Hermin Miller Aeron

[MidKnight]

Quote from OldTrader:

Best chair I've ever owned. Never heard of anyone who had back pain from sitting in one. You must have it adjusted incorrectly.

OldTrader

Hi OldTrader,

That is a possibility. I demo'd the chair for 2 weeks and had plenty of time to adjust it in just about every position and try it out for a couple hours a time. Even had the herman miller rep initially set it up for me at my house. What can I say. Chair doesn't fit me.

Best regards,
MK

 

[jumper]

i tested one out. the material wasn't very comfortable for me.

the steelcase chair has a nice feel.

i like the human scale: http://www.humanscale.com/products/freedom_index.cfm

 

[Math_Wiz]

Quote from jumper:

i tested one out. the material wasn't very comfortable for me.

the steelcase chair has a nice feel.

i like the human scale: http://www.humanscale.com/products/freedom_index.cfm

Thanks for the link. I've never tried a humanscale (I own a Leap). I think the back height adjustment on the humanscale would be a huge advantage. The Leap doesn't have that adjustment, and I'm disappointed with that. The leap has seat height adjustment and lumbar adjustment, but not back height adjustment.

On the downside, I think the armrest adjustments on the humanscale look extremely minimal. I haven't tried it personally of course, but the demo on your link above doesn't look too promising. The leap chair appears to have much better armrest adjustments (height/depth/forward/backward), but I'm even disappointed with those. They only go minimal distances in each direction. I'm hoping my next chair purchase (probably not a leap because I need a back-height adjustment) has better armrest adjustability.


+-*/ Math_Wiz

 

[Cutten]

My opinion is that you are way too late to the party. The time to buy Aerons was 2002-2003 when you could get them on ebay for peanuts as dot.coms liquidated en masse. Since then they've been on a persistent uptrend, experiencing a multi-year bull market, and to be honest you are paying pretty inflated prices now.

Oh, you mean what are they like to sit on?

FWIW I have an Ikea self-assembled chair that I bought for around £40 back in 1999. Still going strong, very comfortable, one of the best purchases I've made of any product. Shame the rest of their stuff isn't of the same quality.

 

[OldTrader]

Quote from MidKnight:

Hi OldTrader,

That is a possibility. I demo'd the chair for 2 weeks and had plenty of time to adjust it in just about every position and try it out for a couple hours a time. Even had the herman miller rep initially set it up for me at my house. What can I say. Chair doesn't fit me.

Best regards,
MK

Since you had a rep, I imagine he must have made you aware that there are 3 different sizes available. I have the large size. But that said, there are plenty of other chairs around. I used to go through them about once a year. LOL.

OldTrader

 

[MidKnight]

Quote from OldTrader:

Since you had a rep, I imagine he must have made you aware that there are 3 different sizes available. I have the large size. But that said, there are plenty of other chairs around. I used to go through them about once a year. LOL.

OldTrader

Yep, I was made aware of the different sizes. I have tried both the B and A models. Same problems on both.

Kind regards,
MK

 

[Traveler]

I've had one since about 1998. They are expensive upfront compared to a low-end (any kind of Office Depot chair) but you get what you pay for. They have a 10 year warranty. That's only $60 per year.

I have had to have mine repaired only once. I let a 300 lb friend sit in it and he broke it. Otherwise it would be just fine.

Traveler

 

[RL8093]

Quote from HispaTrader:

I recently bought a Herman Miller Aeron chair and sold it. Very disappointed. My problem was that if I wasn't seated perfectly centered in the chair, the hard plastic on the edge of the back would dig into my lower back (the lower part of the back of the Aeron chair gets quite narrow). Also, the seat is a bit too shallow. If I slouch a bit, I was practically off the chair and the hard plastic along the edge of the seat would dig into the back of my legs. I'm an average sized person and had tried the size B chair. If you sit with perfect posture all the time, then it is comfortable. But throughout the day I like to shift around in the chair.

I use a Steelcase Leap chair at work and IMO it's a much better chair. At home, I have the Humanscale Liberty chair and I love it. They are all expensive though.

Before I bought (~4 yrs ago), I read a bunch of web reviews. Some people have issues w/ the hard plastic edges where the webbing attaches on the Aerons (legs fall asleep, etc). Compared Leap vs Aeron - no comparison. Bought a Leap. Loved it since day 1.

 

[Sparohok]

I own a Steelcase Leap and I spent 5 years with an Aeron. In my opinion the Leap is a much better chair.

The Aeron has a few problems. Back support is always going to be problematic because of the way the chair is built, they keep retrofitting doodads to try to work around the problem but they haven't nailed it yet. The hard edges can be uncomfortable. They're not as adjustable so you rely more on having the perfect fit to start with. Bottom line, they sacrifice ergonomics and comfort for that cool Museum of Modern Art design.

However there are a few cases where you're better off with the Aeron. If you don't have air conditioning the Aeron is great, it'll keep you cool. And people with very short or very long legs, who might not be able to adjust the Leap for comfort, will do better with the appropriately sized Aeron chair.

Martin