If you are going to buy a generic office chair anyway like the 'green soul' I shared above or the 'featherlite astro'
@roygarg shared then you can look around more. That's because many brands have similar chairs with different configurations on the sale. These are all manufactured by 'Exclusiff'. It makes most of the simple component like cushions, armrests etc. Complicated bits like tilt mechanisms, hydraulics are imported (from china).
Brands like green soul and featherlite source these components, put their name on them, ship them in a box to you.
When you are buying an office chair you should know a few things.
- Tilt:
- Synchro tilt is the most premium tilt, Synchro makes back and seat tilt at 2:1 angle. So if you recline the back 20 degrees then your seat will only recline to 10 degrees. It does slightly lift up your feet. And at high recline it can make seat slippery.
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- Then there's knee tilt. Tilt pivot is near your knee and back seat both tilt at 1:1 ratio. Even though it's cheaper than synchro tilt, personally, I don't think it's worse than synchro tilt. It can give you bucket feel at high recline. Synchro tilt lacks this bucket feel at highest recline. Knee tilt is rare than synchro.
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- Then at the bottom you have center tilt. It's a traditional and very common among cheaper chairs. Tilt pivot is below your arse. Reclines at 1:1 and it will lift up your feet off the floor.
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- Secondly, all tilts offer locking mechanism. Expensive tilts offer multi lock whereas cheap tilts offer only single lock. By locking I mean locking the angle of the recline. 'Green soul' offers 3 point lock. One at the most upright, one at the most reclined and one in the middle. Don't buy chair that offers single lock only.
- Most tilts recline to 135 degrees max. Even though it may not sound as much but it feels a lot. You can sleep at this angle.
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- Armrest: Movement of the armrest is measured in number of dimensions.
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- 4-D is the most expensive. It can move up-down, left-right, front-back plus it can change the angle too.
- 3-D won't have angle changing mechanism.
- 2-D is the most common. It can move the hand rest up-down and front back. The 'green soul jupiter' I shared has 2-D armrest.
- Then you have 1-D or standard, which can make armrest move up-down only. 'featherlite astro' is 1D.
- In any case, don't go with fixed armrest . That's because many feel armrest don't serve much purpose and removing them gives more freedom. So if you get movable armrest (i.e. any from 4D to 1D) you can take them off if you think they get in your way. Unfortunately I have found that in any case one can't lower the armrest enough so that they would stop rubbing against your forearms. So removability is important.
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- Castor wheels:There are 3 qualities to them.
- At the most expensive side, you have big castor wheels that are made of mostly translucent rubber. These are usually seen with tables or big things like stretcher. I have not seen any company gives them by default on the chairs. We have someone on forum who has put such castor wheels on his german chair. These are as quiet as they get.
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- Then, at medium quality, you have castor wheels that are found on premium chairs. Check the castor wheels on 'green soul jupiter' chair. These make more noise than the rubber wheels. But less than cheaper variants below.
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- At the bottom, you have castor wheels that are smaller than medium quality. These usually have 'mudguard'. These make the most noise as these are the smallest. As these are the smallest, these get caught in the grooves of the tiles. That eventually is going to enlarge the hole of the base in which wheels are mounted. And that's going to rattle a lot more down the line.
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- I have not seen any chair with lockable castor wheels. But it's a very nice thing to have. Sometimes you don't want your chair to move. Lockable rubber castor wheels are a good aftermarket upgrade to any office chair.
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- Headrest: Make sure to get a flexible headrest. You will want to have headrests at different settings depending upon how much you have reclined. Movie watching headrest is different from working headrest. And like armrest, flexible things are removable. Don't undermine removability of stuff. It's a plus point. Headrest should be height adjustable, should move front-back and angle should also be changeable. So look for 3-D headrest.
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- Cushion: Bigger is better. Breathable is better. Leather wrapped boss or gaming chairs aren't suitable for Indian temperature and humidity. These can give rashes and hemorrhoids. Breathable cushions never feel warm or cold no matter what season is. In breathable segment, you have seats traditionally made with foam or on premium chairs you can have it made with wire mesh. Wire mesh are great for back but not so good for seat because something sharp like key or jeans button will tear mesh seat apart. Mesh doesn't give uniform support like foam. Mesh is the best option for back because that will give you adjustable lumbar support. And, foam cushions are best for seat. From the photos it might look like mesh may make things windy or chilly but it feels just like foam. Talking about foam seats, these can get dusty with time. But you can wash them just like any fabric and wet vacuum.
- Lumbar support: Get flexible lumbar support. You don't know how 'the chair that you are purchasing online' is going to feel like. Everyone is built differently. So it's better to get adjustable lumbar support. It offers front-back and up-down movements. Most office chairs have aggressive lumber supports. They can make you look as if you were 7 month pregnant. If somebody is suffering from back pain then it might help but for someone fit and with healthy back can use it at the lowest settings.
- Lift: Hydraulic lift is the most common. Height adjustability is important for any office chair.
- Base: There are a few variations available. Stainless steel is more preferable to powder coated ones because SS can take abuse from your shoes.
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- Frame: There do exist some cheap chairs that have fiber made frame. This part takes a lot of abuse and that is why the core frame should be metal.
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- Ergonomics and footrest:
- When you are typing on the keyboard, your elbows, pelvis, ankles and knees must make right angles. It'a a golden rule and all other things must be adjusted accordingly. Some people WFH flaunt this rule and suffer injuries. Such people should not be allowed WFH because they are giving it a bad name. I have been WFH for 1.5 decade so yeah I know how important a good posture is. Bad posture is like being smoker. After 30 years, bad posture is going to give you serious health problems.
- Nevertheless, these adjustments inadvertently puts the desk height at around your belly button if not slightly lower. Chances are that, your desk is too tall and it isn't height adjustable. You will have to increase the height of the chair but that's going to lift your feet off the floor. Never ever have feet dangling in the air. They will swell up and down the line you are going to suffer from varicose veins. If you have such situation then you should invest in a footrest. Footrest also help when you reclined to max and now you can't get your feet on the floor no matter how low your seat goes.
- Footrest at correct height will let you enjoy correct thigh support. Good support at thigh will take off some pressure off your lumbar. It'll keep your back healthy. Your spine won't go into bad flexion. That'll free up some pressure off your heart. You just turned off one of the heart attack marker. Everything is interlinked. You change one variable and it affect other parts. There aren't many ways to sit in front of computer and stay healthy.
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All these different things are available off the shelf separately. Everything is intercompatible. Making an office chair is just like putting together a computer. You can buy these in bunch of quantities and start another 'Green Soul' or 'Featherlite' brand. Now you know what to look for, you can source such chair locally for 20% less than online prices. But this exercise isn't simple though and you won't get warranty offline.
techenclave.com
www.greensoul.online
www.homegenic.in