Herman MillerAeron Ergonomic Chair - Size B, Mineral

I have spent countless hours and months browsing for a new chair and have narrowed it down to what I see as the top in this market from the industry titans, Herman Miller and Steelcase. The Aeron, Embody, and Leap are what I and I'm sure many others see as the best of the best. However I eventually came to the conclusion that I wanted the Aeron over the others.Why? It is the most utilitarian of any other chair. It brings a sleek, modern, industrial design while seamlessly blending both form and function. It also has the best and accessible third party additions such as the Atlas headrest (which I STRONGLY suggest you purchase as well as it is easily the best headrest on the market and incredibly made.) This chair does away with features that are, in my honest opinion not needed on a chair that yourself will use at home such as seat depth and arm width. These are ergonomic features that are great but with the three sizes you can find the perfect sized chair for your height and weight. Think of it like buying a great pair of leather shoes. If they are the correct size, they are the best fitting and most comfortable thing you own. But because of this I once again STRONGLY suggest you find a nearby seller that carries this chair and specifically the remastered edition as the chair has some size differences from its previous model. This will allow you, just like you would try on clothes, to find the right size for you in person. You could always buy this chair directly from HM or a dealer as well but purchasing through amazon is by far the best option as the delivery is so fast. I had the chair withing a few days after ordering. If I ordered through HM themselves, I would potentially have to wait weeks or even a month. You should absolutely be getting all the features on this chair regardless and since the fully kitted model is all they sell on amazon its the best way to go. At this price range you want every possible feature and adjustment they offer.Now what should you expect if you do go through with this purchase? I will be sincere and brutally honest. It will be uncomfortable. You will most likely experience pain for the first week or two owning this chair. Now I know what you're thinking. Pain? Isn't that what you don't want? Of course but here's the deal. I would easily say 99% of people working from home or have any sort of office space in the homes at all have been sitting in fairly inexpensive chairs without the absolute best knowledge in ergonomics. Most chairs we sit in have regular padded seats or we seek comfort with big cozy armchairs or the classic large executive chair. Yea they are comfortable but they actually lack the right support for our bodies in the long run. For example, it is better we sat in firmer seats that can in turn properly support our pelvis and base of the spine. The classic padded arm chair, executive chair, or basic office chair causes us to sink more into the chair. This doesn't provide the support we need which can lead to back issues. Yes it's comfortable in the moment to veg out but it isn't great for our bodies. We aren't built to sit for extremely long periods of time so we need to have the most support we can get. When I first sat in this chair my butt hurt, it wasn't used to the firmer sit. But gradually over time it went away as my body adjusted and now it is extremely comfortable. I should add that one of the main reasons I was looking for a new chair was to fix the circulation of my legs being cut off from sitting in previous chairs. This fixed that right away.The back support was also uncomfortable at first and took a bit longer for my body to adjust to but it has gotten much better and fixed issues I wasn't even aware of. I thought my posture wasn't terrible for the most part. I consciously sat up straight and looked for proper support where I needed it. But I was actually doing it wrong. Lumbar support is supposed to be right around or above the belt line, not below it. I , for as long as I can remember was putting the lumbar in the small of my back which of course felt more comfortable but, instead it was pushing my lower spine further inward along with causing more tilt in my pelvis. This is called anterior pelvic tilt and actually it is extremely common in people without them actually knowing it. This chair corrected this issue. Now it wasn't an extreme condition of it, but none the less I can easily see that my posture and pelvic alignment has adjusted to a more neutral position within a few weeks of using it. It corrected an ongoing and potential growing issue that I was doing to myself over years of poor seating in just a couple weeks. I attribute this to the PostureFit SL system that provides both support to the mid-back/actual proper lumbar position as well as support to the sacrum providing proper natural tilt to the pelvis. This is something I truly didn't notice or understand till after I figured out what it was doing.The only chair I can honestly say that may do the same thing in some way is the Embody as it does provide that full on back support. But I don't thing it necessarily provides it as strongly which I think is what people actually need. The Leap doesn't have any sort of pelvic support as there is a gap between the back of the chair and the seat pan. There really is only the classic height adjustable lumbar support along with depth tension (which the PostureFit does provide). However as I finally figured out, if you don't know how to properly align your lumbar support and only put it where it "feels good", it could do more harm than good over time.Some things to note, I love the arms on this chair and find them to be the best arms ever made. Yes they are better than the Leap's and by far and away better than the Embody's. I actually think the Embody arms are the worst designed arms of any chair, especially for a chair of that caliber. The seat recline is also something to be experienced as it is unique to Herman Miller chairs and I believe even the Aeron's is even more special.I can honestly go on about this chair for more but the main take away is that, yes this chair is 100% worth the price just for the build quality and ergonomic prowess this thing brings let alone the massive 12 year warranty that covers everything on the chair. Herman Miller provides some of, if not the best customer service for their chairs in the business.

