(Its such a distinctive look that it was even used in The Hunger Games.) Compared with the Gesture, the Aeron feels much more durable and harder to breakits mostly metal, hard plastic, and mesh. The sizes roughly correlate to height and weight ranges, and even though you might not find a size that fits you perfectly, you should still look at the size chart and consider what makes sense for you. The backs on most other chairs tilt when you recline, but the Gestures back is designed to flex as well, since your spine has a different shape when youre reclining compared with when youre sitting up straight. For most people, we suggest these options: The above combination puts the price at roughly $1,400 directly from Herman Miller at this writing. If you want a high-end chair but dont have quite the budget for Steelcase or Herman Miller, consider the ergoCentric tCentric Hybrid. Also, its build isnt as sturdy as that of our more expensive picks, and we dont think itll last nearly as long. If you run hot, work in an office without air conditioning, or live in a warm part of the world, the Gesture may not be the best chair for you. The chair we tested includes a wide range of ergonomic adjustments, and even has some unusual features like armrests that can spin 360 degrees, an inflatable lumbar support cushion, and a built-in adjustable headrest. If you have a home office, finding a chair that makes your desk time more comfortable and better for your health is a worthwhile endeavor. We tried the Cosms new Leaf armrest design, which is more like an elbow cradle than an armrest; we found it comfortable for relaxing our arms at the chair but not for supporting them when we were typing or reading a book. But that pricing didnt factor into our blind testing, where our panelists rated it just average across most of the categories, including comfort, back support, and ease of adjusting. Depending on the seat fabric you choose, the cost adds up to about $670, or nearly half the price of a fully loaded Gesture or an Aeron. In our experience, the circa-$100 chairs youll find at sites like Wayfair and big-box retailers are made with lower-quality materials and may last just a year or two before they begin to fall apart. We liked the springy mesh seat back, and we think the Ignition 2.0s armrests, which consist of a soft plastic with light cushioning, will last a while. A high-quality chair wont just last longer, it will also give you more ergonomic controls to customize your seating position, giving your body the most support possible. ), Problem: poor lumbar supportSolution: a lumbar support pillow. The Haworth Fern was a favorite of a couple of our testers, but others couldnt get comfortable in it no matter how hard they tried. The breathability of the mesh means most people wont overheat or find a gross sweat stain on their back on hot days. If thats not possible, a generous return policy of at least 30 days will help you make that decision at home. Office chairs and task chairs are generally synonymous, though in practice it's usually the cheapest, smallest, least ergonomically sound office chairs that are sold as task chairs. For at least one tester, the Steelcase Amia ranked in the top three among office chairs. After sitting in various other office chairs during testing, going back to the Gesture was, as one panelist put it, like going to the spa. Our panelists scored the Gesture highest across all of our criteria, and its made of high-quality materials that should outlast its generous 12-year warranty. The Sayl has the same 12-year warranty as the Aeron and comes from a company that has a history of making reliable, durable chairs. Since everyone is different, we found chairs that fit a range of body types, but you should always try a chair out before purchasing. It has a very firm seat. For some people, the Aerons forced ergonomics are nice, but others might find the chair to be too prescriptive. If the sculpted foam design appeals to you, the Freedom might be worth trying out for yourself if you can find it at a nearby retailer and if you feel comfortable shopping in person. (Wirecutter editor Thorin Klosowski has had a classic Aeron for over a decade and has moved with it many times, including twice to different states, and it still looks brand-new.). This chair might do in the short term, but youll have to plan on replacing it soon if you want to invest in a chair for the long term. The Gesture also comes in the widest range of fabrics and other finishing options of the chairs we tested, so you can customize its appearance for your workspace. We didnt love the lateral armrest adjustment, which doesnt have a lock and thus tended to slip under our hands when standing up out of the chair, but you can opt for armrests that only swivel and lift (and save some money in the process). Even though its half the price, it has the same warranty and history of durability as every other Herman Miller chair. Tip: If youre shopping for a new chair and dont know how high your seat should be, look at the manufacturers specifications for the floor-to-seat measurement, if available, and look for those chairs with the greatest height adjustability. It has the basic adjustability most people need, and its comfortable, too, with a firm foam seat and a breathable plastic mesh back. Problem: lack of height adjustabilitySolution: footrest or seat cushion. Although the Gesture is a comfortable and well-built chair, its not the ergonomic revolution that Steelcases marketing materials suggestfancy armrests aside, almost any other ergonomic task chair in the $1,000 range will give you similar features and back support. Its always worthwhile to try out a few options because what works for one person might not for another. Although the back is notably firm and supportive, because of its size this chair is best suited to petite people. The seat cushion is thick and softan improvement over the slightly