Tell me about your desk chair

September 2, 2022 2:31 PM

I have a small home office/guest room, and it's time to upgrade my desk chair. Looking for ergonomic (adjustable arm rests a must), available in Canada, under $400 would be nice but not a hard limit, and something outside of the Black Office Chair aesthetic.

It's a small room that does double duty as a guests room so I'd like something that fits into kind of a softer aesthetic.

I currently have a midback chair and it's a nice size for the room, but the too short non-adjustable arm rests are doing terrible things to my back.
(Note: I've already tried looking for used Herman Miller/Steelcases, the market here for them is expensive and they tend towards large for the room)

posted by platypus of the universe to Home & Garden (12 answers total)

Ah, too bad. Steelcase Leaps are my go-to recommendation. I believe they do come in a lot of colors... but I don't know what the used market is like where you are. What's great about them is that they are (1) super-ergonomic and (2) built like tanks, so they last forever. I spent a ridiculous amount of money on one some years back... but I'm still using it, and considering how many hours I spend it in every single day (more time than I spend in my bed), it's been well worth the price.
posted by Artifice_Eternity at 3:45 PM on September 2, 2022 [1 favorite]

I’ve got a blue Poppin Task Chair in my home office. Arms are adjustable and it seems high quality (after 3 years of use). It’s right on the nose budget wise for you. Here’s a link: https://www.poppin.com/furniture/office-chairs/

I’ve got a nice steel case chair in my workplace office and I think both chairs are fine for doing desk work. I wouldn’t say that one is notably better than the other.
posted by u2604ab at 3:53 PM on September 2, 2022 [1 favorite]

The HON Ignition 2.0 is usually like $399, and comes in a light gray variant that’s reasonably nice given the mesh back is kinda see-through. The seat, arms, and base are all black however…
posted by aramaic at 5:12 PM on September 2, 2022

I bought this chair about 10 years ago from Staples in Montreal and it’s still going strong. I’ve worked from home on a full-time basis for that entire time and I have no complaints about it at all.
posted by bkpiano at 5:12 PM on September 2, 2022 [1 favorite]

Best answer: I have a Branch ergonomic chair that I really like. It was $320 in the US so probably under $400 in Canada. That was slightly before all the inflation so maybe it is close now. Sitting in it right now and feels great.
posted by OnTheLastCastle at 6:51 PM on September 2, 2022 [1 favorite]

I'm not surprised you're having trouble finding a not-ugly office chair with adjustable arm rests -- I've been bitching about this exact situation for years. Most office chairs are designed with the average male's height and weight in mind, so it's really rare to find models that take women's comfort and taste into consideration. Manufacturers also seem to think that men don't care about aesthetics (just like in the olden days when most computer towers were ugly beige monstrosities until Apple made them step up their game), so they're perfectly content to keep pumping out unattractive black office chairs in various shapes and sizes because people keep buying them.

I think I've bought at least a dozen office chairs over the past 20 years -- both pricey and cheap -- and unfortunately none of them were outstanding. (When I find one that is, I'll buy two or three in case they stop manufacturing it!). I've resigned myself to the fact that this situation probably won't change until the major manufacturer's start losing business to an upstart furniture company that addresses the needs of both men and women customers.

In the meantime, I try to buy my chairs from a place that has a better than 90 day return policy -- because that's when the problems usually start happening. My latest chair is from Costco, the True Innovations Mesh Office Chair and it's only $149.99. The arms are adjustable, you can get it in colors other than black, it has pneumatic height adjustment, and a comfy, larger than average seat that doesn't slope downwards (making you feel like you're going to slide off) or upwards (cutting off your circulation mid-thigh). The only negatives so far are that the seat tends to lose it's cushioning after about six months, but that's easily solved by plopping a folded towel or pillow on it. I'm toying with the idea of adding more cushioning and a change of fabric to it to jazz it up; this can be done after a quick trip to the fabric store and a staple gun. I think I'll also add more cushioning to the arms with some new fabric, padding, and velcro.

TLDR: I'd rate this chair a 4 out of 5, all things considered. Happy hunting!
posted by LuckySeven~ at 6:51 PM on September 2, 2022 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Branch Ergonomic hasn't been perfect for me, but it feels pretty much what I'd expect out of a decent $400 chair. 4/5 territory.

The lumbar support is too low for me even at the highest setting, but I'm tall-ish (5'11") and have scoliosis so that whole thing is usually screwy anyway. If you're shorter than that the lumbar support may be fine. I use a separate lumbar support pillow. The rest of the chair has been good, and the arms adjust height, depth, and width. Seat depth and back tilt adjust as well.

Customer support has also been good; one of the locking mechanisms for the arms was really loose and they sent me a whole new top half of the chair. The issue actually resolved itself in the time it took to ship so I just have another half a chair to replace this if the seat wears out, I guess?

It comes in grey and light blue as well as black.
posted by brook horse at 7:38 PM on September 2, 2022 [1 favorite]

another vote for hon.
posted by dpx.mfx at 8:30 PM on September 2, 2022

I paid more than $400 for a Steelcase something-or-other a decade ago, after having spent the preceding decade throwing out a $150 chair every two years.

The Steelcase is still going strong. No regrets. They may have models within your price range!
posted by rhooke at 10:03 PM on September 2, 2022 [1 favorite]

If I were to do it again, I'd probably order a Steelcase, the older LEAP, probably, and a refurb.

I splurged and bought an used Aeron, black, of course. It's a great seat, but probably not THAT much better.

Madison Seating has great service... if you order something they have in stock. I ordered during the pandemic and it took them MONTHS to get it to me.
posted by kschang at 9:19 AM on September 3, 2022 [1 favorite]

I took my Aeron chair home during the pandemic. Anticipating that I might have to take it back into the office even if I continued to work at home, I took advantage of an offer from our interiors department (I work for an architectural firm) to purchase a home office chair from Hexy. I was kind of skeptical it would compete with the Aeron but after using both of them I actually think the Hexy is more comfortable so I voluntarily took the Aeron back to the office since I didn't have room for an extra chair. I've only had it for about nine months but so far the quality is great. It's very customizable with several different color options.

I'm not sure if they are available for delivery to Canada, though. I know I got mine for under $300 but that was with our firm/bulk discount.
posted by Preserver at 12:08 PM on September 3, 2022

Response by poster: I have ordered a Branch chair, so we'll see how that goes. Thanks all for the suggestions!
posted by platypus of the universe at 4:23 PM on September 3, 2022