And not a single mention of the $40k worth of Aeron chairs in there... ...sad panda.
Okay. You would know this. I have always had phenomenal chairs at work because I always worked late and when no one was around I would steal the nice ones from the empty offices that are for remote sales reps when they come to LA. I've always had ikea chairs at home because they work, they have a small footprint, and I usually sat in them for no more than an hour at a time. Now that I'm working at home, I need to upgrade but I don't even know where to start. I'm ready to spend a couple hundred (probably not $700, I need a new mattress too). What should I get? I don't know if it makes a difference but I find I sit in a lot of different positions. I'll crouch or sit cross legged or have my feet up on the shelf under my desk.
Aeron. 100% Aeron. My sister's company bought one of every fancy-pants chair on the market two years ago and had everyone in the office try everything for two months. They bought Aeron. Buy used, refurbish. You're probably an A or a B. Size matters.
You know any reputable national dealers or refurbished ones? Just googling gives an impressive array of sellers, many of whom have tons of negative reviews that I have no idea are real of fake. Also, I'm 5'8", so I'd think a B, but no basis on which to judge. Edit: also I just realized this is a really old thread. I Hubski searched "Aeron" to pick up a conversation from the other day, and just clicked the first link!
When this thread was new, the answer was "Sit4Less" which then became "Sit4life" which has since gone under. Here's the thing, though: the parts are readily available. The repairs are eminently accomplishable. The hardest thing you can do is replace the hydraulic ram, which I've done, which involves a big badass pair of vice grips and a hammer.
I will bet there's a healthy secondary market in aeron chairs wherever you are. Check craigslist. Imagine if a Saturn station wagon had 55 parts, none of which were in motion with any regularity. How long would they last? And how much of an aftermarket would there be in keeping them functional, especially if Saturn freely sold replacement parts to anyone who wanted them? The part that wears out is the pellicle. Used to be you could buy the fabric and redo it but now you just buy replacement seat pans.
There was a tenant one floor above us that moved into our building to expand and were there for not even 6 months before they were acquired by Yahoo. I remember reading the announcement and then they were gone almost overnight. Left everything behind. I know the building owners and they usually sell the furnishings left behind if the old tenant leaves them, and there were a ton of brand new Aerons. All I had to do was ask and he would have let me just nab one, but I didn't manage to run into him while somehow his management team found a new tenant quicker than I've ever seen them do so in our building...and they bought all the furnishings. Sooo close....
1) They last forever. 2) Spare parts are readily available. 3) They're easy to work on. 4) They're 100% recyclable. 5) They're 100% made in the USA. You can literally buy a beat-to-shit aeron on Craigslist, spend $120 on spare parts, and have a good-as-new aeron. I own two - one of which was bought new (scratch'n'dent) from Sit4less and the other which was I shit you not plucked out of the alley behind a restaurant (with the RAND Corporation inventory control sticker still on it). A pipe wrench and $50 in parts later and they're nearly indistinguishable.