Steelcase Leap
Price: $900 shown—$800 base
Topping out our list is the Leap from Steelcase. Widely touted as the Aeron killer, the Leap features everything one could possibly ask for in an ergo chair. Featuring ten adjustable points, it’s easy to situate this chair precisely to personal demands.
Those controls allow you to manipulate seat depth and height, lumbar height, lower and upper back firmness, tilt and various options for the arm pads. It comes in leather, but I demoed a cloth version, which appeals to me more than leather.
From a build perspective, it feels like something from the ’50s. It’s heavy-duty and quite heavy—in my excitement to remove it from the boxes, I pulled my back and spent the next several days limping around, sweet irony.
The sheer quantity of ergonomic options on the Leap can be a bit daunting to start. It definitely took me a few days to finally get it situated in an agreeable fashion and then a few more days to tweak it to perfection.
But after sitting in it for about two weeks, I’m curious how I lived life before it. My entire body feels a good deal happier.
Let’s face it, everyone is vastly different, and a chair that works for one person might not work for another. Steelcase covered its bases here. By allowing users to fine-tune all of the chair’s functions, it has essentially created a chair personalized to each sitter.
The downside? Cost. It’s not cheap, but it’s oh so worth it. You might have to sell a kidney to afford one, but your neck and back will thank you (at least after you finish healing from that kidney extraction). - BR
HumanScale Liberty
Price: $885 and up
Price: $500 and up
The Swopper from Via is the perfect choice for those that want the health benefits of an ergonomic chair without all the maddening back, seat and arm adjustments. And if you’re into training your core muscles, its “sitting in motion” design concept will help you do that, too.
The build of the stool is pretty basic: a cushioned seat on a giant spring. You adjust the tension of the spring by twisting a collar on the stool’s post at the bottom of the coil. This dictates how much movement the chair will have. There’s another pneumatic height adjustment, but that’s it.
So the idea is that once you’ve properly adjusted the Swopper according to your height and weight (the included instruction pamphlet lays it all out) and you sit in the proper position (yeah, it’s detailed in the instructions as well), all of your back and stomach muscles will go into action, helping you balance on the stool while you work.
The Swopper is overall comfortable. However at first, while you’re getting used to sitting on it, it can get uncomfortable if you stay on it for longer than 30 minutes at a time. Simply standing up for a bit cures this though, and after using the Swopper for a while, you won’t need to do it as often.
Its compact size is one of the Swopper’s biggest benefits. Those in cramped cubes or tight working spaces will enjoy not having a big, bulky ergonomic chair. And because you can easily swivel and turn any direction, it’ll work well for anyone that’s constantly reaching for things around their work area or frequently standing and sitting.
If you’re the type that likes to lean back in your chair when you’re on the phone, this is not the chair for you. Also, if you like arm rests, skip the Swopper. But it’s a great stool for training your muscles to do without the multiple stationary comforts of most all ergonomic chairs. - JG
Herman-Miller Mirra Chair
Price: $550 and up
Available in basic and full-featured models, the Mirra Chair is a good blend of modern office looks, ergonomics and price. Yes, there are plenty of similar-looking chairs on the market and at lower prices (the Mirra starts at about $550 for the basic model), but the superior comfort and quality construction are worth the cost, especially if you spend all day sitting.
The basic model is well, basic, with only a pneumatic adjustment for height, standard tilt and fixed armrests. Step up to the full-featured model and you get a tilt-limiter, adjustable arms, a FlexFront seat that lets you add or remove a curve to the front of the seat pan and—probably the best feature—a lumbar support. The lumbar support can be easily moved up and down the back of the chair, so putting it in the perfect position for your back is a snap, and you can adjust the amount of tension on it as well.
The seat is extremely comfortable for extended work sessions considering it has no cushioning. Both the backrest and seat pan are made from taut, breathable mesh allowing for good support and air circulation as well as a more individualized fit as it shapes to each user. All the adjustments are simple to operate and stay locked into place.
One of the nicest parts about the Mirra is you can pick different colors for the backrest, the seat pan and the frame. There are eight colors for the back and seat and two for the frame. Depending on where you buy it, you can also get a number of caster options for different flooring surfaces. True, coughing up nearly $800 for a desk chair is a tough thing to do, but your body will thank you for it.
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