I've gone through at least one of these chairs in the past few years. The problem with them is that if you tend to sit back in them with your feet up and lean off to one side (as I do at my desk), a tear will appear in the fabric on the back. I see this on a few of the chairs in my office, to varying degrees.

They are comfortable, however. I don't know if I'd agree with the "cheapest chair" argument; there are plenty of comfortable chairs that are cheaper and still have long life.

"I just realized that it is the cheapest chair I've ever owned."

"Herman Miller Aeron Chair, Posture Fit Medium Size (B) $880"

I can only assume that at $880 you don't mean cheap quality. That is, you must mean cheap price... and you and I have VERY different ideas about what constitutes a cheap price. I realize that good office furniture can't be bought for pocket change (yes, I've made the mistake of buying that $100 chair), but pay only a couple hundred dollars more than that and you could have the beautiful leather sofa chair sitting in my living room.

I have no doubt this is a very nice chair - but at nearly a grand, calling this chair "cheap" is a bit misleading.

"cheap" is a relative term that needs context. The most comfortable chair I'd ever sat in was at the American Bar in Vienna, Austria. To buy it and ship it home might have cost me $3000. Restoration Hardware has a Library Chair that is a reasonable facsimile for $1800. Cheap!

Spot on
I am looking for a chair but I am old and poor
Could some of you suggest a chair that is a great chair that is under 200.00?

I hate these chairs. The abrasive mesh fabric on the back and the seat will act like sandpaper on your clothing, and I have more than a few pairs of pants that have worn straight through after just a couple of months because of these.

If you do get one, make sure to order a fabric covering for it, too. But, I'm certain that more comfortable and probably just as durable chairs can be found for less.

I recently purchased an office chair at Officemax because they offer a 3-year full replacement warranty for $10. They have quite a variety, and I chose one for $80 that met my needs quite nicely.

My chair . . . $90 / 3 years = $30/year
Aeron . . . . . $880 / 12 years = $73/year

In fact, any Officemax chair up to $220 . . . $220 / 3 = $73/year

I'm sorry, but the Aeron is old hat. It hasn't been updated in years and the mesh will absolutely shred nice pants over time. A far better, more modern and more comfortable chair is Steelcase's Leap chair. I've had one for 4 years, and had an Aeron before that. The Leap is superior in every single way.

Steve: OfficeMax chairs are not ergonomic. If you spend 8-10 hours a day in that chair, you can very easily develop joint issues that will cost you far in excess of any savings you get from an inferior chair. My PT for my shoulders and elbows are proof of that.

You spend 1/3 of your life in bed, people don't hesitate to buy a nice bed. Many of us spend 1/3 of our lives in our desk chair, why go cheap here? It makes no sense.

http://www.steelcase.com/na/leap_products.aspx?f=11852

I actually bought one of these off Craigslist for $400. It's a bit klunky, but it's the only chair that truly gives me lower back support. I've used all the Staples and Office max chairs that claim to do the same, and in my mind, I wasted more money going through those than I spent on this used item. So far, it's been worth it.

I bought my Aeron about ten years ago from a design firm going out of business, and it has been plenty durable but not particularly ergonomic. The seat is so long front-to-back that its front edge digs into the back of my knee, yet the armrests at their highest are a couple inches too low to support my elbows. At some point I started keeping a 4" thick block of memory foam against the chair back, which detracts considerably from the design's visual appeal.

I bought an Aeron in the late 90s and sat on it daily for roughly 10-11 years until recently. By all measures, I loved that chair. It looked cool, it felt comfortable, it was infinitely adjustable.

After a couple of years, I began experiencing a subtle but deep pain running from the inside of my groin area down to my knee.

It was not so bad at first, barely noticeable and not very frequent. But as the years went by this pain became worse and worse and came much more frequently. By 2009, I was convinced I had cancer or some other degenerative disease.

