This content provides a comprehensive guide to selecting the best office chairs across various budget points, from under $200 to no-budget options, with expert recommendations and detailed feature analysis.
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We're back with our best office chair
picks for every budget. Ryan is 5'9. I
am 6 foot and Robert today is 6'3,
sometimes 6'2. I've got picks for 200,
300, 500, $700, a,000 and a no budget
pick lined up from everybody. Let's jump
into it. Ryan, what do you got at 200
bucks? 200 bucks is probably the most
difficult price point to shop in just
cuz there's not a lot of great options.
Greg has actually brought in a ton of
new chairs recently, so I've got a
chance to try them all. I'm sticking
with the triedand-true. I still do not
think that there's a chair out there
that can take the throne over the TOA.
It has the most comfort still out of all
the chairs that were brought in. I do
think it has the best recline. The
headrest isn't the best compared to a
couple options that he brought in, but
it still has two-way adjustable lumbar
support. The build isn't the highest
end, but it's the case with all the
chairs for under $200. So, for comfort
adjustability, I'm sticking with the
TOA. I am super excited because I got a
diamond in the rough that I found and I
I'm surprised that you didn't pick this
one. But the Proto Arc, it is now $169
and it absolutely blew my mind. It's got
pretty much everything that you would
want in a chair that is sub 200 bucks,
including a seatpad that I can actually
sit in for longer than an hour or two.
I've actually sat in it for now two
weeks straight. It's got a 3D headrest,
depth, height, pivot adjustments, nice
and big. It's got a nice comfortable
seat. The arms aren't 4D, but they're
nice and wide, so I actually fit in it.
The one thing I'll say, there's like
this rim around the edge of this front
seat pan that's okay, but again, it's
only$169 bucks. So, I'm going there for
my first change from the $200 pick. I
think it's been to COA for years. I'm
also going to go with that Protoarch
EC200. For me, it's really I don't feel
huge in the chair. A lot of times when
we have these lower price chairs, they
just don't fit me well and I just feel
like I'm the seat's too small. The arms
don't fit me right. But with the
Protoarch, I have enough seat depth.
It's a little bit on the wider side,
too. And with the arms, kind of like
Greg said, they don't have the
adjustability that some of the other
chairs have. But the wide pads mean they
do fit me pretty well and I find that
they're low enough too. Sometimes those
chairs arms don't go low enough. So I do
like the recline on this chair. The one
problem is it does have a big gap from
the arms for the back rest. So your arms
kind of fall in there when you're
reclining back. But for me, this is
easily that best chair under $200.
>> I'm going to take the $300 pick. I've
actually recently brought in all of the
Colony chairs. Just like Ryan said, I've
brought in a ton of new chairs that are
kind of like sub 300 bucks. And even
with those new chairs in the building,
I'm still going to go with the OG, the
Atlas pick. Now, I think it is still the
most well-rounded pick sub $300. It's
got the most comfortable seat. I like
the back rest a lot. The lumbar is a
little jabby and those armrests slide
around a little bit too easy. There's
some things that you could definitely
fix, but again, for under 300 bucks,
this one is really, really well done.
I'm going to follow Greg here with the
same pick. So, I really still like that
Atlas a lot, even after trying a lot of
new chairs. And for me, it's really how
the back rest hits my back. It has that
built-in lumbar curve. Personally, I
don't even necessarily need that
additional lumbar piece. It has enough
just built into the frame. So, for me,
the Atlas almost takes a little step
back when it comes to value because I'd
almost have a hard time picking between
that EC200 and the Atlas.
>> That's something I considered too
myself. So, I actually have the same
pick and the one thing for me that
really stood out is seeing all these new
chairs come in, especially the entire
Calami lineup or Colam, whatever,
however the pronunciation is. The Atlas
stands out so much and all of the other
ones are within like 1020 bucks. They're
all within like 200 to $300. And it just
makes me wonder why Colony charges 289
or 79 bucks for the chair because it is
a crazy good deal. The build quality,
it's so much better than all of the
other chairs. The recline is much
deeper, a three-way adjustable headrest.
