Best Chair For Desktop Coding?

wifeoflurker writes "Can someone give me recommendations for a desk chair to give my husband as a Father's Day gift? He currently uses a cheap one he got from Office Max, but I want him to have a really comfortable one. He spends his life in this chair (coding and lurking on Slashdot). I don't have time to research good chairs on the internet today (I'm chasing my 10 month old around, and she seems to get into the most mischief when I'm staring at the computer screen), so I figured a few folks here might share their personal recommendations." Has there been any great progress in the state of the art (of sitting) since the last time readers sought recommendations for back-friendly chairs a few years back, or the perfect computer chair nearly a decade back? Is there even such a thing as a back-friendly chair, or should we all be in astronaut-style lounge workstations?

Herman Miller Aeron

[axle_512]

The Herman Miller Aeron is my choice.
Strong enough to take my abuse (and I'm tough on furniture).
Comfortable enough to sit in for hours.
The aesthetics are extremely nice IMHO.

Only downside to this chair is the $$ price.

For Laptop Lounging I Recommend Eames

[chevman]

Maybe not the best for desktop use, I prefer the Eames while surfing on the laptop:

http://www.roomandboard.com/rnb/collection.do?method=get&id=377383&cat=115 [roomandboard.com]

Try Knoll's Life chair.

[Anonymous Coward]

I highly recommend Knoll's Life chair... It has an active support system that gives you good lower back support throughout a range of positions. I sat in an Aeron for years and I much prefer "Life".

They list for $1200. But you can find them online for under $600 including shipping. I was lucky enough to find a guy near my house that sold them to me for $325. I've bought 4 now for my employees.

Hon 7808

[Anonymous Coward]

Hon 7808, very adjustable

http://www.hon.com/Products/Chairs/7808.aspxhttp://www.hon.com/Products/Chairs/7808.aspx

Grahl Duo-Back

[Weasel Boy]

Most comfortable office chair I have ever sat in. Way more comfortable than Aeron. Cheaper too. I have one at home.

Re:Herman Miller Aeron...

[Thelasko]

I had an Aeron at a previous job. Making the switch to whatever this purple monstrosity I have now has been difficult. My favorite part about the Aeron is it allows airflow around your body.

If you're feeling rich...

[flaming error]

How about a WalkStation? [details-worktools.com]
Price is around $2500 to $3K.

Re:Excerice ball

[RManning]

I've recently done a lot of research about this. Apparently, sitting on an exercise ball is good for very short periods of time, but very bad for you back over long periods. The lack back support and angle of your pelvis causes a lot of compression on your lower vertebra.

I'm sure with a little googleing you can find more information.

get the leap chair from steelcase

[ppetrakis]

It's so much simpler and cost effective than the Aeron. The chair moves with you,
the seat pan, the lower lumbar support, it's great. It's arm rests are fully adjustable, vertically, forward/back, and side to side. The lower back support actually works and doesn't feel like someone stuck a piece of wood behind your back. You can adjust it's height and it's depth. I've owned one now for 2 years now and have no regrets. I have back problems and this is the only chair I can sit in without being miserable when I use a computer.

http://store.steelcase.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=LEAPV2 [steelcase.com]

If you really want to go all out, get the forward tilt option. The only
reason I didn't is that the lead time was an extra 1-2 weeks. I should also
mention that it was really easy to setup. It came in one big box and in two parts, the seat and base. All I had to do was drop the seat onto the base and it was ready, no tools were necessary.

Re:Excerice ball

[zoward]

I used one of these for a few years. While these are great for your back and posture, I found it started bothering my knees once I got a little older.

Re:Herman Miller Aeron...

[morgan_greywolf]

I disagree. I worked in an office where they bought ALL of the IT workers these Aeron chairs, and while, at first, I thought I liked it, in the end I ended up hating it. The seat is a bit too stiff for my tastes and the adjustments can sometimes get in the way -- you rest your arm on the armrest and it slides around sideways if you're not careful.

Steelcase Leap - Skip the Aeron

[davelee]

I've had Aerons for several years. They are decent chairs, but getting long in the tooth. I recently tried the Steelcase Leap chair, and find it to be much more comfortable. There are several reasons for this.

One, the aeron has a hard plastic rim around the seat that would bite into the back of my thighs. Two, I have short legs and the Aeron had no ability to adjust the seat depth. The leap chair has significant depth adjustability. Three, when you recline on the leap chair, the seat slides forward rather than just pivoting the whole seat backward, like the Aeron. This is ultimately more comfortable at your workstation.

Both the Aeron and Leap chairs will run just under $1,000.

