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The 6 Most Comfortable Office Chairs

On a recent Spirit Airlines flight, it felt fitting, as I was squirmy and somewhat cramped, to read about the most comfortable seats in the airline's magazine. Not airplane seats, but office chairs. Like Gregory's quest for the ideal home office chair, I too was on a mission last year and concluded my search with Herman Miller's Aeron, happily. This list of six comes from Kevin Costello, president of U.S. Ergonomics:

 
 

There's also some crossover with Unpluggd's top 6 list...

According to U.S. Ergonomics, here are the top chairs for comfort and health:
#1: Steelcase Leap, $850

Also on the list (in no order):
2. Freedom by Humanscale, $1305
3. Acuity by Allsteel, $1250 (covered here by Unpluggd)
4. Life by Knoll, $1240
5. Aeron by Herman Miller, $930
6. Zody by Haworth, $880 (featured here on Re-Nest)

Tags

Seating - task chairs, personal health

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Comments (16)

any recs for something fab under $300?

posted by 925juliebean on September 11th 2009 at 4:58pm
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I don't think anything even remotely comfortable for 8 hours a day costs under $300.

posted by ekoshyun on September 11th 2009 at 5:11pm
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Nothing under $300 but cheaper than those listed above but still great are:

Steelcase Think
Allsteel Sum
Knoll Chadwick

posted by kodak on September 11th 2009 at 5:24pm
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I have the Freedom chair at work where I'm sitting in front of a computer 8 hours a day. I have to say it is extremely comfortable and I rarely ever have any back pain. I think I've only experienced back pain twice and it's probably because I tend to lean forward to get close to my screen. I didn't realize how expensive the chair was either!

posted by ninoo00 on September 11th 2009 at 5:27pm
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My Aeron literally saves my, uh, you know, on a daily basis. I bought mine at a business bankruptcy auction for a little over $300.

posted by wig3000 on September 11th 2009 at 5:28pm
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The Freedom chair is great for petite people. For very tall people, I recommend Allsteel's #19 chair.

posted by kodak on September 11th 2009 at 6:14pm
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http://www.anthro.com/cpage.aspx?pid=220

Verté is disgustingly comfortable and you can adjust every spine-thing. lol The minute I sat in this baby I died... now only if it weren't so damn expensive... $1,500, I have a hard time paying that.

posted by dunklekatze on September 11th 2009 at 7:38pm
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i would highly recommend the steelcase think chair. i only paid a little more than 300 for mine new, about 2 years ago. i still have a life chair by knoll, which i bartered for. but i would much rather have my steelcase chair. its also cradle to cradle certified. if you know any designers, ask them to get it for you. we get good discounts on designer furniture.

posted by nelsorp on September 11th 2009 at 7:54pm
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My workplace switched me from the Aeron to the Freedom task chair. Personally, I really miss my old chair. The Freedom has odd lumps that took me months to get used to, offers no adjustments except height, and you cannot lock the back (prevent the chair from reclining). Lastly the fabric does not breathe, so I sweat on humid days.

Every once in a while I am presented the opportunity to sit in an Aeron on different worksites, and each time I recall how I love that chair.

posted by rouar on September 11th 2009 at 9:15pm
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Wow...and people really spend this much for a stupid chair?

posted by ChrisGal on September 12th 2009 at 8:02am
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I love my Leap! I lucked out when a co-worker (who sat in the cube across from me) left the company and I got first dibs on her Leap chair. So I got a great chair without having to convince management to buy one for me. It has the adjustments available to fit me well.

posted by natalie.c on September 12th 2009 at 8:04am
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@ChrisGal, to borrow a lame phrase from Chevron (ugh), people do. Especially if they have back problems or repetitive strain injuries, or if they don't ever want to. Have you ever sat in one of these, or something of equal quality? A good task chair can save you a lot of pain.

posted by Elizabeth B on September 13th 2009 at 11:51pm
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Elizabeth B - I do have back problems, but paying for one of these chairs would set me back money for groceries for several months!

posted by ChrisGal on September 14th 2009 at 7:04am
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Congratulations to the winners! Keep an eye out for some crazy-comfy Interstuhl chairs coming to the U.S. this year. You can read about it at http://bit.ly/fgryS and check out some preview pics at http://bit.ly/V8Y63

posted by kimballoffice on September 15th 2009 at 10:40am
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Chris, I believe it! They are definitely not cheap. Sympathies on your back problems from a fellow sufferer.

posted by Elizabeth B on September 17th 2009 at 2:45am
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Let's be honest, while these chairs really are great and all, they aren't the cheapest... There's a lot of great chairs out there for less - here's some of my fav's (i've sat in them):

Allseating Chiroform Mid back (super soft seat)
Allseating Inertia Mesh Back (again, soft seat, nice back)

Not bias toward allseating, but they make good chairs...

Buuut, if you can find a bank going bankrupt, they usually have nice chairs on the cheap - not a bad route...

fyi, @chrisgal and elizabeth b, check these chairs for back pain - multiple price ranges

posted by Snax on September 22nd 2009 at 4:18pm
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