I’m in love. Can I say that about a chair?
I have been whining and complaining for years about finding that perfect chair that I’d be happy and satisfied with and my wife has heard it all, many times over.
We set aside a budget for my personal-productivity-bumkiss-platform years ago but I never pulled the trigger until about a 5 weeks ago when I discovered Humanscale and their Freedom Chair. I did some research, saw this video below, and pulled the trigger immediately.
Honestly I thought I’d never find one and that I’d never find one that would ultimately work for me. But the back pain has been slowly increasing over the years and there are times where I need to rest from the standing desk.
I was surprised how customizable the options were and how custom they were (completely build-to-order) which is why it took nearly 5 weeks to arrive. I seriously couldn’t wait for it to ship!
So far I love it. Not only is the product incredibly effective and comfortable but the assembly required was fantastic:
Putting it together was as simple as the product itself as there were only two pieces, well packed into this large box. I was worried that I would have to put this thing together but that anxiety instantly vanished as I saw there were only two pieces:
Hah! Put upper chair on the chair base. Wonderful.
Adjusting it was as simple as the video showed and I already had my wife sit in it and saw her customize it for her smaller frame in seconds. She really liked it as well, which is a good sign because she’s difficult to impress.
Although I’ve been sitting in it for just a few days I am loving it so far. I can sit back and do my work or lean forward and still feel the same support. The seat is incredibly comfortable and I hold my hands in a somewhat awkward position when I lean back and it works with that weirdness very well.
This is not your cheapest option and it certainly was a bit more than the Herman-Miller Aeron that I’ve been eying for years, but it was the right choice for me.
One of the biggest wins? I can take a nap in it.
Oh, and it sure beats this POS that I’ve had for a long, long time. This was my wife’s chair back in college!
It has every stain imaginable from spaghetti to ramen noodles to coke and… whatever else may have been spilled on it over the last decade.
An upgrade was long overdue.
Ah, imitation…the sincerest form of flattery, right? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqQjNYx-Eyw&feature=plcp
Thanks for sharing your experience in finding this, as my team and I try to catch these “someday” wish lists before the point of purchase. Apparently I haven’t been reading your blog long enough! (disclosure: not just a reader of your blog, but also a Steelcase employee).
can you verify that steelcase created their concept/product before humanscale? love to see that evidence.
Nice chair. I need to get something for the home office myself. It nothing else it looks really cool! It makes you look more professional.
Is taking a nap truly a productivity boost?
it is. it truly is…
The 8BIT guys have been asking him this question FOR YEARS. But then one day we noticed that we were, indeed, more productive when John was napping.
Since you have a standing desk as well as the sitting option, you may want to look at the new Humanscale Float table which is a simple mechanical table that allows you to use the same desk for both seated & standing positions. Here’s the video. I played around with table in the middle of June & it is really nice.
Enjoy that new chair!
Having a comfortable chair is definitely of the essence when you spend a great amount of time working on your computer or at your desk in general like I do. I bought an extremely comfortable chair this week from Walmart because I was sitting on a really crappy chair that hurt my back for years.
John – are you still loving the chair?