In A Developer's Second Most Important Asset, I described how buying a quality chair may be one of the smartest investments you can make as a software developer. I still believe this to be true, and I urge any programmers reading this to seriously consider the value of what you're sitting in while you're on the job. In our profession, seating matters: Choice of seating is as fundamental and constant as it gets in a programming career otherwise marked by relentless change. They are long term investments. Why not take the same care and consideration in selecting a chair as you would with the other strategic directions that you'll carry with you for the rest of your career? Skimping yourself on a chair just doesn't make sense. Although I've been quite happy with my Herman Miller Aeron chair over the last 10 years, I've always been a little disenchanted with the way it became associated with dot-com excess: In the '90s, the Aeron became an emblem of the dot-com boom; it symbolized mobility, speed, efficiency, and 24/seven work weeks.
The Aeron was a must-have for hot startups precisely because it looked the least like office furniture: It was more like a piece of machinery or unadorned engineering. The black Pellide webbing was durable, and hid whatever Jolt or Red Bull stains you might get on it. Held taut by an aluminum frame, the mesh allowed air to circulate and kept your body cool. What's more, the chair came in three sizes, like a personalized tool. Assorted knobs and levers allowed you to adjust the seat height, tilt tension, tilt range, forward tilt, arm height, arm width, arm angle, lumbar depth, and lumbar height. The Aeron was high-tech but sexy – which was how the dot-commers saw themselves. But baby-faced CEOs weren't drawn to the Aeron only for the way it looked. The Aeron was a visual expression of the anti-corporate zeitgeist, a non-hierarchical philosophy about the workplace. An office full of Aerons implicitly rejected the Fortune 500, coat-and-tie, brick-and-mortar model in which the boss sinks back in an overpriced, oversized, leather dinosaur while his secretary perches on an Office Max toadstool taking notes.
I recently had the opportunity to sit in a newer Herman Miller Mirra chair on a trip, and I was surprised how much more comfortable it felt than my classic Aeron. The Mirra chair was an excellent recliner, too. I've been disappointed by how poorly the Aeron reclines. I actually broke my Aeron's recline pin once and had to replace it myself. So I've retrained myself not to recline, which is awkward, as I'm a natural recliner. All this made me wonder if I should retire my Aeron and upgrade to something better. I liked the Mirra, but the comments to my original chair post have a lot of other good seating suggestions, too. Here are pictures and links to the chairs that were most frequently mentioned as contenders, in addition to the Mirra and Aeron pictured above: There were also some lesser known recommendations, such as the Haworth Zody chair, Nightingale CXO chair, BodyBilt ergo chairs, Hag kneeling chair, NeutralPosture ergo, the Chadwick Chair from the original designer of the Aeron, and something called the swopper.
Chair fit is, of course, a subjective thing. If you're investing $500+ in a chair, you'd understandably want to be sure it's "the one". The thing to do is find a local store that sells all these chairs and try them all out. Well, good luck with that. Don't even bother with your local big-box office supply chain. Your best bet seems to be back stores, as they tend to stock many of the more exotic chairs. Apparently they have a clientele of people who are willing to spend for comfort. Reviews of individual chairs are relatively easy to find, but aren't particularly helpful in isolation. What we need is a multi-chair review roundup. The only notable roundup I know of is Slate's late 2005 Sit Happens: The Search for the Best Desk Chair. It's not as comprehensive as I would like, but it does have most of the main contenders. Notably, Slate's winner was the HumanScale Liberty. Some other helpful resources I've found, both in the comments to this post, and elsewhere: If this is all a bit too much furniture porn for your tastes, I understand.
As for me, I'm headed off to my local friendly neighborhood back store to figure out which of these chairs will best replace my aging Aeron. By my calculations, the Aeron cost me about $7 per month over its ten year lifetime; I figure my continued health and comfort while programming are worth at least that much. Update: Since people have been asking, I ultimately decided the best fit and feel for me, personally, was the Herman Miller Mirra chair. It's a huge upgrade from my ten year old Aeron. It feels like three or four revisions better. For example, the front lip of the seat is adjustable, which addresses one of the major concerns I had with my Aeron – as well as the vastly improved reclining I mentioned above. The only unexpected downside is that the plastic back is a little rough on the skin if you sit, er... shirtless. Although I am very pleased with my new shadow Mirra with citron back (pic), I urge you to do the research and try the chairs yourself before deciding.Review: DX Racer FastbackIntroductionFor the past year or so, Need for Seat has been a very active sponsor for professional gamers such as Flo, and has also sponsored various tournaments as well.
