Favorite task chair, anyone?
My search for a comfortable task chair continues. I've dismissed my previous notion of buying a kneeling chair (just too bizarre).

While I'm a natural-born tightwad (and have acquired all of my vintage furniture for absurdly low prices) I've concluded that I've little choice but to actually pay retail for a task chair.

I've spent the day shopping, and I'm leaning toward:

the Steelcase Leap


the Humanscale Freedom


the Knoll Life



But, I'm confused since I sampled so many, today.

Can anyone offer any other suggestions, or have any of you owned any of these chairs? I value comfort & performance over looks, in this case. Any advice appreciated.

Aeron, eh?
I guess I was being disingenuous when I said I value comfort over looks, because I don't think the Aeron would look very good at my trim, wall-hung rosewood desk.

Frankly, I didn't even sit in one today, though I had several opportunities. I'll give one a try before making my final decision, though...

Yep, Barry is correct
I have an Aeron (size B), a newer Time Life chair, and an older Knoll Life? chair, and an older HM equa chair..and the comfort award easily goes to the Aeron. I never tire of sitting on it. Why can't automobiles offer the pelicle mesh as an option?

WMC...many of the latest chairs are butt ugly
but the Aeron chair is 1000% beautiful, anyway you look at it. It's a truly revolutionary looking chair that's comfortablem, well made and is award winning.

I've spouted about alot of the ugly new stuff, but this chair's go what it takes.

Maybe the reason why you feel the way you do is because you're spending hours sitting on a hard plywood chair!

Those Belgian chairs are sleek and good looking
and they don't have the athletic-shoe styling so typical of contemporary task chairs. Unfortunately, I think the chairs that resemble sneakers tend to be considerably more comfortable.

i know but
I know they look hard but they are acutally more comfortable than they look.

The Aeron looks very comfortable.
The Maarten Van Severen chair has hidden comfort as do most of his other chairs.

soft pad spring fever
they seem to have several colours available on vitra website
http://www.vitra.com/en-gb/office/products/soft-pad-group-e/...

WHC....DWR's OK but
I'd suggest you buy Knoll or Herman Miller from any of the following:

http://www.hivemodern.com

http://www.retromodern.com

http://www.highbrowfurniture.com

Unlike DWR, they also don't charge tax, they honor the same Herman Miller and/or Knoll annual sales and do not charge for shipping in the U.S.

Because there's a DWR in Minnesota, if I bought from them,I'd have to pay sales tax....plus DWR doesn't carry all of the Herman Miller and/or Knoll pieces.

Of those above, Hivemodern is the most swell. I bought my 36" square Herman Miller work table from them and most of the others only show the round varieties.
http://www.hivemodern.com

Grahl split back...
I keep telling everyone, but no one listens. I must have an anomalous back.

the Grahl... or an...
the Grahl... or an insect.
I like it. Especially in orange, but you made a good choice.
All of the choices are good, but important to 'test drive'.

Visually i like your pick. I've struggled with this issue myself.
At work i have a couple of steelcase. And a row of Warren Mcarthur
folding chairs for visitor seating. Adjustments are important.

At home is another issue. We use a vintage University type aluminum and
oak library swivel. Probably Goodform(?). Very difficult to find a visually
appealing home office chair. Works for now. Has a great worn-in squeak.
(W-D does not help)...comforting, but not for extended hours at the computer.
...We tend to travel around the house and deck with laptops.

I hope it works for you. Please give a report after a trial period...

Barry-
I might have taken your advice and bought from Retromodern (to save the sales tax), had I not already paid for the chair. Others reading this may learn from my mistake, however.

I don't fault DWR for offering some- but not all- Knoll/ Herman Miller designs, why should they? They're a boutique.

Rockland-

That goofy Grahl chair is growing on me, too-- it does resemble a ladybug or a beetle. A quick online search leads me to believe they're not easy to find in the USA, though.

Any idea what this one...

Any idea what this one is?...(dark photo so i'm posting the article link)

NYTimes last sunday.

"Favorite item in house: My ergonomic office chair. It is based on the tension you put on it. I swear by it. I love it. It brings down my blood pressure."

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/04/magazine/04wwln-domains-tn...

Barry
Rockland - thats a Liberty Chair from humanscale.

Barry - first off, let me disclaim I'm a little biased towards DWR because I've become good friends with one of the guys that works there, and I've had really good experiences there. So...

I asked my friend and he told me DWR can get anything from Knoll or Herman Miller. The stuff they carry 'standard' is usually warehoused, which means you can get it quicker than the lead times Hive & others are held to. If you buy something out of DWRs standard line-up you need to wait the same lead time as other websites. Also - just the fact that I can try things out before buying them is completely worth paying shipping. I would NEVER have spent 500 bucks on an LCW if I hadn't been able to try it out first. (just like I wouldnt buy a pair of shoes if I couldnt try them on)

And this may betray my bluer than blue liberal leanings - but I like taxes. They pay for important things like roads and police officers and such. Here in MA the state sales tax is directly related to how much funding our subway system gets. I couldnt in good conscience bitch about the lousy quality of the subway if, at the same time, I'm subverting their funding system by buying from an out of state vendor.

DWR provides a valuable service
by maintaining so many stores where one can try out the goods. It's discourteous to manhandle their samples and waste their sales staff's time if you intend ultimately to buy it online.

(I might have committed this moral faux pas had the online-savings been greater, however. I'm no saint-- I just play one, on the internet.)

We all love a bargain
Im sorry you've had bad experiences there. I've been snubbed myself - but only in the SoHo store in NYC. Ugg.. I gagged on the pretension as soon as I walked in the door. But the Boston & Cambridge locations have always been more than friendly.

Anyway... here's a little secret of mine: Make friends with the people at DWR and you'll get some good deals. I've gotten an Eames wire table, an Eames LCW, a Navy chair and a few other odds and ends - all at deep discount prices when they have their floor sales. Some of the stuff is dented or dinged - but honesly - I'm going to do far worse damage in my day to day life. The only caveat is that most of the big name pieces go to employees before they even are listed.

It may be too late for me, but others may benefit from your recommendation--
I read about the Zody online, it received good reviews-- but, like the Grahl Duo, it wasn't available to try out in any of the stores I shopped. The Haworth Zody looks like the Knoll Life, only on steroids.

One thing I particularly liked about the Knoll chair is the flat "spokes" on the base. You can put your feet on them, if you choose.

New York (city)
Which stores sell the Zody?

Shopped Sam Flax
And I recall sampling a Haworth chair, but I don't think it was the Zody. If only there were a task chair boutique which featured EVERY chair, side by side, for easy comparison.