too-firm seats of our previous budget pick, the HON Exposure, and the similarly priced Fully Desk Chair. However, the chairs construction is plasticky; its armrests arent adjustable for height, width, or angle (although they can flip up completely); and with an 18.5-inch minimum seat height, the chair isnt suitable for people who are under about 5-foot-8. What sets the Gesture apart is that it excels for people who want to recline with little effort, switch tasks throughout the day, or easily make adjustments to fine-tune the fit. This chair is comfortable across multiple tasksits built for more than just typing at your computer, unlike more basic chairs that are designed to hold you in one upright position. Buying an office chair is like buying a mattress: If youre spending a third of your life in this furniture, it had better support your well-being and not break your back. The effect is subtle enough that youll probably learn to ignore it after a while, but it could be grating for some. You can customize the Gesture so that its comfortable to sit in no matter what youre doing. But if you lean forward a lot, you may want to invest $100 in the tilt limiter and seat-angle add-on. If a chairs material feels cheap or seems as if it will crack under stress on day one, chances are good that itll be utterly destroyed by day 500. We know that our picks are a big investmentone that not everybody wants to make or can afford to make. Its a no-frills chair with fixed armrests and a one-year warranty. It usually costs about $300 (but has been on sale for much less), its comfortable, and it offers the best lumbar support of any chair weve tested under $500. Since comfort is a personal thing, getting a good chair is often about finding the chair that fits you personally. None of our testers liked the Steelcase Series 1, complaining that it was too short, the arms were too tall, and it was generally uncomfortable for sitting longer than a couple of hours at a time. But this chair doesnt have the Gestures cleverly designed recline mechanism or the Aerons iconic looks, and ergoCentricfounded in 1990 and only recently breaking into the U.S. marketlacks either brands longstanding reputation. Alternatively, you can mount a keyboard tray under your desk to lower the keyboard. However, since the seat starts at 17 inches high, people of below-average height may have difficulty sitting properly with their feet flat on the floor (we recommend a footrest). (In normal-speak, size A is small, B is medium, and C is large.) We recommend the Sayl with height-adjustable arms, a fixed seat depth, and no additional lumbar support. That said, the Ignition 2.0s durability seems like it will be a little better than that of most chairs in this price range. While most of those chairs may seem fine at first, you'll soon be feeling (and hearing) the consequences of choosing a cheap chair: creaking sounds, deflated foam cushions, and cracking armrests and other plastic parts. For instance, our taller testers found the non-adjustable armrests of the budget-friendly IKEA Markus to be too short, and shorter testers felt the lowest seat position of the chair was still too high. If you find that your cheap chairs lumbar support is inadequate, a $20 to $30 lumbar support pillow can help you maintain better posture and make sitting back more comfortable. Its hard to get all-day comfort in this price range, but the Ignition 2.0 is an exception. Your home-office chair is likely getting more use than ever before. Try to sit with your legs crossed in an Aeron, and youll find it uncomfortable immediately. One size C tester found that the Silq pushed them forward in an uncomfortable way and that the armrests dug into them. We didnt test it this time, but it tends to review well and is worth a look if you like a foam seat but want a mesh back. We tested the X-Chair X3 ATR Management Chair with Elemaxand found that despite a lot of interesting-sounding featuresincluding a flexible lumbar support area, heating, cooling, and massage functionalityit was just an okay chair. Compared with the components of most similarly priced or less expensive chairs, the Ignition 2.0s materials feel more durable and of a higher quality, with less wobbly armrests and smoother-rolling casters. We found it comfortable for all-day use, with supportive, adjustable lumbar support; make sure the product description says adjustable lumbar so youre getting the model with that option. Most people will find that the Sayls fixed seat depth, at 16 inches, supports their thighs well enough, but if you need adjustability, an adjustable-depth option (a $95-ish add-on) lets you push the seat out to 18 inches. Keep in mind, however, that in long-term testing weve found that the Gestures and Aerons seat comfort is better. Like the $1,000-plus chairs we recommend, this onedesigned and built in Canadaoffers tons of configuration options, comes with a 12-year warranty, and feels built to last. That problem, coupled with an extremely firm seat and an inability to recline more than about 15 degrees, led us to conclude that youre better off saving up for a more comfortable chair. When it comes to looks, the Aeron has an iconic design that has been much imitated. *At the time of publishing, the price was $1,031. Ideally, your office chair should allow you to sit comfortably with your back supported, your feet flat on the floor, and your arms and wrists parallel to the floor or angled toward it. But unfortunately, office chairs that cost less than our budget pick (about $300 as of this writing) are more or less the same: None of them compete with our picks when it comes to all-day comfort, ergonomics, durability, customization, and warranty. Used as the standard chairs in Wirecutters Los Angeles office since 2018, the Sayls weve tried over time have generally maintained their smooth adjustments and looks, although the arm movements can be clunky on occasion. The