For one - this is such an open-ended question and you don't state your wants, your size, your budget. Just asking based on a picture is kind of lame. I'd say no to the photo alone. Looks like garbage that will fall apart or feel crappy.
But go to Staples first if you have one nearby. You can sit in a lot of them. Get a feel.
Just don't be tricked by how they feel in the store. Sometimes the most comfortable in the store - becomes painful after a day or two.
You want a good chair? Put some effort in. See what YOU like instead of asking the interwebs. What works for people here - has a good chance of not working out for you.
Note that you might have to "buy and return" a few chairs before you get the one that is just right.
I bought a 300$ Amazon “ergonomic” chair and it was a giant pile of shit that fell apart in a week… luckily the manufacturer saw my negative review and refunded me the full cost of the chair in exchange for removing the review which is why most of these cheap chairs have such a high rating…ended up buying a cheap used steel case for 200$ and used it for years until I made the leap to an embody and honestly the embody is great but probably not worth the price to 99% of people
Don't bother with this sub of you are asking for anything not Herman Miller or Steelcase. People on this sub mostly only suggest from these two brand and deter other from cheaper yet worser quality chairs due to them not lasting 10+ years nor have warrent for that long. They'll probably ask you to spend $400-500 on second hand
Steelcase or HM or other brands that cost around that much.
Also for ergonomic chair it's best if you sit in one for sometime to test it out so if you are really into that chair, so I guess see the return policy and buy it if don't like it return it.
Also don't see it as a long lasting investment, since it's around $100 so. So good while it last but dont disappoint if it breaks in a few year.
95% of people posting here just talk about how they found/buy a hm embody for free or for 200 bucks. When somebody ask about any type of ergonomic/office chair, they would either recommend a second hand hm or steelcase not knowing that not all live in the us where you can find those in marketplace.
Also, most of the time when someone ask about any other brand of chair outside of those two, their post doesnt even get a response or views. You as a moderator should know that.
This subreddit should be calle used/second hand herman miller, not office chairs.
On the other hand, I was able to find a used office supply store. They happened to have mostly Steelcase and HM chairs and this sub helped me have a good idea of what I was looking at. And I am way happier with my $400 used chair vs the previous $100+ used chairs and I'm glad I didn't end up buying a mid-budget new chair as none of those options let me get a test sit so I very likely woulda been disappointed.
You live in the us or in europe? the problem is that the market on the rest of the world those chairs aren't selling at all. Its imposible for me an a lot of people to get or find a used office supply store with hm or steelcase at 400 o below. Here where i live (argentina) there was only one second had office chairs supplier, the only hm they had were used aeron ones (only 4, the only 4 ones in the entire country) they were selling them for 1.5k dolars. Dont ask me what a brand new embody would cost here then.
It sound as a scam? may be, the problem is that those companys are pretty much not existent here so we have to buy rebranding chinese one.
People should know that the us is not the entire fucking world so not everyone has the opornunity to buy hm at 200 or 300 bucks.
Over the years I've seen a lot of discussion of hikened and Marcus and this year there's been discussion about some of the newer brands like LN, anthros, OL, ect.
You can check out our friends at btod, they have an entire series of videos of better chairs at lower price points.
But you're right, if you ask the internet, what's your favorite thing, they're probably going to name premium brands.
For me personally, steelcase, but for years especially when I was younger I used a chair called The office Star 5500 which is a sub $200 nothing of a chair that was fine for me when I was younger and when ergonomics was less important.
Interestingly I'm in the younger phase (and poor) with a cheap chair costing $120 that I've gotten for a few month and happy about, it's a way better upgrade on the previous $50 dollar chair I've got that gave me back discomfort. I think I'll enjoy it while it last, but I'm definitely making a investment on the next chair and see if I can get myself something more premium.
The problem is that here when people like OP ask about an ergonomic chair and give their options, people just comment " get a steel case/ hm bro, you're just wasting your money". Ok so wth im supposed to buy if i dont live in the us or europe and the only chairs in my country are just chinese rebranding ones and there is no way to ship any other good chair?
