Opinions on ergonomic studio chairs, anyone?

[Jardonhu]

Got it. Appreciate your information! But could you tell me more about it?

[Shooshie]

I bought two Herman Miller chairs in the past year, and they've been the best investments I ever made. One is the Aeron Work Stool, which sits high enough for my workstation desk, which was designed for sitting or standing, thus requires a stool rather than a chair. The Aeron Work Stool is the same thing as the chair, only it sits on a higher center support, and it has a footrest-ring. That footrest is the best designed footrest I've ever had on a stool, and I've used a lot of them over the years. You could use it barefoot, and it would not hurt your feet. Instead of tubular steel, they made a flat ring that you can actually rest your bare feet on.

As someone else said, get the whole package. I got the "Posture Fit" lumbar support that has its own knob for adjustment. (as opposed to the one that is essentially a bar that you can reposition manually higher or lower) The arms are essential, and I got the leather covered ones. I also got the "Wave Pellicle", rather than the standard covering, and I think it's less hard on the clothes. I haven't had any problems with it, and I wear a lot of wool in the winter.

The forward tilt is another essential item in the Aeron options. Believe me, you get what you pay for in these options. Mine is also the lighter, titanium color. The solid black chairs don't work in my room, though in some decor situations they are more appropriate. The Aeron Chair, generally speaking, is easily the best work chair I've ever used. The key is learning to drive it. It's got several controls, and I adjust them a lot as I go, depending on what I'm doing and how I need to sit at that time. If you want to set-and-forget, the Aeron may not be the best chair for you. I get a lot more out of it by reaching for the adjustment levers and exploiting its many fine-tunings.

The other HM chair that I bought was the Embody Chair. This chair has to be experienced to believe it. I can tell you about the way it conforms to your back and supports you where you need it most, but you'd think I was talking about any old chair with a soft back. This chair has no cushioning, but it sits softer than a typical foam-filled chair. (the Aeron was the first to do away with foam) But this chair is different. Its many-cantilevered back support system finds the shape of YOU and holds you there. Unbelieveable. If I could get one on a pole (like the Aeron Work Stool) then I would make IT my main chair. I got it for my wife who has severe chronic back problems. I has changed her life. She can sit at a desk now for hours without getting tired, something she has never been able to do before.

The Embody Chair is a little harder to learn how to use. Like the Aeron, it has several adjustable features, but it's not as intuitive to understand how they work. Once you get the back set for the way you sit, it works wonders. It MOVES with you. It seems alive. If you adjust it too stiffly or too loosely, you will not experience that. But when you find the "just-right" point, this chair is almost spooky in the way it starts conforming to you and following your motions. Again, you've got to get all the options, like adjustable arms and the best casters for your floor surface. It has to be experienced to believe it. This Embody chair does things you don't even know how to ask about. It's as if someone started over and reinvented the chair.


Expect to spend somewhere between $1200 and $1500, delivered, for each of these chairs. You will never regret parting with that money. I only wonder why I waited so long. Life is too short for lousy chairs. Why would you sit on a piece of crap, when you'll spend thousands for instruments, clothes, software, gear, and sound systems? There is no justification for it. And a chair that makes your back feel better at the end of the day is… well… amazing.

If you decide to get a high-end chair, do yourself the favor of the following:
1) go to a local dealer. I bought mine from Design Within Reach, a store across the street from our neighborhood Apple Store. They will have chairs you can try, and they'll have someone who knows a lot about them. By the time you pay for shipping online, you'll find the final price is less than $100 difference than buying in the store. I like having someone I can talk to about the chairs or servicing the warranty if something should happen. You don't get that from ANY online store. Also, if they happen to have the exact chair/options you want, you can take it home that day.
2) Even buying in a brick & mortar store, I had to wait 6 weeks for the chairs, because my options were special ordered. Don't settle for what they have in the store if it's not EXACTLY what you'd hoped for. When your chairs finally come, 6 weeks later, it's a special day. Also, you know that these chairs were made specially for your order. Made in a factory in the USA.
3) Learn a lot about the chairs you choose, as well as a number of other competing chairs. The information you learn will pay you back when you finally make your option selections with confidence.
4) Do not assume that chairs that look like the top models are actually similar to them. What makes the Aeron or Embody chairs great is not just the way they look (which is fantastic), but the careful attention to detail in a way that we're accustomed to seeing in Apple products. Things "just work."
5) Be sure you get a product with a long warranty. The Herman Miller warranty on the Aeron Chair is 12 years. Having a local dealer who will fix your chair or replace it for 12 years is a big relief. If you have a problem, they send someone out. This is a good system, and it means that your decision to buy the chair is not a gamble. You've got professionals backing you up. I haven't needed any special attention, but it's a great feeling to know that it's there if I need it.

