Best Ergonomic Office Chairs 2011

As you are interested in the best ergonomic office chairs you already know what it is all about as much as I do. The pain of perching on a stiff piece of furniture all day, the question of concentrating on your work or the discomfort of your back and about limbs that fall asleep… Whether you go to an office everyday or you work at home like myself, acquiring good ergonomic chairs is an investment with substantial returns because it not only raises your living quality and ease health concerns but it also increases the overall productivity of you and your employees. There are many types of ergonomic office chairs. The ones covered in this review are all intended for average workplace use. I have selected some of the best selling products for you and tried to impartially show their strong points as well as weaknesses. This should give you a general idea about each of these ergonomic chairs. It is then up to you to choose the chair you will spend your work hours on.

Ergonomics is now an indispensable concern in office design and adjustable seats that promote efficiency have long ceased to be fancy accessories and are now a basic element of the modern workspace. Many features are now standard in office chairs and you should make sure that these are found in the ergonomic chairs you buy for your office. The first one is the adequate padding in the seat part and arms. You do not want to sit on hard wood nor do you want your elbows to suffer when you are typing. As for the back part, I suggest you to look for mesh rather than traditional textile stuff and padding. The main advantage of mesh is the ventilation it provides. Even with all the air conditioning tech that rule our office lives nowadays, the sweating of your back in the chair remains a brake on your work efficiency. Needless to say that adjustability and leaning ability of the arms and the back are your main concern in an ergonomic chair as these features are what ergonomics is all about. Lumbar support has become something we hear all too often nowadays but that doesn't make it any less important so make sure there is something that will keep your body comfortable around the lower parts of the back of the chair. Durability is also an issue. Buying the tough chair even if it costs a bit more is advised if you are not planning to use your ergonomic chair as fireplace fuel after one year. Finally, you should take care of the price differences. Sometimes the same chair can be found in ridiculously different prices. I have read about a customer grieving that she paid 190$ for BT-6001-GYBK-GG, which is about 140$ on Amazon.

This chair is very popular with the customers; it could very well be called the bestseller of ergonomic chair market. This is no surprise as it is the cheapest chair you can get that bears the title of “ergonomic”. Being cheap is of course an advantage but I have to warn you of a number of caveats you might face if you plan to purchase this chair. Firstly although this chair is called ergonomic the only adjustable thing is the height. You will have little leeway to fit in your body or lean back a bit when you are tired. Secondly, as much as the price suggests the chair’s build is frail. I suggest you do not be pushy with this thing. Especially the arms are reportedly prone to breaking quickly. This is a big disadvantage, especially if you are not quite petite. Therefore you may very well consider paying more now rather than deal with the troubles of a malfunctioning chair later on. That being said, it appears to be quite comfortable as a seat. The back is ventilated mesh, which I find quite nice but some people think the back is stiff and uncomfortably constraining so be forewarned.

Another bestselling and very cheap chair, the returns of which is equally little. Slightly more costly than the above chair, H8021-GG has back a part that many would find more appealing simply because it has more padding and just by having a look at its picture you can see that your loins will find more comfort with the lumbar support provided by this one. I should say that I personally do not like nylon stuff that covers this chair but that is not necessarily the case for everyone. Where this chair fails is the seat. The padding on the seat is just not enough to allow for comfortable sitting for more than a few hours and before long you will feel the harder material inside. In addition to that, there are no real adjustable parts and if you keep trying to lean back on this chair you will eventually break it as the back is weakly attached to the rest of the chair and mostly depends on the arms making them likely to break also. I humbly suggest that you spend a few more dollars on the seat you will spend your days on.

These two are basically the same with some minor quality differences that makes BT-6001-BEBK-GG (the blue one) slightly more expensive than BT-6001-GYBK-GG (the black one). While it is a fact that these are not the most advanced seats out there, they are by and large the best you should hope to get by paying less than 200 $ and that is why I recommend either one of these to people with a modest budget and in need of a good chair. These chairs offer much more ability to adjust to your needs including seat tilt, back height and adjustable arms. The height change is especially useful for tall people. It is remarkable indeed for this price interval. The back and seat are padded and covered with mesh and the frame is sturdier than the above cheapies. The only issue with these could be that they are made in China but that shouldn’t be a problem unless there is a palpable weakness in the product, which I have not identified. 

This is one of the more costly chairs that sells very well and not surprisingly more than one brand has produced its exact replicas. You will recognize them by their similar looks and price. Although it is not perfect I would say CP-B078-2-MTLK-GG is a nice chair. The best thing the first: This chair will last forever. It is solid metal. On the reverse side, that means the chair is extremely heavy and not very good for the sake of your wooden floor. The back and the seat are covered with ventilated mesh. That’s a very good feature. Unfortunately, when sitting on this chair your skin will touch metal too often giving you an agitating feeling cold metal. Building seating equipment out of metal and making it comfortable is a delicate business so care is required when you choose an ergonomic chair of this type. There are also extensive adjustment options for the height and tilting of the back and the seat. However, the back is reportedly too large for people of smaller build, making the lumbar support function more like rib support. All in all, the reason for the popularity of this chair is probably due to its visual resemblance of the Aeron Chair we will review below, which gives you a sense of getting the same thing for much less a price. However, you should remember that quality always comes with price. In fact, there is an immense gap between the two chairs.

This is also a very popular chair and it deserves to be. In this model, Office Star has brought together all the great features and created one of the best ergonomic office chairs. The first two things I especially want to mention is the mesh back and the thickly padded seat. I think the back of the seat needs more than everything to provide ventilation and the sitting part must be soft so covering them in two different ways is a great idea. You will not have the usual “the seat feels hard” problem with this one. There is also a decent lumbar support unit attached to the back as you can see in the picture. Most parts of the chair including the lumbar support is adjustable, plus there is a headrest that will be handy if you want to put your head back a bit during your hours long work. This thing is also quite durable. There is some metal included in addition to plastic but without making it too heavy. We definitely have a very high quality chair here. I recommend this model as it is second only to the Aeron Chair.

If comfort in your working environment is a priority to you and you see the office seat as an important factor that will affect your long term work capability, a factor that warrants a generous investment, then Aeron Chair is a product you should definitely check. Despite the cost, which is well above the lesser chairs we see around, Aeron Chair is close to the top concerning sales, suggesting that those who realize the significance of workplace ergonomics are not few. Moving on, the number one asset of Aeron Chair is the extensive range of options to adjust the chair to your needs. You will find that you are able to adjust the arms height and tilt, limit the back tilt and change the height. There is even an option called “kinemat”, which basically means the amount of pressure you need to exert to lean back. The controls for all these options can be somewhat confusing when you first get the chair but you will like them as you realize that it is impossible to feel squeezed in this chair. 

As for the lumbar support, it is substantial, fully adjustable and can even be completely removed if you don’t want it. The mesh material that covers the back and the seat is comfortable and ventilating, in addition to acting like some sort of net that evenly distributes body weight. This material is not textile so it won't soak liquids and you can easily wipe it if you spill something on it. The frame of the chair is tough plastic (not the kind that will break) and metal (titanium + zinc). The amount of metal is just so much that it is perfectly durable while at the same time being very light. Overall, the chair itself looks cool and impressive. It will give you comfort and boost your prestige. This is my dream chair and I say you consider it if you have the finances.