The doctors could tell me nothing, until one finally suggested that it sounded like nerve damage. Now, I had never really felt the plastic rim of the Aeron seat digging into my leg, and had no reason to correlate my growing pain problem with my expensive and ergonomically correct sitting machine.

But on a whim, I stopped using my Aeron that very night. The pain slowly disappeared over the next couple of days, and I am now virtually pain free after 10 years of suffering.

TLDR: I suffered through 10 years of unexplainable leg pain that was cured instantly when I get rid of my Aeron chair.

I bought a model 'B' 6 months ago for $300 and spent another $100 for a new adjustable lumbar. After years of discomfort and a $150 Staples mesh the Aeron is very good and parts are available. Easily a great investment.

Joel Spolsky agrees:

Let me, for a moment, talk about the famous Aeron chair, made by Herman Miller. They cost about $900. This is about $800 more than a cheap office chair from OfficeDepot or Staples.

They are much more comfortable than cheap chairs. If you get the right size and adjust it properly, most people can sit in them all day long without feeling uncomfortable. The back and seat are made out of a kind of mesh that lets air flow so you don’t get sweaty. The ergonomics, especially of the newer models with lumbar support, are excellent.

They last longer than cheap chairs. We’ve been in business for six years and every Aeron is literally in mint condition: I challenge anyone to see the difference between the chairs we bought in 2000 and the chairs we bought three months ago. They easily last for ten years. The cheap chairs literally start falling apart after a matter of months. You’ll need at least four $100 chairs to last as long as an Aeron.

So the bottom line is that an Aeron only really costs $500 more over ten years, or $50 a year. One dollar per week per programmer.

However, these days I'd probably prefer a Herman Miller Embody if I had the cash: I've only sat in one briefly, but it's incredibly impressive. Prior to trying it, I couldn't imagine how someone might make a better chair than the Aeron, but that's probably one of the many reasons why I'm not a chair designer.

I used to order the office furniture for my place of employment before I retired. Several of the people I worked with were either elderly or people with special needs, physically handicapped in a variety of ways. What I discovered in the process was that no one chair brand suited every one. Just as often, a cheaper chair worked as well as an expensive one. It has more to do with your particular ergonomic needs, and how much you abuse it. In our case, no one would expect to have the same chair for eight years, though for a personal chair, durability is certainly a requirement.

I would recommend simply taking your time and trying out a variety of chairs. Usually, a chair you are comfortable with will last longer because it conforms to your requirements, and doesn't need to constantly be readjusted. The reclining chairs tend to break most often. If you need one, make sure it is sturdily built.

Worst chair ever. Deemed perfect for me by an ergonomic "specialist" at our office. Mesh was abrasive to suit pants. Be sure to add that expense. Horrible for power naps. I'm paid to think and 20 minute snoozes increase my productivity. Where's the cushy padding on top for my neck? I eventually used this chair as extra storage for work projects. Worked great! I then went to our abandoned furniture room and found a sweet, all-steel chair from the 1950s, built with rivets, toxic chemicals and probably an endangered species. I now have to set the alarm on my watch because I sleep too long.

#13: Mesh was abrasive to suit pants…

After using the chair for a few months I noticed a great deal of fuzz on the back of the chair. The fuzz came from the belt loops and the back of my pants that were being worn away by the abrasive material of the chair. Also, the open mesh construction is quite cool, if not cold, in some office environments. Not my favorite chair.

Aeron user for six years now - I've never had clothing any worn away to any degree by the fabric.

My husband used to sit on an Aeron at his old office and I've often ruled over it, but you know, $800 is a LOT of money, even for people who *could* afford such luxury. Unless you can expense it to your employer, this is a really really really hard price tag to justify (and honestly, these days a lot of employers wouldn't even reimburse such an extravagance). I'm sure there are really nice, wonderful, comfortable top-of-the-line cars out there that we could recommend for $100,000, too, but come on. This is kind of rubbing ostentaciousness in everyone's noses, isn't it?