People here just obliterated libernovo because they are a kickstarter company based on china and since they dont give +10 years waranty like hm.
Also not everybody has 1000+ dolars for a ergonomic chair. If i ask about a chair from aliexpress people from this sub would pass away or just go by the "booo chinese chair, bad chair" and doesnt help in any other way.
Come on guys, this sub is about helping people buy their first ergonomic/office chair, not in being us centric hm/steelcase second hand market bullshit.
That is why i told to the mod to just rename this sub as second hand hm, because it is what it is.
Helping people buy their chair, taking in account were they live, their budget, their options available. If my only options are, i.e, aliexpress chairs, people should help me choose the better one.
If people in this sub can help, then this sub doesnt make any sense to exist at all. In that case, just rename it to herman miller second hands and everybody would be happy.
You can't really recommend most AliExpress chairs because they are all fly by night brands that may not exist in 6 months let alone have any warranty at all. That's the problem with the budget marketplace, no singular model or brand sticks around to establish a reputation that people can be confident making a recommendation about.
There are some Amazon brands that are gaining reputation in the $200-300 space but it took years of Colamy being in the market and some long term 5 year reviews before they started making anyone's lists and I felt comfortabile recommending them.
When an AliExpress brand delivers consistent quality for 5 years maybe they will be taken seriously but until then all the AE brands blend together and the general experience doesn't have a great reputation.
Again, the problem is that not all of us can ship from amazon us or any of the amazon from europe. I searched for a basic ergonomic chair on amazon, it cost 130 dolars, plus 200 for shipping and other 100 on tax.
But the problem is that people on this sub just suck the dck of hm and steelcase. I said earlier that if a give 2 o 3 options about the charis i can buy in my country or local market, people should help to choose the best among them, not just comment "buy a second hand hm bro" like they always said even if they care to comment in the first place. Most of the time those kind of post have 0 comments. I just used aliexpress as an example, not as the only avaiable option.
This sub doesnt have a purpose because if not about hm or steelcase, nobody really cares.
I’m just gonna be honest here man, I can’t really help someone dealing with Argentinian problems because I’m not from Argentina. I don’t know the local brands, the shipping restrictions, or anything like that. What I can help you with what I’ve personally experienced, which is that the Chinese white label chairs break down very quickly in my experience. So it’s an issue of a lack of people that have that knowledge commenting. So you can either get no comments (I really love helping people with chairs but can’t speak to what I haven’t experienced, I usually won’t comment on posts with chairs im unfamiliar with), people commenting their personal experience which may be us-centric experience, or bots (which we actively try to root out).
I will say that I agree that this sub would benefit more from discussion on lower end chairs that do a good job of being value for money. I can’t help much on that front though, as I can only comment on the ones that have not been worth it, since that’s what I’ve had before my high end used chairs I’ve picked up.
So if you do find something you like, please, please write a review and contribute so that the next person in your shoes does have some guidance that I could never provide!
Buying a 100usd shitty chair and replacing it every year is bad advice. Maybe you don’t like the plain honest answer that the two leading office chair manufacturers are actually the best option. Depending on the region there other alternatives but Reddit is heavily US and Europe focused so that’s what you get.
It's because we've been down that road, spent too much on chairs that are uncomfortable and fall apart, saw the error in our ways and got one of those. I got sihoo and hbada and all lasted 5 minutes then everything went loose and fell apart.
Spent 50 quid on a well used leap V2 and haven't looked back.
Haworth and Senator make some decent chairs too. If you jump on refurbished office chair websites, most of the stuff on them are decent.
I used a cheap Amazon chair for more than 5 years. Was never great but did the job. Now I got a used Mirra 2 and the difference in my posture is a complete 180
About to pull the trigger on a $625 Aeron Size B. Marketplace, model year 2024. I'm told it doesn't have forward tilt and the lumbar support is the "base" model.
