

Ask YC: Recommend a good chair? - crystalarchives

I'm in the market for a good chair for under $200 (so no Aeron suggestions please).<p>Any ideas?
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coryrc
I went to OfficeMax and Staples and sat in every chair they had. The fifth-to-
last chair I tried at Staples ended up fitting me perfectly. I think it was
$100. I ended up turning the arms upside-down because I don't use them but
they're still required to keep the back from breaking off.

Before going, I had researched the proper ergonomic position for a computer
user. The important parts were legs at ninety degrees, chair can't put
pressure on underside of your hamstring muscle (otherwise blood pools in your
leg), lumbar support, and (for me, at least) vertical neck support allowing me
to read the monitor while my neck muscles are completely relaxed. To
complement this, I built a two-tier desk where my elbows are at 90 degrees
while using the keyboard. I also have a wireless mouse[1] to use when sitting
in a different position (because different positions are the key to being
comfortable).

[1] The Perific wireless mouse
<http://www.thehumansolution.com/perificmouse.html> which I just discovered is
discontinued. sorry, and I really hope mine doesn't break.

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tdavis
EDIT: Guess I should have read the $200 limit. I know of no chairs in that
range which are any good. If you're going for $200, you might as well shoot
for $50-75 and get something cheap from Office Max; I don't think the extra
$100 or so would buy you anything much better. You could probably get an
improved surface type (leather instead of pleather, etc.) but that's probably
it.

==== HERE BE EXPENSIVE CHAIR ====

I love my Humanscale _Freedom_ (get the headrest, too). It has gotten to the
point now where I can't really sit in anything else without my back killing me
because I've become so used to the perfect support it provides.

Definitely pricey (mine was $1,200 I believe, after a $200 rebate), but _wow_
has it been worth it. The only complaint I have is that the quality of the arm
rest connectors are pretty poor; I had to have a replacement shipped after I
leaned on one while getting up and snapped the thing off. My ~160 lbs frame
shouldn't do that.

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davidmathers
In case you're willing to go up to $325, I'm very happy with my Steelcase Uno:

<http://www.steelcase.com/na/uno_products.aspx?f=12279>

When I was chair shopping I found that good chairs started at around $300.
Assuming your definition of good includes "adjustable". As far as I know under
$200 means either non-adjustable or craptastic.

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noodle
aeron.

seriously though, ikea has some pretty good chairs for the price, imo. or see
if you can catch a higher end chair on sale online somewhere.

~~~
spydez
The Aeron is actually a good buy if you agree with Spolsky's math.

[http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/FieldGuidetoDeveloper...](http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/FieldGuidetoDevelopers.html)

Next time I have a chance to buy a chair I'm going to consider the Aeron.
Having to fidget every 5 minutes because the chair's not comfortable has an
annoying habit of making me forget exactly what I was just doing, and the
Staples/Office Depot chair du jour always seems lacking.

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lionhearted
I had some furniture from Crate and Barrel that was excellent for my old home
office. I'm not seeing the exact chairs I had, but these are similar:

[http://www.crateandbarrel.com/family.aspx?c=897&f=4469&#...](http://www.crateandbarrel.com/family.aspx?c=897&f=4469&q=chair&fromLocation=Search&DIMID=400001&SearchPage=1)

[http://www.crateandbarrel.com/family.aspx?c=897&f=3393&#...</a><p>Mine were
on sale - I got two for like $120 each. It was good because they were
exceptionally comfortable, durable, and they looked quite good with the rest
of my kit. I'm normally Captain Frugal, but I spent a bit to my home office
together since I had a lot of people coming through there and making a good
impression was a definite plus.<p>If you have a Crate and Barrel near you,
might want to poke around there and ask when their next sale is happening.
Durable, comfortable, and clean modern aesthetics is my kind of thing.

