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- Verified Buyer
UPDATE:I'm updating this review ~1 year after having the chair. While I still like the chair a lot, sadly there is a design flaw with this chair. Specifically, the padding on the back is held on by heavy duty double-sided tape (I think it's 3m VHB) but it simply doesn't last. The back of my chair came off and, at first, I could stick it back on and it would stay for a week. but after messing with that for a month, it simply wouldn't stay on for even a day anymore.Fortunately, Hon has a good warranty. I called them up and they had me contact a local dealer who facilitated a replacement chair. They even offered to pick up the old one and drop off the new one although it was just more convenient for me to swing by myself. It took a few weeks for them to get my replacement in but it was a very easy process overall. So this definitely helps a lot!Sadly, my second chair is now having the same problem. So at this point I'm convinced that this is a design flaw and not just a bad chair. And I have taken good care of these chairs, no children have been on them, and I don't rough house or anything with the chairs (no races down the halls!). Sadly, the padding on the back just is not fastened in a reliable way for this chair.----ORIGINAL REVIEW:I received this chair a couple weeks ago and I absolutely love it. I had an old executive chair that I've been meaning to replace for a year or more and it finally started to give me terrible back pains. I've been toying around with the idea of the high end task chairs like the Herman Miller Embody or the Steelcase Gesture but the $800-1200 price tags were really hard to bite off on, ESPECIALLY without having actually used one for a significant period of time. After some research, I found that Hon was a very reputable chair manufacturer and they offer several high-quality yet budget-minded chairs and this is one of them.POTENTIAL DEAL BREAKERS:I did my homework on this chair and if you don't also, you'll be surprised by a few things:First potential surprise:There is only ONE adjustment lever on this chair: Height. Other than moving the chair up or down, there is no other adjustment mechanism for anything else. No reclining, no seat tilt, no nothing else.Second potential surprise:This chair has fixed arm rests that are hard plastic at the top (metal at the bottom for structural integrity). So far, the verdict is still out for me but I'm not minding the fixed arm wrests so much. I don't use them much at all even though I used to use the arm rests on my old chair a lot. I think while this goes against my habits, I think this is a good habit change for me as my chiropractor hasn't been having to adjust my neck like he used to. Also, the arm rests are low and I like how the arm rests now go under my desk as opposed to my older chair where they would hit the edge of my desk. Ultimately, if you think this is a deal-breaker for you then there is a variation of this model that does have adjustable arm rests with padding on them and you can get it.COMFORT:Now that the potential gotchas are out of the way, I'll tell you about how it's changed my sitting habits. I'm a 5' 10" guy who weighs about 210lbs so I'm no tiny guy but I'm also not a very large guy - I'm a pretty average guy who needs to lose a good bit of weight but not a ton. I'm traditionally a sloucher and I often sit for 12-18 hours some days. No matter how hard I tried to keep my butt in the back of the seat, it would always slide forward and I would always begin to slouch after 15-20 minutes. However, I don't have that problem with this chair. Because of how the seat flexes, it is actually comfortable to keep my butt in the back of the seat. By keeping my butt all the way back, I am provided a flexible but appropriate amount of lumbar support and that is the main thing that I think this chair is great at!Also, the flexible back along with the flexible seat keep you very comfortable when you lean back as well. However, it does not recline at all. While I like the way this chair works in this regards, I see two potential problems (that aren't problems for me, or at least not yet):1) If you like to lean back when you work, I don't know if this will provide good long-term lumbar support for you or not. I tend to not lean back in this chair for more than ~5 minutes at a time so I can't speak from experience that it will give you the good support. I think it will but I just can't say that it definitely will.2) Because the flexibility of the back relies on bending plastic, I fear that it will bend more than it's supposed to over a longer period of time. There's no way to know if this will happen or not without having it for a longer period of time. If this happens, I'll edit this review. But for the time being, I think it's perfect!The casters on this chair are hard plastic casters that are great for on a very low carpet that some offices have or for on a floor mat. However, if you want to use this chair on hardwood or other hard floor surface, I'd recommend buying some new casters. I purchased these and they work great and are fully compatible:http://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B002TU3KTCAESTHETICS:This chair is an attractive chair to look at as long as the color scheme works for you. I purchased the Platinum base w/ Glacier