Just wondering if you find it actually comfortable? I'm working on changing my entire posture habits from the ground up. Sitting had become quite painful and my tailbone and whole pelvic "chain" just got really tense really quickly.
I'm worried a mesh seat will be too harsh on that area. At the same time, I'm hoping the chair will help hold me in a more stable position to hopefully overcome this pain in the future. Seems really daunting and unlikely at the moment.
Anyways....any insight on all of that? Was hoping to catch someone like yourself who bought something similar secondhand to give an honest opinion. Thanks!
i guess that’s fair, but i tend to think these just last forever. i bought 2 leap v2s recently, one of them was from 2007 but after wiping down looks and feels perfect. i guess i’ll have to see if it breaks down, but if it’s lasted this long…
I bought a SUPER cheap Leap that was from around 2000. Not refurbed, it just feels like a super heavy piece of junk. So that kind of deterred me. But you're probably not wrong. I'm sure something 5-10 years old would be fine.
Idk...don't mind spending $625 though. That was kind of my budget and I'll take the added piece of mind of it being relatively new.
I actually just discovered BTOD on this sub. Looking at their refurb Leap V2. Do yours have the back that looks like this? If so, does it feel truly...ergonomic? I need something to encourage posture and kind of hold me.
Idk....for $600 I can a totally refurbed one with brand new foam and even an added layer. Tempting...
yes that’s what my back looks like, and i feel like it’s much more ergonomic than previous chairs and a HM Celle (not comfy in comparison). you can adjust the firmness of both the lumbar support and the back for leaning, so i’ve been able to make it work for me! i haven’t tried a ton of other high end office chairs though, so not sure if i’m just touching the surface, but it was significantly better to sit in all day than my celle!
Awesome. That's what I needed to hear. I haven't tried many high end chairs either. But I feel like the padded seat on the Leap is probably a better fit for me right now. Maybe if I get past all of my sitting pain issues, a mesh seat will work. But for now...
I have been using a plastic folding chair for a few weeks since I threw out my old POS desk chair, my hips feel a lot of strain and the mesh helps a lot
My advice:
If you have an ergo contact at your workplace, ask them.
Also, reach out to BTOD & tell them what you’re looking for. They can help you narrow it down. It’s a lot of options to head down this rabbit hole yourself.
I just bought a Nouhaus Ergo3D for about $300. A lot of complaints on it is the no adjustable lumbar. But for me it hits just right in my lower back that I wouldn’t want it any other way. The build quality is a 10/10. Wide base so no “falling” feeling when fully reclined. I plan on getting a desk mounted foot rest strap or something for under my desk but as long as you’re taller than 5’2” and not taller than 6’4” it’s a great chair IMO.
If you want to research something different then I suggest looking up Kinnarps and Martela. They are professional grade office chairs meant to last 10+ years of daily office use.
For one - this is such an open-ended question and you don't state your wants, your size, your budget. Just asking based on a picture is kind of lame. I'd say no to the photo alone. Looks like garbage that will fall apart or feel crappy.
But go to Staples first if you have one nearby. You can sit in a lot of them. Get a feel.
Just don't be tricked by how they feel in the store. Sometimes the most comfortable in the store - becomes painful after a day or two.
You want a good chair? Put some effort in. See what YOU like instead of asking the interwebs. What works for people here - has a good chance of not working out for you.
Note that you might have to "buy and return" a few chairs before you get the one that is just right.
I bought a 300$ Amazon “ergonomic” chair and it was a giant pile of shit that fell apart in a week… luckily the manufacturer saw my negative review and refunded me the full cost of the chair in exchange for removing the review which is why most of these cheap chairs have such a high rating…ended up buying a cheap used steel case for 200$ and used it for years until I made the leap to an embody and honestly the embody is great but probably not worth the price to 99% of people
Don't bother with this sub of you are asking for anything not Herman Miller or Steelcase. People on this sub mostly only suggest from these two brand and deter other from cheaper yet worser quality chairs due to them not lasting 10+ years nor have warrent for that long. They'll probably ask you to spend $400-500 on second hand Steelcase or HM or other brands that cost around that much.
