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programming and human factors
by Jeff Atwood
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As software developers, we worry a lot about improving and protecting our most important asset-- our brains. But what about our second most important asset-- our rear ends? As much time as we spend seated in front of a computer, it pays to think about investing in quality seating.
I've run the gamut from $99 OfficeMax specials all the way up to the exotics, and there's no question that a quality chair is a significant factor in productivity over an 8 hour day.
Of course, you can't talk about IT professionals and seating without invoking the ghost of Herman Miller's Aeron chair, which has an unfortunate association with the era of dot-com excess:
Unlike Miele vacuums or Niman Ranch steaks, however, Aeron chairs enjoyed a special relationship with the Internet boom, riding the dot-com wave to near ubiquity. Aerons were the new economy and success rolled into a single object; they gave start-ups a tangible way to flaunt their investors' high hopes and reporters a shorthand to describe success."To get an indication of how well Salesforce.com is doing these days," wrote a Business Week reporter in a recent article, "stroll through its newly renovated offices -- [where] a young staff sits in ergonomic Aeron chairs and takes breaks at the circular coffee bar in the corner of the main floor."
As the dot-coms got richer, so did Herman Miller, the maker of Aeron chairs and inventor of that mainstay of the new-economy workplace: modular panels with integrated work systems, aka the cubicle. As the dot-com boom hit its peak in the last quarter of 2000, Herman Miller's net sales increased 27.7 percent. Among its bestselling products: the Aeron chair.
But just as the dot-coms had collected Aerons when they grew, so they shed them as they died, unleashing legions of briefly occupied luxury chairs into the world. When sports company Quokka shut its doors, it left behind hundreds of hastily abandoned Aeron chairs, clustered in the corners of the lifeless offices like refugees.
Way back in 1998, one of my first published reviews was of the Aeron chair I had just purchased. And it's the top result for the Google search term "aeron review"-- go figure. I still have that Aeron, and I'm still happy with it. My enthusiasm is somewhat diminished by the way the Aeron has become a symbol of dot-com excess, and the dot-com implosion. I had to disassemble the chair to replace the tilt locking pin, which broke in 2001; I've been a lot more careful about aggressive reclining since then.
I am fortunate enough to have a fairly nice chair at work-- the Steelcase Leap. I can also recommend this chair; it's in the same ballpark price-wise as the Aeron. In fact, after browsing chairs for the last few years of my career, I've come to one conclusion: you can't expect to get a decent chair for less than $500. If you are spending less than that on seating-- unless you are getting the deal of the century on dot-bomb bankruptcy auctions-- you're probably making a mistake. I'm not saying that to be an elitist I-have-a-better-chair-and-more-money-than-you kind of guy; it's just a market reality. And besides, a good chair is absolutely one of the best investments you can make as a professional software developer. No doubt about it.
Of course, the Leap and Aeron are a few good choices among many:
What do you sit in all day? As a developer, demand good seating, because it's necessary for productive work. Hopefully it won't come to this, but if you have to, buy it yourself as an career investment. If you're not careful, you could end up writing code in chairry.
Posted by Jeff Atwood View blog reactions
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I scored an Aeron at a dot com auction a few years back - I sit in that at home. At work I sit in a crappy-ish standard office chair. I always consider bringing the Aeron to the office but don't want to seem like some kind of yuppie chair snob. Thoughts?
David Grant on March 16, 2005 02:25 PMI guess I would ask my manager first to make sure he's cool with it, then do it.
Of course you're talking to the guy who secretly upgraded the motherboard, powersupply, CPU, memory, video card, and hard drive of his work computer-- it has essentially been rebuilt six million dollar man style, but looks identical from the outside-- so I'm probably not the best person to ask on this particular topic..
Jeff Atwood on March 16, 2005 03:06 PMI love my Aeron. I took it to work, but missed it when I was at home. Now I work from home and don't have to be parted from it. ever.
JosephCooney on March 16, 2005 05:26 PMWe exclusivly use the Leap chairs here and they are hands down the best chairs I've ever sat it. IMHO, they blow away Aeron chairs.