fabric and it looks odd in an office with black and dark cherry furniture but it would look snazzy in some brighter office spaces some people have.PRICE:I'm not sure if there is a better chair at the ~$300 price point this chair usually goes for. If I paid that price, I might consider this a 4-star rated chair but I would also consider 5 stars as well - I'm just not really sure. When I got it, it seemed like a fluke price discount where it was for 50% that price. At the discounted price, this is easily a 5-star chair as I'm pretty confident I couldn't easily find one I'd like better for that price. However, I don't believe that price is something to typically expect so I wouldn't hold out for it expecting to see it - seems like ~$250 might be the lowest these fluctuate to on a repeating basis.SUMMARY:This chair feels like a solid chair, doesn't have the squeaks that some chairs have, and is easy to operate. It's very comfortable for me and has definitely improved my posture and back aches from sitting for long periods of time. The padding is the right amount to give me the support I need and the flexibility of the chair also results in very good comfort. Just as long as the chair doesn't begin to wear out from the flexing plastic, I think this chair will easily be a long-term favorite of mine that I'll recommend to others looking in the <$400 price range.This is a very plain, simple, spartan, compact but practical office chair. It assembles quickly with the supplied 4 bolts and hex wrench that attach the adjustable arms to the underseat structure. The casters move easily on a hard surface, but may not do so well on carpet. I really liked the lumbar support it provides, which should limit my tendency to slouch as I did in my old chair. It looks like it should hold up well over time, especially since the arm rests, which often suffer a lot of wear, are plastic.On the other hand, this is not a chair for everyone. It is not a luxurious, impressive looking or cushy chair by any means, and it has a rather firm feel to it that some might not like. It also has a low or medium back, rather than a high back. Simple functionality is the name of this chair's game, its "purpose" if you will. Like with buying a mattress, you might want to try one of these before buying to be sure you’ll like its appearance and comfort, if you can find one somewhere.This chair might go best with a computer or simple home office desk where you don't need to impress clients or anything like that. Costko sells these and describes them as a “flexing task chair,” which sounds about right. Costko is asking 3 ten for these, compared to about 2 seventy here. I lucked out and got after about 3 weeks a “temporarily out of stock” chair in black for two 30, a very good deal IMO.Researched chairs on the market for several months before landing on this one. I'm primarily a gamer/prosumer and wanted something that was comfortable, durable, and wouldn't give in to my tendency to slouch and sit with poor posture while at my computer for longer stints. This chair delivers on all of those requirements. I originally wanted to give Herman Miller or Steelcase chairs a try, but the cost is simply too high. This chair was the middle of the road settlement.Minor detractors I'd like to make apparent to anyone considering purchasing this chair are it doesn't reach quite as low as I'd like it to and it probably has a weight limit of ~250lbs. For reference, I'm 6'0", 150lbs and it works pretty well for my size.This is a tough chair to review. On one hand, the thin cushioning is surprisingly comfortable. It looks nice and has good adjustable arm rests. On the other hand, there is little to no back support. I knew going in that this chair had few adjustments because the frame itself offered the flexibility and contouring. Unfortunately, the chair flexes way too easily. If you start leaning back a little, the chair offers little resistance until you are nearly fully prone.Perhaps this chair would work better for a smaller person, but it didn't offer nearly enough resistance for my 180 pound 5'10" frame. A larger person would probably find the chair too wobbly. I use it sparingly and should be fine so long as I don't use it full time for work. While I found a nice deal, the chair is not worth the full retail price given its issues.It's a comfortable chair with good support. However, it looks cheap. It looks like sub $100 chair from Staples or maybe even worse. Don't get me wrong. It feels alright but just with the cheap look and material.Looks great in pictures. Looks a bit cheap in person. Not the company's fault, my fault for not reading all info, but the only adjustment setting is the height. A chair that price should offer some adjustments. Lesson learned, don't ever assume that a HON chair will impress.The chair is well made and is very comfortable. The chair was purchased for my wife; she loves it.I have a Herman Miller chair which is great, but I would have been satisfied with this chair. The only draw back would have been that the seat is stiff, I prefer a mesh seat. My wife placed a chair cushion on the seat and solved my only concern. I would definitely recommend this chair.Zero back support, you are able to lean back and almost be completely horizontal. Do not recommend to anyone that's looking to purchase this chair for back support reasons