I'm sure most people here have seen or heard about these chairs and may be considering purchasing one. I have purchased the DX Racer Fastback recently, and I am writing this review because prior to esports, this company was unheard of and many of you are probably wondering if their chairs are any good. The answer is, not really. I am not a chair expert or enthusiast by any means, so take my advice as a typical customer review. This chair is obviously not featured in the OP simply because it's not a high end chair. It is not a chair you should get if you are willing to shell out for the best chair for your body type, but at $279, it is a chair worth considering if you are on a budget.PicturesAdjustmentsThere are only three adjustments on this chair - backrest angle, seat height, and armrest height. It lacks the customization for seat depth and seat angle. For my height (5'11), the seat depth is perfect. When sitting properly, I can fit 3 fingers between my back of my legs and the front of the seat.
The seat has a slight backwards angle of about 4 degrees. Although sitting back is very comfortable, leaning forward is a bit difficult.Build QualityAs you can see from the picture, the chair has a steel frame. The legs are steel as well. This makes the chair very sturdy, but also quite heavy (55 pounds). The fabric is stitched nicely, but I have not used this chair long enough to see how long the stitching holds up. There are a few holes in the fabric where screwed go through, but these holes are not reinforced in any way, so tugging on the fabric may tear it on the screw. The plastic parts on the chair are low quality. It is not textured, and you can see visible imperfections in it, similar to cheap plastic toys. Some plastic pieces have one screw in the center to attach to the chair, so you can lift up the sides. FabricAs you can see from the picture, there are two types of fabric on this chair - the non-speckly one and the speckly one. I'm not a fabric person, I don't know what they are called, okay?
The non-speckly one is a little big abrasive, so contact with bare skin is not very comfortable. The speckly one feels weird. The fabric itself is soft and smooth, but there are small plastic bits on there. When sitting normally, you don't actually feel any of it.BackrestThis chair has a full backrest and is rigid. This means that you can rest your entire back and head on it, and when leaning back, the backrest stays in place. As you can see from the picture, the backrest has curves on the sides which bend forward. The upper curve serve as shoulder rests. You are able to lean to the side against them. When leaning back in the seat and putting your arms in the most relaxed position, the lower curves serve as an armrest for the upper arm. I find this very comfortable and definitely a very redeeming quality of this chair. The backrest is made of foam, probably this kind or something similar. The foam is fairly stiff. It is slightly softer than mesh chairs, but not nearly as soft as typical leather seats or cushioned seats.
Overall, I find it quite comfortable, but maybe a little softer would be nice for me. The shape of the backrest is perfect flat and rectangular. There's no arch or concave.SeatThe seat is also made of foam. The seat cushion is quite thick, so even though the foam is stiff, it still feels soft enough. The foam is perfectly flat. Some other chairs have slightly concaving seats, but not this one. With foam, it's probably better this way. The seat cushion is actually a separate part from the seat itself, as shown in the picture, but they are stitched together by these small copper rings on the underside of the seat, so I don't think you can take it off. This means that whatever goes between the seat cushion and the seat isn't coming out easily. MovementThe chair rolls around and rotates very smoothly, so no problems here. The parts came nicely oiled. The rotation has a tiny bit more static friction than typical chairs, so it won't rotate when you don't want it to. Overall, the increase is so little that you won't notice it unless looking for it.
CushionsThis chair comes with two cusions - one for your neck and one for your lumbar. The neck one feels like a pillow, while the lumbar one is foam. These cushions really suck. I tried positioning them in various ways, and they just really don't fit well. They are too big and just get in the way. I think this chair definitely needs a cushion for the neck or some sort of headrest, since leaning your head back puts it too far back, but the cushion it came with isn't the right shape or size. I'm considering ripping open the cushion and carving it into the right shape myself.Overall VerdictIf you want a high end chair, you will have to pay at least $500. The DX Racer Fastback is only $279. Other chairs I have used include the Herman Miller Aeron and the Steelcase Leap. The Fastback is noticeably inferior in both build quality and comfort, but it's definitely not bad. When sitting on this chair for longer periods, I don't even notice it's there and there's absolutely no discomfort. Leaning back on this chair actually feels fairly nice.