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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?
Hey honey, thanks for thinking of me, I really appreciate it!
Wow.. Utter shock at a slashdot reader having not only a wife, but, presumably, having reproduced...
XenoPhage
Technological Musings
Sounds like someone has been taking the shouting of "who's your daddy" a little to seriously...
You're thinking small. Why miniaturize the laser, when we could instead enlarge the sharks? -John Searle
I know there are a lot of contenders in this arena -- and honestly, at the price it seems very high.
But think about it -- you own a car that you like. You spend maybe what, an hour, or two a day in it? You spend maybe $400 for the car payment plus insurance and gas.
And you sit in a chair for 5-7 hours a day. You should make a good investment for the sake of your back, your butt, and your comfort. I have the Aeron and the only quip I have with it, is that it doesn't match the height of my desk (which is actually a writing desk, incorrect height for a mouse/keyboard).
I like the Aeron -- it has a lot of adjustments, it's built very solid, it has a good warranty and you can get them serviced a LOT of places (casters and such). It's NOT cheap, but refer to what I said earlier on why you SHOULD spend the money.
The price is always right if someone else is paying.
I have this chair at home and I love it...
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/00103102
It was well worth the $200.
The high back lets you recline fully when enjoying a movie. It's very comfortable and has a bunch of options to set height, back stiffness / angle it reclines to.
this might sound a little crazy but a pilates / swiss ball is the absolute daddy. Once you are used to it its really very comfortable, balancing is fairly easy and kind of forces you into the right posture.
N.
Electronic Music Made Using Linux http://soundcloud.com/polyp
I know everyone is different, but I have used an excercise ball at home, and really like it. It forces good posture, (one of the biggest problems with back pain) and even works the abs and back muscles to stay sitting up straight. At a former company I worked at, I had a pretty cool chair with no back (until we hired somebody with an acutal medical back problem, and they gave it to him), it had 2 "pads" one was lower, for your knees, and the upper pad was for sitting on. It worked similar to the excercise ball.
What are we going to do tonight Brain?
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.
Which country is this? :)
Throwable chairs of course!
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
To the guy who complained about his chair: your wife is getting you a new one!
Scorta futuere amo!
http://www.samsclub.com/shopping/navigate.do?dest=5&item=386638
The Broyhill Giannelli Leather Executive Chair. I'm not a small guy, and I've always had a lot of issues with chairs. Even the 'big man' chairs they sell at Office Depot would break with me (I'm rough on them apart from being heavy, I lean back, a lot, and HARD, I've snapped several chairs backs.)
This one is $250. Pricey? Hell yeah. After breaking several $100 chairs, though, I figure it's worth it. It's very comfortable and feels incredibly sturdy. It looks great too, my gf encouraged me heavily because it looks a heck of a lot better than any other chair I've ever had, so it doesn't upset her fung shui.
Car seats are, after all, designed to be used for hours at a time. I've always wanted to stop by the junk yard, find a nice seat, and mount/weld it to some kind of base. The reclining feature would be nice for those all-nighters.
The Hawaii Chair:
http://www.skymall.com/shopping/detail.htm?pid=102518472&pnr=M53
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9_amg-Aos4
It will give me amazing 6 pack abs in 3 weeks with no dieting.
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.
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2005-06-07-office-fit_x.htm
"Sitting at their desks is about the last thing workers would do in Dr. James Levine's office of the future.
Dr. James Levine keeps a 1 mph pace on his treadmill while checking his e-mail.at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.
Instead of being sedentary in front of their computers, they'd stand. But instead of standing still, they'd walk on a treadmill. And instead of meeting around a conference table, they'd talk business while walking laps on a track."
But just a standing desk with a tall stool to alternate with can work wonders for back pain and good posture.
The walking is probably better on the knees though.
A 21st century issue: the irony of technologies of abundance in the hands of those still thinking in terms of scarcity.