It just has so much more to offer than
the other chairs doing in the same price
range. So, for me, this is an absolute
no-brainer. If you hate these chairs and
want some suggestions for some new ones,
click the link in the description. We
have our office chair cheat sheet. For
that $500 range, I'm going to go with
the Euroch Vera. This has been my pick
for a while. And really kind of like
that Atlas chair. It has that curve in
the back rest. It's just built into the
frame. Just fits me perfectly. And we
found that it actually fits a wide range
of users really well. It also has a nice
cushioned seat. Definitely better than
that Atlas chair. All the materials are
just a little bit nicer. So that's what
you get when you step up into that price
range. Only problem I have is the arms
don't quite go low enough for me, which
kind of pushes my shoulder up, but it's
still a great chair at 500.
>> Yeah, I'm right there with Robert. It's
really tough to find something in this
price range to knock the Vera out of its
spot. We've had a ton of chairs in here.
You're not going to find a chair that
has a seat that's as comfortable, a back
rest that's as comfortable, and a build
like you're going to get out of the
Vera. I almost thought about going with
the Atlas here, kind of like they
thought about flopping their picks with
the $100 pick and the $300 pick, just
cuz the Atlas does have that headrest
for those of you that are looking for
more of like a home office environment,
that might be a little bit better for
you. But the seat comfort on the Vera is
so much more than the Atlas that I just
have to go with the Vera here because I
do think it has one of the most
comfortable seats I've ever used. So,
Vera all day for me. Yeah, as much as
you want to maybe pick a different pick,
the only thing I could see is maybe
going like with something used,
refurbished here. But if you're going to
stick with new, I think that honestly at
500 bucks and below, the Vera still
holds the spot for the most comfortable
chair at that price point brand new in a
box. Again, pretty much echoing what
these guys have said. I think it's all
spot on. I would say one weakness with
this besides the arm height for Robert
is going to be actually the firmness of
the arms. They're just a little bit too
firm. So, if you don't like that, that
might be a dealbreaker. But the seat,
back rest, all really, really good. And
it's got an excellent warranty, too. All
right, for $700 and less, this is where
I think you need to get into an area
like Greg just touched on with the
refurbished market. I think it's really,
really difficult to find kind of a
number one go-to pick in the 500 to 7,
even $800, $900 range. So, for me, if
you're looking for the best value, you
can get chairs like the Herman Miller
Aeron, Embody, Leap, AMIA, Zodie, Fern,
all of those chairs for 50 to 75% off on
the user refurbished market, depending
on how quality the refurb is. So, that's
probably where I would lean to. If
you're looking for a brand new chair,
then my pick would be the OM Yes chair
just because it has great comfort
throughout. The armrests are amazing.
It's very affordable right now. You can
add on a headrest if you're looking for
that home office environment. I know a
lot of people want headrests. So, that's
where I'd go in a new market. I think
the hard thing here is is that finding a
chair pick at that $700 that is going to
be really comfortable and also have a
good warranty and fit a wide range of
people is going to be tough. The OM is
just this chair that no one really talks
about, but it is a really solid offering
at that price. You get this supportive
seat that's not too thick. It's not too
thin. The back rest is great. And it's
got an A tier headrest. It's one of the
most comfortable headrests I've used. If
you like big arm pads, it's got those,
too. So, it's going to be fully
supportive. And it's the only chair that
I've picked that actually has a height
adjustable back rest, which kind of
helps to fine-tune where that fits in in
the curve of your back. I'm going to
kind of echo what Ryan said. I really
like going the route with the refurbish.
You're getting such good value.
Specifically, the Leap is what I would
be looking at. But if you definitely
were set on going with a new chair, I'd
be looking at the Hayworth Soji. So,
you're going to get just great comfort.
It maybe doesn't have any features that
stand out like in a major way. But the
back rest is really nice. You're not
going to complain about the seat.
Armrests are right there, too. You just
won't get that headrest like they said
with the Yes chair. So, Soji, that would
be my place to go for a new chair. For
a,000 bucks, I got to go with my god
tier Franken chair. It's the Lama and
it's going to have to come out in a
refurbished format because of course you
can't get that's brand new by buying two
chairs from Steelcase. But I love this
chair. I made it. That's why obviously
it's perfect for me, right? AMIA seat
leap frame. You get the 4D arms on the
Leap which are incredible. You get the
flexibility in the back rest on the
Leap. You also get the amazing lumbar
support which I think is truly
unmatched. And then you get the AMIA
seat on there. And best thing is that
we've now dropped brand new AMIA seat
pads. So, even though you got to go
refurbished, we got a brand new seat on
there for you that's going to be built
to the OEM specs of the original. It's
pretty awesome. And again, you're going
to come in under the $1,000 mark, but
this is my perfect pick there at 1,000
bucks. So, ever since we had the
Liberovo Omni chair in for testing, I
have been sitting in it. I'm not going
to lie. I really have not been switching
out of it cuz I find it that
comfortable. It's been about four or
five months. There's a whole bunch of
things I love about it. The comfort of
the seat, the back rest, you really sink
in just the right amount in my opinion.
gives you a little bit of flexibility,
some movement, and I really love this
headrest. I'd say even S tier headrest.
