If the flats of your feet don’t make complete contact with the floor, you will move your hips forward and slouch, eliminating the S-curve in the lower lumbar. less than 2 hours, with no ill after-effects.Ģ) Seat height (and secondarily, depth) will determine the rest. Comfortable sitting time is now 7-8 hours vs. I’ve lowered this adjustment and found that maintaining the natural S-curve through pressure on the lower back is what prevents pain most consistently. I’m 5′ 8″ and 170 lbs., but the C works with no problem.ġ) The lumbar support is - by far - the primary determinant of comfort or pain. Once I have some conclusive comparable data, I want closure.Īeron sizing chart. I’m impatient and didn’t want to wait over the weekend to schedule sittings for other Herman Miller chairs with a certified dealer. In the end, I bought a used C-size (technically a bit too large for me) Aeron for $450 on Craigslist. Not to mention it’s also the name of one of the best BMXers of all time. The chair I most wanted to test was the Mirra, which seems to have the best combination of price point (bought used or via eBay) and multiple 5-star reviews. If you don’t have jewels to worry about, this chair could well be an ideal cost-effective choice. Surprisingly, the Isokinetics chair is more comfortable than most fixed chairs I tested, though there is some minor… ahem… testicular compression that isn’t nearly as pleasant as it sounds. No forward tilt option.įor personal testing, I also added a Swiss-ball chair ( Isokinetics Balance Ball Chair – $75) to the mix, as seen below: Even in locked position, it still has some backward flex at the top position. Embody – $1,800 list price (negotiated with dealer: $1,200-1,300): Basis of chair design – sitting is bad movement is good. Freedom Task Chair with Headrest (HS) – $999.99 (1 review, average: 4 stars) Used at the FBI and by other governmental agencies with three-letter acronyms.Ħ. Liberty (HS) – $899 (6 reviews average review: 3.5 stars)ĥ. I like the design concept, but I would suggest other forms of “core exercise”.Ĥ.
SwingChair – $495 Recommended by a strong contingent of writers, including one of my favorite visual storytellers, Kathy Sierra. Easier to adjust: Mirra is about 9 revolutions from loosest to tightest settings Aeron is 40+.ģ. Mirra (fully loaded) (HM) – $829 (14 reviews average review: 4.5 stars) Note: the Herman Miller sales representatives I spoke with preferred the Mirra seat feel for shorter legs vs. Used at NASA mission control and tech start-ups worldwide.Ģ. Aeron (Fully loaded) (HM) – $879 (1 review average review: 5 stars) Both eBay and Craiglist offer similar discounts.ġ. Prices are from Amazon, as are the star reviews, but discounts of $200-400 can be negotiated with dealers. More than 95% of Aeron users replied with “yes, absolutely”, but it wasn’t the only chair with a cult-like following.įour of the five are manufactured by Herman Miller (HM) and Humanscale (HS). Similarly, I had trouble believing a chair could possibly be worth $850-$1,200, but my back pain led me to pose the question to the omniscient Interweb. Not that it isn’t worth it - I just can’t do it. To this day, I’ve never paid for first-class airfare for myself. “Is the Aeron chair worth it? Do you have any fave chairs for extended sitting and writing?”Įven though I’m financially comfortable now, I didn’t grow up spending a lot of money, which I’m thankful for. I followed her advice upon returning to CA and the results were sudden: Plantar Fasciitis disappeared, as did shoulder impingement after switching from coil-spring to foam-layered mattresses.īut what about chairs? On January 4th, 2009, I tweeted out the following: If you’re not in one, you’ll be in the other.” Buy the most comfortable bed and pair of shoes you can afford. “Tim, let me share some advice I was once given. Maria Elena, the matriarch of the Panamanian family that had adopted me, sipped her iced tea and pointed at my bruised feet: In January of 2005, I found myself on a veranda in Panama after the usual afternoon rain, dreaming of the upcoming year and reflecting on lessons learned since leaving the US. In this post I’ll cover how I identified the best high-end chairs in the world, which I ultimately chose, and the tangible results that followed.