arms dont go down as far as those on the Gesture, Aeron, or Sayl, but many other budget chairs dont provide any armrest adjustments at all, which some of our testers noted as a dealbreaker after sitting in 10 different chairs. This meant sitting in the chairs while typing at computers, playing video games, writing emails, sitting through meetings, and just leaning back to think. All of the Gestures control knobs are on the right side and easy to access. Each panelist evaluated the chairs on the above criteria using a modified version of this ergonomic seating evaluation form (PDF) from Cornell University, ranking the chairs on all the criteria on a scale from 0 (unacceptable) to 10 (excellent). At under $60 at the time of our review, the AmazonBasics Mid-Back Mesh Office Chair was the least expensive chair we tested. If you want a budget chair with a more premium design, the Fully Desk Chair fits the bill. Glance at the chair, and you can see the exact bolts you need to remove to replace a piece. Most of our top office chair picks are adjustable from about 16 to 21 inches, so thats a good baseline. Even chairs that claim to be ergonomic and height-adjustable can let you down, literallyweve sat in more than a couple of cheap chairs that sank all too readily. Ergonomics expert Alan Hedge told us that finding the right chair is like finding a good pair of shoes: You want it to follow certain design principles, and youll of course consider the materials, quality, and aesthetics, but ultimately you should choose something you feel comfortable in. *At the time of publishing, the price was $303. The Aeron is easier to clean than the Gesture and other other non-mesh chairs. Weve researched dozens of office chairs, interviewed four ergonomics experts, and asked test panelists with a variety of body types to sit in deliberation for over 175 collective hours. The Gesture has an impressive range of adjustability, and its easy to maneuver and get into just the right configuration for your task and body type. But that also makes it super sturdy. It lacks much of the adjustability that the Steelcase Gesture offers, but it still satisfied test panelists of a variety of sizes and heights. Our testers included writers, editors, and photographers with different body types. This is one of the most adjustable chairs availableanyone can make the Gesture comfortable, regardless of their height or sizeand its built to last. Its also the most visually distinctive model we testedfor better or worse, depending on your taste. Some chairs lumbar support feels nonexistent, while other chairs have curves that are so pronounced, they might push you uncomfortably forward. Again, chair size makes a big difference: Our size A and B testers found the chair a bit more difficult to recline in and maintain the tilt angle, but our size C tester said the chair reclined too easily and was difficult to lock into place, even though the chair has a tilt tension control knob. The back pushes you forward more than natural, the headrest is uncomfortable, and the adjustments are difficult to control. These two accessories can also help you adjust a chairs seat depth or height to fit you better. We replaced it with the Ignition 2.0 because that model offers a more comfortable seat, better lumbar support, a higher weight capacity, and a less boxy design for about the same retail price. Chairs that arent height-adjustable, or arent adjustable enough for your particular height, throw the whole ergonomics balance out of whack. You cant really fix a chair that doesnt recline or reclines only slightlyor, worse, forces you to lean forward in your chair. Although the Ignition 2.0s overall comfort doesnt compare with that of the Gesture or the Aeron, it at least gets all the basics right. Rather than spending $50 to $100 every year or two, youre better off saving up to buy a well-made chair that will last. She has contributed to print and online publications such as The New York Times, Lifehacker, and PCWorld, specializing in tech, productivity, and lifestyle/family topics. The IKEA Markus is a budget office chair that several Wirecutter staffers still own and like. The same goes for chairs that dont roll easily because of poor casters, backrests that are too short or nonexistent, armrests that are too flimsy, too short, or too tall to be useful, surfaces that are hard to clean, chair edges that arent rounded for comfort, or models that arent designed to hold your weight (the inexpensive chairs we looked at were all rated for weights under 250 pounds). The casters roll smoothly over hardwood (you definitely could win a chair roller derby race with this). (For reference, a chair that lowered to only 18 inches from the ground was too tall for me, and Im 5-foot-2. Great office chairs arent cheap, and not everyone can afford ergonomic perfection. Wirecutter editor Ben Keough (who is 6-foot-1) tested the HON Ignition 2.0 and the Fully Desk Chair at the same time in his home office. The best office chairs provide great lumbar support, with extra padding for the natural curve in your lower back. As Rani Lueder explained it to us, [When] leaning back, not only are you intermittently relieving the loads on your spine [but also] in the process, opening up your thigh-torso angle. Two of the newest chairs we tested came from Steelcase and Herman Miller. It has a thick, well-padded seat like the HON Ignition 2.0 and premium design features like the Fully Desk Chair, including an aluminum base and a few different color options for the frame and seat. Rather than a single chair size that individuals can adjust for fit, the Aeron comes in different sizes (PDF). Plus, the Gesture is the only chair we tested with ball-and-socket-style armrests that you can rotate and move into nearly any position: You just hold down a tab under the armrest to unlock the arm and then rotate the whole arm freely to make it comfortable for whatever youre doing.