The Steelcase Silq boasts an adjust-to-your-body engineering design similar to that of the Herman Miller Cosm, but we found the chair to be less comfortable for sitting for long periods of time than other, comparable chairs. A quick search for office chairs on Google will turn up hundreds of chairs, many of which cost under $100 and can be found at sites like Wayfair and Amazon or in-person at big-box stores and office retailers like Target and Staples. However, the Aeron is designed around desk work and sitting properly upright. ergonomic chair office affordable newly This is a chair that will last, too: Steelcases 12-year warranty (PDF) covers everything that typically goes wrong with chairs, including any problems in the pneumatic cylinders that enable the height adjustment, and the Gesture has proven sturdy in our testing over years of heavy use. In fact, the majority of the chairs we tested werent bad at all; frequently they just didnt fit a wide enough spectrum of our testers. What sets the Gesture apart is that it excels for people who want to recline with little effort, switch tasks throughout the day, or easily make adjustments to fine-tune the fit. The Sayl is as supportive and comfortable as many chairs twice the price, but it lacks some advanced adjustment features. Its still an excellent chair with a solid amount of adjustments and a comfortable back, but most of our testers didnt think anything about the Leap separated it from the Gesture or Aeron. Many cheap office chairs make you feel like youve been crammed into a torturous economy seat on a cross-country flight, but quality office chairs upgrade you to first classtheyre designed to support your body comfortably for the long haul. Rather than spending $50 to $100 every year or two, youre better off saving up to buy a well-made chair that will last. Upon request, the company provided us with a free kit that allows users to screw the lumbar support in place, but this seems like a less-than-ideal solution for a nearly thousand-dollar chair. When in doubt, we recommend sizing up. Your home-office chair is likely getting more use than ever before. However, in previous rounds of testing, it was universally reviled. If thats not possible, a generous return policy of at least 30 days will help you make that decision at home. Although the Ignition 2.0s overall comfort doesnt compare with that of the Gesture or the Aeron, it at least gets all the basics right. Some people liked them, but we found in general that being able to manually fine-tune the Gesture led to greater comfort and fit for most of our testers. On the plus side, the Freedoms arms can lower to seat height, which makes it easy for you to get in and out of the chair and to fit it under any desk. Weve tested the ergoCentric tCentric Hybrid chair and added it to Other good office chairs. 
If the sculpted foam design appeals to you, the Freedom might be worth trying out for yourself if you can find it at a nearby retailer and if you feel comfortable shopping in person. *At the time of publishing, the price was $1,033. This can be an annoying distraction for some people, depending on how much you use the armrests. This chair demands that you notice it, and if youre into that space-age look, the range of color options allows you to make it fit in or stand out. Our panelists remarked that the gray (called mineral) model we tested looked less monolithic than the black version and might blend in better in some homes. When it comes to looks, the Aeron has an iconic design that has been much imitated. The Aeron is easier to clean than the Gesture and other other non-mesh chairs. It costs about the same as the Aeron, and it scored well with our panelists in comfort, back support, ease of reclining, and overall appearance, but the Aeron still edged this chair out by a hair in all of those categories. We think the Aeron is a better chair with a more comfortable seat and better tilt controls, though. 
In testing, we were concerned about the plastic back ripping, but it has been remarkably sturdy. Our test Aeron was size B, recommended for most people between 5-foot-2 and 6-foot-6. But that pricing didnt factor into our blind testing, where our panelists rated it just average across most of the categories, including comfort, back support, and ease of adjusting. Problem: poor paddingSolution: lumbar support pillow and seat cushion. We also surveyed staff members who have owned or used any of our current or previous picks for their long-term testing notes. The mesh seat and back make the Aeron a better option than foam upholstered chairs in warm climates or for anyone who runs hot. And the seat cushion is covered with a thick woven fabric, although its obviously less premium (with a looser weave) than that of the Gesture. mfavour But unfortunately, office chairs that cost less than our budget pick (about $300 as of this writing) are more or less the same: None of them compete with our picks when it comes to all-day comfort, ergonomics, durability, customization, and warranty. The frame is built mostly of hard, matte plastic. Gaming chairs, meanwhile, resemble office chairs but generally provide fewer ergonomic adjustments. Here are our most helpful tips on what you can do to keep it clean. More recently, over a few weeks in my home office, I did an additional round of testing three sub-$400 office chairs: the HON Convergence, the HON Ignition 2.0, and the Fully Desk Chair. The casters roll smoothly over hardwood (you definitely could win a chair roller derby race with this).
