How much is it worth spending on a computer chair? Is a chair for both work and play (ie video games) practical, or is reclining comfort necessarily opposed to sit-up comfort?
In an attempt to simplify the various details of the cost-benefit calculations here:
If you spend:
1-2 hours on this chair per day: Might be worth spending some time shopping for a decent seat at Staples, but once you find something that fits and feels comfortable (with some warnings to take in consideration), pretty much go with that. You should find something below 100$ for sure, and can probably get away with <60$ spent if you get good sales.
3-4 hours / day: If you’re shopping at Staples, be more careful and check the engineering of the chair if you’ve got any knowledge there. Stuff below 60$ will probably break down and bend and become all other sorts of uncomfortable after a few months of use. If your body mass is high, you might need to go for solidity over comfort, or accept the unfair hand you’re dealt and spend more than 150$ for something that mixes enough comfort, ergonomy and solid reliability.
More than 4 hours / day on average: This is where the gains become nonlinear, and you will want to seriously test and examine anything you’re buying under 150$. At this point, you need to consider ergonomics, long-term comfort (which can’t be reliably “tested in store” at all, IME), reliability, a very solid frame for extended use that can handle the body’s natural jiggling and squirming without deforming itself (this includes checking the “frame” itself, but also any cushions, since those can “deflate” very rapidly if the manufacturer skimped there, and therefore become hard and just as uncomfortable as a bent chair), and so on. At this point, the same advice applies as shopping for mattresses, work boots, or any other sort of tool that you’re using all day every day. It’s only at this point where the differences between more relaxed postures, “work” postures and “gaming” postures starts really mattering, and I’d say if you actually spend 6-8 hours per day on average on this chair, you definitely want to go for the best you can get. How much that needs to cost, unfortunately, isn’t a known quantity; it depends very heavily on your body size, shape, mass, leg/torso ratio, how you normally move and a bunch of other things… so there’s a lot of hit-and-miss, unfortunately, unless you have access to the services of a professional in office ergonomics. Even then, I can’t myself speak for how much a professional would help.
It makes a difference—I now have a good, high quality chair that cost over 250€ (not from my own pocket) and it’s close to perfect—I can recline it to a comfortable position that is not possible with an “ordinary office” chair (I used to break them down on a regular basis). Despite being advertised as “super-resistant”, this one already broke twice (covered by warranty). And when I had to sit on an “ordinary office” chair, I found out that I cannot work for more than an hour or two before I get serious pain in my back—this seems to be related to the monitor being beneath the eyes and the inability to recline—I (like to) have the monitor exactly at the eye level and looking slightly upwards.
As far as mattresses go, it’s important to note that it’s not all about price. When I read a guide by a German consumer advice group they made the point that it’s important to actually test the mattress in person to see how it fits your individual preferences.
Before of Other Optimizing here. You’re going to see a lot of “This mattress is the best thing I’ve ever slept on!,” and it may not be the case for you. Second Christian’s advice to actually go into a store and sleep on a mattress.
I bought this and it’s amazing. I was sleeping on a $900 spring mattress, and this is so much better in every respect. It’s held up for 1.5 years, now, and is just as nice as the day I got it.
That looks really nice. Makes me want to research durability some more and to compile a list of things to spend money on, inspired by the recent post on a similar topic.
My father is one of the patent examiners for mattresses. I brought him along the last time I bought a mattress. His recommendation was like ChristianKl’s: try different mattresses and see what’s comfortable. Cost and comfortableness are not necessarily related. Whether or not you find it comfortable in the store is the best indication of whether you’ll find it to be comfortable at home. Pick the cheapest one you find comfortable. With that being said, you might find some more expensive mattresses last longer, though he indicated that most mattresses are designed to wear out around the same time. Also, he’s highly skeptical of the value of memory foam and other things you see on TV, so don’t think those things are necessarily better.
For what it’s worth, he sleeps on a waterbed. I am unsure, but I think the choice might be motivated by my mother’s allergies; waterbeds can’t absorb allergens by their design.
