New office chair needed for working from home

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rfjustin

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New office chair needed for working from home... what do you like/recommend?

Willing to drop some coin on a quality option.

Thanks!
 
I went remote before COVID, so I've got about a 3 year frame of reference. I opted for a standing office, since there was nobody to make fun of me and I have a bad back. I got plantar fasciitis within 6 months, but my back felt much better. I switched shoes and added inserts and generally prefer the standing arrangement and my feet feel ok, but not perfect.

I've been back in the office more recently and back at the regular desk and have more back pain and less foot pain.

One thing I will say for sure is that, IMO, you should take advantage of the opportunity to go from seated to walking often. I know office politics makes some people watch who gets coffee or goes for a smoke break, but if you are at home and aren't under a microscope, go for a 5 minute walk around the house every half hour or go for a 10 minute walk in the yard every hour. I'm not saying cheat the company, factor in your breaks and do your work, but IMO, switching positions and moving is very helpful.

I know that isn't the answer to the question you asked, but I have had a major improvement via the standing office and changing positions, so I thought I'd throw it out.

I hope you find the best solution for your particular needs.

Sandy.
 
My at work office chair is a Herman Miller Embody Chair. It is amazing, but I'm way too cheap to buy one for home. I might if I worked from home all the time though.

Some of our conference rooms have Herman Miller Aeron chairs, and while almost everyone loves them, I get a dull hip pain if I sit in one for more than an hour or so.
 
Came here to say Herman Miller Aeron, but someone beat me to it. I had one during my tenure at Apple, and loved the damn thing. I recall that it had about eleventy-billion adjustments.

They are expensive, but you only have one butt. Treat it well.

James
 
During the lockdown I knew I needed a better chair to sit in all day, so I purchased a Novo chair for one simple reason... it's the same chair we have at work, and I knew it was all-day comfortable for me. At the time, going anywhere to actually test-sit in chairs was not an option, so I went with a known quantity. Also, I was able to get the same discount our company did, which brought the price down a bit below the other top-name chairs (Aeron, Embody, the expensive Steelcase chairs, etc.)
 
I got this one at Amazon. Happy with it for the home office. Definitely don't cheap out on your office chair for a home office. You are worth it. This chair was about $360 last year.

SPACE Seating Professional Dual Function Ergonomic AirGrid Back and Mesh Seat Office Chair with Gunmetal Finish Accents, Black
 
Right before COVID, I was looking to replace the chairs in my section (about 2500 people global). Across the various offices, all the chairs were either in disrepair or we had ended up with so many different models, it was getting to be a pain for our facilities team to manage. So, I had my facilities folks order a couple models of each chair they recommended and that group included most of the models mentioned here. I ended up choosing the Aeron and we spent considerable money to buy about 3000 of these at the time (also replaced the conference room chairs, etc).

When COVID hit and we had to work from home, I had them bring one to me for my home office. One thing I have found is that I am not as fond of the chair for home as I was for the office. The difference is that I spend time in my home office doing other things than just "work". The Aeron is a great chair for the day-to-day office activities, but it isn't exactly a comfortable chair to lean back in, relax and read a book.

I guess my point is, take stock of what you are looking for in a home office chair. If your activities are purely "office like", then a chair like the Aeron is a great choice. However, if you also plan to use it as a more "lifestyle" chair when you aren't working, it may be worth it to look at something more "comfy".

I also bought/built a sit-to-stand desk at home and that has been a wonderful addition. I invested in a Lian Li DK-05f:

https://lian-li.com/product/dk-05f/
This is not a cheap option, but it is an amazing desk. This is a desk for someone who is willing to build out the tech, so may not be for most people. I built mine out with a full Windows 10 workstation and a Linux Workstation inside and then have 4 x 43" monitors attached via arms on top. As built with the monitors, the desk weighs well over 350 pounds and it is big, so planning is needed. No issues in almost 18 months.

