Alright, it well into my third year of working for home and I really need to get a good home office chair now.
But I’m a big guy so I need something very strong and supportive.
But I’m in a small space at home so it can’t be huge.
Also I don’t want to spend a fortune.
Common problems I have is that most office style chairs have that damn gas pressure cylinder which invariably fails for me after a while.
Any ideas?
You can replace those for about $20 and some tools. I’ve replaced a few of them over the years.
As for the chair. IME, look for one with out arm rests. They’ll take up less space. At least if you’re in a small space like I am where you’re constantly, like dozens upon dozens of times a day, shuffling past a maze of chairs.
Same situation as you: big guy, lots of time in an office chair in a desk in a small corner of a room. I’ve had a couple of office chairs over the years here and yes, the gas cylinder is what always fails. I recently bought this one and it’s quite comfortable. The warranty on the gas cylinder is good for 5 years and covers someone up to 400lbs using it up to 10 hours per 24 hours.
It took a week or so for the padding to mold to my butt and back, but I’m very happy with it.
I got a Steelcase Think chair; I actually have the bar-height adjustable stool that I use with a tall Parsons table that is my standing desk, but the structure of the seat is the same. It has a lot of adjustability and removable armrests, has a relatively small footprint for a rolling chair, and is built to survive a lot of use. I’m not that big of a guy but I’ve been using it for over ten years, often hopping up into it without any noticeable loss of pressure in the gas spring or anything coming loose. It does show expected wear on the seating surfaces (I picked a leather textile) and the armrests where they rub or occasionally get caught under the desk when I get up while turned sideways but these are designed to be user-replaceable with OEM spare parts available. Although I find it very supportive it is not thickly padded, so it may not be your preference if you spend many hours seated but as seating that I can alternate between sitting and standing without having to adjust the desk height it works great, especially the foot support ring. It is a bit pricey but seating is an area where I’ve learned it is better to “buy once, cry once” than to spend the same amount on a series of junky chairs that break every few years and can’t be fixed.
Stranger
I got this one a couple of months ago:
It was by far the most comfortable one of the 20 or 30 office chairs I tried, but obviously that’s personal preference. A lot of them were sort of hard and poked my back but this one was very plush and soft. It seems very sturdy, except that the arms wobble a little bit. I’m going to try replacing the screws with some loctite to see if that fixes it. No wobbling at first, I suspect the screws have come a little loose.
It has “bonded leather” which sucks, but most office chairs do these days. “Bonded leather” is basically leather scrap all blended together and it tends to wear out over time and there’s nothing you can do, but mine has held up perfectly so far.
Unfortunately most if not all office/executive type chairs are bonded leather until you start paying like $1000+ for one.
The problem I have with a lot of the big-person chairs like some of those shown here is that what is supposed to be the lumbar support is too low, and it pushes my butt forward in the chair so then the seat ends in mid-thigh instead of close to the knee. I don’t know why the designers can’t figure out that a big/heavy person chair user is probably going to have a big ass that needs room to nestle into the back corner.
I’m 6’2" & 260 and had the exact same problem until I bought a chair that I don’t need to raise. It’s been my office / gaming chair for four years.
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00A8YJFAO/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I see Amazon isn’t currently selling that model themselves but you should be able to find one or something similar for less than $200.
“Big guy” vertically or gravitationally?
I’m the latter and my office chair is one of these:
Very comfortable and holds my fat ass well off the floor.
I know the OP said he didn’t want to spend a fortune. But I am in love with my Hancock and Moore chair. You can get it customized any way you want and I understand that they stand by their warranty- I haven’t had to test this.
These chairs are not cheap, but they are pretty customizable and there’s a million adjustments you can make to get them comfortable for you. I have two, one for the office and one for home. Although I haven’t used my computer desk in a long time …
When Covid hit, I had started a new office job and just moved. Suddenly, we were being shipped out of the office to work from home. I had recently slipped a disk and found that my office chair was the only one I could sit in for any length of time. My boss let me take my chair home. Five months later, the parent company shut down our division and I have to give up my only comfortable chair. But someone was kind enough to give me the info on the make and model of the chair.
