I badly need a new chair.
I put the thumbnail chair there just for fun. It’s called the Vantum and it’s ~$700. I don’t need a Cadillac chair. A Honda is more than adequate. I just don’t know what that’ll cost.
- What’s the absolute minimum you’d spend to get a Honda chair? $100? $200? More?
- What brands have the best reputations?
- What brands should be avoided?
- What questions am I forgetting to ask?
-–
The cough backstory
The plain-old desk chair I bought just 14 months ago already has a serious crack. I noticed it today. I don’t think it can be repaired. Plus the crack will expand making the chair worthless. It’s just a question of how fast. Worst of all - could the chair collapse all-of-the-sudden sending me crashing to the floor?
Before I bought it I avoided the cheapest chairs. I spent a bit more - $80 - in hopes the damn chair would last at least a couple years. So much for that!
Imo buy a used Herman Miller or similar from a used office furnishing type place
They’re on craigslist and marketplace all the time. Very comfortable, and the mesh doesn’t hold the previous occupants’ farts
Yeah the benefit of a used furniture furniture depot type place is you can try out a bunch ane find one that’s comfortable for you/fits your height etc
This. I bought an Aeron for $400. It’s a bit noisier than I’d like it to be but I just need to mess with it a bit and I haven’t had the time.
Definitely try it first though. I bought the most expensive herman miller available without trying it first. Huge regret. I’m still using the knockoff herman miller I bought at staples for $80 20 years ago.
I wouldn’t buy gaming anything. Buy high quality office furniture that’s designed by ergonomics experts to protect companies from liability if their employees experience repetitive stress injuries from their furniture.
Hermann Miller and Steelcase are both good manufacturers. You can buy them affordably from office furniture liquidators. Don’t settle for anything less than top quality.
Look to spend $300 or so. Might seem like a lot but you spend a lot of time in your chair and it’s literally your body on the line, so don’t cheap out.
Gamer chairs are some of the worst chairs money can buy. Like most office chairs are better idk how anyone is still considering a gaming chair in 2k25. Also my office chair is fancy cos its bright orange so they can look nice as well
Right? You should want to sit like an executive, WTF with the “gaming” chairs, when I hear that expression I just think “nice, an expensive plank to sit…”
Don’t buy a gaming chair modeled after a racing chair. Racing seats are designed to keep you alive after 50G impacts and don’t care about your comfort at all. If you encounter a 50G impact while gaming, you are doing it wrong. Try out old office furniture to find something comfortable, but the odds are anything marketed as a chair for gamers isn’t worth it.
If you encounter a 50G impact while gaming, you are doing it wrong.
But my immersion! Lethal levels of force-feedback really make you feel like you’re there!
In China, they strapped me in with a seatbelt before I could play a kitty-cat simulator. I was equally intrigued and terrified, but the game didn’t deliver anything close to needing one.
Getting one of those haptic vests but replacing the pistons with tiny knives so you can really feel like you’re getting stabbed by a crazed goblin.
Years ago I bought my son and myself a cheap gaming chair for about 100€ and it was very good for years, eventually the faux leather complete peeled off the seat, but it served us fine for many years. So maybe it depends on the manufacturer and these are also probably being enshittified rabidly. Comparing a 2019 product to 2025 probably doesn’t work.
Last year I bought my son a Noblechairs Epic gaming chair as a gift from a sale, he’s basically lives in it and likes it very much. It isn’t a racing type chair, but a more firm office type seat and so far it is holding up well. The price is middlerange and it’s pretty sturdy.
I fucking hate office chairs. Especially GAMER racing seat chairs.
I want a living room chair on a swivel.
Hear me out: https://www.tiktok.com/@ingremgametech/video/7567677721434770696
Wingback with the matching ottoman under the desk, it’s the bees knees
Don’t buy anything without putting your ass on it first. Everyone’s body is different, and will interact with any given chair in different ways. Yeah, there’s adjustability, but there’s also some design choices that can’t be adjusted around.
Me, I absolutely loathe the way those gamer racing seats squish my shoulders. In a car that design makes sense because the loss of comfort is worth the safety. At a desk it’s pointless. OTOH for someone with a thinner frame it might be fine.
Go to a physical store and actually sit on some. Play with the adjustability and see what works and what doesn’t. My current chair is a secondhand I-don’t-know-what that cost me $50 at a thrift store and it’s the most comfortable one I’ve had in years. Branding is overrated, especially when it’s something as personal as a chair.