Michael Cook on March 16, 2005 05:49 PMI got my Aeron 3-4 years ago off eBay pretty cheap (around $400 shipped I think). I weight 250+ and after 10 hour days for a couple years it's starting to wobble on me and I've been looking for something new but the used ones aren't available as cheap as they were back then. There'a a Steelcase dealer locally I may check those out before I buy another Aeron.
Jim on March 17, 2005 01:42 PMMy ass knows nothing but Aeron both at work and at home. The one at home was an anniversary present from my wife. The one at work was a condition of me returning to work for my family after a 3 year leave of absence. Oh, and the one at work has red fabric. :)
DrFooMod2 on March 18, 2005 10:55 PMHow about this?
http://www.ambiencedore.com/collection/seating_angle.php
Uh.. wow.
Jeff Atwood on March 31, 2005 11:28 PMSlate just published a review of some high-end office chairs:
http://www.slate.com/id/2131646/
Ricky Dhatt on December 12, 2005 05:53 AMI love my Aeron...wouldn't trade it for the world. Thankfully I didn't have to pay for mine though...a startup I worked for many moons ago went bust, and allowed what employees were left to sift through the wreckage and take one item each.
jayson knight on December 14, 2005 07:52 PMI've been rocking a Herman Miller Mirra at work for a while now. It's a great chair for much less.
HOWEVER, I recently needed a chair for home. After weeks of research and debate on going with an Aeron, I decided on something else. This chair is THE BOMB and it's about $500 less than an Aeron and $300 less than the Mirra. It's called the Eurotech ErgoHuman. http://www.keystoneoffice.com/chairs/images/chairs/ME7ERG-large.jpg
There wasn't shit on the web as far as reviews on this thing so I rolled the dice. Very happy.
James on August 31, 2006 07:28 AMI second the Eurotech Ergohuman chair, i've been searching and searching for a decent chair, and I was almost getting ready to drop the money on a leap chair or aeron, then I found the ergohuman chair. I haven't purchased it because i'm reasearching prices right now. A local retailer had it for $585 but it's looking like the going rate is $500ish. I was able to sit in the leather and mesh chair and i think i'm going to go with the leather version.
-Jeff
Jeff O'Hara on September 19, 2006 05:14 PMThe Ergohuman chair is an awesome buy! Both Jeff and James are right on the money with everything they said. I bought the ME8ERGLO, which is the mesh chair without the headrest. I liked all of them, but prefer to not have a headrest. I found mine at http://www.beyondtheofficedoor.com/ergonomic-office-chair.php for $517.00.
Kevin Kennedy on October 4, 2006 12:24 PMI just ordered the Eurotech chair but I'll be damned it's heavy. Anybody compared it to the more visually appealing Steelcase Think chair? Apparently they have a good selection at Macy's and I wasn't able to check those out before ordering the Eurotech online.
Anonymous on October 13, 2006 01:44 PMGlad to see you guys are positive about the erghohuman chairs. Though it kinda looks like a Gilliam'esqe torture device, sitting in the me7erg was the most amazing experience I had. I'm leaning towards getting one too.
Even living in Los Angeles, I wish it were easier to find places that had a wider variety of chairs to try out than the local office depot or Staples. Well, if nothing else, it's made for interesting blog writing.
http://stefanslife.blogspot.com
Big & Tall? Check out Bodybilt at http://www.ergo4me.com/
After struggling with Office Depot cheapos for years, I finally broke down and bought one. I'm 6'5", work at home and it's good enough to sit in all day of coding following by an evening of World of Warcraft. Very adjustable as well and I'm quite pleased.
Pete Nelson on January 19, 2007 12:08 PMIf you are sitting in your chair more then 12 hours a day I would recommend having a backup "Kneeling chair" from Hag.
They rock, by looking at it you would not expect it to help your back so much.
They also make some really nice traditional chairs.
Dave on February 6, 2007 05:51 AMIf you are in a chair more then 12 hours a day you need to mix it up with a Kneeling chair from Hag. They rock and you would never think it helps relax your back so much.
Dave on February 6, 2007 05:53 AMwell, as a quick follow up - I bought the eurotech me7erg and I'm loving life. Sitting in it as I write this.
Even a friend of mine with an Aeron was envious.
I highly recommend them.
The best advice I can give is to sit in the chair before you buy it, or make sure the retailer has a good return policy.
