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Ask HN: Best office chair for home office work?

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111–120 of 140 posts

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

#111
In response to this post I looked to find out when the Steelcase Leap chair was introduced (1999) and found a few interesting things about it:

It was designed by IDEO.

Bruce Sterling writes about ergo chairs in Wired during the height of the dot com boom ninteen years ago this month. https://www.wired.com/2000/07/chairs/

"The chair was developed over four years, cost $35 million to design, and resulted in 11 academic studies and 23 patents."

David Pogue reviews the Steelcase Gesture in the NY Times and discusses its predecessor the Leap: https://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/12/technology/personaltech/a...

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

#112
The best chair I ever used was a kneeling chair. It encourages proper posture in a way that no other chair I've seen does.

Beware, there's a huge spectrum of quality for this (or any other) type of chair. Kneeling chairs were also some of the worst chairs I've ever sat on. "Kneeling" is one feature which chair designers can use to make a great chair, but it's not a magic feature that makes any chair design great.

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

#113
I use a DXRacer King series and work remotely. I've tried multiple Herman Miller models and steelcase models and returned them within the 30 day period.

I thought the $1500 chairs would be more comfortable, but they were awful for me. The $500 gamer chair is leagues ahead of the others for me.

Try as many as you can.

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

#114

I’ve used an Aeron the past several years, and it has been fine; however, I’ve found it quite deficient for meditation sits (~1hour at a time): my legs sort of buckle inward, and the mesh doesn’t give enough support for the alert and upright posture I want to avoid dullness during sits. Has anyone tried the Gokhale chair, designed by the woman who wrote “8 steps to a pain free back”? ( https://shop.gokhalemethod.com/…

The only thing that works for me is a zafu, zabuton and the Burmese position. If you need a chair, I'd suggest sitting on the front edge of the seat, with the height raised so that your thighs are below the horizontal. A thin buckwheat cushion on a hard chair will probably provide the best stability.

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

#117
post #112

The best chair I ever used was a kneeling chair. It encourages proper posture in a way that no other chair I've seen does. Beware, there's a huge spectrum of quality for this (or any other) type of chair. Kneeling chairs were also some of the worst chairs I've ever sat on. "Kneeling" is one feature which chair designers can use to make a great chair, but it's not a magic feature that makes any chair design great.

That leads me to ask ... what's the best kneeling chair that you've used?

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

#118
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.

I can also second that: a 2nd hand Herman Miller Aeron that you've tested before making the purchase; one of the damn best investments you can make.

Have had mine for 6+ years now and it's outlived pretty much everything in my home office, save for a Dell U2713HM, which is still such a nice allrounder (27" 1440p IPS).

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

#119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For a while I preferred Herman Millers. But after spending a year with Steelcase chairs I discovered that Leap is the most comfortable and least fatigue inducing chair for me. I even liked that its seat holds its angle - unlike swivelling seats of HM chairs. Fortunately, Madison Seating sells used Leaps for less than $300 in perfect condition so I got one for home too instead of a previous favourite from Herman Mille…

One caveat with Madison Seating (and similar shops) is that they refurbish the chairs and they typically do not use OE parts.

What is the practical significance of that fact? Will the chair fail earlier?

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

#120
post #118
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.

I can also second that: a 2nd hand Herman Miller Aeron that you've tested before making the purchase; one of the damn best investments you can make. Have had mine for 6+ years now and it's outlived pretty much everything in my home office, save for a Dell U2713HM, which is still such a nice allrounder (27" 1440p IPS).

I would recommend the Dell P2415Q as a great allround monitor today. IPS panel, 4k, and displayport daisy-chaining support.
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