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Comment by msisk6 | Hacker News Reader

Right now I'm sitting in an Aeron chair I bought myself 11 years ago. It's been through 3 startups, 4 moves, 2 wives and a half-dozen laptops. I don't want to even think about how many hours my keister has been in this chair. Amortized for use over time I don't think I ever spent money so wisely.

Get a good chair now -- even if you have to spend your own money on it. You won't regret it.

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Same story here, though I've recently given up my Aeron. I bought my Aeron at the Arthur Andersen bankruptcy auction in Houston in response to back, elbow, and wrist pain caused by a half dozen crappy chairs bought from Office Max or Office Depot for about $100 each over the span of several years. I kept the Aeron for 8 years, and then sold it when I was moving out of my house and into an RV...and it looked as good as the day I bought it. The guy who bought it from me couldn't believe I'd had it for nearly a decade and that it was used when I got it. Best $385 I ever spent, and when I can make room for another one, I won't mind spending a few hundred bucks to buy another one. I can say with absolute sincerity that it's just stupid to buy a cheap office chair. You pay for it with your back, your ass, your wrists, your elbows, and with your wallet, because the cheap chairs only last a year or two if you are a heavy user, as programmers always are.

I had started to regret selling it a month or so into my travels, but I've now figured out how to avoid trouble with the new lifestyle. Moving regularly between all of the several sitting locations I have in the RV (dinette, desk, sofa, and also sitting outside in a cloth folding chair or a wooden folding chair when weather is nice (which is most of the time, since I follow good weather), and exercising a lot more (easy since I have to walk my dog regularly, anyway, and I'm always in some place new that is way more interesting than what's on TV). I also still have my tall table from Ikea that I used for a while as a standing desk, but I haven't parked anywhere long enough to make it worth setting up.

As I type, I'm sitting outside under the awning overlooking the desert in a place called "Slab City" about 150 miles west of San Diego, and just south of Joshua Tree. I think I am going to do some customization of my next RV to get an Aeron back into the picture, though. There's just no good reason not to have a really good chair.

I'm very interested in your experience moving to an RV (and what life has been like since the move). Do you have any links to articles you've written about it?

I've been blogging periodically at http://nerdnomad.com. The most interesting posts are probably these two:

http://nerdnomad.com/the-rv-loophole/

http://nerdnomad.com/whats-something-like-that-set-you-back/

I'm revisiting the budget in the next post, as it's been more expensive than I expected in some ways, and less expensive in others. Overall, it evens out and I'm saving a ton over living in Mountain View (though, admittedly, I was living pretty luxe in Mountain View with a 1000 sq ft house a few blocks from downtown). More importantly, every day is a comfort-zone smashing experience, which I'm convinced is good for mind, body and soul.

I've also been twatting at http://twitter.com/nerdnomad and flicking at http://flickr.com/photos/nerdnomad

As I mentioned, I'm at Slab City, which is a truly unique American experience. Salvation Mountain is here, along with hundreds of RVers and campers, all squatting on government land and living wholly off the grid and seemingly getting along just fine. I don't think I've ever seen more solar panels in one place; and I've visited the Google campus. I do worry about where some of these folks are putting their wastewater...many of the RVs here have not moved in years, and there are no public restrooms for miles around, nor are there septic hookups. Anyway, obviously Slab City is worth blogging about, so I'll be posting about that soon, as well, along with millions of pictures.

very interesting story- loved the blog, but please refrain from using 'twatting' and 'flicking'. If you must, use 'tweeting'. 'twat' has negative connotations in many places, and flicking is just lame. :)

Tynan replaced one of his RV chairs with an aeron.

Yeah, I saw that just after I sold my Aeron. But, within a couple of weeks of living in my RV I realized I got the wrong one (nothing wrong with it, I just realized my priorities are different than what I thought they'd be; I was warned numerous times that your first RV is not the right RV, and you'll want to change within the first year, but I didn't believe it)...so I'm just passing through this one, and don't want to make any major changes to it that would effect resale value. The next RV will be getting an Aeron.

I'm sitting on a wooden dining chair as I type, and boy does it show! It does not do wonders for your attention span either.

I have an Aeron chair at work. It's okay. If I were going to film a movie where the plot was being tied to chair, I would use the Aeron. Even without binding, you feel trapped. When you stand up and manage to escape, you feel an amazing amount of freedom.

I have a "crappy IKEA chair" at home. It is much better. You sit in it, and it feels good. You don't think about the act of sitting anymore.

Did I mention that Aeron chairs are ugly?

Have you spent any time setting it up? Considering the amount of time you sit in it 30 mins reading the manual is time well spent, and it really does make a difference.

The real problem is probably my desk. If you can't adjust the desk, you can't adjust the chair.

In the office I work at a desk and on a chair. But at home (where I work on side-projects several hours most days) I never work sitting on a chair - it's always either curled up with a laptop on the couch, or sitting on the floor. Usually I alternate between the two. I much prefer not sitting on a chair if I can avoid it.

> it's always either curled up with a laptop on the couch, or sitting on the floor

Aren't you still sitting though? Or did I miss something in the article?

[ If you aren't sitting while 'curled up with a laptop on the couch,' I can't imagine that that position is good for your wrists/tendons/etc. Just food for thought. You don't want to avoid hemorrhoids just to end up with carpal tunnel or tendinitis. ]

Been using an Aeron for 12 years. Now I have a rip in the seat mesh, and one arm fallen off because of the snapped bolt. I could order parts to fix it, but I'm thinking it might be a good time to try out something new.

Does somebody have any recommendations for the chairs in similar price range of Aeron?

Haworth Zody chairs are worth a try. I LOVE mine. Some of the Steelcase Leaps are nice, too.

Thanks. Looks like a good alternative to Aeron.

HAG Capisco chair. We love ours.

Wow this is certainly different. Tempting...

Seconded. I love my Aeron.

One of my favorite features is rarely mentioned: the part of the chair that contacts your body is a flexible mesh. There are thousands of holes in the mesh that make it incredibly breathable. You can sit in it for hours without any heat or moisture buildup on your back or butt.

Surprisingly, I find that it's this feature that I miss most when sitting in other chairs.

Although I didn't realise it, I am sitting on one in my office right now. The entire 3 floors are decked out with them, and I can attest to the incredible configurability. It can, however, bite you in the ass if not set up correctly. Read the instructions!

I have a different ergonomic chair, but I just wanted to reiterate your point: Seriously! RTFM! It doesn't seem like something you'd have to do for a frickin' chair, but you'll be so glad you did.

What if you get the chair used without TFM? :(

Try watching the chair adjustment how-to videos: http://www.hermanmiller.com/Products/Aeron-Chairs

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