Ergonomic Office Chair for Tall People

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sezna

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Ok, so I am 6'4" and chairs suck. Car headrests hit me at the top of the shoulders, school desks always were painful, and the office chair I sit in for many hours a day sucks.

I tried to do online research, but for something like a chair, you really have to sit in them and do the research yourself. The only chair that had a headrest nearly high enough was a gaming chair called Respawn.

I am not a fan of "gaming" equipment, I think it is mostly just marketing and markup. I read online that most people hate gaming chairs and say they are not ergonomic at all. But I'll be damned, this is the only chair I have ever sat in that supported my back all the way up and then offered neck and head support. It feels sublime!

Just thought I'd drop this here. I wish ultra-tall backed chairs existed outside of the gaming style. Additionally, don't always listen to what people say online, sometimes you just need to try things out for yourself, you might have different preferences.
 

NickLAudio

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My buddy just got a chair almost identical to that Respawn chair. It's pretty cool but me being 5'7", it's definitely not the chair for me. I could see a taller person fitting it perfect. Red flags for me though were non removable armrests (most annoying thing when recording guitars), and the tall, non-mesh back could hypothetically impact mixing (solid and tall means reflected sound waves, mesh and short-er means no problemo) but I believe they do sell that Respawn chair with a mesh back also. But hey a taller person might not have these problems with that chair. That fact it has slide out leg rests and lounges out like a dentist chair is kind of cool too.

This is the chair my buddy got...
Race-Car-Seat-Office-Chair-Shut-Up-And-Take-My-Money.jpg
 

sezna

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My buddy just got a chair almost identical to that Respawn chair. It's pretty cool but me being 5'7", it's definitely not the chair for me. I could see a taller person fitting it perfect. Red flags for me though were non removable armrests (most annoying thing when recording guitars), and the tall, non-mesh back could hypothetically impact mixing (solid and tall means reflected sound waves, mesh and short-er means no problemo) but I believe they do sell that Respawn chair with a mesh back also. But hey a taller person might not have these problems with that chair. That fact it has slide out leg rests and lounges out like a dentist chair is kind of cool too.

This is the chair my buddy got...
Race-Car-Seat-Office-Chair-Shut-Up-And-Take-My-Money.jpg

I don't do mixing enough to care about the sound waves thing, there's plenty of other stuff in my room messing with sound absorption anyway. The arms not being removable was a bummer for me but I have a piano stool next to my desk, and my desk can convert to standing, so I have two other ways to practice.

Yeah I think Respawn is sort of a knock off brand of those DX Racer chairs. Unsure if there's a huge quality difference. I don't actually care for the aesthetic of the chair at all, but the comfort increase over what I was dealing with before makes it all worth it.
 

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KnightBrolaire

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check out some of the taller herman miller aeron chairs or their copies. Ikea has one in that vein but I don't think it'd be that great for really long periods of sitting. The herman miller stuff is pretty nice, that's what they use at the hospital I work at. I'm only 6'0 though, so they might not work as well for you. There's some brand of gaming chair that looked pretty decent like Titan or whatever it's called, and I'm pretty sure they offer big/tall models. It had adjustable headrest, arm rests, lumbar and tilt/lock functions , plus it's made of memory foam iirc.
 

sezna

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check out some of the taller herman miller aeron chairs or their copies. Ikea has one in that vein but I don't think it'd be that great for really long periods of sitting. The herman miller stuff is pretty nice, that's what they use at the hospital I work at. I'm only 6'0 though, so they might not work as well for you. There's some brand of gaming chair that looked pretty decent like Titan or whatever it's called, and I'm pretty sure they offer big/tall models. It had adjustable headrest, arm rests, lumbar and tilt/lock functions , plus it's made of memory foam iirc.
I saw Herman Miller Aeron mentioned so many times online but it is sooo expensive. I will check out the Ikea version, though.

Similarly, that titan chair is $470 :( ouch

Good recommendations, but out of my budget for now...
 

KnightBrolaire

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I saw Herman Miller Aeron mentioned so many times online but it is sooo expensive. I will check out the Ikea version, though.

Similarly, that titan chair is $470 :( ouch

Good recommendations, but out of my budget for now...
good chairs are really worth it. I tried buying cheaper chairs for years, but if you really do use them regularly, most barely last a year or two, plus they tend to cheap out on the padding or other parts like lumbar support.
 

spudmunkey

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See if you can find a chair with a racheting back system. Instead of having an adjustable lumbar support, these chairs' whole back raises and lowers to position the lumbar contour. Many chairs from Rouillard, Neutral Posture and Office Master have this functionality. I'll note that all of those, like the Herman Miller, are all 'contract grade' (aka commercial grade) so they will likely last longer but cost way more. Their warranties are, like, lifetime on the whole chair except for the cushion, which still has a 5-year warranty based on 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. Their foam is nicer and lasts longer, their fabrics are more durable, many pastics are glass reinforced like good power tool shells so they last longer and don't crack, and have longer warranties.