Naturally, the model had been discontinued and was only available for businesses to purchase in bulk anyway. But the brand, Hon, does have other chairs available to for sale. I purchased the one closest to what I had before and have been very happy with it.
The chair was advertised as being good up to 275 lbs. I weigh a little more than that but I also know that smart companies also list a maximum weight that is usually lower than the actual maximum weight.
It arrived unassembled but had instructions that were almost understandable in English and I was able to put it together. I have been using this chair daily from 2-10 hours since autumn 2020 and am very happy with it. It cost about $200.
I have the same chair, and have bought several for my office. I first discovered it in a conference room I was using regularly and liked it enough I snagged the model number from the underside of the chair. I should note I’ve had a few people not like the chairs that I’ve recommended them to, people who want more of a “sofa like” chair, won’t like them, they aren’t that kind of comfortable.
Instead, I find they are made to actually support your back and body in general when doing hours of work at a desk, they aren’t intended as lounge chairs.
My oldest one is probably 6 years old, and the only wear and tear on it at all is the padded armrests are worn. As you mention there is a website where you can order replacement ones, I just haven’t bothered yet as it’s really just a cosmetic blemish.
While these are significantly more expensive than typical office store chairs, I have literally worn out a $150ish chair from your Staples or OfficeMax type stores in 1-2 years before, so assuming one of these chairs lasts 10 years (which so far I think is a reasonable assumption), it probably pays for itself in time.
The weight limit on these is really high too, I want to say 400 or even 500lb. A lot of big box office stores the chairs actually have weight limits of like 250 lb.
I should mention–while I think it is harder now, at one point in time you could reasonably easily find Steelcase used chairs in various businesses that often resale lightly used commercial furniture at wholesale prices, so anyone interested in one but not interested in the price might investigate those routes.
I got one of these:
It is designed to be a 24 hour chair. In other words it is designed for shift work where people occupy the chair 24/7. It has a designed capacity of 500 lbs. I got it when the pandemic hit and it is easily the best constructed, most comfortable, office chair I have ever used.
I have had 3-4 office store chairs at $200-$300 each that together lasted for less time than this chair has already been in use (by hours sitting in it) and it still is like the day it came out of the box.
10 out of 10, would buy again.
I have one of these:
Black Bungee Office Chair | The Container Store
and my fat ass (~290 lbs) hasn’t managed to break it in a couple years of use(weight rating of 450 lbs), and it’s a lot easier on the back than my old one was.
I have a Steelcase Leap chair in my home office. Yes, it cost over a thousand dollars but I thought about how many hours a week I’m sitting in it and based on that, a good chair seemed worthwhile.
So, I chickened out and got the Container store bungee chair, only because it wasn’t exorbitantly expensive and also I used to have one. It died early in the pandemic. Well, it’s on the porch now getting wet. Had better bring it in. Fingers crossed!
I think my mistake was to read the Amazon one-star reviews for the other suggestions. Fear!
Mine’s been a great purchase so far. My back used to absolutely kill me after a few hours in the old bog-standard office chair I had, and the bungee chair relieved that.
One other thing you might consider is some of the rollerblade style wheels. They’re bigger and a bit softer, so they are less noisy than the standard plastic ones.
I’ve been reading this thread with interest, being in need of a new chair. One of the most important dimensions, to me, is the depth of the seat, and so far only one of the sites listing chairs (Hancock and Moore) that I looked at showed that dimension. Well, it helps me narrow down potential vendors.
My chair is a Hon, which I bought online. I need a deep, tall seat. I was able to locate the dimensions and find that the chair I was looking at actually had adjustable back depth, which would make the seat depth longer or shorter. It also has adjustable arm height and lumbar support. I’m quite happy with it.