When you pay $1300 for a chair built for big and tall people you really expect it to offer support for someone your size.I am tall but not big, that seems to be a curse when looking for a chair.At 6'5" I weigh around 220 so while I don't need 300lbs of support or an ultra wide seat, I do need a tall back and an adjustable lumbar.Well while the tension on this lumbar adjusts, the height does not. It presses into my sacrum and upper glutes, and offers no support for my lower back. Consequently after enough long days I started to develop severe sciatica issues.At first I didn't want to blame the chair (having spent as much as i did) but after eliminating my sciatica issue the first time I went back to my desk and working for 8 hours again, stood up and, almost fell over from the pain.Another 3 days of stretching and heat/cold ensued.This time I ended up rolling up a pillow and pressing it down to where I needed support and after a full day of work, no issues.What's most frustrating is that this seems to be the trend with most "Big & Tall" chairs.They should actually just read "Big"This chair is not designed for a tall person. I would say if you are over 6 foot (maybe 6'2"), keep looking.The overall build quality really isn't that impressive compared to my last chair and while some of the adjustments are nice; This is NOT a $1300 chair.I've sat in much nicer chairs with a plethora of adjustment options that cost slightly less.An adjustable lumbar height, seat depth slider and a higher back would've made this a chair for a "Tall" person.As it is now, it is built for a "Large" person but will only give "Tall" people a lot of aches and pains.

Having sat in a variety of "cheap" chairs during this pandemic for a home office, the biggest issue I faced was lower back pain. Both my work and my hobbies are at home on the same desk so overall sitting time could be upwards of 16 hours on extreme cases for example. This type of lifestyle usually destroys your back if you aren't sitting in a good chair; and it did for me. I couldn't wake up and sit on the chair right away without feeling uncomfortable on my lower back.Lo and behold, I did a round of both work and gaming, which is about 16 hours; went to sleep, and was able to sit on it comfortably after waking up with surprisingly NO back pain at all. The mesh seating, while it might look cheap, relieves a lot of pressure from your tailbone. Combine that with the lumbar support, which makes sure your lower back isn't being overused as well, absolutely saves your back.The only thing I can complain about is that the carbon edition I purchased didn't look as clean and polished as I hoped. The plastic parts looked a bit smudgy when received it. The chair was also covered with dust and other very small materials that made it look "cheap" when I opened it the first time. So you'll definitely want to expect it looking a bit scuffed when you receive it. After a round of cleaning it does actually look decent, I'll admit.Lastly, if you're on carpet, getting the wheels to move on the chair is a bit of a pain. So you'll probably want to invest $25 to buy herman miller carpet casters and replace the wheels.Closing notes: Objectively it does what it's supposed to - help with my back pain. The assembly was super minimal and it was able to withstand a 16 hour session with no problems. I have no choice but to give it a 5/5 for my standards. Not having back pain is godsend.