Ask HN: Best office chair for home office work?

Embody is their newer model

Wow, when I was working in a 24 hour control center, every desk has one of those Aeron charis.

I never knew they were THAT expensive

Finding used Aerons is surprisingly easy on Craigslist.

I’m on the Humanscale Diffrient World, and it’s a really nice chair that also fits the OP’s budget

I've got a Humanscale Freedom as-well. It's a great chair. Bought one for home after using one at my previous employer. Support has been amazing as-well. They've swapped out the gel seat once and the arm rests once due to regular wear-and-tear. This is on what's now a 14 year old chair.

For those recommending the Aeron - I've got one at my current job. What I don't like is that occasionally I like to sit with my leg folded under my body - fully acknowledge it's bad form, etc. but with the Aeron this is impossible due to the rigid plastic sides. For me, it's a deal-breaker for a chair I buy myself.

I regularly find refurbished liquidated Steelcase Leap v2 chairs in the Bay Area for between $250-350. Find a set of gel wheels on Amazon for $25 to replace the plastic casters and you've got a great chair. There's actually a used chair store right next to YC HQ in Mountain View.

That said, these days I slightly prefer the much cheaper Ikea Markus with the arm rests removed and angled at approx 135 deg.

Seconded.

I could have sit on it for 15 hours a day without problems. Other types of chairs caused back pain after only several hours.

I prefer the Ikea Malkolm which is also a tad cheaper.

I have the Ikea Markus at home and it's been fine, especially for a $200 chair. I use a Herman-Miller Aeron in my work office that I got when I was having back problems, and like it a lot ... but I've found the Markus to be a good solution given the cost disparity. I don't feel like I need to spend $1000 for my home office.

My body hurts just reading this comment.

I think I got an aeron off cl for about 400 bucks about ten years ago and it’s still going strong. Compared to buying a new cheaper foam style every couple of years it’s way cheaper and more comfortable over the long haul.

Yep, I got a second hand Aeron about 12 years ago, and I still use it happily, it's in perfect shape.

Ditto. I got a second-hand Aeron on CL - UCLA area seller, who at the time had a sideline in reconditioning Aerons. It was about $450. I've used it for ~10 years at home. The Aeron is good and I'd recommend this method of purchase.

In my case, I spent some time trying to optimize the price - finding that one desperate Aeron seller who'll let it go for $250. This turned out to be a waste of time. When I got a second one (rarely used) for another room, I just paid what appeared to be the going CL rate.

I had to replace the seat after a few years, but that's a standard part that you can order from Herman-Miller. I also replaced the casters last year for gel wheels that don't leave little marks on my floor (third party part in that case). I use the chair a lot and I have no complaints.

I sit on a Steelcase Leap at work (ordered new), and for me, it's not quite as good. But it's a small difference.

Can't recommend this option enough. I got a Steelcase Leap V2 from a used office furniture dealer for $200 or so after negotiating a bit. For another $50 or $75 they would have replaced the fabric as well but it didn't need it as it was in really good condition. They had Aerons and other chairs too but I liked the Leap better.

Good quality office chairs bought second is definitely the way to go - they are built solidly and well so they are usually in great condition.

I have a Hermann Miller Mirra 2, bought from https://studiomodern.co.uk in the UK. The Aeron is a 'design classic', so hasn't been iterated upon much. The Mirra has benefited from the experience though.

Also expect to spend a little time setting it up to start with, and then tweaking it until it's just right.

I can also second that: a 2nd hand Herman Miller Aeron that you've tested before making the purchase; one of the damn best investments you can make.

Have had mine for 6+ years now and it's outlived pretty much everything in my home office, save for a Dell U2713HM, which is still such a nice allrounder (27" 1440p IPS).

My Aeron is ex-Enron after their bankruptcy, and is more like Theseus’s ship at this point with new arm pads, base mesh, and two new gas lifts since it was made in the late 90s. Parts are plentiful though, and Herman-Miller will send a tech to your office to fit and fix if you want to keep it official. Definitely recommended.

I’ll second this! I bought the Titan about 6 months ago and it’s been amazing. I can use it for long work and gaming sessions and stay totally comfortable without any back or leg pain like I used to have with a previous chair. The lumbar support is also adjustable which is great.

True about the 3 sizes of Aerons. I'm 6'3, and find the vanilla Aeron (size "B") to work. If I was 6'4, I might feel differently, though, because I use it at its max adjustment.