If you cant stomach the idea of spending $300 to $1,000 for an office chair, no matter the benefits, look for a good used deal of one of our picks. Because its a big plastic piece, you can easily feel the lumbar support through the mesh back; it takes away from some of the seat backs springiness, but thats the case with all chairs of this design, and we think the trade-off for more ergonomic seating is worth making. It typically costs about the same as the HON Ignition 2.0 but is a bit more adjustable and has an aluminum base and a more Herman Millerinspired design. (In normal-speak, size A is small, B is medium, and C is large.) But it doesnt have the advanced adjustments and rangessuch as in seat depth and arm movementsof a chair like the Steelcase Gesture. A footrest easily solves that problem, albeit at an added cost. Two of the newest chairs we tested came from Steelcase and Herman Miller. The Autonomous ErgoChair 2 combines a mesh back and a foam seat for a decent (about $360) price. The model we tested was fully loaded in leather and a polished aluminum frame, a configuration that retails for over $2,500. Shes thrilled when those topics intersectand when she gets to write about them in her PJs. If your chair is too high and you cant lower it (meaning you can keep your arms and wrists at the right position but cant keep your feet flat on the floor), you can get a footrest to support your feet. 2022 But a few tweaks can make a $50 chair feel nearly as good as a $1,000 one. If you have a home office, finding a chair that makes your desk time more comfortable and better for your health is a worthwhile endeavor. The IKEA Hattefjll comes in colorful fabrics and sports a fun, curvy design, but our testers found the seat too firm for prolonged sitting. For our last major round of testing in 2019, we used the following criteria to whittle down a field of 50 contenders to a final list of 10 to test: Based on our conversations with ergonomists, we avoided two types of chairs entirely: Because chair comfort is such a personal thing, in our 2019 round of tests we asked staffers of various body types, from a 5-foot-2 writer to a 6-foot-2 editor, to test each chair at our New York office. She has contributed to print and online publications such as The New York Times, Lifehacker, and PCWorld, specializing in tech, productivity, and lifestyle/family topics. Also, its build isnt as sturdy as that of our more expensive picks, and we dont think itll last nearly as long. Even though its half the price, it has the same warranty and history of durability as every other Herman Miller chair. A chairs arm support is important, according to Pynt: Any posture where you are leaning forward from the vertical without arm support will require the back muscles to work overtime to maintain an erect posture, leading to muscle stress and resultant pain. We found the Gestures arm support useful for reclining to read, for playing games, and for leaning over a tablet to draw for long hours. Overall, we preferred the adjustability of the other chairs, as well as the other size options not available on the Cosm. You cannot adjust the seat depthanother reason picking the correct-size Aeron is so important. Since everyone is different, we found chairs that fit a range of body types, but you should always try a chair out before purchasing. chair office ergonomic affordable However, our testers preferred the Ignition 2.0s comfort and ergonomics. Its hard to get all-day comfort in this price range, but the Ignition 2.0 is an exception. We found this unique design effective in engaging our core muscles when we moved in the chair, kind of like doing crunches while sitting. With used, you lose the Herman Miller warranty, but if youre slightly handy with DIY projects, you can replace almost anything on the Aeron with used parts you can find on eBay. If youre looking for something more affordable, the HON Ignition 2.0 makes the fewest sacrifices of any inexpensive office chair we tested and is an upgrade to our previous budget pick, the HON Exposure. Again, chair size makes a big difference: Our size A and B testers found the chair a bit more difficult to recline in and maintain the tilt angle, but our size C tester said the chair reclined too easily and was difficult to lock into place, even though the chair has a tilt tension control knob. As a high-quality chair with strong lumbar support, the Sayl is a good fit for standard office workand its plastic-webbed back stays cooler than fabric cushions. This guide is for those who work full-time from their office chair. Compared with the Gesture, the Aeron feels much more durable and harder to breakits mostly metal, hard plastic, and mesh. Herman Millers Embody is a strange-looking chair, but when it comes to comfort, its one of the most adjustable, high-tech chairs available. If you find one used for a good price, if you prefer the look of the Leap, or if you just dont need the arm