Based on this description, should I consider a HAG Capisco chair?
December 12, 2020 2:41 AM Subscribe
Is a Capisco chair a good fit for me? I'm asking about the low-rise version, not the tall one. My desk is typical height: 29 inches.
I'm a guy: 5'9, 145 pounds, in my 40s. I work from home and spend at least 8 hours a day at my desk, usually sitting in odd positions: legs crossed, or one leg crossed, or with one leg crossed and my other foot on the chair with my knee up, or I'll sit on the front of the chair with my feet on the base of the chair, sort of behind me.
I lean forward while working. The only time I lean back in my desk chair is if I'm watching youtube or Netflix. I never use the arms on my chair. In fact, I took them off. My arms are either on my desk, or they're on my lap.
Normally, the answer is obvious: Find a store that sells them (such as Fully, here in Portland) and try one. But their showroom is closed due to Covid. So, if I'm going to buy a Capisco, it means doing as much homework as I can and taking a risk or dealing with the dreaded return process (disassembling & boxing it up? Yikes).
My current chair is an Office Depot mesh chair. It's finally falling apart, and it wasn't the best choice for a fidgety sitter, so it's time to find something that suits me.
So... Capisco?
I lean forward while working. The only time I lean back in my desk chair is if I'm watching youtube or Netflix. I never use the arms on my chair. In fact, I took them off. My arms are either on my desk, or they're on my lap.
Normally, the answer is obvious: Find a store that sells them (such as Fully, here in Portland) and try one. But their showroom is closed due to Covid. So, if I'm going to buy a Capisco, it means doing as much homework as I can and taking a risk or dealing with the dreaded return process (disassembling & boxing it up? Yikes).
My current chair is an Office Depot mesh chair. It's finally falling apart, and it wasn't the best choice for a fidgety sitter, so it's time to find something that suits me.
So... Capisco?
You're talking about the saddle seat version, right?
The Capisco is a very good chair, but I think saddle seats work best when you have both your feet planted on the floor, ideally sitting straight up rather than leaning forward too much. (It's a chair that's really designed for good ergonomics, but can be hard to get used to if you're not used to sitting ergonomically.) The positions you describe mostly would work okay (except for "one leg crossed and my other foot on the chair with my knee up" - there wouldn't really be any place to rest that foot) but IMO they aren't as comfortable on a saddle seat, where you're basically perching on a narrow area and it's best to be balanced.
Portland seems like the kind of place where you'd be able to find someone who owns a Capisco and would be okay with letting you try it out.
If the attraction is a chair that encourages motion, you might consider first trying out some cheaper (and potentially more easily returnable) options like ball chairs or wobble chairs -- chairs where, like with the Capisco, you'll ideally have both feet on the floor and sitting cross-legged is possible but potentially less comfortable. (If you get a ball chair you'll want one with a base for cross-leg sitting.) Even if you don't keep them, you can get a sense of whether the kind of sitting they encourage actually works for you.
If you do get a Capisco, consider getting it with a footring.
posted by trig at 6:04 AM on December 12, 2020
The Capisco is a very good chair, but I think saddle seats work best when you have both your feet planted on the floor, ideally sitting straight up rather than leaning forward too much. (It's a chair that's really designed for good ergonomics, but can be hard to get used to if you're not used to sitting ergonomically.) The positions you describe mostly would work okay (except for "one leg crossed and my other foot on the chair with my knee up" - there wouldn't really be any place to rest that foot) but IMO they aren't as comfortable on a saddle seat, where you're basically perching on a narrow area and it's best to be balanced.
Portland seems like the kind of place where you'd be able to find someone who owns a Capisco and would be okay with letting you try it out.
If the attraction is a chair that encourages motion, you might consider first trying out some cheaper (and potentially more easily returnable) options like ball chairs or wobble chairs -- chairs where, like with the Capisco, you'll ideally have both feet on the floor and sitting cross-legged is possible but potentially less comfortable. (If you get a ball chair you'll want one with a base for cross-leg sitting.) Even if you don't keep them, you can get a sense of whether the kind of sitting they encourage actually works for you.
If you do get a Capisco, consider getting it with a footring.
posted by trig at 6:04 AM on December 12, 2020
Also, you might ask Fully how returns work. I'm not sure the Capisco actually comes disassembled. (ETA - Never mind, apparently it does and my experience was an outlier.)
posted by trig at 6:32 AM on December 12, 2020
posted by trig at 6:32 AM on December 12, 2020
Checking - you want a chair that will support all your unusual forward positions, not one that will gently suggest you back to ergonomic, correct?
posted by clew at 11:24 AM on December 12, 2020
posted by clew at 11:24 AM on December 12, 2020
Response by poster: "you want a chair that will support all your unusual forward positions, not one that will gently suggest you back to ergonomic, correct?"
Probably. Let's put it another way: I'm not looking for a cozy sit-back type of chair for my home office.
posted by 2oh1 at 5:05 PM on December 12, 2020
Probably. Let's put it another way: I'm not looking for a cozy sit-back type of chair for my home office.
posted by 2oh1 at 5:05 PM on December 12, 2020
Personal anecdata, but I love my Capisco, as does my partner and the few folks I recommended them to. It lives up to the 'active seating' moniker in that it allows for multiple seating positions without putting stress anywhere (for me that also meant taking stress off my elbows). It's so much better than the brand name and Aeron-style chairs I've had at offices. I do think the lower-rise version might be a better fit for you. I'm 5'10" and the regular size rise is just about right, though I also installed aftermarket rollerblade-style wheels that add maybe an inch to the height. Also would recommend the footring.
