The Joel on Software Discussion Group

Is there someplace you can try out these things in person?  I think Joel has sold me on the quality, but I've heard some people say they are uncomfortable. 

Also, any other chair recommendations out there?  Its definitely time to upgrade mine... (Staples $30 chair, taken from a company that was going out of business...6 years ago)

When it comes to trying out the Aeron, a caution is in order.  I have very happy memories of a large project that was well-funded and well-planned.  It involved a new application that wholly transformed the work experience of a large class of field officers.  While we were in the process of turning their entire world upside down, we decided to go whole-hog with new everything, including office upgrades.  That included chairs.

As part of the run-up to deployment, there were a couple of meetings where all 600 employees were present at once.  We installed the 9 different chairs that were under consideration in a conference room and asked that the employees drop by, have a seat, and vote on their favorites.  Some were crap and were quickly weeded out.  The two top contenders were a big basic overstuffed nicely-adjustable model and the Aeron.  Either would be a huge improvement over the current chairs.  We stressed to these folks that money was no object and the relative cost of the chairs was not a factor to be considered.

The $200 chair won.  Everyone who sat in it said it was at least OK.  Everyone could live with it.

The Aeron, however, had a major problem.  It was too adjustable.  If the springs were loosened to the point that a 100-pound employee found it comfy, then when a 350-pound employee flopped down in it, it would virtually collapse and threaten to flip them over.  We actually had one large employee sit down quickly and fall over backward.

On the other hand, if the chairs were tightened up so that a 350-pounder was comfortable, the 100-pound employees found them stiff, unforgiving, and uncomfortable.

Every employee who, purely by accident, sat in an Aeron that had been adjusted for someone approximately their weight voted for the Aeron.  Everyone else voted for the more "normal" chair.

The moral of the story is that if you want to give the Aerons a fair shake, you must adjust them before the user sits down.  We didn't take the time to do this (actually, we couldn't since we were trying to run 600 people through the chair during lunch and two 15-minute breaks; to do this right, we would have needed 3 test chairs, something the vendor didn't want to provide) and we wound up with acceptable seating.  I guess that puts us ahead of lots of other folks.

Actually, in retrospect, we probably did the right thing.  We have a huge variety of body styles around here and chairs get moved around a great deal.  We would have had problems.  If, however, you can count on individual chairs belonging to individual employees who will take the time to adjust them properly, my opinion is that the Aerons are the bees knees.

There are show rooms (for more than just the chairs) where you can find them.  I wouldn't by it sight unseen as there are different sizes S,M,L and they'll fit you differently.  Also, they have an updated version that may fit you better as well.  Worth seeing in person.

Aerons are nice chairs, it's been a while since I had one but still recommend them. As Bernard says, you have to go to the trouble of adjusting them. I went to great lengths to keep people away from my chair once I had it setup just the way I wanted! One slight downside is that it tends to create fluff balls on your clothes, a side effect of the mesh.

As for trying one, call up your local office furniture shops, someone is bound to have one. I once came across one in a small furniture shop outside the centre of London.

Currently I have a Humanscale Freedom chair (found it cheap on eBay). It's pretty comfortable, but in a different way to the Aerons. The Freedom chair is a lot more amenable to slouching given its flexible back rest. Worth giving a go if you can find one.

I have a bad back from a tennis-related injury from a long time ago. I also sit in my desk chair for 12-14 hours a day. Yes, I have no real life.

Before getting the Aeron, my lower back would be very sore around the 10th hour. With the Aeron, I do not have any back pain. Also, the mesh fabric keeps the 'little boys' cool so I don't get jock itch from sitting so much.

Worth the $$s in my opinion.

I went to the Aeron chair distributor in my area to try one out. They actually had three models to try which made selecting the right one a lot easier.

Chairs are so passé. http://www.squidoo.com/walkingwhileworking

i know in my home office, I picked up a chair that was only like 40 bucks from Staples. It's nothing superb, but both my wife and I like it. Yeah, we kinda wait with the "it's okay" route.

We have aerons in our office and I feel they're poor quality for the price. The mesh seems to have stretched a bit, particularly in the seats on the large ones. The levers (seat hight adjustment, etc) have plastic handles that have broken off on more than one chair. The armrests will no longer tighten: when the wheel is hand-tightened to the maximum, the armrests still are not held securely.

All this is forgivable in the $30 Ikea chairs we have, or the $100 Office Max chair I've been beating on for the last 18 months. But I can't forgive it in a $600+ chair. Absolutely inexcusable, *even if* it may still be covered by the warranty.

I reallz like the Eames office chairs:

http://www.laporta.co.uk/index.html?products/officechairs_eames

"... to do this right, we would have needed 3 test chairs, something the vendor didn't want to provide."

Wow.  Aerons are what, $600?  And the vendor was going to sell 600?  And he gave up the opportunity to make $360,000 because he didn't want to part with $600 (wholesale cost, probably) in two more demos?  Which he would have been able to sell for $400 each the next week as demos - in probably two minutes each?

No wonder so many businesses go out of business.

I have a Nightingale CXO, which is similar to the Aeron.  I absolutely love it and can sit in it all day without getting uncomfortable.

It is, however, the most expensive chair I've ever purchased (by far).  If you're willing pay for quality and comfort and need to sit for long periods at a time, a really nice chair is highly recommended.

