We need to buy a new office chair on castors for the home office. My husband works from home and spends a lot of time in front of the computer. Has anyone done their homework recently and been happy with their purchase? We have a flexible budget. It should be comfortable and ergonomic. I would welcome your ideas.
Comfort is very individual because most of us have back, circulatory, or skeleton problems that are exacerbated by chair-time.
When auditioning a chair it is important to sit in it for a while, and go back a few times or have a no-worries customer satisfaction return policy. A chair that could be very comfy for a short time could become quite uncomfortable after long periods and one that is but modestly comfortable may remain modestly comfortable after 8 hours, if that makes sense.
If you are near a Costco they have a lumbar support chair you might check out. As you rock it the lumbar cushion gives a bit of a back massage as it expands and retracts. The rest seems comfy. I have not seen it at other places, but am currently in the “revisiting over time” to see how it goes.
I bought a MALKOLM swivel chair from Ikea last year and have been very happy with it. For the price, the comfort and quality of components and construction appears to be much better than products I’ve bought in the past from Officeworks and ALDI.
I’d recommend that you give any prospective chair a lengthy test run in store if you can.
You also need to be careful about the Recommended Weight for each chair, some chairs are not manufactured to safely support larger people. The Weights they are made for can be variable some are 80 kg, 90 kg, more commonly 100 or 110 kg, 130 kg and 160 kg and probably in a few cases there may be higher weight capacities available so when purchasing be sure to check that the chair will support the person using it. Also if you do buy a chair that is designed for a lower weight than the person using it is then the Gas Struts can fail very fast.
I have usually purchased quality office chairs that have at least 3 adjustments; up & down, the back can be adjusted up & down and moved forwards or backwards and very importantly the seat can be tilted up & down. We were recently on holiday for several months and I found the chairs to be agony after a short time. I ended up buying a cheap office chair but it didn’t have the seat tilt and I felt like it was constantly trying to tip me off the front. (I did fix it but it was a major adjustment).
My daughter has a back injury which makes the choice of office chair very important. She ended up purchasing a Herman Miller Aeron chair which was pretty pricey, extremely adjustable and has a 12 Year warranty to the original purchaser. She claims it is the best chair she has ever sat in and she can sit in it for long periods without any problems at all. I’m pretty sure this is due to the adjustability of the chair. I am very tempted to buy one myself. She sat in the chair for some time before purchasing it. I think I’ll sit in her chair for an hour or two and if it is as good as she says I’ll get one.
Your husband may want/need to sit down - but I recently invested in a stand-up desk which is fantastic! If you find a good one, it is wonderfully energising to stand for hours rather than sit … especially if you have neck or back pain. I use varidesk (.com) but I’d be open to hearing other suggestions.
