Help me buy a kneeling chair online.

March 6, 2009 5:11 PM

I'd like to buy a kneeling chair, but I can't find any locally to try. Do you have any tips about buying one online?

After using a few kneeling chairs over the years I'd like to get one as my primary desk chair. I can't find any stores locally that have them, though, so I can't physically try any out.

Do you have any tips for buying one online as it looks like I'll need to do? Any particular online stores to check out? Searches unfortunately return a lot of what look like fly-by-night type operations.

Another issue is that price ranges from $60-$400 and I only have pictures to go by, no real solid reviews.

posted by odinsdream to shopping (10 answers total)

i wouldn't want the 2 knee spaces instead of the one bar, but per the wiki on kneeling chair, there's a company called yoga chair that sells them through their website. there's also this page, but i couldn't make it load right.

like any desk chair - check what kind padding is used, how thick, what materials are used for the cover and base...
posted by nadawi at 5:37 PM on March 6, 2009

Are you sure you can't find one to try where you are? We got my husband's at OfficeMax/Business Depot/Staples one of those generic big office supply stores.
posted by biscotti at 5:53 PM on March 6, 2009

biscotti; I've checked all of those locally and all they have are standard chairs. Maybe they're just out. I have a feeling that their selection would be pretty slim even if they did have some, though.
posted by odinsdream at 6:03 PM on March 6, 2009

That yoga chair (amazon reviews here) is a knockoff of the varier kneeling chair (amazon reviews here). According to the reviews the build quality of the latter isn't great, which might explain the price difference. I'm not a kneeling chair person but I have tried the Variable. One thing about it is that my bottom got fairly sore after sitting on it for a long time - the foam they used for the seat was not all that thick. This could be because I'm just not used to that kind of chair.

This (UK) store has a comparison of a few chairs.

I think wherever you buy, make sure the return policy is good since it's hard to evaluate a chair without spending a few days on it.

By the way, if you prefer a chair of this sort, I can vouch for ergodepot as a company (never tried the chair, though). Their customer service is very helpful.
posted by mail at 10:11 PM on March 6, 2009

I've bought from Sit4Less before, and never had a problem. I know the name sound kind of fly-by-night, but they're an authorized Herman Miller dealer. They have several kneeling chairs ranging in price from $139-$359.
posted by paulg at 10:48 PM on March 6, 2009

Ah, and the HAG Balans chair mail linked to might be the originator of the concept. HAG certainly has a very good reputation.
posted by paulg at 10:53 PM on March 6, 2009

Sit4less has a few kneeling chairs.I've never done business with them, but do have acquaintances who would recommend the company.
posted by fief at 11:16 PM on March 6, 2009

I'd go for one of the big names -- I picked up a used Stokke on ebay and it's much better than the imitations. For example, the slight rockability is much more useful than the wheels on some imitations. The angle of the seat probably varies, etc.
posted by callmejay at 8:36 AM on March 7, 2009

<edit>I meant that the Yoga chairs have iffy build quality, not the Varier ones. Sorry about that.<\edit>
posted by mail at 8:38 AM on March 7, 2009

I ended up ordering this chair from Sit4Less. Shipping was quick. The chair is adequate, but the 5-point rollers get in the way of your feet a bit - not a huge deal, but I may go with one of the square-base styles next time. The posture improvement is definitely great. The leg rest isn't adjustable relative to the seat on the chair I got, which happens to be just fine for my personal taste, but my wife commented that she'd probably not fit it as-is, so that's another point in favor of the square-base with relative adjustment capability.

Thanks everyone!
posted by odinsdream at 2:44 PM on March 14, 2009