I need a new office chair for working from home. What do you recommend?
I found a good price on a used Aeron via Design Within Reach on eBay. I paid about Ā½ the list price for what looked (to me) like a brand new chair. I used Paypalās payment system for 6 months to pay it off, and it was pretty easy to tell the difference between it and every $100-200 chair Iāve ever owned.
Just be sure to look at their size chart PDF to make sure you get the right size for you (I needed a āCā for example).
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With a lot of offices having scaled back during the pandemic there are a lot of quality office chairs on the used market. I picked up a couple of Steelcase Leaf chairs in excellent condition for less than $200 each. They retail for about $1600 each.
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+1 for the Aeron chair.
Iāve had mine for ~15 years with no problems.
There are various options for adjustability so do a little research if youāre interested.
We bought a used one from someone local on Nextdoor for my SO at a good price ($250 as I recall).
Whatever you decide- buy quality, cry once.
Another vote for the Herman Miller Embody 
I got my Embody several years ago when I was having severe back pain. The chair was excellent for this, and has been my favorite since then. It is sturdy and durable.
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3rd vote for the HM Embody. 6 years strong with mine.
I bought mine when I lived about 30m from Herman Miller in Michigan. Thereās an outlet store partnered with HM where they sell used and refurbished products. This outlet used to be in person only, but since mid 2020 they have started offering shipping. You can definitely find local resellers too, but this is about as close to buying refurbished from Herman Miller as you can get.
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I use a padded bar stool and a raised monitor, no back support so forces me to sit up straight, not that comfortable so forces me to take regular breaks. Been using this set up for some months and given I am old it has improved my posture, and had no downside at all.
That said I probably only spend a total of 3-4 hours a day in ādeskā mode other times I work outside, or in coffee shops.
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I often wonder about unpadded straight-back chairs in libraries, and wonder if that is the ultimate seating arrangement. Similar to some of your motivations, no lounging, having to get up to rest the bum every once in a while, ā¦
Or, you could go with IKEAās Markus chair ($199) - it has served me well for many years.
+1 for the Embody, I have one and really like it
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Love my Hag Capisco chair, but it is not for everyone. I think this is the ideal chair for sit/stand desks as it allows for multiple ways of sitting and leaning.
If you get the chance do try it out before you buy as it is a seat that keeps you moving and not one for comfy hours on end sittingā¦
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Iām currently sitting on a Formway Life chair at home, which is what we have at work. While researching where to buy for home I discovered two things:
- Theyāre designed and made in my home town of Wellington, New Zealand, and
- They were used by Steve Jobs and Bill Clinton, among others.
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Solid recommendation.
From a (back) health perspective and if on a budget and if the space allows, I can recommend switching it up as much as possible. Standing desk(frame)s can be found for $200. Wobble chairs or stools without a backrest for $50-100. A bouncing ball for around $30. I sometimes also do some work from a comfortable chair in our living room or half sitting on a bar stool at our raised kitchen counter for some time.
You donāt have to switch between chairs every 30 minutes, but irregular alterations do help. Sometimes I store away the bouncing ball for a few weeks and then use it again for some time.
Iām happy that my job involves work with clients, which pre-covid didnāt get me stuck in one office surrounding. That automatically switches up things.
Even more important than any chair choice is exercise.
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I did the same.
But I did change the wheels to https://www.amazon.com/Office-Chair-Caster-Wheels-Set/dp/B01CTIG4GE/
That is one of the best decisions I ever made.
Iāve got those same wheels, and theyāre great, but theyāve definitely left marks in the floor over time.
That being said, I still donāt think Iād use a floor mat. Theyāre just awful.
Nice one. If you (the OP) want something more ātraditionalā but based on the same premise they have other versions too; I have an Hag Futu.
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I have the Aeron (and have for several years), and my wife got the Embody this year when it became clear sheād be working from home more or less permanently as well.
The Aeron has been mostly excellent. It is starting to squeak, though, and the right arm no longer stays in place ā itās just busted. I donāt use the arms, so that doesnāt bother me, but at some point Iāll need to get Herman Miller to come and fix the chair (which they will because their warranty is awesome, and a great reason to go with the chair).
My wife prefers her Embody to my Aeron a lot, and finds that the Embody puts less pressure on her thighs. She likes the adjustability.
If I were going to order one blindly, it would be the Embody. It used to be the case that you could order either chair without arms, which I would also recommend because armrests are terrible for your posture and your shoulders, but now that option is not available to you. The Embody makes it somewhat easy to remove the arms, while that is not possible with the Aeron (to my knowledge, unless they changed that when they tweaked the design). The Embody is also infinitely adjustable in all the ways that actually matter when youāre sitting, and it looks cool.
We have also owned the Ikea chairs discussed in this thread as well as many Staples model chairs. They have unanimously been garbage. Either the seat padding gets lumpy, or too soft, or to stiff, or the lower lumbar support simply doesnāt exist and slowly fades away to the hard plastic backing they use for those chairs. At first, these chairs seem like a bargain, until they are not.
Thatās not to say other companies donāt make good chairs, just that you get what you pay for.
(If you are considering the Steelcase chairs; I have not tried those, they were difficult to experience in person in the Toronto area. I didnāt want to order chairs blindly, so that ruled them out.)
What kind of floor are the wheels on?
I was sort of used to Steelcase because my ex-wife owned a Steelcase dealership. Had their chairs at home and our company used them. Was very easy for me to try a number of different models.