adjustability of the Gesture, the Leap might serve you well. Its always worthwhile to try out a few options because what works for one person might not for another. We think youre better off getting our budget pick, since its only about $40 more. You can pick between several colors for the back suspension, several base colors, and a number of different-colored seat fabrics. These two accessories can also help you adjust a chairs seat depth or height to fit you better. This design encourages you to sit correctly and prevents backaches from extended sitting sessions. The back pushes you forward more than natural, the headrest is uncomfortable, and the adjustments are difficult to control. If you spend most of your working hours sitting at your desk, the answer is yes. Although the Embody is comfortable, it has a starting price even higher than the Gestures, it lacks the Gestures arm adjustability, and Herman Miller doesnt provide the fabric variety that Steelcase offers. You can purchase an optional adjustable lumbar-support control that slides up and down on the back, but most of our testers found this piece unnecessary since the Sayl naturally forces you upright. You might not realize it, but reclining in your chair is beneficial. We also tested the HON Convergence, but we found the seat a bit too squishy, with thinner, less durable fabric; on top of that, the mid- to upper-back support was not as good as that of the HON Ignition 2.0. If you want to add fully adjustable arms for depth adjustment and inward and outward movement, that costs another $130 or so. Same solutions, different problem: If you find that the cushioning in your cheap office chair wears out quickly or isnt dense enough to begin with, you can use a lumbar support pillow to augment the backrest padding or a seat cushion to coddle your tuchus. miss card farewell office chair Wirecutter senior staff writer Melanie Pinola has been working out of her home office for over two decades, writing about technology and productivity for sites such as Lifehacker, PCWorld, and Laptop Mag. The coronavirus has turned life upside down. Because the seat height starts at about 17 inchesan inch higher than on the Gesture or the Aeron size B chairits not a great fit if youre petite. tendencies modernize This chair might be better as a task chair in a conference room or if you tend to get out of your chair regularly throughout the day. The Ignition 2.0 comes with a limited lifetime warranty that covers defective materials or workmanship but doesnt cover minor parts wearing out (as the Steelcase and Herman Miller warranties do). When you buy through our links, we may earn a commission. These chairs look sleeker and do away with most adjustments in favor of attempting to automatically conform to your body. Its inoffensive, and the mesh back means itll be breathable in the summer. Expensive chairs can also be bought secondhand (often in like-new condition) at significant discounts, making them more accessible to more people. If you want a more stylish budget chair and can live with wiggly armrests, the Branch Ergonomic Chair is another option worth considering. The backs on most other chairs tilt when you recline, but the Gestures back is designed to flex as well, since your spine has a different shape when youre reclining compared with when youre sitting up straight. ergonomic The Markus is still well-loved across the internet, so if youre looking for an inexpensive chair its worth testing out at IKEA if you have the chance, but your mileage will vary depending on your height. Three sizes help it fit a wider range of body types and sizes than most one-size-fits-all chairs. However, since the seat starts at 17 inches high, people of below-average height may have difficulty sitting properly with their feet flat on the floor (we recommend a footrest). If our top picks are out of your price range, the Herman Miller Sayl provides similar comfort and durability for nearly half the price. We found the foam seat too firm, however, and we had concerns that the seat designits Velcroed to the basemay mean its likely to collect dust, lint, and other detritus akin to what youd find under a sofa cushion. How long any chair will last depends on how you use it. Some panelists loved the alien/space-age look of the chair while others hated it; we referred to it as the Tron chair during testing. ), Problem: poor lumbar supportSolution: a lumbar support pillow. You cant really fix a chair that doesnt recline or reclines only slightlyor, worse, forces you to lean forward in your chair. (Wirecutter editor Thorin Klosowski has had a classic Aeron for over a decade and has moved with it many times, including twice to different states, and it still looks brand-new.). The seat cushion is thick and softan improvement over the slightly too-firm seats of our previous budget pick, the HON Exposure, and the similarly priced Fully Desk Chair. The chairs other main strength lies