I work at a computer 10-14 hrs a day and I can't sit at a desk. It would drive me nuts. I set up my office with couches and use Belkin Cushtop Stands.
Most comfortable office chair I have ever sat in. Way more comfortable than Aeron. Cheaper too. I have one at home.
Humanscale Freedom chair (with headrest option). About the only way to spend more on a computer chair than an Aeron, but it's a better chair. Seat stays level and slides when you lean forward/back, and headrest automatically comes up, so it's easy to adjust position comfortably.
is competition good, or is duplication of effort bad?
How about a WalkStation?
Price is around $2500 to $3K.
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
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.
www.alphalinux.org
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.
http://www.treychair.com/
More than a chair, apparently...
I recommend the Humanscale Freedom Chair with Headrest. 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.
Some mornings it's hardly worth chewing through the restraints to get out of bed.
The company i worked at about 8 years ago bought new Aeron chairs for everyone in the company, and i couldn't stand them. The metal frame with webbing felt rather harsh and unnatural, and that was before i tried crossing one of my legs under the other (right ankle under left thigh or vice versa) which was actually painful in the Aeron. I felt uncomfortable sitting in my chair for the entire rest of my time at that company. The only benefit was that they let us take our old chairs home if we wanted them, and i've still got the older and actually comfortable chair i had before. (Which probably cost several hundred less than the Aeron chair that i didn't like sitting in.)
Of course i don't suffer from back problems, so perhaps being forced to sit in the "proper" position works better for some people than others. So in response to the original question, if you want to get a chair as a gift you really need to find out some more about the habits and desires of the person you're buying it for. Do they have back problems? Do they like to sit straight and still for hours on end or do they prefer to shift around? Do they like to cross one or both legs under then? Or sit in a kneeling position? Do they want a chair that tilts/rocks? Do they like fabric or leather/pleather? Whatever you do you certainly don't want to get them an expensive chair that they'll feel obligated to use but won't actually enjoy. After all, if everyone liked the same kind of chair there wouldn't be so many options out there.
This Space Intentionally Left Blank
See if you can track down the one Ballmer threw. In addition to the enormous geek cred, that chair would have great sentimental value as well.
steampunk web design
There ARE competitors to the Aeron, in many other styles... Check out Knoll Office Seating, the ergonomics that go into these chairs is really amazing. If you can stomach the prices, then by all means, your back WILL thank you at the end of a long day. Make sure you buy a properly sized chair (*the aeron comes in 3 sizes) and if you buy some other chair, make sure he adjusts it to where his posture is set right. I have a couple of Knoll Life chairs at home, I can personally recommend them as super comfortable, and they come in a million different color combinations. Oh.. And they'll outlast anything from ikea or office depot.
Can we all agree that no chair is perfect for everyone?
Like this: http://gizmodo.com/5015730/emperor-workstation-belongs-in-the-death-star-my-office ?
Caesar si viveret, ad remum dareris.
While Herman Miller gets the press (and looks cool) The SteelCase Leap chairs are quite cozy and incredibly well built.
--- Nothing To See Here ---
He doesn't want it for coding in...
I've owned an Aeron for several years. I used to sit in it for 8 to 10 hours a day working. After a couple of years I started experiencing the symptoms of RLS. Very annoying. I went to docs for the usual diagnostics/drugs. Nothing really helped.
One day my wife was talking to the manager of a Relax The Back store and my RLS came up. Upon hearing that I used an Aeron chair he said "That could be the problem. The way the front area of the chair where the legs go over is designed can cause problems with circulation and such." (I heard this second hand from my wife). I switched to a more traditional office chair. Within a month my RLS symptoms were gone.
So no scientific proof and I haven't felt like switching back to see the Aeron was the problem. But I'm a lot happier now.
Invalid Checksum. Retrying.
"He spends his life in this chair" That cannot be good.
May be you should buy him something that will lure him OUT of his chair?
I do not believe in karma. "Funny"=-6. Do good and forbid evil. Yours, Oft-Offtopic Flamebaiting Troll.
