Ask HN: What is the best qualtiy office chair for long stretches of coding? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: What is the best qualtiy office chair for long stretches of coding?

13 pointsmattew26 comments

I am setting up new office space for my new company and want opinions on chairs for coding. Our budget is up to $800 per chair. Are the Aeron chairs worth it?

I am

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I love my Aeron. Even more so when I was able to pick it up for a great price second hand. There seems to be a tremendous abundance of them available from second hand office furniture companies.

Sitting on one of these right now:

Bungie LoBack Office Chair: http://amzn.com/B0002XQJQ4

It may not be quite as good as an Aeron, but I had an Aeron chair for two years at a former job, and this holds its own, especially for $129. I've had it for something like 7 or 8 months, and both the chair and its comfort have held up well. I can sit in this thing all day. The cheap task chair it replaced, I would get tired of sitting in after 45 minutes.

YMMV. I also supplement the lumbar support:

http://amzn.com/B000AP0HY4

The combination may not be stylish enough for some. I would recommend trying it to a student.

(I do not sell chairs, nor am I affiliated with Amazon. I'm just a programmer who needs a comfortable chair.)

I noticed my neck and back problems started going away when I went to the gym. No chair will make your neck and back muscles get stronger.

Agree. Even by jogging for about 30 minutes to an hour a few days a week solved my lower back pains.

Also stretch your hamstrings. Works wonder for me.

Aeron.

My wife and I have both spent our own money on Aerons, and if we lost them, we'd get Aerons again.

They also last forever. My older Herman Miller chair from 1993 is still in good condition too, in spite of having logged something like 40,000 butt-hours.

BTW, Aerons come in three sizes, so get the right size for your people. At 6'2" and 240 lb. (187 cm, 110 kg) I need the large size. My wife is on the cusp between small and medium.

I wouldn't say they last forever. My aeron is about 15 years old, and it's starting to get some wobble in the main stem. (There might be a bearing that i can replace, but I haven't looked into it.) Also I never did understand the +/- dial on the side. It increases the stiffness of the chair, but I have to crank it about 5-8 times every few days. It feels like the mechanics are wearing out.

(And my back is bugging me more recently, but that may just be me getting old.)

I recently purchased a chair for my home. I looked at Aeron chairs. They were nice but I didn't get the WOW factor I thought I would. I also realised that I would be paying for the 10+ years guarantee. Since I would be the only one using the chair, I thought it was not necessary for me. It makes sense for businesses though as they will be subject to more wear and tear from moving and different use plus don't need to worry about your chairs for the next decade at least.

The best way to help coders keep their health is to encourage them to take a 5-10 minute stretch break every 45 minutes or so. You may also want to look into getting standing desks that can be easily adjusted so people can stand while they work if they so choose.

When you have a seat in the Aeron, you won't think, "Wow, this is incredibly comfortable." It's fine, definitely comfortable, but not mindblowing. Where it earns its price is after you've been sitting for, say, six hours and realize that you're still comfortable. In most chairs, you'll get sweaty and crampy long before that.

The mesh in the Aeron is important, by the way. I find the limiting factor for chair comfort is usually sweatiness/stuffiness.

I have an Aeron at work and I love it. It's absolutely worth the cost over time. There's no 'wow' factor when you first sit, but you'll still feel comfortable in it after many hours, which is not the case with most chairs. I also have had some lower back issues recently and sitting in the chair actually makes me feel much better.

At home, I have a Steelcase Think plus lumbar support. I wanted something a bit less expensive and nicer looking for my bedroom. It's also great - I don't spend as many hours on it as I do on the Aeron and it's done a wonderful job so far - no back pain at all.

Before that, I used a $10 Ikea chair for two years, and I felt serious back pain after a few months. It's absolutely worth it to invest in a quality chair. Even though the price tag is depressing, make the purchase once. Your chair / back pain will become a solved problem for at least a decade.

I have an Aeron and I just don't like it. I don't think it's comfortable at all. I've adjusted pretty much everything on that chair and nothing works for me.

