Firstly what is a cheap office chair?
If you so wished you could buy a reasonable looking office chair for £39.99 online but is it really worth it?
MAIN COSTS INVOLVED IN AN OFFICE CHAIR
Obviously there is the fabric, the base and the back but none of these are where the main cost are. The biggest cost in an office chair is the mechanism. This is what controls all the different adjustments there are on an office chair.
There are actually 2 types of mechanism - the butterly and the frog. The butterly mechanism has the gas cylinder inside whilst the frog has the gas cyclinder behind the mechanism. Not that this means much to the consumer but it can make a difference to the tilt of the chair and how comfortable it is.
If you have a cheap mechanism the chair is likely to break quickly with pressure and movement and also the adjustments on the chair will be limited.
HOW DO YOU KNOW IF A CHAIR IS CHEAP
The ultimate answer to this would be to try the chair for at least a whole day. Some companies such as Emotion Office will give potential customers a loan chair free of charge to try for 2 or 3 days so they can determine whether it really is the right chair for them.
However we recognise that with so many chair bought online it often isnt possible to trial a chair so here are a few guidelines:
BASIC ADJUSTMENTS
A good ergonomic office chair will have multiple adjustments - these include
- seat height adjustment - the whole chair can move up and down allowing for different user heights
- back height adjustment - the back moves up and down independantly to the seat - catering to different back lengths
- seat depth adjustment - allowing for different leg lengths
- arm height adjustment - the arms of your chair should be at the same height as your desk. The BBC chair has an option of foldaway arms so they can be out of the way completely if that suits best.
EXTRA ADJUSTMENTS
Some extra adjustments are really only needed for users who suffer with bad back conditions, others are more common.
- lumbar pump - have as much or little lumar support as you want. This is available as standard on entry level chairs from Emotion Office
- thoracic pump - giving extra support inbetween your shoulder blades
- seat and back tilt - these are standard on many good office chairs. The Axia chair has a unique feature of the angle between the seat and back remaining the same, however much you tilt.
- free flow mode - again standard on many ergonomic chairs - so you can effectively rock in your seat.
- lumbar roll - this is a more specialist feature that is standard in some of the Spynamics chairs.
FEATURES
With a good office chair there are many optional features you can choose to add to your spec...
- cocyx cut-out - this is a more specialist feature for those with cocyx problems
- memory foam seat - for users needing extra comfort and padding
- headrest - probably the most common feature- many HAG users are unaware that a headrest for a HAG chair can be purchased retrospectively.
SIZE SUITABILITY FOR THE USER
Unfortunately it isnt one size fits all as we arent all the same size. There are a wide range of sized chairs on the market, the Axia Chair for example can have varying sizes of seat and back, or the Spynamics Grande is for larger uses.
However there are very few ranges that will make a chair unique to the customer, Emotion Office offer a wide range of bespoke made chairs for a small uplift in price.
WARRANTY
This could be one of the most important points in determining how cheap a chair is, all chairs at Emotion Office have a minimum of 5 years guarantee and some go to 10 years!
CONCLUSION
Whilst the range of chairs available is quite confusing, and you could easily shop on price, it isnt worth buying a cheap chair as you will just have to replace it very soon. Go through the points we have listed to help you determine what is a good quality chair - this doesnt mean it has to be expensive!