A good chair and a good sit-to-stand desk really changes your work environment for the better.
 
Whatever you do, do not get those replacement wheels sold all over Facebook and Amazon, they suck!!!
 
The Embody is a great chair, but I found the narrow upper back portion to be uncomfortable for a larger guy like me. Many people love this chair, though, so this was just personal preference. One of the reasons I chose the Aeron for the office was that I felt the wider upper back would fit a broader range of the population.

This kind of brings home another point - if you are going to spend $1500 on a chair, you really should try to sit in one before you spend your money.
 
The Embody is a great chair, but I found the narrow upper back portion to be uncomfortable for a larger guy like me. Many people love this chair, though, so this was just personal preference. One of the reasons I chose the Aeron for the office was that I felt the wider upper back would fit a broader range of the population.

This kind of brings home another point - if you are going to spend $1500 on a chair, you really should try to sit in one before you spend your money.

The Aeron is definitely going to fit a wider range of body proportions than the Embody will. When I lean back my shoulder blades are well supported by the back and my shoulders themselves are just outside the back itself. This is very comfortable for me, but if I was slightly more broad shouldered it would be a no go entirely. I do think an emerging theme here is, if you try out some of the Herman Miller chairs, you will find one you like.
 
I would not recommend the Log Chair created by forum member @TopRamen. He did not seem happy with it.

Now I'm MAD.
My stupid Desk Chair just Broke. You know, where it connects to the Hydraulic Post Thingy. I unscrewed what was left of the Base, and nailed what is left of the Chair Part to a Log. Now I'm stuck in one rigid Position, and may not recline. This will get old quick.

 
When I got my new chair, I did the "best office chair" in google & read all the reviews. Herman Miller comes up a lot, but they are $. Steelcase are a close 2nd, but also $.

Large cities tend to have a 2nd hand office furniture place. think about that option too. You might find the Herman Miller for 1/2 the cost of new..
 
I went remote about 3 years before COVID, and I needed a serious upgrade for my home computer chair to become my office chair. I ended up with a Herman Miller knockoff from Office Depot, found by test-sitting in the chairs. I would tell you the brand, but I can't find it readily on the chair. IIRC, it was about $200. Also IIRC, Office Depot had pretty decent signage about how long a sitting spell the chairs were rated for. You definitely want an 8-hour chair and not a 2-hour chair.
 
I like my Secret lab TitanXL with rollerblade wheels. YMMV but the tall back and lumbar support are pretty decent for my long torso.

EDIT: This color is the black3 softweave, no fake sticky leather nonsense.
 

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I've been loving this one since started working at home last year. From Staples
Screenshot_20210821-215336_Chrome.jpg
 
We have a heap of the Dauphin Lordo chairs at work. They were chosen by the architect when the new building was kitted out around nine years ago.
https://www.dauphin.com/products/lordo/lordo-task-lo332200-lo33400-lo332200-lo33400This website shows a slightly later version than the ones we have. Really comfortable chairs, and so many adjustments. It is the only chair I have ever seen that engineers have to read the manual to adjust. Not sure what the pricing is but I thought it was around the $1200 mark. Could be entirely wrong on that though.
 
Went with the NOVO high back chair. Same one I had at the office (right before I changed employers). :)
 
General rather than specific recommendations: I've used leather, cloth, and mesh chairs, and if you're shirtless when in the chair, leather may be less satisfactory. It's cold when you first sit on it, and peeling my skin away from the leather when I stand up is my favorite pain. :) Mesh (current chair) is surprisingly comfortable and of course it breathes better than either leather or cloth IMHO.

Definitely sit in the chair, try all the adjustments. I prefer a chair that raises fairly high so my lower legs are straight and feet rest on the floor, but that's me. One chair I had would tilt forward a bit, which was uncomfortable because it felt like I was sliding off the chair. But it wouldn't tilt back as far as I'd have liked.
 
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