bought a second-hand one on Craiglist for about 50% of list price. It's still going strong 5 years later. Be aware of the options. Aerons come with one of two forms of back brace (or neither) and in three sizes, for instance.

Good quality office chairs bought second is definitely the way to go - they are built solidly and well so they are usually in great condition.

I have a Hermann Miller Mirra 2, bought from https://studiomodern.co.uk in the UK. The Aeron is a 'design classic', so hasn't been iterated upon much. The Mirra has benefited from the experience though.

Also expect to spend a little time setting it up to start with, and then tweaking it until it's just right.

Re: Ask HN: Best office chair for home office work?

#74
post #67

Depending on where you live, trying out an office chair for a while might be an option. I found a local office furniture store that sold Herman Miller (not a big box retailer, but one who sells to bigger companies), and was able to give them a credit card number and a drivers license and they let me borrow a few chairs to try out. I tried the Aeron for a week and then the Embody for a week. I ended up buying the Embo…

True about the 3 sizes of Aerons. I'm 6'3, and find the vanilla Aeron (size "B") to work. If I was 6'4, I might feel differently, though, because I use it at its max adjustment.

Also worth pointing out that height recommendations are just a guideline and two people who are the same height might fit differently in the same chair. I’m the same height as you but I’m all leg. The larger Aeron fit me better.

Re: Ask HN: Best office chair for home office work?

#75

Stools. Yes, Backless stools, particularly those made for desk usage. Paired with a standing mat and sit/stand setup (either via sit/stand desk or some adjustable desktopper like the ergodesktop Kangaroo) stools can be easily thrown under the desk and hidden away if your home office doubles for exercise or breakfast room use. My bookmarked list of stools: The Swopper - http://swopperusa.com/ - Expensive. Use this reg…

Have you used the ErgoErgo? I find that one affordable but the reviews are mixed because of its durability.

Sitting on one right now, purchased it used a few years ago. Works fine, occasionally have to re-inflate it and pairing it with a cushion has helped.

I disclaim things a bit as I weigh a bit less than the average american male, but it looks like they now sell a larger version of the stool (ergo extra) which might be in response to earlier durability issues.

Re: Ask HN: Best office chair for home office work?

#77
I have an Aeron at home - great chair. I have very bad lower back issues (arthritic deterioration due to significant vitamin D and nutritional deficiency; I have cystic fibrosis) and can't sit on any kind of surface for long. I can sit in the Aeron for 8 hours plus with no issues. My new one was $1200 but I bought one at a used furniture store for the office - honestly can't tell the difference. Pretty sure I spent around $400-500.

Re: Ask HN: Best office chair for home office work?

#79
post #47

I fell in love with Capisco by HÅG. It’s a tad expensive but it’s very well made. I have one at home and one at the office and they are both like new after five years of daily use.

The Capisco is great, but I also like the more conventional H04 from HÅG: classic, timeless look, great build quality, but what I like most is their concept of balanced movement. The chair allows your body to move a lot and this helps to reduce strain. I tried an Aeon, but the H4 was much better for my back. It’s not cheap at 1000 Euro, but you can get them quite cheap used (I only paid 100 Euro).

Re: Ask HN: Best office chair for home office work?

#80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Steelcase furniture can be bought at pennies on the dollar at office space auctions. In fact in many places companies hold “clearing sales” to clear the office space from any furniture due to the high costs of disposing of the furnishings when their tenancy ends or when they sale the building. I bought a Steelcase workstation desk complex that costs around £3000 in the UK for £257 at an auction such as that.

In some places there are entire wholesale businesses that operate on this model. For instance, in Austin there is a place you can go that resells pretty much every office furniture that you can get from cannibalizing these auctions. http://www.topstexas.com/ They don’t always have the color you want, but I got a basically new condition Steelcase Leap there for less than half of what it retails for.

Hah yeah bought my Arron at Tops almost a decade ago. If anyone is in the Austin area, I would highly recommend checking them out if only to get a feel for the range of high-end inventory.
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