Standing Desks - Cheap Ones worth it?

Martynt74

Martynt74

Martynt74

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I had a standing desk at my old job and always found i couldn't focus as intently when stood as when i was sat down, when working on certain tasks. However since working from home and changing jobs i seem to find myself in more calls now or just reviewing information. Therefore i'd like to give a standing desk a go again.

I've already got a worktop i made as my current desk. It's around 60cm x 110cm so ideal size for a lot of the Electric Standing Desk Legs i've seen.

I came across this one from Flexispot which seems to have a decent range of options suiting most budgets which bodes well in my head as the possibility of trickle down quality (unless it's all just bought in and rebranded)

Electric Height Adjustable Standing Desk E1| FlexiSpot

Flexispot standing desk E1,70kg frame weight capacity,and is under 50 dB when lifting and lowering the desk. up to 10 year warranty,Hassle-free 60-day returns!
flexispot.co.uk flexispot.co.uk

Just curious if anyone has used one. My only concern is that i probably have a liklihood of leaning on it and how much that's going to batter the motor. Weight capacity is 70kg for the legs and i reckon my worktop and monitors/stuff is probably only ~15kg which hopefully has decent capacity for a little bit of a lean!

It's finding that balance where ~£160 is cheap enough to be worth the risk of not using the standing side of things, whereas looking at the £300 ones i'm a little more hesitant.
 
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I was in a similar predicament to you earlier this year. Couldn't justify spending the £££ for an electric one that seemed well built/had good reviews, so went with an Ikea Trotten Sit/Stand desk. Weight capacity is 50kg, with a monitor, laptop, speakers and small peripherals haven't had any issues with leaning on it.

You could buy the underframe and still use your worktop, although the trotten is 70cm deep, so may not fit the frame attachments.
 
I bought a Humanscale QuickStand Evo to put on top of my existing desk which enables me to move between sitting and standing relatively easily, and was much cheaper than a standing desk. I think I got it from an office wholesaler on eBay.
 
One More Solo said:
I bought a Humanscale QuickStand Evo to put on top of my existing desk which enables me to move between sitting and standing relatively easily, and was much cheaper than a standing desk. I think I got it from an office wholesaler on eBay.
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That looks really good actually. However just spotted the price of them on the main website. More expensive than even the most expensive desk i've seen. £650 for the dual monitor version :eek:
 
M1k3H said:
I was in a similar predicament to you earlier this year. Couldn't justify spending the £££ for an electric one that seemed well built/had good reviews, so went with an Ikea Trotten Sit/Stand desk. Weight capacity is 50kg, with a monitor, laptop, speakers and small peripherals haven't had any issues with leaning on it.

You could buy the underframe and still use your worktop, although the trotten is 70cm deep, so may not fit the frame attachments.
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Doesn't look like the Trotten is available as a frame only. The Rodulf is what i had at a prior job which was decent although think it's too big for my desk.
 
I've used a relatively cheap (~£250) standing desk converter from Flexispot, and I currently use an expensive desk from Fully.

There are a few downsides for the converter - It looks pretty clunky and cumbersome if that bothers you, and you need a stable desk to put it on because it's very heavy in itself (over 20kg from memory). Also, depending on which one you get, you could end up with not much keyboard/mouse space, which is particularly bad if you're one of those people who have a huge mousepad and need lots of room for your mouse when gaming, but I gamed on mine a lot (nothing crazy or competitive) and it was just about fine. I had 2x 24" monitors on mine (on their default stands, no arms) and it handled it just fine and wasn't particularly wobbly.

My current one I like and it's nice to have a clean desk without a huge thing sitting on top. I don't know if it's worth £700+, but a good desk should last years or even decades outside of mechanical failure, which touch wood shouldn't happen, so it is an investment.

You'll want to look into an anti-fatigue mat also. It sounds stupid, but even when working from home and you're walking about and dancing around and all the rest of it, it gets pretty tiring standing on bare ground all day, even on carpet.
 