Mattresses aren’t the only thing you can sleep on. I’d consider picking up and installing a hammock—they’re not only cheap (~$100 for a top of the line one, $10 and 2 hours for making your own), but they also give you significantly more usable living space.
You can always have a hammock in addition to, rather than instead of, a traditional bed. Or you can use the next-best piece of furniture for that purpose.
It doesn’t take that much to get a memory foam mattress these days, and I get the impression it’s totally worthwhile. (I’ve had my Tempur-Pedic for a bit over 3 years now, and enjoy it quite a bit. I noticed, among other things, that I then started thinking of hotel beds, even in nice hotels, as bad.)
Not an answer, but I did discover kneeling chairs, because I am also in the market for a new chair. I’d try one with back support, but none of the reviews of the products on amazon compel me to make any purchases.
Beware that you need to “try” these chairs, and you need to pay attention to clothing when you try them too. A chair that’s super comfortable with jeans and a winter coat might turn out to be an absolutely horrible back-twisting wedge of slipperiness once you’re back home in sweatpants and a hoodie. Or in various more advanced states of undress.
In practice, this is relevant once you’ve already bought a chair and want to maximize the comfort you can get from it, balanced against the difference of comfort you could buy & chance of getting that comfort (or some lower value, or some higher) & money you’d need to spend.
When purchasing a new chair, I don’t think this will be an important factor in the overwhelming majority of situations.
How much is it worth spending on a computer chair? Is a chair for both work and play (ie video games) practical, or is reclining comfort necessarily opposed to sit-up comfort?
In an attempt to simplify the various details of the cost-benefit calculations here:
If you spend:
1-2 hours on this chair per day: Might be worth spending some time shopping for a decent seat at Staples, but once you find something that fits and feels comfortable (with some warnings to take in consideration), pretty much go with that. You should find something below 100$ for sure, and can probably get away with <60$ spent if you get good sales.
3-4 hours / day: If you’re shopping at Staples, be more careful and check the engineering of the chair if you’ve got any knowledge there. Stuff below 60$ will probably break down and bend and become all other sorts of uncomfortable after a few months of use. If your body mass is high, you might need to go for solidity over comfort, or accept the unfair hand you’re dealt and spend more than 150$ for something that mixes enough comfort, ergonomy and solid reliability.
More than 4 hours / day on average: This is where the gains become nonlinear, and you will want to seriously test and examine anything you’re buying under 150$. At this point, you need to consider ergonomics, long-term comfort (which can’t be reliably “tested in store” at all, IME), reliability, a very solid frame for extended use that can handle the body’s natural jiggling and squirming without deforming itself (this includes checking the “frame” itself, but also any cushions, since those can “deflate” very rapidly if the manufacturer skimped there, and therefore become hard and just as uncomfortable as a bent chair), and so on. At this point, the same advice applies as shopping for mattresses, work boots, or any other sort of tool that you’re using all day every day. It’s only at this point where the differences between more relaxed postures, “work” postures and “gaming” postures starts really mattering, and I’d say if you actually spend 6-8 hours per day on average on this chair, you definitely want to go for the best you can get. How much that needs to cost, unfortunately, isn’t a known quantity; it depends very heavily on your body size, shape, mass, leg/torso ratio, how you normally move and a bunch of other things… so there’s a lot of hit-and-miss, unfortunately, unless you have access to the services of a professional in office ergonomics. Even then, I can’t myself speak for how much a professional would help.
It makes a difference—I now have a good, high quality chair that cost over 250€ (not from my own pocket) and it’s close to perfect—I can recline it to a comfortable position that is not possible with an “ordinary office” chair (I used to break them down on a regular basis). Despite being advertised as “super-resistant”, this one already broke twice (covered by warranty). And when I had to sit on an “ordinary office” chair, I found out that I cannot work for more than an hour or two before I get serious pain in my back—this seems to be related to the monitor being beneath the eyes and the inability to recline—I (like to) have the monitor exactly at the eye level and looking slightly upwards.
