3 ms·

Best cheap office chair for startups?

5 points by NextNetNow 18y ago

chairs are important, but expensive. aerons are obvious but too much for a bootstrappin' startup. recommendations?

imawesty 18y ago
Optima are okay...
icey 18y ago
What's your budget? How many people are you buying chairs for? If you're buying chairs for 10 people or less, give everyone a chair budget and then take a field trip to your local office furniture supply. Sometimes giving your employees those kinds of choices tells them that you are interested in their well being more than a 900 dollar chair does.
- mattmaroon 18y ago
  Umm, what? I'll take an Aeron over "here's $200, go to Staples" any day.
watmough 18y ago
plenty of people going out of business right now. you may be able to pick up some used aerons.
- SwellJoe 18y ago
  There's always a strong aftermarket for Aeron chairs. Which means they're always available used, and always more expensive that you'd like. But, ~$700 is better than new prices, and an Aeron is a solid choice. There are only a few chairs in the same league and none that are significantly cheaper or as universally available.
mattmaroon 18y ago
Used Aerons on craigslist are the way to go. I'm of the opinion that when you're spending crazy hours in a chair, it's not something you want to skimp on. The extra productivity caused by the difference in comfort level will more than pay for the chair. Get cheap-ass desks from Ikea or something.
RobGR 18y ago
I have experimented with those kneeling things that have no back, and to my surprise they seem to work ok. I find it best to swap back and forth between on those and a normal chair. In general, I find hard straight chairs better than the more common padded office style. I think the periodic shifting and squirming you do keeps your back from setting up in a bad way. Wooden kitchen chairs are cheap to come by if you don't care about matching them, but one disadvantage is that they don't slide around as well. I am currently using a wooden rocking chair for all my office chair needs. It's easier to slide around (I glued felt strips to the rockers). If I were setting up a new office now, I would get only rocking chairs.
kqr2 18y ago
The Russell Executive Mesh Chair @ Office Depot for $230 received a good review on cooltools as a inexpensive alternative to the Aeron: http://www.kk.org/cooltools/archives/000891.php http://www.kk.org/cooltools/archives/000891.php I would take a trip to Office Depot and Staples to see if you can find anything comfortable that meets your needs.

5 points by NextNetNow 18y ago

chairs are important, but expensive. aerons are obvious but too much for a bootstrappin' startup. recommendations?

imawesty 18y ago

Optima are okay...

icey 18y ago

What's your budget? How many people are you buying chairs for? If you're buying chairs for 10 people or less, give everyone a chair budget and then take a field trip to your local office furniture supply. Sometimes giving your employees those kinds of choices tells them that you are interested in their well being more than a 900 dollar chair does.

mattmaroon 18y ago
Umm, what? I'll take an Aeron over "here's $200, go to Staples" any day.

watmough 18y ago

plenty of people going out of business right now. you may be able to pick up some used aerons.

SwellJoe 18y ago
There's always a strong aftermarket for Aeron chairs. Which means they're always available used, and always more expensive that you'd like. But, ~$700 is better than new prices, and an Aeron is a solid choice. There are only a few chairs in the same league and none that are significantly cheaper or as universally available.

mattmaroon 18y ago

Used Aerons on craigslist are the way to go. I'm of the opinion that when you're spending crazy hours in a chair, it's not something you want to skimp on. The extra productivity caused by the difference in comfort level will more than pay for the chair. Get cheap-ass desks from Ikea or something.

RobGR 18y ago

I have experimented with those kneeling things that have no back, and to my surprise they seem to work ok. I find it best to swap back and forth between on those and a normal chair. In general, I find hard straight chairs better than the more common padded office style. I think the periodic shifting and squirming you do keeps your back from setting up in a bad way. Wooden kitchen chairs are cheap to come by if you don't care about matching them, but one disadvantage is that they don't slide around as well. I am currently using a wooden rocking chair for all my office chair needs. It's easier to slide around (I glued felt strips to the rockers). If I were setting up a new office now, I would get only rocking chairs.

kqr2 18y ago

The Russell Executive Mesh Chair @ Office Depot for $230 received a good review on cooltools as a inexpensive alternative to the Aeron: http://www.kk.org/cooltools/archives/000891.php http://www.kk.org/cooltools/archives/000891.php I would take a trip to Office Depot and Staples to see if you can find anything comfortable that meets your needs.