Also for ergonomic chair it's best if you sit in one for sometime to test it out so if you are really into that chair, so I guess see the return policy and buy it if don't like it return it.
Also don't see it as a long lasting investment, since it's around $100 so. So good while it last but dont disappoint if it breaks in a few year.
Very inexpensive chairs with mesh seats are almost never good.
Personally, I've never seen a chair with a built-in footrest where that was an indication. It was a good chair.
I think you'll find if you look around this sub. Plenty of folks who like inexpensive chairs that are not from the top brands.
I just don't believe this is an image of a very good chair.
95% of people posting here just talk about how they found/buy a hm embody for free or for 200 bucks. When somebody ask about any type of ergonomic/office chair, they would either recommend a second hand hm or steelcase not knowing that not all live in the us where you can find those in marketplace.
Also, most of the time when someone ask about any other brand of chair outside of those two, their post doesnt even get a response or views. You as a moderator should know that.
This subreddit should be calle used/second hand herman miller, not office chairs.
On the other hand, I was able to find a used office supply store. They happened to have mostly Steelcase and HM chairs and this sub helped me have a good idea of what I was looking at. And I am way happier with my $400 used chair vs the previous $100+ used chairs and I'm glad I didn't end up buying a mid-budget new chair as none of those options let me get a test sit so I very likely woulda been disappointed.
You live in the us or in europe? the problem is that the market on the rest of the world those chairs aren't selling at all. Its imposible for me an a lot of people to get or find a used office supply store with hm or steelcase at 400 o below. Here where i live (argentina) there was only one second had office chairs supplier, the only hm they had were used aeron ones (only 4, the only 4 ones in the entire country) they were selling them for 1.5k dolars. Dont ask me what a brand new embody would cost here then.
It sound as a scam? may be, the problem is that those companys are pretty much not existent here so we have to buy rebranding chinese one.
People should know that the us is not the entire fucking world so not everyone has the opornunity to buy hm at 200 or 300 bucks.
Over the years I've seen a lot of discussion of hikened and Marcus and this year there's been discussion about some of the newer brands like LN, anthros, OL, ect.
You can check out our friends at btod, they have an entire series of videos of better chairs at lower price points.
But you're right, if you ask the internet, what's your favorite thing, they're probably going to name premium brands.
For me personally, steelcase, but for years especially when I was younger I used a chair called The office Star 5500 which is a sub $200 nothing of a chair that was fine for me when I was younger and when ergonomics was less important.
Interestingly I'm in the younger phase (and poor) with a cheap chair costing $120 that I've gotten for a few month and happy about, it's a way better upgrade on the previous $50 dollar chair I've got that gave me back discomfort. I think I'll enjoy it while it last, but I'm definitely making a investment on the next chair and see if I can get myself something more premium.
The problem is that here when people like OP ask about an ergonomic chair and give their options, people just comment " get a steel case/ hm bro, you're just wasting your money". Ok so wth im supposed to buy if i dont live in the us or europe and the only chairs in my country are just chinese rebranding ones and there is no way to ship any other good chair?
People here just obliterated libernovo because they are a kickstarter company based on china and since they dont give +10 years waranty like hm.
Also not everybody has 1000+ dolars for a ergonomic chair. If i ask about a chair from aliexpress people from this sub would pass away or just go by the "booo chinese chair, bad chair" and doesnt help in any other way.
Come on guys, this sub is about helping people buy their first ergonomic/office chair, not in being us centric hm/steelcase second hand market bullshit.
That is why i told to the mod to just rename this sub as second hand hm, because it is what it is.
What do think is a better value proposition we should be talking about here?
Honest question.
