Chair selection is difficult!

[tomd96]

Hi all,

I've been reading reviews and forums in the hope of finding a new chair, but there's so many conflicting comments that it's tricky to find something I could buy with any real confidence.

I've had my current office chair for about 6 years and it's very good quality with decent adjustments available, but the top of the backrest is only about level with the middle of my shoulders and I'd really like a chair with a headrest as the lack of one on my current chair can be uncomfortable for longer sessions. It's primarily used for gaming, and for info I'm 6'5 and 100kg/16st.

The noblechairs look good in reviews and specs, but the Q&A thread is concerning. I'm interested in the Icon when it becomes available as it seems they've made improvements from the Epic, but of course it will be a long time before long-term reliability can be assessed.

Can anyone recommend a reliable, comfortable chair with decent adjustments and a tall back with headrest? Should I just give noblechairs a go? The ~£300 price range would be nice to stick to, but I don't mind the idea of paying more for a chair that is likely to last significantly longer. If I did go for noble, I'd probably end up going for the real leather option.

Cheers!

 

[tomd96]

Thanks for the replies so far.

can't see the point of "gaming chairs" unless they have lock out castors or they lock into a steering wheel frame and then unable to move backwards or rotate.

I'm not specifically after a "gaming" chair, just a comfortable, durable chair for my home office/PC gaming space that has a high back with a headrest, which seems difficult to find among the higher-end "office" chairs. I use a Humanscale Freedom at work and it's OK but not something I'd choose for myself, and the Aeron which I used at my last job was nice but doesn't come with a headrest as standard and I'm not sure about buying second hand (would rather not spend £1,000 for a new one.) Gaming chairs seem the best fit for what I'm after, there's just no apparent consensus on whether they are worth the investment quality-wise.

I have the leather epic chair and no issues with quality on the chair itself. I'm 6ft and my head goes into the middle of the headrest. It's VERY firm for the first few weeks but is not breaking in and is more comfortable.

Thanks for the feedback. How long have you had the chair? Would you have described it as uncomfortable due to the initial firmness, or good from the start and simply improving over time?

 

[tomd96]

Have you looked at getting a 'proper' chair i.e Steelcase leap or a Hermon Miller?

I mentioned my experience of Herman Miller and Humanscale in my second post. I'm struggling to find anywhere online to look properly at Steelcase - it looks like they have a version of the Leap with a headrest based on their own website, but I can't find it for sale in the UK and their US prices are all more than $1k for the ones with headrests. Any guidance for where to find them would be appreciated, but there seems to be a theme that, unless spending a lot more, "proper" office chairs don't include headrests, which is the whole point of me looking for a new chair.

 

[tomd96]

From past posts on here you need to look at 2nd hand places that refurb then like http://officeresale.co.uk/browsebybrand/?brands[]=7

Thanks very much for the link. It seems that the Steelcase options might not be quite tall enough and would rely on ordering online and second hand to keep the price in line with what I'd want to spend, so I'm hesitant there.

There are aftermarket headrests for the Aeron available online for about £150, but not much in the way of reviews. Has anyone tried one of the headrests? Even with a second-hand Aeron though, that would mean spending around £600 for something with limited warranty and unknown history. Of course, Herman Miller has a good reputation for durability.

I do like the idea of a mesh chair like the Aeron as my home office can get very warm in the summer... my current chair is leather though and hasn't caused any significant discomfort in hotter weather.

What about Ikea Markus?

My wife has a Markus and the height and headrest are good and comfortable, but the armrests don't have the adjustments I am used to and want to retain - I regularly raise or lower the armrests on my existing chair depending on what I'm doing, e.g. higher for keyboard and mouse usage, lower when gaming with a controller. A shame, as the Markus is certainly a much cheaper option!

I did find the chair overly hard to begin with but it's very comfortable now. I've had it about three weeks and it gets sat on for three to four hours most nights.

Good to know that it's not taken a great deal of time to improve!

I think at the moment the leading choices are a second-hand Aeron with an aftermarket headrest, or noblechairs. I'll probably wait for reviews on the Icon before deciding anything, but if anyone has any other suggestions I'd be very happy to look at more options

 

[tomd96]

Any thoughts on the Ergohuman chairs? They seem like a more affordable Aeron competitor and are available in mesh with a headrest. Around £500 new with a 10 year warranty

 

[tomd96]

Thanks for the additional replies. Unfortunately further investigation showed that the standard size chairs from Steelcase, Ergohuman and RH Extend all appear to be too small. Ergohuman for example DO offer chairs that would be tall enough for me but only by spending more than twice the price of their normal chair! The ~£500-600 standard chair suddenly turned into a £1200 one from their Bodybilt range because I'm too tall. My current chair is very much of that "classic" ergonomic office chair type and is a great chair, but not ideal for leaning back and relaxing while gaming.

I've ordered a Noblechairs Icon as it seemed like the best overall option available to me. The back height including headrest is shown as about the same as an IKEA Markus, which is a comfortable height for me, and of course the Icon has many more adjustments etc and should be higher quality. Hopefully I'll be happy with it!

 

[tomd96]

Good luck with it.they do look nice i must admit.

one thing though i will say about the Rh extend 220 being to small? (the 220 isn't a standard chair the standard chairs yes they are not that big)
The back rest height on the 220 is 620 mm and that's with out the neck-rest, which can also be extended by nearly 30 cm i believe. the back rest top can be extended to 725 mm above the seat base.
so the backrest has a huge range of height adjustments with neck-rest height above the seat is something like 755+ mm max. that's quite a lot
will need to check when at home. but im sure the max height from seat base to top of "neck-rest" is about 755 mm the noble is 860 mm to top of "head-rest" so 11 cm more from neck to top of head.
i would guess that the RH chair has a higher shoulder height position than the noble but the nobles overall height is taller, but bear in mind that is a head support on the noble and the RH is a neck support.

but yes with all the bits it easily also turns it into a £1000+ chair

be interesting to see how you find it. i was tempted by them but cant justify the expense especially when i have two rh220 sitting at home with only one in use.

The 860mm height of the Noble would allow me to actually use the headrest, anything lower wouldn't - my experience with the IKEA Markus helped me to confirm that. The key idea is to have an actual headrest to lean back on, and unfortunately the neck-rest on the RH doesn't look like what I'm after. Thanks again for the suggestion though - it's been surprising how difficult it is to find anything online beyond Herman Miller, Humanscale and gaming chairs so this thread has helped me to find chairs I doubt I'd have known to look at from my own searches.

The leather Icons are due in the next week or so and I'll give an update on my thoughts once I've been able to try it out

 

[tomd96]

Maybe you should ask for some advice from the dealers and manufactures? Doing an Internet desk study isn't going to work for everyone.

I have a friend who works as a programmer and must be 6'8" at least and he swears by Herman Miller, Steelcase do Plus size chairs for persons up to 250kg without loss in performance there are options for people above average height and weight.

Unfortunately, getting advice from the manufacturers is how I found out that the prices double if I want something from them that fits. Herman Miller are great for office use, as indeed is my current chair - this is for a more relaxed gaming experience where I can lean back and have my head supported. Leaning back in my current chair or a standard Herman Miller/Steelcase/Ergohuman would leave my neck and head unsupported which isn't comfortable or very healthy, and their options designed for taller users are much more expensive sadly.

I'm basically after a mid-way solution between a proper office chair and my living room setup where I game on a reclining leather sofa. A headrest is a must or there is just no point in getting a new chair.