Recommendations for a Place to Put My Butt

Like a lot of you here, I've been placed on mandatory "WFH" status lately.  I already had a basement office set up, as my job does allow/ require me to occasionally do a bit of work from home.  One small issue that's gotten markedly more pronounced over the past week is the chair in which I sit while doing said work.

To be perfectly forthright, I am not sure when I bought this desk chair.  It might be 20 years old.  It's certainly seen some "seat time".  The bottom padding is completely compressed and if I shift around right I can feel the fasteners that secure the bottom of the seat to the base.  It's not _horribly_ uncomfortable, but my back isn't the greatest and I've been putting off and putting off getting a new one.  Seems like a good time to finally pull the trigger.  

I'm 5'10", 185 lbs, kinda normal/ athletic build.  My office space is pretty cramped so I don't have room for a gigantic executive-type chair.  And I don't want to spend all the money either.  Ideally, like $200 or less.  If I could get it shipped here to my house and not have to venture out into that vast virus-infected wasteland that'd be the bee's knees, too. 

What sayeth yee?  

I like the mesh type, but I have no actual experience with this one.

Junkyard seat from some old Volvo.  Bolt it to some sort of makeshift frame.  Add a 12-volt battery for power adjustability!

My wife and I are larger folks, so the heavier duty big and tall chairs are worth it.  My wife works from home, and I am now too for the foreseeable future, so at least one of our office chairs is in constant use. 

Five years ago my wife was complaining that the random office chairs we had just weren't cutting it anymore and we agreed to get some real office seating.  While we were looking we stumbled across these at Office Max on sale and bought a pair to get us by until we figured out which better chairs to get. They still look and sit like new, and we kinda stopped looking at some point. 

If you want an actual improvement, you'll want to go high end. Steelcase, Herman Miller, Kruger International... Here is a recent thread on it: https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/off-topic-discussion/heres-a-new-which-one-should-i-buy-topic/164831/page1/. I recommend used, there are usually used office equipment stores around. Otherwise facebook markets/craigslist. Maybe eBay. Disinfect it when you get home.

Alternatively, build your own: https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/turn-an-old-car-seat-into-a-ne/168525/page1/

For the 3rd option, and this isn't an all day option, but an exercise ball. I've found putting this in the rotation for an hour or two during the day has me feeling better. I'm not sure if it is actually helping, or if it is just because it forces me to get up a couple of times during the day and move a little bit, but in any case my back hurts less when I sit in this for part of the day. 

https://www.amazon.com/DYNAPRO-Exercise-Ball-Professional-Centimeters/dp/B07XSNL5H8/ref=sr_1_19_sspa?dchild=1&keywords=exercise+ball&qid=1585055685&sr=8-19-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUFaNFdXVVpLVU04MUQmZW5jcnlwdGVkSWQ9QTA3NTUyMzMxUk8wTTlEWUxTMkVGJmVuY3J5cHRlZEFkSWQ9QTA0MDg1MDAyNUgyQkZKN0RLRzI1JndpZGdldE5hbWU9c3BfbXRmJmFjdGlvbj1jbGlja1JlZGlyZWN0JmRvTm90TG9nQ2xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ==

1988RedT2 said:

Junkyard seat from some old Volvo.  Bolt it to some sort of makeshift frame.  Add a 12-volt battery for power adjustability!

powersupply from an old laptop works as well.

I'm going to recommend a stop by Staples or such and spend an hour or so sitting in every chair they have.

My work office chair is awesome. Bought from Staples after testing a lot of chairs.

My home office chair is borderline at best. Bought from Amazon based on looks and reviews. 

You ass will know what works best. 

mtn said:

1988RedT2 said:

Junkyard seat from some old Volvo.  Bolt it to some sort of makeshift frame.  Add a 12-volt battery for power adjustability!

powersupply from an old laptop works as well.

Good point.  And you could use one of the included 5 VDC taps for a built-in USB charger!

This place seems to have a lot of the above-mentioned brands:

https://seatingmind.com/full-collection/?sort=avgcustomerreview

I'd love to go out and "seat shop" but trying to socially-isolate right now.  So I may have to go by gut feeling and reviews.  Which is not optimum, I understand.

Luckily I'm not particularly tall nor big, so a normal type chair should be fine for me.  I'm sort-of drawn to the mesh backs- they seem comfortable, and the narrower back would be nice for my small office.  

My office chair just broke. I'm pretty much using bare metal with no cushioning on it as my back support at the moment.
 

In reply to Toyman01 :

As a bonus, Staples has toilet paper and cleaning supplies. 

You can get used/refurbished herman miller Aeron or Mirra chairs on ebay. They generally last a decade in a twelve hour a day office, so should last you until you retire for home use. Expect to pay $400 shipped for a refurbished chair but they sit well, last forever, and if you ever decide to flip it you get back what you paid for it. Aerons come in three sizes, but most folks are comfortable in a size B. Petite women get size A's, and big+tall men and plus size women get size C's.

In for what's found at Staples. Dealing with a dining room chair and it's brutal.

I just ordered a Steelcase Leap, one of the V1 models.  Found online with free shipping for around $300.  The V2 seems to have a higher back, which is good for taller folks, and some other small changes, some of them aesthetic.  They were going for $50-$100 more. 

I checked around other haunts on the internet and the Leap was generally praised everywhere.  

Will report back here when it arrives- should be by Friday.

In reply to the_machina :

Don't forget to check FB marketplace and the like for Aerons. I (nearly) had good luck with finding some very reasonably priced ones, but it turned out they were size C and I wear a size B.

There are also companies that specialise in refurbishing them, which is where I ended up getting a fully loaded one.

The only issue with the Leap is that it's relatively short front to back on the seat. If you have the whole ergo set up right, feet flat on the floor and whatnot, it's no bad but it can leave the back of the knee unsupported in a way that is rough on hips. 

Aside from that, quality chair with lots of adjustability that will last for years as long as you are gentle with the back lock and don't lean too roughly on the arms. Those are the common failures with ours in the control room where someone is sitting in them pretty much 24/7 and they just don't care about them. 

captdownshift said:

In reply to Toyman01 :

As a bonus, Staples has toilet paper and cleaning supplies. 

They sure don't online! It's been a bear stocking my shops since we use them nearly exclusively.

Second hand stores are really good for office chairs, if they held up well enough to get given away they are tanks.

In reply to oldopelguy :

Interesting, I find that a lot of chairs (and sofas are especially notorious for this) are too long front to back, and this hurts my lower back something fierce.  We bought a 100 year old sofa for our living room (that had been reupholstered) because everything newer that we sat it was just too damn deep.  Mrs VCH is 5'2" so larger furniture tends to swallow her up.