Not a joke, whatever chair you buy, budget $20 or $25 for a professional grade stability ball for "sitting breaks". It's good for posture, core, etc. and helps one to stretch out a bit. I thought it was weird until I tried it, and now I always keep one next to my desk.

Am I the only one that doesn't sit on a hard chair? :) I tried them out and I much prefer the "sofa chair"

http://ioj.com/v/h6qxu <- photo of my aging chair

I've had one of these since 2002. It's a little over your budget but it is worth every penny (Get the gel seat-pan).

I've survived shipping pushes that had 14-16 hr./day coding with this chair

http://www.mcergo.com/humanscale-freedom-chair-with-headrest...

http://www.humanscale.com/products/freedom_index.cfm

Steelcase 454 Concentrix

Old, make sure you get the one with steel 5-way legs & hard casters, and without arm rests (unless you really want them). These have not been made new for ~20 years, but you find them occasionally on craigslist, or stuffed way in the back of used office furniture warehouses.

My first one lasted 15 years, I found two more last year ( @ $25/ea ).

Go sit in everything before you make up your mind. You may have to drive to several office furniture stores to do this -- one store may not carry all the major brands.

In the end, I purchased a Steelcase Leap, and I've been very pleased with it. Unlike cheaper chairs I've used, it doesn't leave me feeling fatigued after hours of use.

Recently got an Aeron for about $600.

http://www.madisonseating.com/aeron-highly-adjustable-by-her...

I like my Mirra at home better than the Aeron I have at work. I'd check them out. Also been meaning to try out some sort of balance ball part time.

humanscale = amazing.

http://www.humanscale.com/products/liberty.cfm

i have that one at work and it's definitely added to my productivity. it adjusts in everyway i could want and definitely beats aerons that ive tried. the back support is perfect.

I got a used Steelcase Leap on craigslist and I am really happy with it.

Eight hundred dollars per chair? That's a crazy high budget.

Not if the $800 chairs are substantially more comfortable. Keep in mind that the $800 chair will last several years, so the cost of giving a programmer such an expensive chair is miniscule relative to their salary. Joel Spolsky (a big fan of the Aeron) has written about this subject at length:

http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/FieldGuidetoDeveloper...

We spend a lot of time sitting. I want myself and the people who work for me to be comfortable. $800 isn't much to spend on something you use all day, every day.

I honestly don't know why people rave about the Aeron. I went to a store and sat in a few and wasn't impressed, maybe it's because I'm skinnier than most people, may (as some suggested) you need to sit in them for a long time to appreciate them.

What I do know is that for a period of time I was on a mad chair hunt. I went from store to store trying to find that perfect million dollar chair that would stop my legs and feet from hurting due to lack of circulation because of how long I'd sit for.

In the end, after sitting in Aeron after Aeron and others, I gave up, realized every one of them was a waste of money.

The solution was cheap and simple:

1) I kept my cheapo $70 chair from Office Max

2) I put a $90 cushion on it (one of those you can carry with you and put in your car).

3) I put a wooden tangerine crate inside of a cardboard box, taped it up, and used it as a foot support to elevate my legs, thus relieving pressure on them from the chair's cushion.

That's it. I was able to code much longer now without taking breaks, for a fraction of the price. Then again, if you're buying for other people, this sort of setup might cause them to roll their eyes, this is mainly just advice for people looking to buy chairs for themselves.

Of course, don't forget to take periodic breaks and exercise. No matter how expensive or ingeniously setup your chair is, unless it's levitating you in the air with force perfectly distributed on every square inch of your body, you'll need to take breaks to allow your blood to circulate properly.

You sure you sat on the right size of Aeron? Sitting on one that isn't the right size can be uncomfortable.

I honestly don't know why people rave about the Aeron. I went to a store and sat in a few and wasn't impressed

I hear that from people from time to time. I'm sure it's body-specific - the Aeron probably works really well for some people and not for others.

I tried out a few chairs before settling on an Aeron, and it was my favorite of the bunch. Two years later, I still absolutely love it.

Best of all, I've now purchased 4 Aeron chairs (for myself and for my employees), and I've found all four in the $300-$500 range on Craigslist.

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