One thing to keep in mind with commercial furniture is that published pricing is likely "List" which means an approved dealer will sell it for less. Maybe only 5% less, but sometimes up to 50% less.

The Aeron comes in 3 sizes, and their largest is sort of the "default" answer in the office furniture world. Office furniture is like cars where you can't buy a Honda at a Toyota dealer, and I work for a dealer that can't sell Aeron chairs directly from the manufacturer, but sometimes we still end up buying them for our customers from a Herman Miller dealer every so often (which ends up costing them way more because then *we* put some markup on the already-marked-up price, but it's still easier for the customer to just cut one check and have us take care of all sourcing for them).

Another option: find a chair with a back you like. Then, try to find a taller replacement cylinder that will fit. This might take a few experiments with ordering a few different cylinders. That can get you an extra precious couple of inches for seat height. Most commercial-grade chairs will have options for cylinder size from the factory, though.

Via's Genie chair also comes in multiple sizes, but I *think* that's more about seat depth and width.

Check our these options in this blog post from Humansolution. https://www.thehumansolution.com/blog/four-great-ergo-chairs-for-tall-users/ They list a few chairs that offer options for you giants...but even their most value-friendly option is still $750+ for the ergo options you'd need/want (taller back, deeper seat and/or seat slider, arms with more than just an up/down adjustment, a Synchro tilt (unless you prefer knee-tilt...), etc.

I recently provided a Davis Cloud chair for a tall exec. Down-wrapped foam cushions. He's only in his office a few hours a week so it's not super intensive "work" use, but he was 6'3 and said it was the most comfortable chair he's ever sat in. It's seat goes up to 23.5". The arms aren't adjustable, though.

Oh, and it was $1530 sell to him (list was something like $2500).

...not including the $900 in leather it was upholstered in, which we had to buy separately and have shipped

Plus freight, which I believe cost me $150, and I sold it to him with mark-up.

And they only ship to warehouses, so then it was about $900 to my customer to get a warehouse to receive and deliver to his office, using unionized labor which the building requires and is a 4hr minimum, in a building that requires overtime (after-hours) delivery. :lol:

Plus sales tax.
 
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sezna

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See if you can find a chair with a racheting back system. Instead of having an adjustable lumbar support, these chairs' whole back raises and lowers to position the lumbar contour. Many chairs from Rouillard, Neutral Posture and Office Master have this functionality. I'll note that all of those, like the Herman Miller, are all 'contract grade' (aka commercial grade) so they will likely last longer but cost way more. Their warranties are, like, lifetime on the whole chair except for the cushion, which still has a 5-year warranty based on 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. Their foam is nicer and lasts longer, their fabrics are more durable, many pastics are glass reinforced like good power tool shells so they last longer and don't crack, and have longer warranties.

The Aeron comes in 3 sizes, and their largest is sort of the "default" answer in the office furniture world. Office furniture is like cars where you can't buy a Honda at a Toyota dealer, and I work for a dealer that can't sell Aeron chairs directly from the manufacturer, but sometimes we still end up buying them for our customers from a Herman Miller dealer every so often (which ends up costing them way more because then *we* put some markup on the already-marked-up price, but it's still easier for the customer to just cut one check and have us take care of all sourcing for them).

Another option: find a chair with a back you like. Then, try to find a taller replacement cylinder that will fit. This might take a few experiments with ordering a few different cylinders. That can get you an extra precious couple of inches for seat height. Most commercial-grade chairs will have options for cylinder size from the factory, though.

Via's Genie chair also comes in multiple sizes, but I *think* that's more about seat depth and width.

Check our these options in this blog post from Humansolution. https://www.thehumansolution.com/blog/four-great-ergo-chairs-for-tall-users/ They list a few chairs that offer options for you giants...but even their most value-friendly option is still $750+ for the ergo options you'd need/want (taller back, deeper seat and/or seat slider, arms with more than just an up/down adjustment, a Synchro tilt (unless you prefer knee-tilt...), etc.

Thanks for the reply - Herman Miller stuff doesn't appeal to me too much because I prefer high-backed chairs. Neutral Posture seems to offer a few good designs with headrests and tall backs, but there is no way for me to figure out how well it actually fits me. I'll check out those other brands you mentioned.

As I said, with a chair, I feel like I need to actually try it before buying it. A lot of these high end chairs are just not available to me. The Respawn chair is nearby, has full back and lumbar support exactly where I want it, and isn't too expensive. I will do my due diligence on these brands and see if there are any dealers near me, though. Thanks again.
 

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Most of the commercial brands have showrooms in a few major cities, even if they don't have dedicated dealers.