I've had an embody for 8 years now. Best chair I've ever sat in, especially for coding. Second the recommendation!

I had Embody and I sold it after an year or two. Bought it trusting the "IT crowd" wisdom.

As with all the chairs, it's a very subjective matter. I think producers/models should not be recommended, as the body shapes vary too wildly.

What I think it's absolute though, is that they're grossly overpriced - new, they cost more than 1500$. When I went out for finding a replacement, somebody called that type of chair "boss" chair, that is, an expensive chair that stood out aesthetically.

I'm fine now on chair that doesn't look as good, but costs around 1/5th, and has the same durability, and as many (although different) options.

I can't recommend people enough not to accept recommendations ;-)

I second this for home. Great value, but not quite as nice as the Aaeron or Leap I've used at work.

If you have pressure under your thighs, you might need some kind of footrest - it solved my problem entirely with my Aeron.

Steelcase furniture can be bought at pennies on the dollar at office space auctions.

In fact in many places companies hold “clearing sales” to clear the office space from any furniture due to the high costs of disposing of the furnishings when their tenancy ends or when they sale the building.

I bought a Steelcase workstation desk complex that costs around £3000 in the UK for £257 at an auction such as that.

I will second this. I used a cheap (<$200) Staples office chair when I started working from home. My reward for cheaping out on this was painful back problems. I eventually gave in and bought a Steelcase Leap, and the back problems quickly went away. So my advice is, there are lots of places where it makes sense to pinch pennies, but this ain't one of them.

Plus, Steelcase customer support is excellent. A couple of years after I bought my Leap, the gas cylinder that controls the height of the chair broke and started dragging on the floor whenever I moved the chair. I contacted Steelcase to see if there was some way to fix it, or to get a replacement cylinder. Steelcase's response was to send me a completely new Leap, without me having to do anything other than show my proof of purchase to demonstrate the chair was still in warranty. That is some seriously above-and-beyond customer support.

For a while I preferred Herman Millers. But after spending a year with Steelcase chairs I discovered that Leap is the most comfortable and least fatigue inducing chair for me. I even liked that its seat holds its angle - unlike swivelling seats of HM chairs. Fortunately, Madison Seating sells used Leaps for less than $300 in perfect condition so I got one for home too instead of a previous favourite from Herman Miller.

When I started studying lifehacker.com was still a good blog. Their roundups mentioned Herman Miller Aeron and Steelcase Leap. I had a normal 0815 office chair from my work at home. A PHD student I knew had the leap at home because of back problems. When he decided to move away from Germany, he sold his office Leap to his boss and asked around who wanted his home one. I paid 300€ ($336.8 currently) after trying it. Sitting on it just for a few minutes convinced me and I've never sat on a comparable chair anywhere else since then (still using it after over 5 years)

After trying a number of chairs I settled on the first-gen Leap. It was far more comfortable for me than the Aeron or others I tested.

I'm still using it today, almost 18 years later. It's held up incredibly well. The fabric shows only the faintest signs of wear. A few years ago, the gas height-adjusting strut failed, and the Steelcase tech drove an hour to my house and replaced it. He also replaced the armrest caps as well - all for free.

I understand what you are saying, but that's optimising for the 10% of time you aren't using the chair.

In the software world I would have to question the wiseness of that decision. But I wouldn't erase from the whiteboard without a discussion.

Listening to your body when it tells you to move is a very wise thing to do indeed, but it should never be relied upon to guide your behaviour. Because you will eventually just put up with it. And you neck, back, shoulders will suffer.

I really agree with factoring weight (and size) into the choice, which can ruin an otherwise great chair.

While I like Herman Miller (especially Embody), I am really opinionated about chairs. After trying zillions, I think those chairs that are quite firm and promote active seating and position variety are the best ones.

There is a quite famous Norwegian designer, Peter Opsvik, who has designed a few great chairs for Håg and Varier: Capisco, Gravity, Actulum, etc. All his ideas are well explained in a book [1]. Basic models are relatively affordable.

Aside from the Scandinavian chairs from Opsvik, Aeris produces some nice active seating chairs and stools. Other alternatives are mentioned in this mega review [2].

Very recently, Ikea has released a stool that follows the same active seating principles [3]. Quality and price are superb.

[1] https://www.aeris.de/en/

[2] https://www.nerdgranny.com/review-ergonomic-chairs/

[3] https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/trollberget-active-sit-stand-su...