Helping people buy their chair, taking in account were they live, their budget, their options available. If my only options are, i.e, aliexpress chairs, people should help me choose the better one.
If people in this sub can help, then this sub doesnt make any sense to exist at all. In that case, just rename it to herman miller second hands and everybody would be happy.
You can't really recommend most AliExpress chairs because they are all fly by night brands that may not exist in 6 months let alone have any warranty at all. That's the problem with the budget marketplace, no singular model or brand sticks around to establish a reputation that people can be confident making a recommendation about.
There are some Amazon brands that are gaining reputation in the $200-300 space but it took years of Colamy being in the market and some long term 5 year reviews before they started making anyone's lists and I felt comfortabile recommending them.
When an AliExpress brand delivers consistent quality for 5 years maybe they will be taken seriously but until then all the AE brands blend together and the general experience doesn't have a great reputation.
Again, the problem is that not all of us can ship from amazon us or any of the amazon from europe. I searched for a basic ergonomic chair on amazon, it cost 130 dolars, plus 200 for shipping and other 100 on tax.
But the problem is that people on this sub just suck the dck of hm and steelcase. I said earlier that if a give 2 o 3 options about the charis i can buy in my country or local market, people should help to choose the best among them, not just comment "buy a second hand hm bro" like they always said even if they care to comment in the first place. Most of the time those kind of post have 0 comments. I just used aliexpress as an example, not as the only avaiable option.
This sub doesnt have a purpose because if not about hm or steelcase, nobody really cares.
I’m just gonna be honest here man, I can’t really help someone dealing with Argentinian problems because I’m not from Argentina. I don’t know the local brands, the shipping restrictions, or anything like that. What I can help you with what I’ve personally experienced, which is that the Chinese white label chairs break down very quickly in my experience. So it’s an issue of a lack of people that have that knowledge commenting. So you can either get no comments (I really love helping people with chairs but can’t speak to what I haven’t experienced, I usually won’t comment on posts with chairs im unfamiliar with), people commenting their personal experience which may be us-centric experience, or bots (which we actively try to root out).
I will say that I agree that this sub would benefit more from discussion on lower end chairs that do a good job of being value for money. I can’t help much on that front though, as I can only comment on the ones that have not been worth it, since that’s what I’ve had before my high end used chairs I’ve picked up.
So if you do find something you like, please, please write a review and contribute so that the next person in your shoes does have some guidance that I could never provide!
Where are you actually from?
Buying a 100usd shitty chair and replacing it every year is bad advice. Maybe you don’t like the plain honest answer that the two leading office chair manufacturers are actually the best option. Depending on the region there other alternatives but Reddit is heavily US and Europe focused so that’s what you get.
You’re kind of describing The Boots Theory. It’s a good read.
It's because we've been down that road, spent too much on chairs that are uncomfortable and fall apart, saw the error in our ways and got one of those. I got sihoo and hbada and all lasted 5 minutes then everything went loose and fell apart.
Spent 50 quid on a well used leap V2 and haven't looked back.
Haworth and Senator make some decent chairs too. If you jump on refurbished office chair websites, most of the stuff on them are decent.
I used a cheap Amazon chair for more than 5 years. Was never great but did the job. Now I got a used Mirra 2 and the difference in my posture is a complete 180
Here's the thing, if someone asks for a suggestion and they give you a C tier chair that's overpriced, their credibility is gone.
The answers are just being given in the best interest to op.
However I have seen people say that the random chair will get the job done etc (not saying in this case)....
I followed the advice on this sub and got a used Herman Miller Aeron with all adjustments for $400 on fb marketplace. Not regretting it.
You're my guy/gal then. Lol.
About to pull the trigger on a $625 Aeron Size B. Marketplace, model year 2024. I'm told it doesn't have forward tilt and the lumbar support is the "base" model.
Just wondering if you find it actually comfortable? I'm working on changing my entire posture habits from the ground up. Sitting had become quite painful and my tailbone and whole pelvic "chain" just got really tense really quickly.