Eurotech also has a few "ratchet back" models, if i remember right. They sort of try to be "retail priced, commercial quality" and sort of miss on both counts, but that does put them in the middle of both worlds.

Good luck!
 
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IKEA markus if you’re cheap. That’s what I use and I’m not even 6’0.
 

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Also from Ikea, the JÄRVFJÄLLET is sort of an updated Markus 2.0...sort of. Still no adjustable arms, but it does have a seat depth adjustment and adjustable lumbar support (Markus's is fixed).

Good warranty, but I suspect you'll need it, if the rest of their "office" products are anything to go by. The seat look like you may have to add a seat topper cushion after a not-too-long length of time...the plus side is that gives you another inch or so of height. ;)
 

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I really need to plan a day where I visit various warehouses trying out chairs.
 

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Used office furniture liquidation places are a great place for that. They usually filter our the Herman Miller and Steelcase chairs from their "general population" (like how a Goodwill might pull the high-end designer stuff to a more expensive table/rack), but sometimes you can find great deals too. For example, I just pulledup a local liquidator, and I can get the Teknion Contessa (Known as the Okamura Contessa outside of North America) which is their Aeron competitor, and normally, like, $1600 list with the adjustable arms and lumbar support) for $250. And they have 50 of them. (None are "big and tall", though).

They have 600 Humanscale Freedom chairs for $299, which normally sell for 600 or more.
 

sezna

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I have found an office supply liquidation store nearby. I didn't know places like this exist! They have a lot of Herman Miller, Human Scale, and Steelcase. I am going to go check them out tomorrow. It doesn't look like they have anything with headrests, which I'd prefer, but perhaps I can find an aftermarket attachment.
 

spudmunkey

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Awesome!

Headrests are a mixed bag. They are OK sometimes, but I wish more of them would auto-adjust so that it still held your head forward if you tilt back. I sometimes want to lean back and type, but most just let you tilt back and look at the ceiling, without holding your head up, or manually adjusting the headrest. The Humanscale Freedom does that...but I'm not a huge fan of the chair for my own preferences. It's too..."automatic". I like a space shuttle's worth of manual controls and settings, compared to ones that are just supposed to "work" when you sit in it, based on your weight and seat height.
 

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Aeron chairs are expensive but I got one 13 years ago and love it. They are well made and I expect to have it for another 13 years or more.
 

spudmunkey

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Aeron chairs are expensive but I got one 13 years ago and love it. They are well made and I expect to have it for another 13 years or more.

I do wish that they would offer an upholstered seat option. My wide ass, and the wallet in my pocket, just don't jive with the frame that runs around the perimeter of mesh seat pads. I know many who love them, and they do get the water fall edge behind the knee just right, especially to some other mesh seat chairs (I'm looking at you, Stylex Sava...), but not the sides. This is one of the reasons I like the Teknion (aka Okamura) Contessa better...it comes in an upholstered seat option, and when I worked for a Teknion dealer, got to try out a customized version I did for a customer which added an additional 1/2" of memory foam. Damn, I loved that chair...but it wasn't cheap, and I couldn't sell anyone else on it, even though it was hugely comfortable. Which also meant I couldn't figure out how to add one more to a customer's order (that I would pay for) to get my own at a reasonable price (the custom special upcharge was murder on anything less then 20 units). The Aeron still has a leg-up on the Contessa, though, in that you can remove an arm if you want to use it in a studio while playing guitars on your right/outside thigh (aka not in classical position). The Contessa's arms have controls on them for chair tilt lock and height control, so you can't remove them.

None of the chairs of my current dealer's aligned manufacturer thrill me, unfortunately. I've got a 12 or 14 year-old Allsteel Sum chair at home that's...well...the foam's gone flat. They no longer offer this leather, so if we replaced the seat, the leather wouldn't exactly match. It's been good to us, though. We've had the arms, cylinder and base all replaced under warranty for free (although, I did have to buy a pipe wrench to remove the bad cylinder...which I returned the next day). It's been discontinued, but it was more of a conference chair than a task chair, anyway.
 

sezna

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Awesome!

Headrests are a mixed bag. They are OK sometimes, but I wish more of them would auto-adjust so that it still held your head forward if you tilt back. I sometimes want to lean back and type, but most just let you tilt back and look at the ceiling, without holding your head up, or manually adjusting the headrest. The Humanscale Freedom does that...but I'm not a huge fan of the chair for my own preferences. It's too..."automatic". I like a space shuttle's worth of manual controls and settings, compared to ones that are just supposed to "work" when you sit in it, based on your weight and seat height.
There is one thing I am still concerned about, and I hope you are able to answer this. I like to have a tall back support to rest my back on, and I like really strong lumbar support. I notice most of these ergo chairs, even the tall backed ones, still barely make it up to my shoulder blades and it is up to the user to support their upper back. Is this considered more ergonomic than a chair that goes all the way up your back and supports your spine all the way to your head? I only find chairs that tall in the gamer racing chair category.
 

spudmunkey

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Well, now you're getting into specialty chairs, even ignoring your height. Generally, if a chair back reaches up to about where your shoulder blades start to make their presence known, this is considered good enough for most, as it would require a specialty shape, like a very pronounced Pringle shape, or something like the Hag Capsico family of chairs. Not something you're going to find very many examples of ant any price.