Microsoft is remarkably family friendly, compared to other tech companies (including Google). If you ever plan on actually having a family, or if your current employer does not give a shit if you ever see your children, Microsoft is a great place to work.
You, and everyone around you, will regret it.
Gravity is a contributing factor in nearly 73 percent of all accidents involving falling objects. -Dave Barry
Yeah,
I should try to use my office chair to go to work one day. It has wheels and its mostly downhill both way so it can definitely replace my car...
Find a place that has nice office chairs and do measurments.
Take him there, treat him like a king while it he gets the measurements and adjustments done.
He can pick out all the colors he wants.
After words a nice meal with some good drinks.
When the chair gets delivered, put the 10 month old down for a nap and fuck your husband in the chair.
You now have the perfect, favorite chair.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
In fact, if you needed family time, you were considered a bit suspect, or a whiny little bitch.
But, in those days, we shipped indeed, and our stock price was ever-rising. Back then, you could even tell an under-achiever that they sucked without fear of a lawsuit.
But, Win95 shipped, Exchange shipped, Office shipped, and left a trail of dead or dying competitors in our wake.
Now?
Vista.
Enough said.
Family Friendly hasn't done crap for shareholders, IMHO.
Has there ever been a breakdown of the profit margin on the Aeron, relative to the cost of the parts and labor? I'm genuinely curious....they seem to be very highly recommended by almost everyone, and the only real criticism seems to be the cost. Could they be priced to fly off the shelves at $500, or are they purposely priced higher to achieve that "prestige" quality, a la Apple?
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.
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)
.
I prefer to use a wooden banker's chair. it's solid and does not lean back or wiggle. I sit in it naturally and comfortably for hours.
the stupid office chairs they give us at work just kills my shoulders and back. I even hate those aereon chairs (I borrowed one for 3 days).
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
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.
Every year during my review, I just pray the words "slashdot.org" aren't mentioned.
is a nice soft one without hard edges or any real weight, but then again I work at Microsoft....
I hold very few opinions. I hold information based on observation and fact. If you wish to disagree, please use facts.
http://www.interage.com/images/chair01.jpg
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.)
Not to poke fun as I'm sure it was very painful and unpleasant -- something I wouldn't wish on my worst enema (er. enemy -- sorry for the typo) -- but for the love of FSM, what where you telling yourself when this thing was say, golf ball sized?
I'm going to leave the questions about just what kind of plastic underwear you had picked as the most comfortable of programming gear aside for the time being.
This thing had to have somehow entered your mind as potentially problematic somewhere before it reached the size of say...a cherry tomato, yes?
I mean, at what point while showering or wiping your ass or getting dressed or whatever did you fail to say "Hey, that's not another ass cheek growing there is it?"
I showed this to a friend of mine (the story, thankfully without pictures) who's reaction was to suggest that if you were really smart you'd now find a way to sue the chair manufacturer.
I wish you better health and less pain - seriously, I hope this never every happens to you or anyone else again.
Now excuse me while I go watch a pig get slaughtered or click on a rickroll link just to get that image out of my head.
The problem with quotes on the internet, is that nobody bothers to check their veracity. -- Abraham Lincoln
One of the main attributes I check in an office chair is whether it has armrests. Most people seem to love them, but I hate them. So before you go buy him a chair as a surprise, find out his thoughts on the matter. One thing I found while sitting in every chair at Office Max several years ago is that the ones my dad really liked were the same ones that hurt me as soon as I sat down in them. So whatever you think is supremely comfortable may be his worst nightmare. If you don't mind ruining the surprise, have him pick out the chair himself.
Microsoft is a Public Entity, with responsibilities EXCLUSIVE to its shareholders.
Workers wishing for more cushy conditions can go work at Borland. Oh wait, uh, Ashton Tate. Oops, uh, Word Perfect Corp. Oh no, uh Lotus?