Re:Herman Miller Aeron

[funwithBSD]

You can do better than $1000.

www.levengers.com sells them for $979, shipping included.

Finding a 15 to 25% off code is pretty easy, making it a decent deal.

http://www.retailmenot.com/view/levenger.com for one example.

Then use the savings to buy him a nice geeky pen or two.

Humanscale Freedom Chair

[Kozar_The_Malignant]

I recommend the Humanscale Freedom Chair with Headrest [humanscale.com]. I ahve used one for eight years following back surgery, and I love it. I prefer it to the Aeron. It comes in lots of color/fabric choices and is virtually indestructible. The only drawback is price. List is about $1,000, but you can find it for $150-200 less on the net. It also looks cool.

Re:Herman Miller Aeron...

[jackbird]

If you're speccing your own chair, be aware there are several different kinds of armrests, including one with a built-in mousepad on the end. I recommend the leather-covered ones as the stock plastic ones have a tendency to give my forearms proto-bedsores during crunch times.

Also, be aware that the rough texture of the Pellicle fabric will wear out your husband's pants in the seat faster than you may be accustomed to.

Re:Herman Miller Aeron...

[Anonymous Coward]

link [hermanmiller.com]

Re:Personally:

[hostyle]

Like this: http://gizmodo.com/5015730/emperor-workstation-belongs-in-the-death-star-my-office [gizmodo.com] ?

Re:Herman Miller Aeron

[pubjames]

Well, I managed to break the arm of mine. And I'm not fat. Not really fat at least. Normal fat.

Re:Humanscale Freedom chair

[Anonymous Coward]

I 2nd this. I got one about 6 months ago and have had much less back trouble. My brother has something from Knoll that he likes a lot, but it costs even more than the Freedom (it is leather though). BTW, the Freedom chair is what Bill Maher uses on his show.

Re:Swiss Ball!

[pete-classic]

I sat on a series of excercise balls for about a year. I was on a hardwood floor, and the kept developing leaks.

Anyway, I really liked it except for the fact that the ball doesn't breathe AT ALL. Gross.

-Peter

Steelcase Leap

[skribble]

While Herman Miller gets the press (and looks cool) The SteelCase Leap [steelcase.com] chairs are quite cozy and incredibly well built.

Aeron all the way

[Anonymous Coward]

I've tried many chairs, thanks to a bad back, and settled on the Aeron chair ten years ago. It's keeper. Comfortable, cool in the summer (ten months a year here in Houston), more adjustments than you can imagine a chair was capable of, a solid lumbar support. It's well-worth what I paid for it--and the price has come down since then.
Just pick the right size for the sitter. I'm just under six feet of moderate build and use the large-size chair.

Re:Herman Miller Aeron...

[blaineT]

Go with the Herman Miller Aeron, I love the one I have at work so much more than my Office Depot special. The chair is more comfortable, durable, adjustable and most importantly the mesh fabric it uses doesn't retain some of the toxic flatulence that anything I sit on is subjected to. This may sound silly but the horrifically potent expulsions caused by a diverse diet of Taco Bell and Quizno's will wear a chair out faster than anything else.

Re:Steelcase Leap - Skip the Aeron

[wangmaster]

I was doing the exact same thing replying with a "Steelcase Leap" chair when I saw this post as well. The Leap chair is hands down the most comfortable and most adjustable chair I've ever sat in. I almost bought one, but I ended up getting a Steelcase Think chair because it was only $199 on sale.

I don't regret the Think because I got it at a great deal and I'd do it all over again if I had the choice with the same costs, but if I had to pick a chair where cost was not a factor, the Leap would win hands down over everything else I've tried.

Re:Steelcase Leap - Skip the Aeron

[Onan]

+1 Steelcase Leap

Aerons are pretty, and had sort of a cachet to them for a while, but I never found them especially comfortable. I was fairly indifferent to most chairs I had tried... until I started at Google, and sat in a Leap for the first time. I ordered one for home that week.

I'm habitually fidgety, constantly shifting around, sitting on one foot or the other, leaning way over to one side, slouching ridiculously far down, leaning forward over the desk, and so on. The Aeron is all hard plastic, and incredibly uncomfortable unless you're sitting in the exactly one prescribed position. The Leap, on the other hand, does an amazing job of being pleasant regardless of how one is sitting.

I suppose there are two schools of thought on ergonomics. The Aeron seems to be the "force people to sit one correct position by making everything else uncomfortable." The Leap seems closer to "encourage people to move around by making all positions comfortable." In my anecdotal experience, the latter is far more effective; there's nothing especially harmful about any of the positions in which people sit, it's just spending extended periods of time in them that makes them injurious.

Re:Herman Miller Aeron...

