Looking for chair recommendations.

[MewingApollo]

So, I've been doing some Googling all day on office/task chairs, and I feel like I'm no closer to finding a good candidate than when I started this morning. Up until now, I've had one of those racing seat styled "gaming chairs", and it's served me well enough, was actually quite happy with it. But I did notice the back kept loosening over time, until eventually, the bolts inside the brackets that hold the seat and back together ripped a huge chunk out of one side of the chair, and the back just fell off completely. Yeah...manufacturer is ignoring me as far as warranty claims go, so I'm looking elsewhere.

Some things I'm pretty certain about as far as dimensions:

I need a seat width of at least 24 inches.

My current chair has a seat depth of 22 inches, and it feels a touch too deep, so I'd say max seat depth would probably be about 20" for me.

The back height needs to be between 34 and 36 inches, and I would prefer something with a headrest, but I could just reuse the neck support pillow that came with my chair that broke.

I'm somewhere between 375 and 400 pounds, but I'm not totally concerned about the chair supporting my weight out of the box, because I've heard that you can upgrade most chairs to have a heavier duty gas cylinder to increase their load capacity. Not sure how true this is, if anyone has any insight into such things, such as where I can buy a stronger cylinder from, please feel free to chime in.

My max budget would ideally be $600, but that's like REALLY pushing it, so the cheaper the better honestly. If anyone has brand recommendations, suggestions on where I could get a used one that used to be in an office building, any helpful info, I'd appreciate it.

 

[infinitevalence]

https://www.ironhorseseating.com/IH-4400.ACCGDA.3BL0

Buy it once, hurt once, but it blows your budget out of the water about 5x.

Vantum Gaming Chair – Herman Miller

Shop the Vantum Gaming Chair and see our wide selection of Gaming Chairs at Herman Miller. In stock, exclusive, and ready to ship – authentic modern furniture from iconic designers.

store.hermanmiller.com

More in your budget range, I have not use one, I cant speak to its quality but I had a HM Aeron for years and it was on a whole different level from anything you find at Costco or Office store.

Leap Adjustable Chair - Ready to Ship | Steelcase Store

store.steelcase.com

2x your budget, well rated quality chair.

In my experience anything under $1000 is trash and lasts at best a year. So, either spend big, OR buy the best thing you can find for like $100 and toss it after 1 year.

 

[Janus67]

Check out office liquidation places for (lightly) used Herman Miller Aeron or Steel case chairs. I would recommend checking out the specifications for which fits your weight (I think maybe the type-c Aeron would work)

 

[MewingApollo]

In my experience anything under $1000 is trash and lasts at best a year

Well, that's why I mentioned potentially buying from a warehouse or something that sells old office inventory. But Googling didn't really bring up anything about that, just vendors for new chairs that offer business discounts, and Reddit threads about the topic that all had less than 5 responses.

I've heard good things in general about their chairs, but Herman Miller is generally too small for me. My nuts would be crushed between my thighs if I tried to squeeze into one of those. I know grabbing celebrity branded stuff is usually an ill advised idea, but has anyone tried Shaq's chairs from OfficeMax? The one that would best fit me is an eye blistering $700 without warranty, nearly $900 after warranty and taxes. But there's also one for $470 before taxes and warranty that might work. The most consistent issue I'm running into is finding something that's WIDE enough.

Manufacturer of my current chair finally responded to my email about the warranty, said it looked like "intentional damage or the result of misuse", and therefore wasn't covered. They'll give me a new part for $235...that's half the price of a new chair through them, or most of the price of a traditional office chair. I'd be tempted to take the offer if I weren't worried about the same thing happening in a year.

Post magically merged: Feb 21, 2025

Check out office liquidation places for (lightly) used Herman Miller Aeron or Steel case chairs. I would recommend checking out the specifications for which fits your weight (I think maybe the type-c Aeron would work)

Do you have any names I could try Googling? Haven't had much luck finding one through blind searching as of yet.

 

[Janus67]

Honestly, craigslist or Facebook marketplace generally have places post there. Unfortunately it will depend on your city/location

 

[infinitevalence]

Do you have any names I could try Googling? Haven't had much luck finding one through blind searching as of yet.

can you give us a region or city to look for store fronts?

 

[MewingApollo]

can you give us a region or city to look for store fronts?

Right, didn't think about this being a local thing. My bad. I'm in Saginaw, Michigan, so here, Frankenmuth, Bay City, Midland, Freeland, and Bridgeport would all be "local" to me, within a 20 or 30 minute drive.

 

[Zerileous]

I would also go with what Janus recommended, you might have to search around but in my area there are dozens of them. Some will only deal in bulk, but I found one where I could walk in, sit in half a dozen chairs, and then walk out with one. I think it's one step below the leap, but it does pretty well. One thing I would recommend is looking up some setup guides once you have the chair, as they can be very adjustable.

Edit: i meant to add I just searched for "used office furniture" and the location

 

[MewingApollo]

None of the resellers/liquidators I could find near me had anything that looked like I would fit in it/it would support my weight. Ended up going with a Shaq chair from OfficeMax. Been a day since it got here, and first impressions are very positive. Went with a model that's slightly too small for me with the arms on to save a bit of money, so I'm leaving the arms off of it. But it's very comfy, and feels much better made than the "gaming chair".

 

[Janus67]

Sounds good! Hope it holds up well, thanks for following up with the story!

 

[infinitevalence]

Agreed, and follow up on this in a year if you could. Everyone needs to know about chairs that can hold up over time.

 

[MewingApollo]

Having been in and out of corporate settings a lot for contracting/consultant work, in my experience, actual office chairs, rather than "gamer" chairs, tend to hold up fairly well in terms of the frame and the base. The gas cylinder and wheels might break, but those are user replaceable, so I usually don't knock a company too much for those. It's the padding that really can be hit or miss. I do a lot of WFH these days, so I'm in my chair for anywhere from 14 to 18 hours a day. I think any chair that relies on foam material for cushioning, rather than what brands like Herman Miller seem to be doing with their springloaded mechanism doohickeys to support your weight, is going to wear out relatively soon. The back, usually less so.

After all of my digging and comparing, the best advice I can give anyone in or near my weight class is buy a chair like what I got, use it until the padding flattens, and then throw a Purple cushion on it or something. A lot of the elevated cost for something like this Shaq chair over some no name $100 gamble on Amazon, as far as I can tell, comes from the frame being better. Even if the padding on this chair only lasts two years, if the frame is still good, then as I said, I can just throw an aftermarket cushion on it and call it good. For someone who's the same height as me (I'm somewhere between 5'8" and 5'10") or a little taller, the back is perfectly adequate height. And if you either don't sit in your chair for as long as I do, or aren't as heavy, chances are the padding will last much longer for you. I think what infinitevalence said was very true; anything in this price bracket is gonna wear out within a few years. Whether that's the frame, padding, or both, I think will vary company to company. But if you want something that you don't have to put a cushion on eventually, I'd advise saving the money to go for a Herman or other such higher end brand. I just personally didn't care that much.

 

[Zerileous]

None of the resellers/liquidators I could find near me had anything that looked like I would fit in it/it would support my weight. Ended up going with a Shaq chair from OfficeMax. Been a day since it got here, and first impressions are very positive. Went with a model that's slightly too small for me with the arms on to save a bit of money, so I'm leaving the arms off of it. But it's very comfy, and feels much better made than the "gaming chair".

I sat in a Shaq chair that chair it was super comfy.