I'm worried a mesh seat will be too harsh on that area. At the same time, I'm hoping the chair will help hold me in a more stable position to hopefully overcome this pain in the future. Seems really daunting and unlikely at the moment.
Anyways....any insight on all of that? Was hoping to catch someone like yourself who bought something similar secondhand to give an honest opinion. Thanks!
damn where are you where that’s the market price on FB? in houston, aerons and leap v2s are 250-300
For a 1 year old chair though? I've seen plenty in that range, but every time I ask for a picture of the date sticker, it's like 2000. Lol.
i guess that’s fair, but i tend to think these just last forever. i bought 2 leap v2s recently, one of them was from 2007 but after wiping down looks and feels perfect. i guess i’ll have to see if it breaks down, but if it’s lasted this long…
I bought a SUPER cheap Leap that was from around 2000. Not refurbed, it just feels like a super heavy piece of junk. So that kind of deterred me. But you're probably not wrong. I'm sure something 5-10 years old would be fine.
Idk...don't mind spending $625 though. That was kind of my budget and I'll take the added piece of mind of it being relatively new.
hey totally get it! maybe i’m on my way to learning a lesson, but if the peace of mind is worth it then do it!
Nah, I'm sure you're good.
I actually just discovered BTOD on this sub. Looking at their refurb Leap V2. Do yours have the back that looks like this? If so, does it feel truly...ergonomic? I need something to encourage posture and kind of hold me.
Idk....for $600 I can a totally refurbed one with brand new foam and even an added layer. Tempting...
https://preview.redd.it/j037b108c39g1.png?width=852&format=png&auto=webp&s=d63d17a2cab831de36708e1057c172f15e2b163d
yes that’s what my back looks like, and i feel like it’s much more ergonomic than previous chairs and a HM Celle (not comfy in comparison). you can adjust the firmness of both the lumbar support and the back for leaning, so i’ve been able to make it work for me! i haven’t tried a ton of other high end office chairs though, so not sure if i’m just touching the surface, but it was significantly better to sit in all day than my celle!
Awesome. That's what I needed to hear. I haven't tried many high end chairs either. But I feel like the padded seat on the Leap is probably a better fit for me right now. Maybe if I get past all of my sitting pain issues, a mesh seat will work. But for now...
Thanks! Appreciate the insight.
dang where are you where that’s the market price on FB? in houston, aerons and leap v2s are 250-300
I have been using a plastic folding chair for a few weeks since I threw out my old POS desk chair, my hips feel a lot of strain and the mesh helps a lot
Do you feel that its quality makes up for its uglyness somehow? Can't pull the trigger because of how bad it looks :(
It looks better than the ripped up thing I’ve been using for over a decade lol. The white ones look better IMO. The mesh makes up for everything
Well now that you say it, I'd never buy the chair I am currently using, anything would be an improvement st this stage :D
What is this one? Looks like hbada e3 air
I got the Interstuhl Joyce yesterday. I am amazed of how comfortable it is on top of this you have 10 year warranty.
My advice: If you have an ergo contact at your workplace, ask them. Also, reach out to BTOD & tell them what you’re looking for. They can help you narrow it down. It’s a lot of options to head down this rabbit hole yourself.
I just bought a Nouhaus Ergo3D for about $300. A lot of complaints on it is the no adjustable lumbar. But for me it hits just right in my lower back that I wouldn’t want it any other way. The build quality is a 10/10. Wide base so no “falling” feeling when fully reclined. I plan on getting a desk mounted foot rest strap or something for under my desk but as long as you’re taller than 5’2” and not taller than 6’4” it’s a great chair IMO.
If you want to research something different then I suggest looking up Kinnarps and Martela. They are professional grade office chairs meant to last 10+ years of daily office use.
I have the hbada e3 pro and I regret buying it. It is the most uncomfortable chair I've ever owned
Kinda want the rug…