Getting a sweet office chair

Tube

So I'm in the market for a new throne to sit in while I survey my internet domain. My previous chair was made of the skulls of my enemies but it didn't have very good lumbar support so I was thinking of something more traditional. Here are my requirements

1. Must be comfortable and good for my back and shit
2. Armrests that go up and down for preference
3. Must be available from amazon.co.uk

Does anyone have any totally sweet chair suggestions?

KalTorak

Every time I've sat in an Aeron chair it's been like a party on my ass and lower back and arms and everyone is invited and sodomy is not allowed at this party.



http://www.amazon.co.uk/Aeron-Executive-Task-Chair-Size/dp/B0021AVBEG/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=kitchen&qid=1271777902&sr=8-2

There are a few different kinds. Warning: most of them cost as much as a reasonably healthy kidney.

Tube

Holy crap. That's probably a little out of my price range but it looks like the kind of chair the queen sits on when she's looking at porn.

KalTorak

Needless to say, I have never sat on an Aeron that I own.

However I do sneak into other people's offices and enjoy their chairs, and the fact that due to the mesh seat and backs, they retain almost no body heat from previous occupants.

Monolithic_Dome

The Mirra is a little less expensive and by all accounts also awesome.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Herman-Miller-Mirra-Task-Chair/dp/B0009UXQ2A/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=kitchen&qid=1271778585&sr=8-1

kaliyama

I just picked up an Aeron from a yard sale. I made work comp me the part, and they're having their usual people do their labor for $100 dollars. Total price: $105. If you're willing to wait it out and hit yard sales, office sales, etc. you can punch above your price range. What exactly is your price range? What is your body type?

End

I've seen some Aeron lookalikes for a lot cheaper, which might not be quite as good, but still might fit the bill.

If it comes down to it, hopefully you can find candidate amazon.co.uk chairs in a local store so you can sit and test chairs out before going home and ordering it. (That's a bit more work though.)

Tube

Hmm, I was thinking more around the 2-300 pounds mark, but maybe that's unrealistically cheap for a decent chair.

EggyToast

I spent $250 on what I thought was a decent office chair, only to have it get uncomfortable quickly and kind of fall apart. Since I didn't have much to spend, I just went to an office store and sat in the sale chairs, and found one that was comfy for about $80. It's been the most comfortable chair I've had at home and has lasted the longest, as well. It has adjustable arms, adjustable height/tilt/back, and all that, so I'm not settling for some terrible IKEA chair either.

MuddBudd

I want to voice an opposing view on the Aeron chair. I used to have one at work, and eventually had to stop using it. After about a year of sitting in one, every day, my tailbone started to ache terribly. Sitting, walking, whatever. It was terrible and constant. I researched things a bit and discovered that often when people had previous tailbone injuries they experienced the same thing when using an Aeron chair. I've never broken my tailbone but maybe I fractured it running around as a kid and never knew or something. All I know is that it hurt.

Regardless, I started to use a normal, padded chair and my problem cleared up almost immediately.

Herkimer

I'd just note that something like what chair you find comfortable is highly individual, and it may be that you find something that works great for not too much money.

anecdote time:
the last chair I had for my home office was $100 at Costco. I loved the shit out of it and was sad when it finally died after ten years of loyal service to my ass. My current chair is from Ikea, and it's been just fine.

By contrast, at my last job, we had expensive fancy chairs, and I fucking hated mine.

PatboyX

KalTorak wrote: »

Every time I've sat in an Aeron chair it's been like a party on my ass and lower back and arms and everyone is invited and sodomy is not allowed at this party.



http://www.amazon.co.uk/Aeron-Executive-Task-Chair-Size/dp/B0021AVBEG/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=kitchen&qid=1271777902&sr=8-2

There are a few different kinds. Warning: most of them cost as much as a reasonably healthy kidney.

A guy I work with has this chair.
It is as amazing as the price tag implies.

