What computer chairs are you guys using? I currently have a Steelcase Leap that I bought second hand for cheap, and honestly despite the rave reviews this thing has all over the internet, I think it's overhyped garbage. It feels like sitting on a chunk of hard plastic. I'm 6' 2" and it does nothing to support my upper back. It has tons of adjustments, but none of them are comfortable. Everyone seems to recommend the Herman Miller Aeron, but I don't really want to spend $1k on a chair.
I have a Steelcase at work. It seems like a chair for spastics that need to dramatically change the way they sit every 20 minutes. The most unnecessarily feature rich chair I've ever seen... I don't even know what half the levers do. Comfort wise, I totally agree, it still feels like you're sitting on a cheap plastic chair with zero lumbar support. I used to buy $50 Walmart chairs in college. They would break every ~2 years and I'd get another one. When I started working I bought a $400 'executive chair' like I had finally made it! But it felt the same and lasted as long as the $50 chair. I don't believe a good off the shelf chair exists, it needs to be custom designed and fitted.
Yeah that's the thing that's whacky about chairs. Spending more doesn't necessarily mean a better, more comfortable chair. You can buy expensive "ergonomic" designer chairs and they can end up being just as uncomfortable over the long run as the cheap Ikea/Walmart/Staples chairs, and most chairs seem to wear out after a few years regardless. The expensive chairs just typically have more adjustments.
We have Aeron's at work and they're not bad. The best thing about them is not the ergonomics, but that your back and legs are never going to sweat if you have to be seated for longer periods of time. My biggest gripe with them would be the arm-rests...the adjustment mechanism is kind of cheap and tends to lose the position over the course of the day.
At 6'5" I have a real hard time finding a chair that fits me well. Price never matters. I got my current home office chair from Sam's Clubs. I sat in it on the sales floor and I knew I needed to have it. Unfortunately they did have any more. It took me about an hour of being the really annoying customer and going up the management chain to convince them to sell it to me. They didn't even have a price on it so I got it for really cheap. It's about 6 years old now and the leather is cracking and looking bad. I'm pretty sure the Ikea Markus will be my next chair. It doesn't look like much but it fit's me very well and comes with a 10 year limited warranty. http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/00103102/
I'll give the Markus a try next time I'm at Ikea. I've seen it thrown around a lot as a modestly priced option for tall people. And it might be fine. Like I said before, while you probably don't want the $50 Walmart chair, spending tons of money doesn't necessarily get you a better chair in my experience. It usually just gets you something with a lot of adjustments and/or a designer's name on it.
I stopped into Ikea last night and tried the Markus. It felt great so I bought one. I'd say that if you are very tall (6ft+) this is probably the chair to get. It has a nice long back, decent lumbar support, and can be raised pretty high.
Yeah it seems to be designed for people 6 foot and over. The lumbar hits me in a good spot. My only concern is that it doesn't look like it will last more than 3 years. Maybe it will. Did you get the leather or cloth?
Still like that chair? I might get one this weekend if I get time. The leather on mine is failing fast.
Hey we're chair buddies now! I'm contemplating putting a 1/2" block of aluminum between the base and backrest mount just to raise the head rest a bit. Of course that would also raise the lumbar and I think it's pretty good where it's at. It does make a bit of a clicking sound when I move up and down.
My Markus wore out right at the two year mark, so I was on the market for a new chair. I ended up going with a DX Racer Tank. Every GSGO pro, tech vlogger, twitch streamer, etc seems to be using one of these chairs. Couldn't tell if it was hype and marketing or they were legitimately good chairs. After using one for a few weeks, I would say that they are legitimately good chairs. They are memory foam all the way through, and the firmness is just right. Feels like someone made a chair out of a tempurpedic. Also, the locking recline feature (similar to a car seat) is something all computer chairs should have. The build quality is also surprisingly high. Like as good as Steelcase, but the chair is actually comfortable unlike a Steelcase Leap. The Tank is their most high-end chair though. I have no idea if the cheaper models are as good. I got mine in all black because I thought the bright racing colors looked stupid. This is easily the most comfortable computer chair I've ever sat in. Althought that's not saying much as most computer chairs are like medieval torture devices.
I tried a DX Racer and it had one critical flaw. The seat has those wing things that press into my thigh. Totally uncomfortable. The tank doesn't have that so it would probably be a lot better for me but no way in heck I'm spending that much on a chair. I mean I usually budget kind of high for a chair since I work at home a lot and average 9 hours a day in the chair but still nope.
I'll add the Tank to my deal watch. Maybe one will pop up on sale but my Marcus is still doing well. What happened to yours?
The padding on the seat compressed down to where it was hard as a rock and was making my butt hurt. Also the rubber band lumbar support thing was not adequate, leading to low back pain. I was also having an issue where it wouldn't fully lock upright. It would rock slightly even when locked. The Tank is $600 (I used a coupon code that knocked the price down closer to $500), but if it's comfortable and well made I would say it's worth it. It's hard to put a price tag on comfort, and most computer chairs I've used have been bad. Even some of the really expensive ones like the Steelcase Leap and Ergohuman I ended up not liking. I'll use this for a few months and report back. Often the issues with chairs are not immediately obvious.