Yep, I have seen these advertised quite a bit. My thoughts are a fool and his money are soon parted. I must admit I have never sat in one so it may sit wonderfully, but I have two chairs from one of the office supply chains (Not sure if it was office max, depot, or staples and they are both quite comfortable. I have hip problems and have to use the Obusforme cushion in cars, but these two chairs sit find by themselves. Neither of these chairs cost me more than 60$ before sales tax.

When I shop for a chair I suggest using the BGIF method. Butt Goes In First. You have to test sit quite a few chairs to find a good one. 880-60 means I have 820$ to piddle away on other things.

i bought a $950 humanscale freedom chair on craigslist for $185.

i tried a mesh chair but as someone else mentioned, the fabric is like sandpaper. i tend to work from home which means shorts and no shirt sometimes but the aeron feels like a file against my skin.

I've had a Humanscale Freedom task chair with headrest for about 8 years now, and I have to say I've found that much more comfortable than the Aeron. The Aeron is fine and good, but in my personal opinion, I think the Freedom is better.

Every company I’ve worked for since grad school has provided Aeron chairs for all of their employees, so I’ve been sitting in them for fifty hours a week for the past fifteen years; my calculator tells me that’s nearly 32,000 hours. They are incredibly well-designed and well-built chairs. The warranty appears to be excellent, although I’ve never known anyone to have occasion to use it. It’s not the chair for everyone; given the broad variations in human anatomy, there is no such thing. However, in fifteen years, I’ve only ever heard one complaint from a coworker – and they ended up returning to the Aeron after trying other options. The trick, I think, it to buy the correct size (it comes in three) and adjust the chair properly.

I recently set up a new home office, and my first purchase was an Aeron. It is an expensive chair, but I consider it an investment in my health and productivity. True, the math may not work out when comparing one Aeron to a series of cheaper chairs, but I’d happily cough up the extra cash to buy quality and keep several crappy chairs out of the landfill.

(As an aside, if you’re relying on your chair to keep you warm, you’re not wearing enough clothes. And the problem of abraded clothes is news to me. It makes me wonder how you folks are using your chairs.)

Here, here Lani,

but this one wasn't for us anyway.

I find these posts useful though, by reading all of the comments and allowing myself to experience all of the emotions brought about by these kind of people.

I'm sure this is the ilk that brought down the country - you know the ones that have three more 000's attached to their paycheck and just increased our rates by 30%.

I sit on a Steelcase Leap.... I looked it up, it costs about $900... Really nice ergonomic chair like this one; provides support, fully adjustable, etc. It's expensive if you buy one. But I figure you can get a discount if you buy a bunch which is what my employer did. I don't think there should be any confusion that this is a WORK chair, how comfortable you are is actually a large factor to how productive you are so I can see how spending this amount of money can be justified, I wouldn't call it an extravagance.

I'm sure I get Thom's comment, what kind of people?

*NOT sure...

@Lani:

Your point is well taken: $800 for a chair is a lot of money. But I use my office chair more than I use my any other object or tool in my life – including my car, my computer, my television, my kitchen appliances, and perhaps even my bed. All of those things (with the exception of my TV) cost more than the chair, and only a couple of them have a direct bearing on my health, wellbeing, and productivity. Now that I actually reflect on how much of my life is spent sitting, I’m a bit depressed – but all the same, it easily justifies my spending $800 on a chair that works well for me.

Your needs and circumstances may be different; fair enough. I’ve found some great tools through this blog, but l couldn’t ever justify spending my money on 98% of what I see here. For me, this one happens to fall in the other 2%.

Good timing on this, as I've been thinking about replacing my 12-year-old office chair, which probably has been exposing me to PDBEs and other toxics that I'd rather not think about. (PDBEs in foam were phased out in 2004 but my chair is older than that.)

