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Comment by pizza234 | Hacker News Reader

I'll go against the conventional wisdom and stress on not trusting recommendations; instead, test chairs on your on as much as you can.

Bodies vary too wildly to work on the basis of other people's experience. Also, the price is not an indicator of quality at all.

I have experience with a "famous high-priced high-recommended" model mentioned here, and the experience was bad (sadly, the first 10 minutes of testing felt good). I don't say that it's bad or good; it just doesn't work with my body shape.

I had another experience with another "recommended last-posture-technology" chair, and it was exhausting to use.

Ended up on a 250$ chair that feels much better than the 1500$+ one.

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> test chairs on your on as much as you can

This is the correct answer. I spent 8 hours researching, trying out (i.e. testing) 25-30 chairs since for over a year I worked completely remote from my home office. You really need to sit in them for a good 15-20 min before you can get a real sense of what is comfortable and what will cause your body issues (and every body is different).

In the end I chose a used Herman Miller Embody off of Craigslist. It was about 75% off, in like-new condition, and fit my body perfectly. The only way I came to that conclusion was from trying out so many chairs and feeling what was nice and what wasn't.

In addition, I'd also stress ergonomics and good posture in addition to comfort. Comfort can't be the only signal or else you could get a chair that rewards bad posture and make you feel good now, but way worse after years of poor posture.

In Silicon Valley, BT Liquidators usually has a good number of choices to test. One thing to beware of is that all sales are absolutely final there, so make sure you know how to thoroughly test a chair for problems or strange squeaks.

If you have any kind of actual pain from your current typing setup, this is the only answer that makes sense. Forget the marketing surrounding expensive chairs - there isn't really as much science as they claim.

If you don't have any pain from sitting/typing and are just looking to buy a "good" chair, I would suggest

(a) spending money instead on a sit stand desk that allows you to change posture during the day (changing posture frequently is more important than sitting in one ideal posture for long periods).

(b) if you can spend money, get a chair that was some adjustable knobs - height, tension in the back, lock to stop rotation and removable arms maybe. Try local second hand office furniture shops and try out different options. If you buy a second hand chair you don't like, you can usually sell it again without a big loss and keep looking for better options.

I had a 1500 euro chair that I hated. I replaced it with a 200 euro chair from Ikea that I now use the most.

What is important to me is variation. I have a swopper, a light stool, an Ikea chair, a walking treadmill and sit/standing desk. The expensive "ergonomic" chairs don't work for me.

Chairs are like shoes, it depends on how you fit, so it is very personal, hard to know until you try it.

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