OT: Office chairs

[Pete]

Long shot but worth asking:

I believe office chairs are like beds, ie, you need to sit in and try them before parting with your hard-earned cash, so does anyone know of anywhere in Preston, Lancashire, or within reasonable travelling distance of Preston (say 35 miles, which includes Manchester) where I can see, feel and try various office chairs?

I'm looking to spend maybe up to 150 quid and need swivel, gas lift, and the ability to tilt. I've looked at Staples, Makro, Tesco and so far been unimpressed with their offerings.

Something like this on Ebay looks like it may well do the job but I need to sit in it first to make sure it's comfortable enough

[John Rumm]

while ago - found that there are few places which actually have a decent range on display. Found that staples online had a much better range, but that is not available in the shops. There was however an option to buy and try, and send back if not comfortable etc. In the end I went that route.

Previously I had had ones similar to that you linked, but found that none I tried this time were particularly well padded. In the end I went for :

seemed to have all the right features and decent padding. Has remained comfortable and pretty good in most respects, although not quite as comfortable to fall asleep in as some ;-)

[Hugo Nebula]

Ikea. The chair I'm sitting on now I've had for at least a dozen years, and is much better than any 'proper' office chair.

[NoSpam]

On 28/12/2011 21:10, Hugo Nebula wrote: ... snipped

+1

[Andy Champ]

I was given a lump of money and spent it on a John Lewis Morgan chair. It doesn't have all the adjustments you might like, but it happens to be comfortable for me. They have quite a decent range at some of their shops from £25 (good for 10 minutes only) to well over a thousand :O

Andy

[Alan]

In message , Pete wrote

Equally importantly look how the gas lift mechanism is attached to the seat base. Turn an assembled chair over to view properly. Plush upholstery often hides a poorly designed gas lift mechanism and poor mechanical integrity.

View a few chairs in different places (including those where you may work) and you will soon see the difference between a well made chair and one of a lesser quality. The best quality office chair that I have purchased was also the cheapest!

[devany]

Like beds, you're going to spend a long time with/in them. May be worth spending a bit more money.

The Herman Miller Aeron is pricey, but worth it. I've no affiliation, but I've had one for more than 10 years. There's a few second hand ones on ebay for 200-300 quid.

[Paul - xxx]

+1

[Huge]

Horrible things. We all got them at a PPOE. I managed to steal an old typists chair from somewhere to replace it.

I have a Staples Managers Chair at home. They had a large range in my local Staples - just went round and found the comfiest.

[Clive George]

OTOH my office chair happens to be one of the cheapest Staples did at the time. Chosen on the basis of comfort, and it's done well over the years. (I was having problems with the chair I'd been given, so I went shopping and tried a few out).

[Tony Bryer]

I sit in mine for a good part of the week. As already noted, lots of the ones in sheds look great on top but aren't necessarily very well built and quite of the ones I looked at didn't have tilt or backrest adjustments.

In the end I went to an office furniture specialist and paid what was then the equivalent of £150 for a good fully adjustable chair. The back stem fractured a few months back and I went back to the store to see if I could buy a replacement: response was that this chair had a 3-year guarantee (I hadn't noted this) and since I was within this (by a couple of weeks) they would fix it gratis. So it might be worth seeing if there's a similar outfit near you.

[Alan]

In message , David Paste wrote

On my current well constructed chair the base of the seat (thin plywood

- as on all of these chairs) sits on a 3mm thick metal plate with the edges bent up by 20mm. It's a fancy U beam of width 200mm, length 300mm and tapers in slightly towards the middle. The metal plate is not going to bend due to normal abuse. This mounts to an equally substantial U section plate fixed to the top of the gas strut.

On seats that have failed the base of the seat sits on a 4 legged spider or something that looks like it's been recycled from a biscuit tin lid.

In my experience, on the spider arrangement the legs can bend independently and at some time one will fracture or because of the mismatched movement of the metal and the wooden seat base the screw mounting point will pull out of the wood. Once one mounting point is loose the other come under more strain and start failing soon after.

[Chris J Dixon]

+1

Chris

[Rob]

Bought one of these second hand some years ago for about 100 quid:

sent me a manual (required!) by return. Wouldn't pay what they're asking mind. I suppose my point is a decent chair second hand.

Rob

[Frank Erskine]

A fortnight or three ago I was looking at a new office chair, the right arm having collapsed on the one I inherited when I retired from work a few years ago. In Staples EVERY one appears to to be molished in China... :-(

[fred]

enough

>>> TIA

The only negs I have found with Ikea office chairs is the tendency for the arms foul on the desk when you try to push the chair under at normal seating height, meaning that they need to be lowered before putting away fully.

I equipped a small office with 4 of their relatively cheap Verner manager chairs about 5 years ago and they have all survived daily use.

50 quid.

The claim to perform extensive active testing on them and given the volume that they sell in they would pay heavily in returns if they didn't last as claimed.

[F]

• another 1: MARKUS, £125.

Note: it moves very freely on the plastic mat IKEA sell. So freely in comparison to my previous chair, that two and a half weeks later, after two hospital visits and an x-ray, I still have a large bruise and am limping from the collision between the end of one of the bars that holds the castors and my ankle when I sat on it and rolled it forward without moving said ankle fast enough!

You have been warned...

[Ericp]

Someone has said IKEA which would be the best, the other would be Costco, who have decent displays from time to time.

[tim....]

I'm confused

How is that not a "proper" office chair?

tim

[F]

The reference to it not being a 'proper' office chair was Hugo's, not mine. As far as I'm concerned, it is... and a good one. Though it needs taming!