i just bought a Herman Miller aeron, & love it. I have researched and chacked pricing the last couple years, and finally found a slightly used one for $400.00. The new price was more than double what I paid.
Some would say thats alot for a computer/task chair, but my back loves me now. At one point I couldn’t sit in my old chair for more than an hour without compensating one way or another. I can’t believe I used such a poor chair for so long.
I was really wondering if others had similar experiences with their Aeron’s or other comfy chairs…
I have one at work and I don’t like it. I’ve tried every adjustment and I can’t get comfortable in it. The only position that works with the lumbar piece in makes my butt slide off the seat all the time. I even had the HM rep come and adjust it for me. I guess I’m a freak, but I don’t see the big deal.
We have them at our office too. They’re great! and IMO a good investment, if you’re gonna sit in a chair 8 hrs. / day it should be comfortable, it just makes sense. Now, when I try to screw around on my computer @ home, I get really uncomfortable really fast in a chair I used to think was very good.
This is the only downside to the chair, it spoils you. Sitting in this chair everyday makes going to Taiwan very difficult, especially when I get stuck with one of the folding metal chairs
I’ve used them before and love them. What I find is that I can’t use the lumbar support at all, that destroys it for me, in the same category as car headrests for me (shouldn’t they be neck rests?). I could work all day easily in an Aeron and it did spoil me, haven’t sat in anything else that felt as good for extended sitting.
I bought one for my home office. It was in December and they knocked a few bucks off because they were clearing out the warehouse for the end of the year, then I asked if they had a designer discount. It turns out you get about 10% off if you are a card-carrying member of IDSA. I got my chair for about $600. My wife still yelled at me when she found out it was the most expensive piece of furniture we owned. My ass is happy though.
It took me a while to dial-in the settings so my back was comfortable. The arm rests keep sliding down, but that’s the only compaint I have.
This is the only downside to the chair, it spoils you. Sitting in this chair everyday makes going to Taiwan very difficult, especially when I get stuck with one of the folding metal chairs
I totally agree. We have them @ work too, and it’s one of the reasons I enjoyed coming in early, checking emails and getting my day started. Now that I have one at home the spoil factor will become an issue.
it’s truly more comfortable to sit than stand. Now I have to remind myself to take breaks!
I am just curious how many other chairs you all investigated and sat in before you decided that the HM Aeron was the one for you?
I have been surprised how many ergonomists absolutely hate the Aeron chair, even most HM reps seem to recognize that the Mirra has a more advanced control and at a much lower pricepoint. You can even use the same A&D discount.
Aeron is hugely uncomfortable for me after sitting in Mirra for the past year and a half. The plastic “loaf of bread” lumbar support is a joke in the industry.
The revised posturefit system however, greatly improves the support of the chair. HMI still has some of the best rides around though. As stiff as Celle is, the tilt and ride are great.
It’s the materials for me. And it’s the aeron without the lumbar, with that in there I may as well lean on a lightpost. And it’s definitely the mesh material that’s more comfortable for me than sitting on any plastic or hard chair. Might also have something to do with body composition, I have very little “built-in” padding so plastic chairs are a complete no-no.
Funniest chairs I’ve sat in have been the Humanscale Freedom and Liberty chairs. There’s no tension, so the “recline” effectively jacks up your pelvis. The first the I thought of was Wayne’s World how they’re going SHWING! Librety does look great though.
I bought one used about 5 years ago and I was so excited to get it, although it didn’t really do much for me. the lumbar support felt werd but i kept it… recently I’d benn thiknking about selling it.
reading this post inspired me to remove the support and fiddle with the levers, etc some more and lo and behold… i found a nice little position… ahhh…
After sitting in crappy $75-200 task chairs for almost 12 years, I finally was able to upgrade to the Aeron. It was the best thing I could have done. It is money well spent, and as mentioned above, worth every penny. I have one at the office and at home now.
Design and Research
The aeron was designed in the early 90’s. Saw a presentation by Stumpf ( one of the main team members ) and 1/2 of the development cost was for research alone. The chair is designed to promote movement while sitting. Holding your body correctly while giving you the feeling of “slouching”. The Mira Chair was designed as a lower cost version of the Aeron. It baselined the Aeron ergonomics. Both are nice, having tested a Mira also, I prefer the Aeron.
The aeron is not that good from a recycle perspective. But if someone ever throws one away, I will smack them! That is an additional reason why they did the Mira. It is something like 93% very simple to recycle and easy to dismantle.
The Aeron Chair is so good and spoils you so much.
Skinny-Headrests in cars are misnamed. They are not there for you to rest your head on. They are there to protect your neck in a rear collision. It should be set behind the back of your skull…not you neck.
Thanks for the info on the headrests. It was just one of those things that I never used and wondered why, since it was so uncomfortable to lean your head on. So, a protection feature, that makes more sense. Learning something new everyday.
hey, i’ve been trying to find a decent picture of the buttrest part of an aeron and/or mirra chair, but i can’t find one… does anyone have a pic to share?
if not… what is the actual seat part made out of? is it the same material as the backrest + extra padding or is it something completely different? any help would be much appreciated!