I was hell bent on getting an Aeron, and I'll admit it was mostly because of the "techy must have" stigma. So, I found a local dealer where I could try it out. There are a couple of issues with the Aeron w.r.t. Big & Tall. They're only warranted for use up to 300 lbs. Strike 1. What's the point of spending that much if the kick ass 12 year warranty doesn't apply? They're really not built for people with wider hips. This may go to the 300 lb limit, but I found the hard curved sides of the seat uncomfortable because they dug into my hips. Strike 2. I can't think of strike 3 right now, but 2 strikes is enough. I told myself, if you don't fall in love with it immediately, don't buy it. So, I came home without the Aeron. I was bummed, but felt I'd made the right choice.
However, the place also had a Neutral Posture Big & Tall. Let me tell you, for comfort, it blows the Aeron away. It's rated for 24/7 use and it's designed for cops, 911 operators, etc. for long term use. And, it's built for users up to 750 lbs! I have the "ultraleather" pillow-top version. I'm still playing with the adjustments to get it "just right" but I love it so far.
The Neutral Posture website is http://www.igoergo.com
clb on March 6, 2007 07:07 PMI'm in the process of shopping for a chair. Yesterday, I tried out both the ergohuman and the aeron. Not really sure how they compare since they were in different stores and running back and forth seemed a bit embarrassing. The Aeron comes across as a much simpler device....the ergohuman has all kinds of things sliding this way and that. They both seemed pretty comfortable. I did like the fact that the Aeron can be adjusted to tilt forward.
Regarding the Hag balans....I've got one of the kneeling chairs and for me it was a waste...I'm selling it to a friend for less than half of what I payed (about 350) since I'm just not using it.
It's well made but the distance between the seat and the kneeling pad don't adjust and are the wrong distance for me. It seems like this kind of adjustment would be a basic feature since we all have different body types...this chair just doesn't fit me properly. I'm just under 6'....maybe my legs are too long....
Haven't seen it mentionned here, maybe because it is quite a pricey chair, but Humanscale's Freedom chair rocks pretty much all the other chairs.
http://www.humanscale.com/products/freedom_index.cfm?detail=features
The website's store lists it as 1200$ or something but you can usually get it under 800$ from retailers (especially on ebay).
derean on August 27, 2007 10:35 AMThe ergohuman is the bomb. OfficeDespots had it for $499 high back recently.
x on September 10, 2007 01:55 AMI just got the "Eurotech Ergohuman Leather High Back EUR-LE9ERG" for $599 online, thanks to this page. It is awesome, highly recommended. Better than the "ergo" chair I have at work. Feels very solid.
I also recommend the leather over the icky stretchy mesh.
The Aeron chair is not a bad chair, we found that it makes you sit in one position which they consider ergonomic. The problem is, most people that sit all day tend to move around in their chair and the aeron is not easily adjusted. Sure there are lots of knobs and adjustments, it just takes a degree in chair design to be able to operate them! There are many newer designed chairs that focus on natural movement and auto adjusting to the user. I recommend checking out the Liberty or Freedom chairs. The Ergohuman is really nice and costs half the price of the Aeron.
Whatever you do, find a place to try out the chairs first! We bought a pair of Aerons from Home Office Solutions and they surreptitiously charged us $150 to return them. I disagreed with this charge but their supposedly "satisfaction guaranteed" service manager argued with me and said he will go out of business, that 'intelligent' people will check their returns page (nicely hidden) ect... However, I phoned in my orders and this was never disclosed to me, wasn't in any of my email communication or on my receipts. Only when I called to return the Aerons did they casually mention this fee. Their website touts the 100% free shipping, 100% refundable if not satisfied but watch out for those shady junk fees! They were also verrrry slow to issue the refund. 2 weeks went by after the chairs were returned and I had to call the service department who said they were "backlogged". Avoid doing business with HomeOfficeSolutions.com or any of their 3 online businesses (yep they are all one company): OfficeDesigns.com or UltimateBackstore.com
Andrew on December 10, 2007 12:20 PMHas anyone tried the HumanScale Liberty chair?
http://www.slate.com/id/2131646/
Jeff Atwood on December 11, 2007 05:13 PMSome great tips here. I currently have a Herman Miller Mirra chair, and I would say it's just "OK", but not great. And, after a year, the fabric on the seat part is starting to tear.