in the adjustability it gives you in various areas to help you get the right fit. Over the years, weve tested a few office chairs from IKEA. But this chair doesnt have the Gestures cleverly designed recline mechanism or the Aerons iconic looks, and ergoCentricfounded in 1990 and only recently breaking into the U.S. marketlacks either brands longstanding reputation. We recommend the Sayl with height-adjustable arms, a fixed seat depth, and no additional lumbar support. Using knobs on the right side, you can move the seat depth forward and back, change the tilt tension, adjust how far back the chair can lean, and move the seat height up and down. (Ergonomic experts recommend reclining about 110 degrees to relieve pressure on your spine, rather than sitting straight up or forward.) The Aeron comes with a 12-year warranty that covers all repairs and parts. All testers ran the office chairs through the same basic testing gauntlet, assessing comfort, body support, adjustability, and durability. Office chairs and task chairs are generally synonymous, though in practice it's usually the cheapest, smallest, least ergonomically sound office chairs that are sold as task chairs. We know that our picks are a big investmentone that not everybody wants to make or can afford to make. Our testers included writers, editors, and photographers with different body types. But this was our panelists least favorite chair, with one tester saying that sitting in it for 90 minutes felt like an eternity and another remarking that it might motivate them to get a standing desk.
The arms dont go down as far as those on the Gesture, Aeron, or Sayl, but many other budget chairs dont provide any armrest adjustments at all, which some of our testers noted as a dealbreaker after sitting in 10 different chairs. Whether youre looking to buy used or new, consider visiting an office-furniture refurbishment store (as safely as possible), or even an architectural-salvage store like Habitat for Humanitys ReStore, to try a few chairs otherwise not available in stores. Priced between the Sayl and the Gesture, its a good option for anyone who is not willing to spend up to a grand on a chair but who still wants something normal looking and comfortable. Since comfort is a personal thing, getting a good chair is often about finding the chair that fits you personally. Our testers said that compared with similar chairs, the Gesture hit the right balance between firmness and plushness, and it was far better than budget chairs, which were almost-like-sitting-on-a-wooden-chair firm. You can slide the pads on the armrests forward and back, and angle them in or out. This chair might do in the short term, but youll have to plan on replacing it soon if you want to invest in a chair for the long term. We found the Fullys seat cushion a tad too firm for all-day comfort, and the lumbar support adjustment was ineffective. If you find that your cheap chairs lumbar support is inadequate, a $20 to $30 lumbar support pillow can help you maintain better posture and make sitting back more comfortable. For previous versions of this guide, we also tested and dismissed the following office chairs: The Steelcase Leap was once our pick for the best office chair and later became our runner-up. And if your chair is too low for you to use your keyboard properly, a seat cushion can raise you to the proper height. For this round of testing, we asked nine people to test 10 chairs for at least one straight 90-minute sessionas recommended by Cornell Universitys Ergonomic Departmentif not a full day of work. Some of our testers likened using it to sitting in a hammock, as the springy material almost suspends you as you sit. Most good chairs have armrests that can move up and down, shift backward and forward, and angle in or out; budget chairs rarely give you even that much adjustment, usually allowing for up and down movement at best. Its a no-frills chair with fixed armrests and a one-year warranty. The Gesture also comes in the widest range of fabrics and other finishing options of the chairs we tested, so you can customize its appearance for your workspace. Overall, however, its unremarkable design and limited features keep it from excelling. For instance, our taller testers found the non-adjustable armrests of the budget-friendly IKEA Markus to be too short, and shorter testers felt the lowest seat position of the chair was still too high.
For most people, we suggest these options: The above combination puts the price at roughly $1,400 directly from Herman Miller at this writing. Much like the Haworth Fern, the Knoll ReGeneration was a divisive chair. It usually costs about $300 (but has been on sale for much less), its comfortable, and it offers the best lumbar support of any chair weve tested under $500. If that is an issue for you, our other picks all have mesh backs that are much more breathable and also less likely to collect lint because the material isnt cloth.