I'm setting up a home office and considering a standing desk over a traditional sit-down one. The benefits seem obvious, but at the same time it seems difficult to get long-term work done if you're standing.
What's your experience with a standing desk?
I do a lot of Dev work as well as design. When I'm coding, standing isnt too much of an issue. Having the option of moving around helps me when I'm stuck debugging issues. When designing though, especially with a wacom tablet, I notice that I tend to slouch or lean too much on the desk, so I sit.
Having a motor makes it very convenient for lazy people like me, especially if it has presets. Setting up the height to make it ergonomically correct is key.
I have a friend that has a DIY setup who uses monitors which adds to the weight and makes adjusting the height on demand very inconvenient–leading to the fact that he doesnt use it to stand anymore. If you go the DIY route, make sure its setup correctly. I've seen some creative setups before including putting a height adjustable chair on their desk. I was too short for that to work for me.
In regards to long-term work, that all depends on you. Like most people on HN, my days run 8~12 hours too. When I first got my desk, I split my day up until I got used to it. One of the things that helped was the use of a GelPro mat (check the clearance section) which cushions your feet.
There are days I've stood all day and felt fine. When I'm sitting I tend to get myself into "Stuck to the chair" mode and even if all it takes is to stand up to walk around to get your blood flowing, I dont or I dont even realize I've been glued to the chair for hours on end.
Hope that helps.