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Speaking of Steelcase, I've seen the Criterion recommended a few times here. I'm seeing it listed on madison seating (e: this place has gotten a ton of horrible reviews so I'm removing the link)madisonseating.com for $200.quote:List price: $1,202.99  It looks like the same one sold straight from the Steelcase website. Why is it so cheap? Shipping is only $25, the website claims. As someone who is not going to spend $500-$1000 on a chair, I'm tempted to grab this. I've been using generic office chairs, and they're comfortable, but my problem is the vinyl wears out after about a year or so, and starts cracking and looks like poo poo. RightClickSaveAs fucked around with this message at 21:44 on Feb 10, 2013 |
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Feb 10, 2013 21:32
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I read some very, very fishy things about madisonseating.com while I was looking for an online retailer. Be sure to do a lot of research before you make a decision, but I'll tell you right now that it's basically a crap shoot and you're better off buying straight from the manufacturer. Also remember that "open box" is about as vague as a product descriptor as can be. Caveat emptor, and all that. Edit: I thought I remembered a discussion on them a while back. Here's a link to where the discussion starts. Scroll down for some more information on why they can be so cheap. http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3383243&userid=0&perpage=40&pagenumber=16#post404841580 Sackmo fucked around with this message at 21:44 on Feb 10, 2013 |
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Feb 10, 2013 21:40
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Ah, I didn't even see the open box fine print. That explains a lot then, I think I'll pass on it. Thanks for the heads up.
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Feb 10, 2013 21:42
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RightClickSaveAs posted:Ah, I didn't even see the open box fine print. That explains a lot then, I think I'll pass on it. Thanks for the heads up. Local office furniture resellers around here sell criterions for around $150ish..
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Feb 11, 2013 04:21
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Maneki Neko posted:Local office furniture resellers around here sell criterions for around $150ish..
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Feb 11, 2013 04:28
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Haha that's hilarious, it's basically equivalent to: Madden Football 2010 List price: Your price: $1.99 You save $58.00! NO ONE pays list price for a chair. Even when it's brand new.
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Feb 11, 2013 21:41
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Can't wait to sit on the Herman Miller Roster Update 2014!!
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Feb 12, 2013 00:12
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I bought a Leap from MadisonSeating a year ago for $630 shipped. It arrived packaged rather spartan, but was otherwise solid. I'm sitting in it now. They seemed sketchy to me too, but I accepted the risk because they were much cheaper than anywhere else.
Dominoes fucked around with this message at 01:20 on Feb 12, 2013 |
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Feb 12, 2013 01:18
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I bought my Leap from Sit4Less despite their mediocre reviews. I still don't know what compelled me to this day, but it ended up being a close call. Despite them charging my credit card immediately after placing the order, they failed to give me any information on when the order would actually arrive for weeks. When they finally did, it wasn't even the correct information, making me think they really don't have it together in the support department. Now I understand that they just put in a drop-ship order with the manufacturer and they ship it to you direct after it's made, which would explain a lot. Hardly an excuse for giving me the run around, but at least this way it was already fully assembled and I got free shipping. I think I paid about $700. It also pissed off the FedEx driver something fierce because the box was as big as a refrigerator. I guess that was worth it.
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Feb 12, 2013 02:32
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I found an office furniture liquidator this weekend and picked up a Steelcase Leap, they had two left. I'm not sure what exact version it is, but it came with armrests and a high back. It doesn't look like much from most of the pictures you see online taken from the front, but when you get a chance to sit in it and play with all those controls that are hidden underneath it really is a huge difference, especially coming from a generic office chair. The pads and everything were in good condition, there was just some scuffing on the side and the casters have definitely seen some use. It ended up being a total of $380 with taxes, I think I got a pretty good deal. Now I just need to retrain myself to sit correctly. I developed a bad habit of slouching back in my old office chair with my feet out, which is pretty horrific for your posture. I asked about the Herman Miller Aerons, but the guy said the last they'd had those was a month ago, and they went right away. They did have a Mirra in, but sitting in that I could tell right away I wouldn't be able to get used to the hard back.
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Feb 19, 2013 00:44
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RightClickSaveAs posted:I asked about the Herman Miller Aerons, but the guy said the last they'd had those was a month ago, and they went right away. They did have a Mirra in, but sitting in that I could tell right away I wouldn't be able to get used to the hard back. I'm sitting on a Mirra right now, and I'm wondering what you mean by "the hard back" because the back on mine has plenty of give. I can only imagine that you had the lumbar support set in the wrong place or too tight.