[Waffle Iron]

The Aeron destroys my back.

Try looking at a Herman Miller Mirra instead. I tested both of them at a showroom, and I preferred the Mirra because it has a firm plastic back instead of the mesh back (it still has the mesh seat). To me, the back felt less squishy with better support. It costs less, too.

I've been using mine extensively for a couple of years now, and I can say that it's the only chair that I've ever used that doesn't suck.

Don't fart in an Aeron

[dorianh49]

You, and everyone around you, will regret it.

Re:Herman Miller Aeron...

[FalcDot]

I also have to agree with this advice.

Any 'ergonomic' product is basically a sham. A truly ergonomic item must be customized for its user, that is the only way to be 100% that it will properly 'fit'. Anything you find in the shops is mass-produced and thus aimed at a broad swath of average people.

If you fit in that swath, fine. If you don't, that 'ergonomic' item might just do more harm than good. So spend some time with your child making a nice gift coupon and then go buy the chair with your husband present.

Re:*blink blink*

[bigstrat2003]

Come on mods, that was funny. Lighten up a bit.

Re:Car seat

[georgeav]

this is the article [slashdot.org]

I'm sorry, but Win95 is a turd worse than Vista

[melted]

Win95 and early versions of Exchange and Office are nothing to be proud of. It's good that you had a good sense to not mention Windows 98 and Me as a shining example of solid engineering.

Now the current versions of Exchange, SQL, Server, IIS, Office, dev tools - I think Microsoft can be proud of that. Vista is a management fuck up, IC's have nothing to do with it being a pile of crap.

Surgery on my ass

[kramulous]

the Aeron is it allows airflow around your body.

I'm going to make my work buy one today.

This is embarrassing, but two years ago I had surgery on my butt. I can't remember the name of the condition, but it has generally been reserved for truckdrivers. Basically what happens is a hair in your crack becomes ingrown because you sweat (I live in a sub-tropical environment and at the time, wasn't wearing 100% cotton underwear), and sitting down all day the hair grows inward. Long story short, you go to *extreme* pain very quickly and hence I had a lot of morphine (which is good) and a general anesthetic and surgery to remove about 60ml of pus (which was bad). I had an additional hole in my arse about the size of my fist (poor choice, perhaps a tennis ball).

The next worst thing was the healing process. You have to regularly wash the wound out three times daily to prevent the condition occurring again until the wound completely heals. That takes about 4 months! I'm stoked that my partner is a nurse, but it's not really all as glamorous as it sounds.

You do not want this condition! Wear 100% cotton underwear, pants that breath, and a chair that does not allow you to lean back. (Found the condition - pilonidal cyst - beware the gross pictures)

Re:Herman Miller Aeron...

[arnie_apesacrappin]

Aeron chairs come in three different sizes. You might have tried one that didn't fit you. I only found this out because I moved to a new job where everyone had Aerons and I hated mine at first. My desk came with a size A chair, and I needed a size C. Once I got fitted for the correct size chair, it was a lot better. There is a size chart on the right hand side of this page: http://www.hermanmiller.com/CDA/SSA/Product/0,,a10-c440-p8,00.html [hermanmiller.com]

If you're looking to drive the price down...

[Skyshadow]

I've used the Aeron, and I like my Mirra just as much. The only way I'd get an Aeron right now is if I were very tall/short (thus making the sizing thing worthwhile) -- for 90% of us, the Mirra works just fine and it significantly less expensive.

What the parent poster said, by the way? Completely dead-on. There are two bits of furniture you shouldn't skimp on, and they're your bed and your office chair.

Like this?

[Max Night]

http://www.interage.com/images/chair01.jpg [interage.com]

Came from a Nissan Turbo ZX that had been t-boned. Saw it on the wrecker, and followed him to the junkyard. Got the pair for 50 bucks, and THEY took 'em out.

Been using this one as an office chair for over a decade, and it's been great for my back. (Though I can say that the padding under the butt has seen better days.)

Re:I'm sorry man, but I can't help but ask....

[kramulous]

Cheers for your concern.

I first noticed that something was a little different when I woke up one morning (approx 7.30am). It wasn't painful, just something was happening that was different. It got more painful during the day, at 4pm I went to hospital. I didn't have private health insurance, so I had to wait about 20 hours before the surgery actually happened.

It happened *very* quickly. I used to wear underwear that was 20% or so polyester. The infection is internal, you don't actually see it.

Re:Maybe that is what went wrong?

[Anonymous Coward]

> but I wouldnt trade my life today with anyone
actually, if all you say there is true:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=551518&cid=23396280
you life already has started to leave you and you will soon have nothing to trade with noone.