Ikea Markus vs JÄRVFJÄLLET

[Rockbox]

Any owners of both? Which is better? I have ~£200 to spend on a new chair.

The Jarvfjallet is supposed to be an upgraded version of the Markus, but every review I've seen puts it below it, with a thinner seat cushion (than the already thin Markus), worse headrest and thinner frame. The 2022 Jarvfjallet felt better than the Markus when I tried it in Ikea (might be the age of the chairs), and brings about adjustable arms, which should be a win on its own (although the forward/back tilt moves a little too easily).

Also, should I get the leather version, and should I avoid a white chair? Ikea has a 365 day return policy if the item is in a sellable state, so I assume leather would be easier to clean than fabric, and black would hide any flaws easier. I hear the leather armrest (on the Markus at least) is also softer.

Can I also return it fully assembled to their store?

 

[Rockbox]

lumbar was in the right place for me

Same. The first lumbar support I actually liked.

big department store since they have Herman Miller Aerons

I owned a 2nd hand Mirra v1 for a year, and tried the Aerons at John Lewis. There's only so long you can sit on them, and the 3 sizes have distinctly different feels, but they felt very similar to the Mirra.

The thing is, I was led to believe that ergonomic chairs from Herman Miller and Steelcase were these miracle-drug chairs for your back. They were to gaming chairs what Sennheiser was to gaming headsets. To me, gaming/bucket/racing chairs were a non-starter.

Then, I read a post a while back saying that they were good office chairs for 8 hours of sitting, but not for 14h and working from home. There's another Markus vs Jarv thread from 2020 (before the Jarv v2, although it's not even talked about), where someone recommended a 24 hour rated operator chair for call centres.

Then I read that, while comfort was important, design was also a factor in choosing Herman Miller. The Aeron has a nice industrial design, and I quite like the Sayl too, but I'm not spending £1500 on a chair. If money is no object, I like the shiny silver ones in John Lewis. And maybe a corporation can write off their cost. But the only option to me is a £2-250 2nd hand black and blue model, pushing 20 years or more.

So that's what appeals to me about the Ikea chairs. They're cheap enough to buy new. As bad as the armrests are, the Jarv came out, what, 3 years ago? It'll probable be another 3 years before they get proper armrests. My other worry is the headrest pushing my head out, but realistically, I can't think of an alternative.

I tried all the other John Lewis office chairs. Naturally, they were as bad as you'd expect. I tried the Steelcase Leap V2, and had the option to buy a dirty, 15 year old one with dodgy gas cylinder. Decent fit, but nothing special. My only option for a hassle-free, year-long, money-back guarantee (and real money, not a store credit) seems to be Ikea.

 

[Rockbox]

I visited IKEA again. There are 3 chairs which stand out, and the strengths of one are the weaknesses of others.

Gruppspel : £199
Gaming chair with floating back & red stripe
+ 4d armrests
+ armrests go under my desk when low enough (69cm at highest point at min extension)
- weird back mechanism (4 notches of back height, have to pull back all the way to the top to reset)
- non-existent lumbar, & bucket shape makes side sitting painful

Järvfjället : £199
+ arms high & flat enough to go over table (77cm at lowest point at max extension)
- bad headrest that pokes your head out
- firm seat cushion
- on 2nd viewing lumbar not so great

Hatterfjall : £229
- firm cushion
- armrests don't go over or under table
- no upper back support

Fabric Markus : £179
+ better lumbar & headrest than järvfjället
+ all around softer
- worst armrests

Overall, the perfect chair is there. It's just hiding in different parts of other chairs. Why they made the järvfjället, and didn't just put better armrests on the markus, is beyond me. Also, why does the jarv have worse armrests than the grup, despite having a 10 year warranty over the grup's 3, and feeling like the flagship product?

 

[Rockbox]

Matchspel : £150
+ Jarv armrests
+ decent headrest, not great, not terrible
- like Grup, can dig into shoulders
- mesh feels like cheap £25 chair I got on eBay
- locking wheels on chair when not sitting on it (all IKEA chairs have it)

 

[Rockbox]

Yeah, I went with the Jarv as well. Don't like the headrest, but the armrests are godly in comparison to Ikea's selection.