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Smeghead said:
I've used a relatively cheap (~£250) standing desk converter from Flexispot, and I currently use an expensive desk from Fully.

There are a few downsides for the converter - It looks pretty clunky and cumbersome if that bothers you, and you need a stable desk to put it on because it's very heavy in itself (over 20kg from memory). Also, depending on which one you get, you could end up with not much keyboard/mouse space, which is particularly bad if you're one of those people who have a huge mousepad and need lots of room for your mouse when gaming, but I gamed on mine a lot (nothing crazy or competitive) and it was just about fine. I had 2x 24" monitors on mine (on their default stands, no arms) and it handled it just fine and wasn't particularly wobbly.

My current one I like and it's nice to have a clean desk without a huge thing sitting on top. I don't know if it's worth £700+, but a good desk should last years or even decades outside of mechanical failure, which touch wood shouldn't happen, so it is an investment.

You'll want to look into an anti-fatigue mat also. It sounds stupid, but even when working from home and you're walking about and dancing around and all the rest of it, it gets pretty tiring standing on bare ground all day, even on carpet.
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Yeah, i'm not looking at a converter, as you say, seems to limit things too much. I'm after the legs/frame which is height adjustable. I've just moved into scope creep to the Flexispot E5 which is the dual motor offering which has a higher weight limit. That's £240 on Amazon using a voucher. There's also a EQ5 for £225 on Flexispot which seems very similar too.
 
I have a fully Jarvis, not one I could consider 'cheap' but not the dearest either.

The one thing I don't like about it, either up or down - is that it's not as stable as the fixed desk I had before it. It 'wobbles' a bit, which I don't like. I have 2 screens mounted on monitor arms, so they wobble with it. I think if I had smaller screens on their stands it wouldn't be as bad. Possibly if I was on a carpeted floor, or concrete floor (instead of laminate & floorboards) it might be more stable, so I don't think it's all down to the desk.

I'd recommend trying before you buy if you can. I also find I don't use it standing as much as I should.
 
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Jim99 said:
I bought the EQ5, mostly for the extra weight capacity. Very happy with it.
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Any idea what the difference is between the E5 and the EQ5? The specs looks very similar, but pricing is slightly off with the EQ5 being cheaper.

Unsure if i'm missing something obvious. Tried phoning them but it just rings out.



EDIT - Actually the E5 looks to have an extra horizontal support beam for rigidity. For an extra £15 i'll go with that.
 
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To be honest, their system can be really confusing. They have subtly different control panels etc and I think they also like to have more models so they can discount one at a time and have a higher starting price.

My main thing was a) a controller with memory function and number showing, b) a 160cm desktop and c) high weight limit which EQ5 ticked the boxes for
 
Martynt74 said:
Doesn't look like the Trotten is available as a frame only. The Rodulf is what i had at a prior job which was decent although think it's too big for my desk.
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I know online it's shown as a single product, but when you go to Ikea it's split into two, underframe and worktop. You can definitely buy one without the other.
 
I have the manual ikea jobbie. Started off standing regularly, then the novelty wore off and it stays in sit mode. IMO - don't think of it as a standing desk, think of it as a sitting desk that has very good height adjustment. My old ikea desk can be adjusted but I have to clear it, flip it over, and tinker with the legs, sux.
 
sanaxe1 said:
Has anybody noticed any differences / Benefits within themselves after moving to a standing desk?
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I have a misaligned pelvis (tilted and twisted) from smashing my body down the gym in my 20's.

It's made a big difference for me.

I made the mistake of trying to spend a whole day standing when I first got it :p Now I spend an hour or so standing followed by an hour of sitting. It's also improved my posture.

I have the Flexispot desk (electric, simple up and down, not programable) and my home office is in the tiny 3rd bedroom, so I have the 120x60cm size.

I don't run multiple monitors so its perfectly fine for me and depth is fine too.

Only thing is the desktop comes as 2 halves that you put together, so you get a line through the desk where it joins together.

you could just purchase the frame and then slap whatever table top you like.
 
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