Upgraded from a gaming chair to the ProtoArc EC200, first impressions

I had a gaming chair before, and the EC200 is already much better. Assembly took me less than an hour.

Early days, so I will update after a few weeks of use. Disclosure: ProtoArc includes a card offering a free mouse for sharing my experience. This post is my own opinion.

#ProtoArc

Hey Office Chairs!

I have been lurking for a while so I’ll try to make this as straightforward as possible.

I have lower back pain and yet, have to sit at a desk all day. Then I sit at the same desk and game at night. Wait for it… I’m sitting on a wooden dining chair with a cushion xxx

I’d love to hear your thoughts about the best “being for your buck” office chair that supports the lower back.

I’m a graduate student, so money ain’t flowing. I found a steel case leap v2 for $550, but that’s out of my price range. Hoping to spend up to $250 max

I’ve been scouring FB marketplace with no luck for at least a month. Hopefully there’s a chair out there for me!

As already mentioned I am looking for a study chair, for seating long streches. Found Green Soul Jupiter Pro and Superb, are they good enough and comfortable?

Or should I just go for Cellbell, its less than half the price of green soul or even less.

Need honest advice please.

Highest budget-8 to 9k

TL;DR: Stuck between the Herman Miller Aeron (Size C) and the Embody. Looking for advice from fellow tall/heavy sitters (6'0", 200 lbs) who deal with short seat pans and sit-bone pain. I work from home so I spend 8ish hours in this chair daily. I do have a standing desk, which I should probably use more…

My Chair History:
• Branch Verve: Looked great, but immediate sit-bone pain.
• Steelcase Karman Highback: Absolutely gorgeous, she really is that girl and the flexible back is everything, but the seat pan was too shallow (sigh).
• Fractal Refine 2 - Mesh: I really wanted to like this chair. But is it so aggressively upright that it felt like I was almost being pushed forward out of the seat, the recline even with the least amount of tension was a bit stiff to push back and felt like my abs were engaged anytime I was using it. Also the recline lock was nice with so many intervals - but I couldn’t rock with the recline locked. Honestly I should write an entire post on this chair as there is barely any info on it. Oh, I also almost broke my ankle getting the 75lb box down the stairs…
• Aeron (Original Size B): Mesh is great for my sit-bones, but the rigid frame digs into my thighs.

Yes I know I am Goldilocks.

The Dilemma:
I recently tested the Aeron Remastered (Size C) and the Embody Gaming Chair.
• Embody: Super comfortable seat when fully extended, and I love the flexible back. However, I'm worried about online reports of it becoming uncomfortable after a few hours, I spent about an hour sitting on it in the store. How inflated is the worry truly?
• Aeron Size C: No thigh pain thanks to the larger seat pan, and I know the mesh works for me. But the back is very rigid compared to the Embody and unsure if the thigh pain might creep back after a few hours of sitting.

Other Factors:
• Cats: My cat hasn't been able to destroy the Aeron mesh, but I'm worried she might shred the Embody. I will keep it covered if I must, but, ugh.
• Color: Who doesn’t want a little pop of color? But the Aeron is timeless…

I was initially thinking of the Embody Gaming graphite/nightfall/nova but the newly released graphite/amethyst is speaking to me vs Aeron Remastered Gaming

What do you all think? I know how subjective it is, and the Aeron vs Embody debate is long and storied (and boring?). Maybe I am just venting, because few people (other than those on this sub) truly understand how deep and detailed we can get on the discussion of office chairs… As I told Alicia, the lovely SA at the Herman Miller store in Greenwich “I am deep into office chair discourse, it’s a problem.”

I’m trying to buy an ergonomic chair, but I honestly know NOTHING about them and it’s been a tiring journey. Today I visited a store and I found this chair that felt really good especially the lumbar support. However, I felt a little uncomfortable with the headrest and the salesperson tried to help me find the “perfect” posture but I don’t know if the headrest is supposed to be in that position or not.

I guess the cuck chair still applies even for college single stall bathrooms

My Leap V2 chair seat cushion is now uncomfortable to sit in as I feel the frame with my butt. I'm looking at replacing the seat cushion, and unfortunately Crandall and BTOD will not ship to Canada. From my research, that leaves OfficeLogix but I saw some bad reviews saying there's no improvement, and with the shipping, brokerage fees and 25% tariff, it's going to be very expensive for me. Wondering if anyone has any luck sourcing a refurb/new cushion from Steelcase, or any other option like reupholstering to get some more life out of the chair? The rest of the chair works fine it's just the cushion that's the problem. My next step would be to sell the chair and get a new one but wanted to see if I can save it first. I'm in the Toronto area, if that helps.

Steelcase is $150 pre-owned, Herman Miller is $150 pre-owned, Dexley is $170 new, and for a bonus Allsteel is $50 pre-owned but has mystery damage. I'm 5'10 260 and I'm currently using a small cat condo as a chair. I'm trying to find stuff on the cheap end. I looked at FB and there are no hidden gem Herman Millers or Steelcase.

The backrest is slanted on the right side which quite noticeable pushes my left side more up and my right side more in, which beats the purpose of an ergonomic chair.

Just wondering if anyone has this same problem or how to fix it? If fixable at all.

Basically the title of the post. I keep reading that the leap v2 seat system will allow you to slide the deph to anywhere you like. While the Lamia i got right now pretty much has three locked settings which is not particularly optimal because it's basically or super close to the back rest or very far. Also takes a lot of power to move it backwards to the point that i have to lock it against my desk to move it.

Anyone has more information about that?

ps: i know its a lever mechanism, but if i dont put it in specific points it wont go down.

So background info, I'm an artist and architect (student atm) and it's what i do both for work (digital drawing for commissions from time to time), for school and for fun (I draft things by hand a lot, and also have to make a lot of models, etc etc) and I have two desks in my small room because of it (one is for general computer things and the other is for all my arts and crafts stuff), I also have to lean in A LOT, while I've made a pretty big effort to fix my posture from years of this stuff and bad gaming/watching/lounging posture, I still need to do better.

Some other things to note:

- I'm 5'7

- I'm on the lighter side so it doesn't matter too much

- I also fidget A LOT, constantly changing positions (limited by the current chair)

- the two desks are arranged in an L~ish shape because the room doesn't have too much space to work with and I still need space for when friends come over

-Money isn't too much an issue, as since this is something for my longterm health im willing to spend for it, but I don't want to spend an absurd amount of money either

My current chair is this few years old corsair gaming one that while good, it doesn't really fill my needs well: The back support is decent but because of how I lean in while working a lot, it basically doesn't matter, the cushion is comfy but gets quite hot, it also hurts when I put my elbow on the arm rest for even just a couple minutes which I do often enough that my elbow hurts sometimes after long sitting days

Any input anyone can give is welcome, also would love hear more personal experience stories from people

I want to buy an ergonomic chair and I've decided that I will buy a refurbished or second hand chair such that I can afford a premium one. I am currently thinking about either a Haworth Zody or a Steelcase Amia.

I live in Romania and I have not seen any people or companies close to me selling these chairs, so I looked at companies delivering from other parts of Europe and I've found Offeco, a company from the Netherlands selling refurbished chairs. They have the Zody at 345€ and the Amia at 466€. Do you think the Amia is worth 120 euros more? Also are these prices good for refurbished chairs and if not, do you have any other suggestions of where I could buy one of these chairs with delivery to Romania?