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Feb 19, 2013 00:59
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Yeah I didn't even mess with the controls, I'd basically made up my mind already. I mostly mean that the back is made of hard plastic or whatever rather than being cushioned, and that would be tough for me to get used to. I'm pretty sure it was a Mirra anyway, this is a picture from their website: Oh and while I'm on the website, here's the Leap I picked up, the black one was gone so I got one of the gray ones: 
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Feb 19, 2013 01:13
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I hope you enjoy your leap as much as I've enjoyed mine. Just be sure to keep fiddling with the dials to see what works best for you. Also the seat seemed hard as a rock for the first couple of days, but now I don't even notice it. Not sure if you'll notice the same.
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Feb 19, 2013 06:17
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RightClickSaveAs posted:Yeah I didn't even mess with the controls, I'd basically made up my mind already. I mostly mean that the back is made of hard plastic or whatever rather than being cushioned, and that would be tough for me to get used to. I'm pretty sure it was a Mirra anyway, this is a picture from their website: Yeah, that's a Mirra. Looks to be fully loaded as well. I too was a little dubious of the plastic back, but then I tried it and found it was actually very flexible. You can get Mirras covered if you really want, though.
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Feb 19, 2013 09:07
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Well, the back of my Leap broke. Was just sitting when it suddenly went POP and fell into the fully reclined position (jarring the poo poo out of my neck in the process). It now does that every time I try to lock it into another position. I got it second hand and it's lasted a year, but that loving sucks. I'm 6'4" and about 280, so I get that these chairs aren't really meant to handle me, but the lightest I've been is 230 (which still exceeds the recommended weight on most chairs) and my doctor told me I was underweight at that point  I guess I'll try an Aeron or Embody next time. Only downside is I probably can't get my work to pay for another chair, so I'll have to save up a while and buy one out of pocket. Fun times in the stock office chairs ahead 
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Feb 19, 2013 16:20
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Your doctor trolled you or you misheard, 230 at 6'4 definitely is not underweight.
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Feb 19, 2013 16:44
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uhhhhahhhhohahhh posted:Your doctor trolled you or you misheard, 230 at 6'4 definitely is not underweight. My 6'4" father, a competitive long-distance cyclist, had a pulmonary embolism (and then heart-related problems with the blood thinners) and spent the next 2 months in a hospital immobilized and eating only hospital food. He came out at 225 pounds and was a hideous emaciated parody of a human being. It was like hugging a bag of sticks. People come in all shapes and sizes.
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Feb 19, 2013 17:08
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That's a 28 BMI which is technically overweight by the simplest metric we use here at our medical clinic.
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Feb 19, 2013 17:47
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Splizwarf posted:My 6'4" father, a competitive long-distance cyclist, had a pulmonary embolism (and then heart-related problems with the blood thinners) and spent the next 2 months in a hospital immobilized and eating only hospital food. He came out at 225 pounds and was a hideous emaciated parody of a human being. It was like hugging a bag of sticks.
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Feb 19, 2013 18:43
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Splizwarf posted:My 6'4" father, a competitive long-distance cyclist, had a pulmonary embolism (and then heart-related problems with the blood thinners) and spent the next 2 months in a hospital immobilized and eating only hospital food. He came out at 225 pounds and was a hideous emaciated parody of a human being. It was like hugging a bag of sticks. Sorry, Splizwarf, but you cannot possibly be remembering that right. I was a competition standard 20km walker until a double-pleurectomy when I was 17. I was immobilised for four weeks and also came out badly atrophied, but I was 116 pounds at 5'11". I'm quite fine boned, but the human skeleton only weighs 25-30lbs at the top end. Could your father have weighed 125lbs when he came out? That's believable.
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Feb 19, 2013 18:49
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Mandalay posted:That's a 28 BMI which is technically overweight by the simplest metric we use here at our medical clinic. The more I hear about the BMI scale the more I realize that it's a terrible standard. I don't know why we even use it anymore. Anyway, Leap comes in a Plus model which sounds like it would suit you a lot better (designed for up to 500 lbs, according to Steelcase). Finding one used would probably be very difficult, however, and they're expensive so I don't know if you would even consider buying one new. Something to think about I guess.
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Feb 19, 2013 19:07
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Mandalay posted:That's a 28 BMI which is technically overweight by the simplest metric we use here at our medical clinic. BMI is used as a guide, not as an absolute metric. I understand that it seems unbelievable, but I am really big. At 230 all of my ribs were visible and my elbows were wider than the rest of my arms. My natural healthy active weight is about 260 pounds.
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Feb 19, 2013 20:56
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LeftistMuslimObama posted:Well, the back of my Leap broke. Was just sitting when it suddenly went POP and fell into the fully reclined position (jarring the poo poo out of my neck in the process). It now does that every time I try to lock it into another position. I got it second hand and it's lasted a year, but that loving sucks. I'm 6'4" and about 280, so I get that these chairs aren't really meant to handle me, but the lightest I've been is 230 (which still exceeds the recommended weight on most chairs) and my doctor told me I was underweight at that point Aeron B & C are both rated up to 300 lbs. Most of the tall big dudes I know have been perfectly happy with an Aeron C. I do see the occasional Criterion Plus on my local craiglist, which goes up to 500 lbs. Apparently a Leap Plus exists as well, but I haven't ever seen one.