When I was younger, I could sit on just about anything. I was strong and did not need a special chair to hold me up. Now that I'm older, things have changed. Getting a chair that becomes the single most used piece of furniture in my life has been a life-changing process. I'd never go back to the austerity of my youth, and now I kinda wish I'd been a little more self-indulgent all those years.

Shooshie

[Prime Mover]

I've got a Katharina at work, which has nice back support... at home, I forget what it's called, but it's a smaller chair with no arms, since it doubles as a keyboard chair. It's like a Zeal II, but with a larger back, and more padding. It's really comfortable and gives me good support. It ran me about $120 I think. In some ways, I think it gives me better support than the Katharina.

No arms though... I'd prefer no arms, better for computer and piano use.

[Shooshie]

I'd prefer no arms, better for computer and piano use.

Arms can be good. HM chairs usually have highly adjustable arms -- they go up and down as well as inward and outward. I can drop the arms of my chair for the keyboard, or swing them out of the way somewhat. But I'll never again work in an armless chair. I rest my elbows on my chair arms, with my wrists on a keyboard wrist pillow, and my fingers effortlessly dangling over my computer keyboard and trackpad. So comfortable! Arms are a problem when they are cheaply designed, but a good design will usually include some genuine thought into how the arms are implemented. just my opinion!

Shoosh

[dbl]

I spent some time testing HM chairs in a local store. Didn't fall out of love with it till I found out the arms don't adjust outta the way—as in fold back—and thus won't work for guitar playing. The price was notable, but not the deal-breaker.

[bayswater]

I tried a couple of these chairs locally, but they only had a couple of lower priced models. It was comfortable and the arms were fine. They could be set so low that they would never be in the way.

But the chair seemed to be pitched too far forward to be comfortable for long sessions, and while I could adjust the tension of the tilt, I couldn't adjust the tilt itself. Maybe some of the more expensive models have a tilt adjustment too?

[Gravity Jim]

I have an Aeron chair in my studio, while my son (a computer animator turned app-dev) has an Embody chair at his workstation. I've been to his place and both Herman Miller chairs are great... You can't go wrong with either one, although I prefer the unobtrusive look of the Aeron in a room where clients visit.

[shylajohn]

You have to choose that ergonomic chair, would be comfortable for you and you can easily afford I mean to say that that would be suitable for you.

[Shooshie]

Nice to see this thread again. After two years, I am still of the same opinions about the Aeron work stool and the Embody chair from Herman Miller. If I were working on floor level, I'd probably go with the Embody chair. It's just amazing. But since I work at the same level sitting and standing, I have to go with a work stool, and the Aeron Work Stool is thankfully the greatest option available.

I have added one thing in the past year or so: a headrest. It's a 3rd party device that you can buy from Amazon for a a hundred-fifty bucks, but it completes the chair. It's made to complement the Aeron's design, and looks like it was made as a part of it. The headrest is also very intuitive and easy to adjust, and it stays put until you adjust it again. It installed in about 4 minutes, and has needed no further adjustment for the mounting, even though I'm constantly moving the headrest all day to go with my current position in the chair.



Incidentally, there is now a cheaper ($99) headrest available that I do not recommend, based on the looks of it and the way it is articulated. Knowing how often I move, and how I want my headrest there to support me, in various chair positions, I know that such a headrest must be articulated in several places. The $150 headrest (shown above) works that way. The cheap one does not. You would be amazed at the positions possible with the one pictured, as well as how far forward or back it will reach, for your various postures during the day, or even laying back and watching videos at night.

Shooshie

[stubbsonic]

Thanks for all the info, Shooshie (then and now).

I have a cheap old office chair that works ok, but the other day I was recording some quiet audio and this chair was making all these little sounds. I had to try to hold perfectly still so this jalopy did whine, creak, moan, chatter, cluck, etc. ... come to think of it, I should have recorded it.

Are those high-dollar chairs pretty quiet when you move around a little?

[BKK-OZ]

My Aeron is quiet, and it is one of the best investments I have made. Do not under estimate the benefits of having a properly ergo environment to work in - it makes everything much easier.

[bayswater]

My Aeron is quiet, and it is one of the best investments I have made. Do not under estimate the benefits of having a properly ergo environment to work in - it makes everything much easier.

Was just going to say the same thing. I got an Aeron when this topic was active earlier. Get one and get rid of that old office chair -- you'll realize how aggravating a bad chair is.

[Gravity Jim]

I'd also like to point out that the pellicle mesh on my Aeron chair does not destroy my pants. I don't know if it's been improved since early models, or if it only chews up gabardine or what the deal is, but while I've heard reports that it does, I've been sitting in one for 10 years and it hasn't hurt my clothing, which is cheap and rarely replaced.

[bayswater]

My Aeron chair does not destroy my pants !!

That belongs on the features list.

[billf]

my Aeron chair does not destroy my pants.

Herman Miller should use that quote in their adverts.