I've found that, no matter what office chair I use, it is infinitely more comfortable if I use my TruComfort back support (http://www.trucomfort.com/), which I bought about 12 years ago on the advice of my Alexander Technique teacher.

The TruComfort support comes with a bottom and a back; the bottom part is padded but not very comfortable and you can get many of the benefits by using the back only. It creates a rigid straight back surface that you can lean against, which despite sounding uncomfortable is actually great for your back. I often work 16 or more hours per day, and have never had any back pain. It's great for car seats as well.

I had one of these for many years. I would sit in it for hours not paying attention to the plastic pushing into the back of my leg. I had a very similar experience to 10 Years, however my problem turned into Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT), which is very, very dangerous. Funny how it only happened in the one leg that was being cut by the chair.

There are other chairs that are better than this. I like all my Herman Miller products, except this chair. It is dangerous. Besides, HM has many other chairs that are better. I'm sitting in one.

@DVT:

I’m really intrigued by the comments about the plastic edge of the seat pressing into your leg. I’m sitting in an Aeron right now, and there’s a gap of at least two inches between that plastic edge and the back of my leg. I wonder if you had the wrong size chair, or had it adjusted incorrectly?

In any case, I think calling the Aeron chair "dangerous" is a bit much. The dangerous thing is sitting in an ill-fitting chair for “many years” while ignoring the fact that it’s “cutting” your leg. I’m not sure you can blame the chair for that.

I bought my Aeron chair in 1998 and last year the seat disconnected from the piston (would lift right off). I called Herman Miller and the next day a repairman drove 40 miles to my house and fixed the chair at no charge.

The warranty and service are phenomenal, and the chair is so comfortable.

By my calculations, I've spent roughly 20,000 hours sitting in this chair since I bought it. Absolutely one of the best purchases I ever made.

Beware of OfficeMax's so-called warranty. For chairs, it only covers the upholstery, not the frame, gas cylinder, casters or anything else. I bought a $200 chair from them and they talked me into the $10 warranty. Just over a year later, the welds on the seat started to give way and the chair became too dangerous to use. I called to have it repaired, and they said it wasn't covered and I should read the fine print on the contract.

If you want a warranty that cannot be beat, try Costco. Their selection is rather poor, usually only a handful of chairs in their warehouses (about 100 on costco.com), and you have to be a member, but their prices are excellent and they offer a free LIFETIME satisfaction guarantee.

Hey now, don't forget about another amazing chair, the Steelcase Leap. If you live int he midwest and work in an office environment, you probably are using one right now - they come out of Michigan. I've used an Aeron for several years, and I'd much rather park my ass on the rugged Leap than the Aeron. Has every single feature of the Aeron minus the gimmicky mesh and it's a tad cheaper too.

Aeron sitter-onner since 1999. I love this thing. My wife liked it so much she bought one for herself. We've never experience clothing abrasion; in fact this is the first time I've heard of this.

There are other Herman Miller chairs which are just as good.... and cheaper. The Mirra (~$600) which has a mesh seat and the Celle (~$400) which has a membrane seat/back.

Regardless if you want the Steelcase Leap, the Herman Miller Aeron/Mirra or the Humanscale Freedom you should never be paying retail pricing. Don't be a moron and buy it locally, don't be a moron and buy it on Amazon. Buy it from one of the dozens of wholesale office furniture places or buy it used.

I got my $900 Steelcase Leap for $400 and it has been, by far, the best desk chair ever.

Does everyone need a super ergonomic chair? No. But the sheer arrogance of telling everyone else this is a worthless extravagance is ignorant and insulting.

I spend 10-15 hours a DAY 6-7 days a WEEK in my desk chair in my home office. I have longer than normal arms and legs. I need a fully adjustable chair or I am in agony (and no, I am not fat or otherwise in horrid shape that I have no muscle tone). A person like me, who spends a MAJORITY of their life in a chair, a high quality, ergonamic, fully-adjustable chair is not only a good idea, it is ESSENTIAL for good health (and no, the $100 chairs at office max are not high quality by anyone's standards). Two years of PT on my shoulders and elbows due to crappy office max chairs are proof.