While the Aeron seems to get all the attention, it's the other Herman Miller chair that has won my heart. It's the successor to the Aeron, called the Mirra.

http://www.hermanmiller.com/mirra/

I've had mine for a couple of years now, and I love it. It's more comfortable than the Aeron for several reasons:

1) The back is flexible, so when you turn around, it moves with you, without having to pivot the chair;

2) I'm a big guy, and when I went back in the Aeron chair, it goosed me. The Mirra is shaped differently on the bottom, and doesn't have this problem;

3) One size fits all. The Aeron comes in three sizes to fit different body types. The Mirra is more adjustable, and fits everyone.

It's also cheaper than the Aeron, made from recycled materials, is recyclable and is, in my opinion, more stylish and offered in better colours.

Ultimately, this is something you'll need to decide for yourself, but I highly recommend going to a Herman Miller dealer and trying them both out.

Karl, thanks for noticing about the vendor judgement error.

Actually, it was worse than that.  Our original 9 test chairs came from half a dozen different vendors.  They had been told that the chairs would be shown to the end users who would make the final purchase decision.

Y'know what?  Half the chairs were in deplorable condition.  Some had obviously been pulled from warehouse storage and were covered in thick, greasy dust.  One chair boasted a whole "system" of interchangeable parts for customization; most of the parts were broken and literally fell off at one time or another during the demo.  Some vendors chose to supply fixed-position, non-adjustable chairs, completely ignoring the (generous, with lots of wriggle room for various equipment) specs we had provided.

The Aeron vendor, the winning vendor, and the supplier of one other chair were the only three who provided clean, fresh chairs on which nothing was broken.  Even the winning vendor screwed up; he provided two chairs, one of which was busted and removed from competition early on.

Personally, I think this project was a little too "outside-the-box" for them.  I work for a large government agency and the vendors just couldn't wrap their heads around "This time, we can afford high quality stuff."  They weren't accustomed to hearing that from us, didn't internalize it, and, consequently, threw at us the same level of crap they normally expected us to buy.

As an aside, two other nits to pick with the Aerons came up during our selection process.  First, some women felt the fabric of the chairs pulled at their clothing.  This wasn't a major issue.  Second, there was some talk from higher-ups that it would create a bad impression on the public if a government agency was seen to purchase such an extravagant item.  Obviously, this turned out to be a non-issue.  However, if we had gone with the Aeron, we had already discussed how it would have been necessary to issue them to individuals and make sure they were not visible to the public.

To try out aerons, I went to the aeron office while I was downtown. Turns out that they have 4 week lead time, and if I wanted one sooner, hit up one of the distributors that keeps them in stock.

I currently use a $150 chair from office depot, the gas cylinder lasted about 2 weeks before it would slide all the way down when I'd sit on it (current weight is about 250# = almost 18 stone). So I had been looking at office chairs that they really sell to offices: steelcase, aeron and others. They really all run about the same price.

Does anyone have any information on the Aeron regarding tilt-lock? What I mean is, I would like a chair that will tilt back to *any* specified angle and lock there. The angle might be 1 degree, 5 degrees, 17.5 degrees, 23 degrees, or any other I might choose -- but the chair wil *lock* there. What you normally see is chairs that don't tilt at all or else have two lock settings: all the way upright and all the way back. That's not what I want. Can any of you Aeron users tell me if any-angle tilt-lock is a feature?

One addendum to my question: I'm not talking about the adjustability of the chair back, but the entire back/seat combination. I want adjustability of the entire chair's tilt angle while keeping the (more or less) 90-degree relationship of back and seat.

If Aeron's don't do infinitely-adjustable tilt-lock, does anybody know of a chair that does? Please, my back is begging you!

Miles Barr > Currently I have a Humanscale Freedom chair (found it cheap on eBay).

Looks slick

http://www.humanscale.com/images/products/freedom/photo_freedom_hr_3q_back.jpg

Remember the standard price and how much you paide for it on eBay?

To Paranoid Android:

The Aerons will limit the tilt backwards but not to 'any' setting. There seems to be a ratchet system underneath that set the back tilt stop to one of the ratchet positions. If you release the back tilt, tilt all the way back and then tilt forward while continuing to enguage the back tilt limiter, you can feel the ratchet cogs click in.

Regarding tilting just the back:
The Aeron doesn't do this. The seat and the back stay at the same angle - that's why it does affect your back so much when you are sitting in it a long time.

Aerons also have a front tilt feature that allows you to limit the angle of forward tilt.

The lumbar support comes with two options: an insert and a dial. If you have any back issues, get the dial version.

Regarding tilting just the back:
The Aeron doesn't do this. The seat and the back stay at the same angle - that's why it does affect your back so much when you are sitting in it a long time.

Should read "... doesn't affect your back..."

Correct adjustment is very important. The chairs in our office have nine independent controls. One woman complained that her chair was uncomfortable, so management sent along a physiotherapist (no, really). The physio looked at her sitting, twiddled a few levers on the chair and the chair was transformed. Best complaint she ever made, she says.

Aeron is one of the leading ergonomic chairs, but not the only one.

The important things are not whether you have an Aeron chair, but whether management really cares about people being healthy and comfortable.  This is decent to fellow human beings, and also increases productivity.

Dittoes to the comments about getting an expert's help adjusting your chair, and about getting to try out more than one type of chair.

Anyone know a good online retailer for Aerons?  Thanks.

When our company moved from the 'burbs to the fancy new downtown digs, one of the "benefits" was new Aeron chairs for everybody.  I spent about 10 months trying to figure out why I couldn't sleep with muscle spasms in my back, doing physical therapy, even taking meds....then it clicked...the chair!

I switched to the (much cheaper) conference room chairs.  My back felt better the next day.

Maybe the newer Aerons are better.  Maybe mine wasn't adjusted right.  But maybe they're not for everybody.