The design firm I work for (CAPSULE) in Minneapolis was lucky enough to name this chair for Herman Miller. We got to see the prototypes and agree that it's a freaking cool chair. There's more on the process we used to name it here - http://capsuleshak.typepad.com/shaktalk/2009/06/capsule-names-new-herman-miller-chair.html

Well, @ this price point I expect to be comfy for more than "0-2 hours". And sitting on a bridge in India doesn't bring to mind "comfort", @overanalyzer. I'm drawn to these reviews, but I'm always left with the same general options: new very pricey but very comfy and visually pleasing task chair; used task chair (comfy, less pricey, but potentially ugly); knock-off of an Eames Management or something similar (pricier than used task chair, unknown in terms of comfort, visually pleasing); Ikea (etc.) crap. Isn't there something comfortable, affordable, and that doesn't involve ripping off someone else's design?

I have been testing desk chairs for years, and I only use the Steelcase Think chair. I work for an investment bank, so needless to say, I have my butt in my chair for at least 10 hours a day. Sitting in a Think chair feels wonderful - every vertebrae is in place. It is a little more expensive, but worth it! $689 for the standard chair, and $749 for the 3D mesh, which is gorgeous and modern.

However, if you must buy the Setu chair, you should buy from www.sit4less.com I have bought chairs from them before and they always have the lowest price. They list the Setu at $529.

@kushkush... $600 bucks for a 2 hour sit? Not worth it.

I bit the bullet and got a Steelcase Leap stool. Sure, it's officy looking and pricy, but since I work at home quite a bit I need a good place to sit. My desk is 39" high and I installed a Neutral Posture sit/stand keyboard tray for flexibility.

Also, the Leap let's me sit crosslegged, which is impossible on an Aeron because of it's metal frame and something I love to do while doing Vectorworks drawings.

@kushkush

<I>Isn't there something comfortable, affordable, and that doesn't involve ripping off someone else's design?</I>

When you think about it... how many chairs have been designed over the course of human history. A million, perhaps? And yet you'll still come across a whole manner of seating that is genuinely uncomfortable.

How does this continue to happen? Function first: If it isn't comfortable, then you have utterly failed as a designer.

My first criteria for seating is comfort. Visual appeal is second. Price? I think Katherine Hepburn said it best, saying that the last thing you remember about a great piece of furniture is what it cost you. After 20, 30, 40 or 50 years of enjoying it, the cost will have stopped mattering long, long, long ago.

Actually, I think you can buy a cheapish desk chair that won't destroy your back or your knees at a number of places. I work from home, spend all day on the computer (where your wrists and hands are is actually more important than where your butt is), and I sit on an Ikea desk chair that's on it's 4th year and is going strong. It's black. I don't really care if it fits in with my decor. It's a tool.

Video and film editors often swear by those backless egrometric chairs, but I need to be able to scoot around on wheels.

hmmmm....A chair that costs about as much as my rent? This type of consumerism makes me realize why rich people are so out of touch with how the "other half" lives!

@thebev

So people always question why we have Aeron chairs for everyone in the office. My boss has this to say.

So, buying in the quantities we do, we spent about $600 a chair instead of a $100 for some plain-jane office chairs. Most of the chairs here are probably about 10 years old now, so it works out to about $60/year, or a little over $1 a week.

$1 a week is what we budget per employee for toilet paper.

If we said we were going to buy cheaper chairs, no one in HR would say a thing. Even though the reality is in the cheaper chairs everyone would be tired, taking more breaks, and feeling fatigued. However if we said we were going to skimp on the toilet paper budget, HR would demand that we quit $#%&ing around.

They're not as expensive used as new. They stay in amazing shape for a long, long, long time. Every part if 100% replaceable in the event you somehow managed to break it.

Nothing wrong with buying used. It's the best route if you want the nice stuff. And hey, sure, in some cases it's (not this chair) 40-years old already, but it's still holding up better than cheaper stuff. And the reality is 40 years from now you'll still be using it, when you've gotten tired of the cheaper stuff, or have been forced to replace it.

I bought this chair to use as my sewing chair. It was $50, already at least 50 years old, fits perfectly with my decor (the wood and cane match my little sewing desk, and the chrome goes with the chrome legs of my drafting and fabric-laying tables). AND it's very, very comfortable. I'm planning to make a rectangular cushion for some extra lumbar support, but compared to my old chair it's heavenly.