I think this is because I tend to sit all the way up on the front edge of the chair, never leaning into the back at all.
I also dont use the arm rests, in fact they kinda get in the way.
So, in researching a replacement the last few days, I'm starting to feel like I should go with one of these:
http://www.relaxtheback.com/the-swopper-product-6370282-1894
(sorry for a link to a store, the manufacturers site is kinda lame)
Anyone used or know someone who has used one of these?
They seem similar to the exercise ball seating method that a lot of people seem to be adopting lately, but with a better surface, adjustability, and less likelihood of explosion. :)
Otherwise, I'm looking at a Steelcase "Think", without armrests.
Jason on December 23, 2007 08:37 AMI'm sitting in a HumanScale Liberty chair right now... a store called "Design Within Reach" let me borrow it for a day. Last week I borrowed the Herman Miller Cella, and good thing, because that one was painful.
The Liberty is really cool. I mostly agree with the reviewer above, but it's not the chair for me. I'm a "lean back" kind of guy, and the Liberty isn't so good for prolonged leaning back. The natural stance of the chair is "lean forward and get your work done", and when I lean back I tend to go back to far in this chair. There is no spring tension adjustment for the back, and there is no backstop adjustment either. If either (or both!) of these were present I would buy the chair. The gel seat is great, and the mesh back is one of a kind.
My problem isn't my back, it's my legs... after sitting too long, it feels like either the nerves or the circulation get disrupted. So none of the mesh bottom chairs are good for me, since the front edge of the mesh seats tends to push up into the back of my leg.
At The Healthy Back Store I sat in Aeron, CXO, Leap, and Zody chairs. At another local store I sat in the ErgoHuman chairs. Right now it's a three-way-tie between the Zody, the Leap (leather) and ErgoHuman (leather). If you haven't tried the Zody, you should. It's way cool. The only reason it's not first on my list is that I can find the other two for much less.
There are lots of used Leaps on the market but beware... the v2 is nicer than the v1, but very few used v2's are available yet. (Leap v2 came out 1Q06).
Hope this data dump is of value to someone...
Patrick on January 28, 2008 06:35 PMAny recommendations for a person 6'4" and 200lbs?
Tomi on February 28, 2008 07:19 PMWhat is the difference between the Steelcase Leap V1 and V2?
Todd on March 13, 2008 06:38 AMThe main differences between Leap v1 and v2 is that the v1 came with a choice of back heights "full" and "low". In order to simplify v2, they only offer a single height - around in the middle of the previous choices. I have a tall torso so the full or higher back was for me. The v1 also had an extra front lip seat adjustment. So, I looked all over for a v1 and bought that recently. I think the Leaps blow away the Aeron, Humanscale, and all the rest - Iv'e tried many.
Dean on March 18, 2008 10:54 AMA few other differences between the v1 and v2 Leap. i) The armrests on the v2 are *much* improved. The rubber is softer, and they slide forward/backward, in addition to the other directions. ii) The frame for the back is made of softer, more flexible plastic. I find it more comfortable than the v1, since it has a little more 'give.' iii) The control for the hardness of the front tip of the seat cushion is removed. No great loss. iv) It's restyled overall: looks a bit smaller and thinner, even though the seated dimensions remain the same.
I looked at a used v1 vs. a new v2, and decided the v2 was going to be more comfortable for me...
Hankk on April 4, 2008 08:38 PMI just bought the Ergohuman after owning a Herman Miller Aeron, which I never liked. The Ergohuman cradles me, the lumbar support is better, the ability to slide the bottom seat a bit is nice, and so is the headrest. It's also only $500 online. I wish I had purchased it sooner because now sitting at my desk no longer is painful.
Mister Big on April 19, 2008 03:46 PMI realize this is probably out of place, but what about a chair mat? I love my chair, but I need a chair mat that works on carpet. Cracking = bad. Also, if would be nice if it wasn't slick as ice. I don't want to fly across the room when my foot twitches.
MattH on April 29, 2008 12:31 PM| Content (c) 2008 Jeff Atwood. Logo image used with permission of the author. (c) 1993 Steven C. McConnell. All Rights Reserved. |
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