Lewisham

Yeah, I'm going to second IKEA. IKEA get ripped on for a lot of things, but their home office equipment is rad. I have an Aeron-style chair that cost me $100, and it's been awesome.

You could probably get something completely awesome for 200 quid. Anything you buy off Amazon is likely going to need your own assembly anyway.

Lewisham

PatboyX wrote: »

A guy I work with has this chair.
It is as amazing as the price tag implies.

I don't know why people think this. I had a Herman Miller when I worked at Dyson, and it wasn't that great. It was good, but not £1k good. I must have missed out on some amazing epiphany

PatboyX

Lewisham wrote: »

PatboyX wrote: »

A guy I work with has this chair.
It is as amazing as the price tag implies.

I don't know why people think this. I had a Herman Miller when I worked at Dyson, and it wasn't that great. It was good, but not £1k good. I must have missed out on some amazing epiphany

Oh shit - he didn't pay that much for it.
I thought it was like $400.
Or rather, he claims to have only paid that much. Which is about as much as I would be comfortable admitting paying for a chair.
I have a 100 dollar chair from Staples or Office Max.

edit:
IKEA is great. But he said he needs Amazon.co.uk

Tube

If I can save a lot of money I guess I'll go check out an IKEA when my car is repaired, thanks for all the help guys!

Darkewolfe

I bought this chair, which looks like an Aeron but is not.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000Q5XTE8/ref=oss_product

It's pretty standard office chair, although the mesh back has a different feel to it than my old leather back chair. The problem with it is that it lacks the adjustable lumbar support piece that Aeron's have. For me, the whole reason I had an Aeron at the office was for the lumbar support.

Hypatia

These are just personal observations:

We have Aeron chairs where I work and they are sort of long haul chairs. They're the kind of investment I'd fork up the cash for to:

a) be sitting up in a moderately straight (but not ramrod) posture to work
b) be sitting in for super long periods of time
c) not have to sleep in the chair, it's really a work kind of chair

The Aeron definitely seems to work as listed above, but it requires a lot of adjustment to get it geared "right" so that it is comfortable, and it isn't comfortable in a "sit down looking for something plushy for 5-15 minutes" sense.

The Humanscale chairs (my experience is with the Freedom which I bought for home in a fit of "oh wow, I got a big tax refund!" several years ago) often comes up when trying to find nice ergonomic chairs alongside the Aeron chair. It's a little more plushy, and the posture it promotes is a little bit more of a leaning-back kind of deal. In a super-long term sitting there and gaming for 12 hours straight, it does start to wear a little bit, I think because it's less adjustable than the Aeron and the way that the arm-rest positioning works can be a pain in the ass, depending on how you shift around. It is, however, generally a bit less expensive than the Aeron -- I will say, don't buy it from a super cut-rate company or you may have to disassemble and reassemble it to make the shifting of the back-piece work correctly.

Again, this is just an opinion, but I think that with office chairs or furniture in general, what you're really paying for is longevity. They probably can be equally comfortable, but if I bought an Aeron for home, I'd expect it to last for 20+ years, whereas a less expensive chair from Ikea I'd expect to have to toss it or to have something break within 5.

Darkewolfe

My Ikea chair lasted 2 years, 5 is definitely ambitious.

skettios

KalTorak wrote: »

Every time I've sat in an Aeron chair it's been like a party on my ass and lower back and arms and everyone is invited and sodomy is not allowed at this party.



http://www.amazon.co.uk/Aeron-Executive-Task-Chair-Size/dp/B0021AVBEG/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=kitchen&qid=1271777902&sr=8-2

There are a few different kinds. Warning: most of them cost as much as a reasonably healthy kidney.

We just got something similar to this at work. They are amazing!

jamesparker

Hi there: I searched the entire net for a padded Charles Eames chair in black and could only find unaffordable offers. Most of them want to rip you off. Now I found that Staples sells the high back under the name Quinto and the low back version under the name Amalfi . Go figure, but these are perfect reproductions and I was happy to finally find the Eames office chair at an affordable price.

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