Sometimes when office companies go out of business, they auction off their old chairs.
A few years back, I got a 1999 Herman Miller Aeron from Good Will for $20.
80 is still a “cheap because it’ll break” price, you probably need at least $200 into an office chair to last a few years, but obviously don’t pay any lifestyle scam shit like the gamer tax.
The reddit certified opinion is to buy a used Herman Miller Aeron, but those dorks obviously haven’t actually tested the competition. The internet outside of reddit is filled with affiliate marketing bots. I’m in the same boat as you and I think I might just make a pile of cardboard boxes instead.
I might just make a pile of cardboard boxes instead.
Tempting.
Listen I’m not gonna judge you if you buy a $700 chair. But as an alternative to consider I bought this $100 ikea desk chair. Mine is white and they appear to not make the color option anymore which is a shame because I think it’s pretty sharp:
Mine still looks pretty good but seeing some used ones on ebay makes me think they discontinued this color because it gets gross pretty fast. Anyway I’ve had it for at least 5-6 years, maybe more. I use it every day and I work from home. Is it the comfiest chair? Nah, I’m sure some Herman miller $900 shit would be much better. But it keeps me off of the ground.
And for what it’s worth I’m somewhat older (late 30s) with a history of back and neck issues (spent my 20s working in jobs that resulted in moderate and severe back and neck injuries). Also as others have said go sit in it, this is why ikea is nice if you live near one
Mine still looks pretty good but seeing some used ones on ebay makes me think they discontinued this color because it gets gross pretty fast.
I eat a lot of curry at my desk, that thing would look like it went through a war.
Who doesn’t like an antiqued piece of furniture?
I have this as my work chair and dislike it a lot. It sort of tilts forward so you never actually sit back on it much and my back does not love it, tbf my back is also broken, but still. Would not buy again, the cheap gaming chair I used to sit in was a lot better.
$100 ikea desk chair
I’ll consider it. I like the $100 price point and Amazon and Walmart sell tons of crap and I don’t believe the ratings and reviews. The Amazon chair that I have now was ~$80. I just checked and it has 4.3 stars with ~31,000 ratings. That info has gotta be total bullshit.
Anyway I’ve had it for at least 5-6 years
That sounds great.
Is it the comfiest chair? Nah
For anybody reading this… I spent $15 on a donut-shaped memory foam cushion. For the price - it was one of the best purchases I ever made. I have lower back issues but for anybody it makes a cheap chair much more comfortable. Plus - of course - you can still use it after you toss your chair.
This is what I have, I love it for the price. 200 bucks for an actually good chair is hard to beat. I wish the lumbar support could move vertically but that’s literally my only complaint after 2-ish years.
Big brain answer? Get a standing desk and like a zero gravity camping chair for whenever you get tired of standing.
I had a barstool at my standing desk for the longest time. Forces you to choose between standing or sitting with good posture.
i can totally sit on a barstool with bad posture. also stand with bad posture.
There’s no market for 2nd hand premium office chairs near me so I got an ikea markus 8 years ago. Still works. I really dislike the armrests specifically that they are not adjustable and the rubbery material that my arms would sit if on I didn’t cover them as a work around. Lesson learned is that I highly recommend finding something with adjustable armrests if you can. My previous experience with the cheaper chairs is that pleather really sucks during summer and I have no regrets about moving to a mesh & fabric chair and don’t really miss the unnecessary amounts of cushioning.
Tip for anyone who got here by searching for ikea markus
there is ~1cm ish metal tab poking through a series of slots on the base of the chair, poking it in resolves issues with the lean getting stuck
Can vouch for the Markus chair. I have a 10 year old one or so, and it’s still super comfortable to me. The non-adjustable armrests are fine to me (but I’m a very tall boy, YMMV), and for the price it’s wonderful.
Many thousand moons ago, me tried an office chair that felt really comfy so I bought it and less than a month later, I had a lot of pain in the spine/neck and switched to a dirt cheap one and the pain vanished. I don’t know if this a thing yet like with mattresses but if they let you try it for a month and take returns then I would go with one of those. I don’t have good advice but those ordinary looking office chairs or a plain ol house chair with a cushion is sometimes safer than something deceptive at least for me.