Couple small problems. The build quality
isn't quite there, and I wouldn't trust
the warranty as much as some of the
bigger brands. So, for me, you can't go
wrong with that Omni. I honestly don't
necessarily need those electronics in
the chair. So, maybe one day Liberovo
takes it out, makes the chair a little
cheaper. So, I went back and forth here.
I was right there with Robert. I am
really impressed with the Liberovo
chair. The easiest way for me to
describe it is it's the softest firm
chair that you can find. So, all of the
high-end ergonomic chairs are going to
have more of a firm design in the seat
and back because you don't want to be
sinking in and compressing your
vertebrae and your muscles and things
like that. This has that, but it has
like this cushion where you just kind of
sink into it and it's soft throughout
the headrest, the back rest, the seat.
It is super super soft. The recline
range is incredible. Like we're talking
like racing style chair as flat as it
goes. I have two concerns with the
Liberovo and that's why I'm going to go
with the different pick. My two concerns
are the seat depth adjustment. You can
only pick two sizes. It is not depth
adjustable so you kind of got to fit the
chair. And two, I don't trust the
electronics in the chair. It doesn't
have an amazing warranty, and like
Robert said, it does have the
electronics, and if those electronics
stop working, you're going to lose
critical functionality in the chair. So,
I'm not completely sold on the Liberovo
yet. Only time will tell. So, my pick is
going to be the OM truly because that is
a tested chair. We've used it in the
office a ton. I think it is super
comfortable. For under $1,000, you're
getting an amazing back rest. You're
getting a three-way adjustable headrest.
The arms are really, really nice on the
chair, and I like the seat. It's a very
good build quality with an awesome
warranty. I don't think you can go wrong
with the truly. So, that would be my
pick. So, going to no budget, we're not
going to look at the price tag. And if
I'm doing that, I'm going to go with the
Herman Miller Embody. And let's throw on
the headrest. I love that Atlas
headrest. For me, it there's again tons
of things about this chair I really
like. The seat is big, wide, has that
depth adjustment. I can fit on it fine.
The arms, even though they don't have a
bunch of adjustability, I'm able to get
them in a position I really like because
of how big the pads are. Moving up to
the back rest, it gives me just the
right amount of lumbar support. I have
flexibility. I can move around. And that
headrest is just S tier coming from
Atlas. Finally, this chair just looks
amazing. So, I'd love to see this one
sitting at my desk. For me, this is a
no-brainer prick. It's the Steelcase
Leap all day. I use the Leap everywhere.
I use it in my home office, my regular
office, the conference room. I'm sitting
in it right now. I think this is the
most well-built, well-designed chair on
the planet. The one thing that it does
lack is the headrest. But everything
else on the chair is so much better than
any other chair that I've used that I
just don't care that it doesn't have a
headrest. and I don't like any of the
aftermarket third party headrest. I like
the chair the way that it is with the
hugely flexible back rest. The arms are
incredible and the seat is the most
comfortable seat I've ever used. Not
only because it has pretty good softness
and it's a firm sitting experience, but
it's so flexible. So, you can move in
the seat as much as you want and it's
the most well-built chair you're going
to find. So, I don't think you can go
wrong with the Leap. Either brand new,
get it fully decked out and polished,
whatever, or get a refurbished version
for half price. So, Leap all day. I just
got to say, what in the Franken chair is
this? I found the most ultimate nobudget
pick that you guys have definitely never
seen. Robert dropped this on me just the
other day. It is a Bentley Continental
GT seat in an office chair. We're
talking full electronics in this thing.
Lumbar, you've got the massage. You've
got the heating, the cooling. It is
insane. A touchscreen in your armpad for
only three grand. We're not looking at
the price tag. But seriously, the only
downfall is that these are made in
Ukraine and I can't seem to add it to my
cart. So, I thought, hey, maybe Be Todd
should try something. Maybe not that
extravagant. Is that something? I don't
know. Let us know in the comments.
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