I'd say get it now and try it out, since Fully has very good customer service if you need to return it. I also found another Capisco using a saved search on Craigslist to alert me, but that took a couple of months.
posted by homesickness at 9:57 AM on December 14, 2020
I'd say get it now and try it out, since Fully has very good customer service if you need to return it. I also found another Capisco using a saved search on Craigslist to alert me, but that took a couple of months.
posted by homesickness at 9:57 AM on December 14, 2020
Do you need to fidget and move around? Or do you just need weird positions to be comfortable? I sit like you and for me, the weird positions are mostly because I don't feel comfortable when my legs are just hanging off the chair in neutral. I just can't sit with my feet planted flat on the ground. (This old ask.me about posture and muscle tension sure checked a lot of boxes...)
If any of that sounds familiar, I recently got a kneeling chair, which I saw and intuitively thought "yeah that'll probably work!" I'll still end up perched in weird positions sometimes but for the most part I like that my legs are exerting just a tiny bit of effort while everything else is lined up. I'm trying to avoid overstretching my joints and to fix 6 months of terrible WFH posture, and I can definitely feel the improvement. I don't think the Capisco would accomplish the same thing, I think that would be better for someone who needs to move around to move around.
posted by yeahlikethat at 2:11 PM on December 14, 2020
If any of that sounds familiar, I recently got a kneeling chair, which I saw and intuitively thought "yeah that'll probably work!" I'll still end up perched in weird positions sometimes but for the most part I like that my legs are exerting just a tiny bit of effort while everything else is lined up. I'm trying to avoid overstretching my joints and to fix 6 months of terrible WFH posture, and I can definitely feel the improvement. I don't think the Capisco would accomplish the same thing, I think that would be better for someone who needs to move around to move around.
posted by yeahlikethat at 2:11 PM on December 14, 2020
Response by poster: "Do you need to fidget and move around? Or do you just need weird positions to be comfortable?"
For me, it's probably more about boredom - not boredom due to work though. I get bored from sitting in the same position for hours. I'll switch to sitting cross legged, or with one foot on the floor and my other leg on the chair, more or less half-cross legged.
I should also mention that I have poor vision, so even with a huge monitor, I lean toward the screen or lean toward the keyboard, or lean toward whatever I'm working on. If I'm working, my back will never be against the back of my chair.
posted by 2oh1 at 3:40 PM on December 14, 2020
For me, it's probably more about boredom - not boredom due to work though. I get bored from sitting in the same position for hours. I'll switch to sitting cross legged, or with one foot on the floor and my other leg on the chair, more or less half-cross legged.
I should also mention that I have poor vision, so even with a huge monitor, I lean toward the screen or lean toward the keyboard, or lean toward whatever I'm working on. If I'm working, my back will never be against the back of my chair.
posted by 2oh1 at 3:40 PM on December 14, 2020
It kind of sounds like a padded piano bench or something similar, optionally with added casters, could be a good option for you.
posted by trig at 5:42 PM on December 14, 2020
posted by trig at 5:42 PM on December 14, 2020
Sounds like my sitting habits are similar to yours. I was really interesting in the Capisco, but was concerned about the cost without having a local dealer where I could try one out. I actually got the Fully Tic Toc (with the cushion) and I love it. I still get up and pace around the house when I feel a little too fidgety, but I feel less restless sitting on it all day than I felt in a basic desk chair.
posted by katieinshoes at 7:15 PM on December 16, 2020
posted by katieinshoes at 7:15 PM on December 16, 2020
Response by poster: I bought the Capisco chair over a month ago, but it finally arrived today.
The chair itself if fantastic. The odd shape is surprisingly functional in ways you wouldn't anticipate until you use it. For example, the back isn't flat. It curves forward enough that I often find myself resting my elbows on the sides of the back that jut outward. You can spin the chair around and sit on it backward, or turn it and sit sideways, leaning against the back (which is now at your side). This is a chair you can sit on a ton of different ways, which is great if you're fidgety and stuck at your desk for hours.
I ordered the "short" version of the base, which isn't compatible with the footring - but the chair's base has footrests (if that's what you'd call them) and they're perfectly designed for use with the low height. For a low desk (mine is 29 inches high), the short base is perfect.
But of course there's a but...
I should have bought this from Fully here in Portland. I couldn't get anybody from Fully on the phone, so I ordered from a shop in California instead. What a mistake. They lost the chair in a warehouse after I ordered it, they sent the WRONG chair (same style, wrong color), and they sent part of somebody else's chair in my order (seriously, what the WHUT?). I'm not going to name the she shop I bought this from yet - I got in touch to see how they want to fix the errors - but oof. What a mess.
posted by 2oh1 at 6:22 PM on January 12, 2021
The chair itself if fantastic. The odd shape is surprisingly functional in ways you wouldn't anticipate until you use it. For example, the back isn't flat. It curves forward enough that I often find myself resting my elbows on the sides of the back that jut outward. You can spin the chair around and sit on it backward, or turn it and sit sideways, leaning against the back (which is now at your side). This is a chair you can sit on a ton of different ways, which is great if you're fidgety and stuck at your desk for hours.
I ordered the "short" version of the base, which isn't compatible with the footring - but the chair's base has footrests (if that's what you'd call them) and they're perfectly designed for use with the low height. For a low desk (mine is 29 inches high), the short base is perfect.
But of course there's a but...
I should have bought this from Fully here in Portland. I couldn't get anybody from Fully on the phone, so I ordered from a shop in California instead. What a mistake. They lost the chair in a warehouse after I ordered it, they sent the WRONG chair (same style, wrong color), and they sent part of somebody else's chair in my order (seriously, what the WHUT?). I'm not going to name the she shop I bought this from yet - I got in touch to see how they want to fix the errors - but oof. What a mess.
posted by 2oh1 at 6:22 PM on January 12, 2021
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posted by terretu at 4:30 AM on December 12, 2020