As one does, I found myself in the market for a new office chair. My work from home situation is somewhat unique as I have 2 workspaces in 2 rooms, my office office, which I use for work and I convertd my garage into a heated/cooled space many years ago and use it as a “man cave” where I game, chill, and my partner & I each have a desk area.
In my office office I sit in a Secret Lab XL 2020 chair whch is fine. Just fine. It’s supportive, relatively comfortable, and the hydraulics have lasted as long as I have owned it. Also, the frame where the armrests connect is solidly constructed, though I do occasionally find the need to tighten them so they don’t get wobbly. The main thing I dislike about the chair is the armrests have cracked, flaked, and “chipped” apart over the years, even after SecretLab replacing them 2x for me. There’s also another thing, the springs in the seat cushion poke into the fabric. I’ve replaced the seat cushion before, and the new one started poking me about a year in. All in all, that’s why the chair is fine. I wouldn’t buy it again.
If you’re reading this and wondering, who actually makes good chairs – well, the answer is: Steelcase, Herman Miller, and Ergocentric.
Problem is, they all cost over $1000 bucks for their chairs and it’s difficult to try them out unless you live near a store that sells them. Unfortunately, I don’t, so I did the next best thing! Drove across the state to the Design Within Reach Outlet Store in Vero Beach, FL where they sell Herman Miller brand (and other brands sold on dwr.com) at Outlet Prices!
Lo and behold, I found a Logitech G / Herman Miller Vantum – assembled – and in stellar condition!
The pics below are from the Herman Miller site, not of my actual chair, but I have the same color. (I don’t own those pics, HM and LogitechG please don’t get upset, I am not profiting off this site!!)
The store had quite a few colors in stock, all of them seemed to be customer returns, or perhaps a demo model from a DWR full retail store. The actual quality of this one was like new, there weren’t any dings or nicks I could find.
Overall, the chair is solid. I’m 5 foot 9, 200 lbs. For those outside the USA, that’s about 176 cm and about 90 kg. The seat is smaller than the one on my SecretLab, so I can’t actually sit with the chair back straight up and fit into it. Not that I’m a massive whale of a man, but yeah….
The total price? Well, they were having a 20% off sale at the Outlet, so out the door – $557.00 (rounding up to the nearest whole dollar).
Not a bad deal, but thing to keep in mind – no warranty. So if it breaks, I have to hope Herman Miller will help me out with parts, or maybe one of the local HM dealers here in the city can help with it.
Because I don’t fit well into it, I am considering a Steelcase, just unsure of the model yet. Of course, will update my blog if I do.
Thanks for reading!