Could you post a link to the kind of chair that you got?
It’s not quite what I have (this one is some year old model), but seems close: link here
I either misremember the price, or it went down significantly (or the combination...)
I want to extend this to mattresses. About a third of my time is spent sleeping, how much can I spend before marginal returns kick in?
As far as mattresses go, it’s important to note that it’s not all about price. When I read a guide by a German consumer advice group they made the point that it’s important to actually test the mattress in person to see how it fits your individual preferences.
Before of Other Optimizing here. You’re going to see a lot of “This mattress is the best thing I’ve ever slept on!,” and it may not be the case for you. Second Christian’s advice to actually go into a store and sleep on a mattress.
I bought this and it’s amazing. I was sleeping on a $900 spring mattress, and this is so much better in every respect. It’s held up for 1.5 years, now, and is just as nice as the day I got it.
That looks really nice. Makes me want to research durability some more and to compile a list of things to spend money on, inspired by the recent post on a similar topic.
My father is one of the patent examiners for mattresses. I brought him along the last time I bought a mattress. His recommendation was like ChristianKl’s: try different mattresses and see what’s comfortable. Cost and comfortableness are not necessarily related. Whether or not you find it comfortable in the store is the best indication of whether you’ll find it to be comfortable at home. Pick the cheapest one you find comfortable. With that being said, you might find some more expensive mattresses last longer, though he indicated that most mattresses are designed to wear out around the same time. Also, he’s highly skeptical of the value of memory foam and other things you see on TV, so don’t think those things are necessarily better.
For what it’s worth, he sleeps on a waterbed. I am unsure, but I think the choice might be motivated by my mother’s allergies; waterbeds can’t absorb allergens by their design.
Mattresses aren’t the only thing you can sleep on. I’d consider picking up and installing a hammock—they’re not only cheap (~$100 for a top of the line one, $10 and 2 hours for making your own), but they also give you significantly more usable living space.
Most people like to have a bed they can have sex in though
You can always have a hammock in addition to, rather than instead of, a traditional bed. Or you can use the next-best piece of furniture for that purpose.
Yes, they may be more space-efficient, but isn’t it more important whether they damage your sleep quality?
I’ve found it to be very comfortable, though I have not been keeping data on sleep quality so I don’t have a quantitative answer.
If you’re already tracking sleep quality, trying a hammock out is much cheaper than trying a new mattress out.
It doesn’t take that much to get a memory foam mattress these days, and I get the impression it’s totally worthwhile. (I’ve had my Tempur-Pedic for a bit over 3 years now, and enjoy it quite a bit. I noticed, among other things, that I then started thinking of hotel beds, even in nice hotels, as bad.)
Not an answer, but I did discover kneeling chairs, because I am also in the market for a new chair. I’d try one with back support, but none of the reviews of the products on amazon compel me to make any purchases.
http://www.amazon.com/Office-Star-Ergonomically-Designed-Casters/dp/B002L15NSK/ref=nosim?tag=vglnk-c319-20
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18810008
Do you spend a lot of time in front of the computer at home? (I assume this is for home use..) It might be worth it to optimize: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pareto_principle
I have always been able to find a comfortable computer (arm)chair for $100 or less, usually on sale at Staples.
Beware that you need to “try” these chairs, and you need to pay attention to clothing when you try them too. A chair that’s super comfortable with jeans and a winter coat might turn out to be an absolutely horrible back-twisting wedge of slipperiness once you’re back home in sweatpants and a hoodie. Or in various more advanced states of undress.
I put a blanket over my chair. It seems to work.
In practice, this is relevant once you’ve already bought a chair and want to maximize the comfort you can get from it, balanced against the difference of comfort you could buy & chance of getting that comfort (or some lower value, or some higher) & money you’d need to spend.
When purchasing a new chair, I don’t think this will be an important factor in the overwhelming majority of situations.