Think before you talk folks. The world does not revolve around you. Just because you don't find a tool useful does not mean it is useless to anyone but you.

Any suggestions for a reputable online wholesaler? I've perused a few found via google and none of them seem to carry the Aeron, Steelcase or Humanscale.

I've read reviews online saying that the front cushion gets into your legs and cuts the blood flow.

Is that because those people haven't properly set their chair ?

My 10 min test in the store proved that you feel it but in wasn't long enough to draw any conlusions.

I live in Salt Lake City which is decently sized, and did not have a whole lotta luck finding a place to test any Herman Miller chairs in real life. (I was pursuing this after a coworker promised that his wife could get one at discount, added to one of the many bulk purchases made by her high-end design firm.)

I ended up driving out to IKEA and buying the Jerrik ($320), sans armrests. I have been incredibly happy. To my coworkers, it looks comically uncomfortable, and I get grief for it all the time.

A disclaimer regarding my take on ergonomics - after getting comeuppance for years of slouching, I've come to the conclusion that (for me) a chair that encourages ("encourages" like the Spanish Inquisition) conscious adoption of good posture is a far better idea than a "whoa, that is so comfy" chair.

The Jerrik features minimal padding - which I'm certain would drive some folks nuts. But in it I sit up straight and the lower back lumbar "bump" is exactly what I needed.

I was impressed with the sturdiness and heft, too. The rest of IKEA's office chair line seemed junky and cheap - not even remotely in the same quality bracket - but this seemed like a good convergence of price and ergonomics.

An aside re: reCAPTCHA - how are we helping proofread, if by typing a correction that differs from what the system "thinks" is correct, we are rejected?

@AdamAxbey: I did a quick google search with "Steelcase leap chair wholesale" and got a ton of hits. Everything from $400 to $800. $400 is what
I paid for mine. It was 3 years ago, though and I've long since lost the recept or invoice.

An alternative is see if you have any friends that do interior design for companies. They tend to have really great prices on chairs like this.

Kevin (comment 36) wrote "I've read reviews online saying that the front cushion gets into your legs and cuts the blood flow. Is that because those people haven't properly set their chair ?"

It depends on which model you buy. I got the base model and didn't realize that it doesn't allow you to adjust the seat angle, and in fact I can only sit in this thing for 2-3 hours a day before my legs start falling asleep, no matter what height I keep it at. I'm bringing it back. The more expensive models allow you to adjust the angle of the seat; if you tilt it forward a bit I think the problem would be solved.

I have the Chadwick chair from Knoll in my home office and find it to be a very comfortable chair.

Only eight years from a chair?

My steel & leather desk chair was made before 1940 and is supremely comfortable today. It rolls, swivels, tilts, and adjusts - although you need a wrench to adjust it. I have repaired it twice. I see the same kind for less than $10 at rummage sales, although they go for roughly $350 on ebay.

I am also 6'2" and about 200 lbs, incidentally. And I also have a 100 year old maple rocking chair that is wonderfully comfortable though the finish is worn through. I have a full dining room set of oak windsors that were handmade to fit me that I expect to last until well after I die, and I paid less than half of what this aeron thingy cost per chair.

I have to consider any chair that doesn't last at least 20 years to be a poorly engineered piece of crap. I would never pay that kind of cash for crap.

"This is kind of rubbing ostentaciousness in everyone's noses, isn't it?"

@Lani - Would you say the same thing to someone who spent $1,000 more on their car then you did? I doubt it.

I work on the phone for the most part, and my garage is practically a graveyard of cheap chairs I've gone through. I just accepted back pain as a part of my job - until I got an Aeron. No more back pain. WELL worth the $700+ I paid for mine.