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Feb 19, 2013 23:58
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My father is currently having some pretty severe back problems which means he has trouble sitting for extended periods of time (trouble standing for extended periods of time too). He's a rather big fellow at 6'4" and around 300 pounds. What sort of options for a good with good back support do we have? Price is not a problem, I just want to explore the options at this point. Currently he (and I, unfortunately) use cheap chairs around $200 from Staples/Office Max so I am assuming anything would be an improvement. Generally he appreciates the "executive leather chair" kind of look and feel, large back, a lot of padding, something he can sink into. I want to try to break him of that habit so he can sit better as he spends large portions of his day messing around on a computer. Along with that, going from a chair like that to a new one what are the sort of aches or adjusting and getting used to sitting correctly?
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Feb 20, 2013 11:40
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LeftistMuslimObama posted:BMI is used as a guide, not as an absolute metric. I understand that it seems unbelievable, but I am really big. At 230 all of my ribs were visible and my elbows were wider than the rest of my arms. My natural healthy active weight is about 260 pounds. Here (click on the attached images) are pictures of a guy that is 6'4" ~230lbs. He is a very muscled guy. Here (ditto) is a picture of a guy that is 6'4" 260lbs. He is also very muscled. If that muscle were fat, both of those guys would be even larger (but in different areas of course). Do you have any pictures from when you were 230? Because it is unbelievable that your ribs would be showing.
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Feb 20, 2013 18:40
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The easiest way to tell is waist size. At 6'4", that shouldn't be more than 36" around (about 1/2 your height, max 36"). Over 38" is considered a big risk factor for diabetes/heart problems/etc. That said, I'm about 6'4" 195, but have been up to 220, and the Aeron C has always fit me well. The seat has about an inch of room on both sides of my rear end, so it should hold a much bigger guy without any issues
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Feb 21, 2013 00:20
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I had a previous wal-mart office chair that lasted almost two years before going flat and my dad bought me one of those "executive" chairs you can get in stores for Christmas. I only sit in it 4-6hrs a day tops, but the cushioning has already worn out to the point where I'm sitting on the hard frame beneath. I'd hate to let the money go to waste given how new it is. Are cushions like this worth it at all?
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Feb 21, 2013 02:34
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Master Stur posted:I had a previous wal-mart office chair that lasted almost two years before going flat and my dad bought me one of those "executive" chairs you can get in stores for Christmas. I only sit in it 4-6hrs a day tops, but the cushioning has already worn out to the point where I'm sitting on the hard frame beneath. I'd hate to let the money go to waste given how new it is. Are cushions like this worth it at all? I have a very similar christmas "Executive" chair that went from cushy to sitting-on-plywood in a month, so if this works out for you I might have to try it. My current tactic of a pillow and a folded blanket isn't working very well.
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Feb 21, 2013 02:37
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Master Stur posted:Are cushions like this worth it at all? My old chair ended up messing up my coccyx (rear end/tail bone), so I got a cushion like this one: http://www.amazon.com/Coccyx-Cushion-Extra-Soft-16/dp/B0002DLY3M/ref=pd_sim_hg_2 It worked okay, but switching to a Aeron with the mesh seat seems to have fixed my issues. It might work as a temporary solution, but you'll probably need a new chair in short order.
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Feb 21, 2013 03:28
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B-Nasty posted:My old chair ended up messing up my coccyx (rear end/tail bone), so I got a cushion like this one: http://www.amazon.com/Coccyx-Cushion-Extra-Soft-16/dp/B0002DLY3M/ref=pd_sim_hg_2 I'm going to be moving in the middle of summer so I plan to look around for a new chair then when I'm in a better position to find one for a good price and actually afford it  Guess I'll bite on a cushion for now and see how it goes! The memory foam I have for my bed is awesome so it can't be too bad, right?
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Feb 21, 2013 03:47
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Maneki Neko posted:Aeron B & C are both rated up to 300 lbs. Most of the tall big dudes I know have been perfectly happy with an Aeron C. Yeah, I think I'm going to save up to buy an Aeron C new. That way I have the warranty. I'm not going to post pictures in a thread about chairs, but to slake your curiosity somewhat, at 230 pounds I wore size 33 jeans. I wear size 38s at my moderately chubby 290 weight right now. I understand that this sounds weird. It is weird. My nurse always ends up triple-checking my blood pressure after she weight me because it blows her mind that a 290 pound man has 120/78 blood pressure and perfect cholesterol. I am a statistical anomaly, but darn it I deserve to sit in comfort  Since I'm going to buy a chair brand new, and money is no object because I will save for as long as I need to, what are the three best chairs I can try out? I'll try the B and C Aerons for sure. Should I give a new Leap in a large size a try, or will I just kill the back again? I hear good things about the Embody too. Is it worth a test sit?