One of the biggest challenges for finding chairs for tall people, is that so many chair manufacturers lump tall people in with fat people. So they may offer 1 or 2 options that they call big and tall, which is built like a tank and to support 400 or 500 pounds, and also has a tall back and deep seat, and allows them to tick off the check boxes for both of those types of users with 1 chair.... the problem is that it's really not that well suited for someone who's just simply tall. Most of these chairs are merely designed to handle the mass of a larger built person, and doesn't actually offer proper ergonomic support. These chairs often even lack adjustable arms, but just have a tall and heavily plushed back and seat to cushion, but not support.

If it makes you feel any better and, short people also have these types of issues. If a chair back is too tall, it limits your range of motion because you can't move your shoulders because the chair back is in the way. If you need a chair where the seat goes down lower then maybe 16 and a 1/2 inches, you are really really limited. The same goes for a seat depth. I once had to custom order a chair that was designed as a mesh back, but had an upholstered back option, to have 3 times the amount of foam in the back as normal, so that it pushed the user out far enough, that the seat pan ended up being shallow enough. And if there does is a sit to stand, you'd better hope that their employers sprung for the extra few dollars to get the 2 stage telescoping legs, rather than just the one stage, otherwise the desk doesn't actually go much lower than a normal desk.

You people who sit outside the 90th percentiles are so needy. Hah!

I would say checking out furniture liquidators like you are is going to be your best bet. Depending on exactly what type of company they are, they might even have a taller cylinder on hand that might fit a chair that otherwise fits you but just doesn't go high enough. Some really art set up to sell to individual customers and are really there to support their local office furniture dealers with clients looking for dozens or hundreds of chairs… so keep that in mind, that they may be more of a warehouse than a showroom.

At one point my old company was working on a project for a basketball team, and somehow they were able to find chairs for them. I wish I was there long enough to know what they ended up going with.
 

sezna

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Well, now you're getting into specialty chairs, even ignoring your height. Generally, if a chair back reaches up to about where your shoulder blades start to make their presence known, this is considered good enough for most, as it would require a specialty shape, like a very pronounced Pringle shape, or something like the Hag Capsico family of chairs. Not something you're going to find very many examples of ant any price.

One of the biggest challenges for finding chairs for tall people, is that so many chair manufacturers lump tall people in with fat people. So they may offer 1 or 2 options that they call big and tall, which is built like a tank and to support 400 or 500 pounds, and also has a tall back and deep seat, and allows them to tick off the check boxes for both of those types of users with 1 chair.... the problem is that it's really not that well suited for someone who's just simply tall. Most of these chairs are merely designed to handle the mass of a larger built person, and doesn't actually offer proper ergonomic support. These chairs often even lack adjustable arms, but just have a tall and heavily plushed back and seat to cushion, but not support.

If it makes you feel any better and, short people also have these types of issues. If a chair back is too tall, it limits your range of motion because you can't move your shoulders because the chair back is in the way. If you need a chair where the seat goes down lower then maybe 16 and a 1/2 inches, you are really really limited. The same goes for a seat depth. I once had to custom order a chair that was designed as a mesh back, but had an upholstered back option, to have 3 times the amount of foam in the back as normal, so that it pushed the user out far enough, that the seat pan ended up being shallow enough. And if there does is a sit to stand, you'd better hope that their employers sprung for the extra few dollars to get the 2 stage telescoping legs, rather than just the one stage, otherwise the desk doesn't actually go much lower than a normal desk.

You people who sit outside the 90th percentiles are so needy. Hah!

I would say checking out furniture liquidators like you are is going to be your best bet. Depending on exactly what type of company they are, they might even have a taller cylinder on hand that might fit a chair that otherwise fits you but just doesn't go high enough. Some really art set up to sell to individual customers and are really there to support their local office furniture dealers with clients looking for dozens or hundreds of chairs… so keep that in mind, that they may be more of a warehouse than a showroom.

At one point my old company was working on a project for a basketball team, and somehow they were able to find chairs for them. I wish I was there long enough to know what they ended up going with.
Yeah, I'm 6'4" and 165 pounds, so basically a tall noodle. It is a rough life.

If you don't mind me picking your brain a bit more, is it true that it is not ergonomoic to sit perfectly upright and is actually preferable to lean back a bit? I see this all around the internet when researching ergo posture.
 
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