I had thought about buying a new desk chair from a local design/chain store, but their chairs are at least $200 and cheap-looking compared to this. I don't get paying more than my rent for a chair - even $50 was a little more than I had initially planned but it was totally worth it for the quality and comfort.

MrFoof-I was mainly commenting on buying this chair for a home, and I understand that offices can buy in bulk, and it may make a little more sense. However, I still think $600 dollars for a single chair, no matter what the comfort level, is a bit extreme.

@thebev

I was more of getting to the point of the typical comment (not necessarily yours) of "how can something be worth X". Granted, value is subjective, but if you were sitting in a task chair 20 hours a week at home there's real value. That's 1,000 hours a year. 10,000 over the minimum 10 years I'd expect it to remain in fantastic shape (and honestly, if Aerons are any indication, it can probably go 20-25 years). Over 10 years it works out to about 15 cents per day.

So that's what I end up asking myself when I make any purchase like this. "Is my comfort worth $0.15/day?" Yes, you're paying for it upfront (and that's the obstacle), but when you look at the long-tail, it's not so bad. And you can attempt to justify it with some long test drives at the showroom.

Plus inflation. I don't think Herman Miller's prices for office equipment rise at the same rate for classic pieces (which is 5-10% a year!), but 10 years from now, it'll probably be $800, not $529. At least buying it now you've been able to enjoy it for those 10 years.

My only beef with them for the home is task chairs aren't often terribly pretty things. They're often very mechanical in nature.

As I've posted before, I used to work at Style network, and the cubes there have Aeron chairs. The old head of the network wheeled hers out to the parking lot when she was fired. The chair was great, and wholesale is a better price point, but they paid PAs minimum wage. Can't pay your bills with a chair.

Mr.Foof-Wow, this discussion is interesting...I thought I was just commenting on an expensive chair! :) I suppose that by your logic any high quality, expensive item can be divided down to mere cents a day over decades. And I completely agree, that buying quality to last is the way to go. However, I often think that buying "quality" means buying an expensive, trendy trophy item, which will not be used to it's potential, and discarded when the next hot "quality" item comes along. And many people can afford to do that.

But my point is this: is it ever right to always buy something this outlandishly expensive? Is it right for a company to spend money on this type of item when people may be being laid off? Although I am in no position to be buying a $600 dollar chair at the moment, I think no justification would ever be sufficient to convince me that I am worth it.

I hope I don't sound to high and mighty, I am delighted to be able to discuss something like this! :)

@thebev

My general rule is if I don't see it still being in my home 10 years from now (whether it's appearance, durability, or otherwise) it has no business being in my home in the first place. The higher the price, the longer I better see myself in it.

I appreciate my Aeron at work, but at home I have an Eames molded armchair. It's plastic and aluminum. It would survive great-great-great-grandchildren, including the color. You couldn't ruin it if you tried. I tend to pace around and tend to other things, so I'm usually not sitting in it more than 2 hours at a clip. That and I wouldn't allow an Aeron in my home. An Aeron is very functional and comfortable, but just not... attractive.

I extend it to anything and everything that costs more than $50 - since I don't waste money on things I'd just throw out or stuff in a closet, there's more to spend on what I care about. However there's only a few things I've gone a bit crazy on. There is a $40 IKEA side table that looks way better than it cost and is durable as all get out? Folks are surprised to find I got it at IKEA, and <I>incredibly</I> disappointed to find out it was discontinued half a decade ago. The wonderful vases my flowers are in? I don't even think they were $10. The dining set that everyone (seriously, everyone who's ever visited) wonders if it came with the apartment because it perfectly complements the cabinetry? Cheaper than my bedding (and ran about as much as the chair in the article).

The Eames Lounge and Ottoman? Yes, that's Palisander. Yes, that's a recent offering so if it was used, it's not like I would've saved much of anything on it. What did it cost? Dollars. More than one. How did I justify it? I'm going on 28. I know that when I'm 82 (55 years from date of purchase), I'll still be sitting in it, having replaced the foam maybe twice. What will it cost if they still produce them when I'm 82? I don't want to think about it.