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Feb 21, 2013 07:07
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I have been using this chair model (different color) since 2004.02. Pictures: http://www.officecw.co.uk/acatalog/Backupinfo/info_100054.html Description: http://www.barrybennett.co.uk/products-a-services/seating-and-desking/ergonomic-chairs/rabami-860.html Pros: - very sturdy - heavy and stable - metallic base (leg) - survived for more than 10 years of heavy duty (was already there when I started working in helpdesk 13h shifts and moved with me as I changed position) - supports correct sitting posture and is comfortable with long periods of usage (4+ hours at a time) Cons: - Price
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Feb 21, 2013 14:18
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LeftistMuslimObama posted:Since I'm going to buy a chair brand new, and money is no object because I will save for as long as I need to, what are the three best chairs I can try out? I'll try the B and C Aerons for sure. Should I give a new Leap in a large size a try, or will I just kill the back again? I hear good things about the Embody too. Is it worth a test sit?
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Feb 21, 2013 20:51
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I need a new office chair and I'd like to also pick up a recliner (do we have a thread for that?). My problem is that I'm an extremely short guy - 5'0", and so most chairs do not fit me at all ergonomically. Most often, the seat depth from front to back is too deep, so the edge of the chair puts pressure on the wrong spots on my thighs (or upper calves), and then it's hard to get a good, low chair height that let my feet lightly touch the ground without dangling, unless whatever working surface is in front of me is far too high. I figure what I need in that case is a footrest, but do you goony goons have any recommendations for me as far as eitehr A) Chairs and recliners intended for shorter people, or B) Ones which can adjust into those shorter ranges?
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Feb 26, 2013 01:31
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I sit in a steelcase think all day and it's pretty comfortable even if it is horrifically upholstered. The seat depth is adjustable to the point where it feels like I'm sitting on a church pew, so you shouldn't have any problems with that. I don't know how much the leap is adjustable in that capacity. I've only sat in one a couple times.
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Feb 26, 2013 02:00
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The Leap seat depth adjusts several inches, just eyeballing it looks to be about 4-5 inches, at least. This thing has adjustments for just about everything, obviously you'd have to sit in one to be sure but it'd be a safe bet that you could make it work for you. Try to find a liquidator or something nearby and check them out, or the Aerons if they have any.Sackmo posted:I hope you enjoy your leap as much as I've enjoyed mine. Just be sure to keep fiddling with the dials to see what works best for you. Also the seat seemed hard as a rock for the first couple of days, but now I don't even notice it. Not sure if you'll notice the same.
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Feb 26, 2013 02:27
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I've noticed that with a lot of the steelcase chairs. They aren't soft and comfortable, but they support you just right that it isn't uncomfortable. You can tell that the 800 dollars that it costs is actually going towards something. Though, they are being wasted on the people I work with. Someone has said "these chairs are lovely." I don't know why. Someone was surprised that they cost so much, and he could have bought "a really nice leather chair" for that much. And they like to destroy them by flipping them, smashing them together, spilling poo poo on them and ripping them up. When we were first moving into the building, the chairs had really nice casters. Another person and I would have races around the empty room in them. And they are quite sturdy as a few people were playing bumper chairs in them for some stupid reason and hit each other hard enough to crack the one piece of plastic on the back of one but nothing else was damaged. My workplace is more of an experiment to give a bunch of 20 somethings expensive chairs and see what they do with them.
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Feb 26, 2013 03:10
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Embody vs Mirra, what's people's take? Is the embody worth the extra $$$?
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Feb 28, 2013 22:54
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DreadCthulhu posted:Embody vs Mirra, what's people's take? Is the embody worth the extra $$$? Long answer: It really depends on how well each one fits you and you should try both out and compare if you have the chance. But in general, the Embody is probably the best-designed ergonomic chair on the planet at the moment. It's still more expensive than it really has to be, but Herman-Miller charges that because they can. The Mirra is more or less a modern update on the Aeron, and while it's good, the Embody is in a whole nother class. Both are DEFINITELY better than the Aeron. Rotten Red Rod fucked around with this message at 23:49 on Feb 28, 2013 |
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Feb 28, 2013 23:47
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Rotten Red Rod posted:Short answer: Yes. Great, thanks for explaining. As a newb, how do I tell that the Embody fits me better than the Mirra? It'd be easy to say after a few months of use, but I'll probably have 10 mins top at the store..
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Feb 28, 2013 23:52
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