Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

So I'm very picky about my chairs. Some people just sit in them and they're happy with how it feels. They often value cushion more than support. I am not that type of person. I'm 6'4" 180lbs and I don't like sitting in a chair that doesn't contour to my particular frame. This chair is extremely adjustable. At the office I have a Steelcase chair and I've sat in plenty of other expensive supports. Although they have other gimmics like seats and backs that move in different ratios as you recline (I like the back of my chair to be adjustable but locked) they are no more adjustable. The seat essentially has 3 modes. With the back and seat lever UP, both will move freely as you do. The back moves first to it's limit and then the seat will start to tilt allowing you to recline further. There's even a little lever in the front you can set to either keep the seat between flat and reclined or allow it to lean further forward that flat (for those who like to slide out of their seat I suppose). Throw the seat lever down and it will lock in place, any place, and the back will still move freely. I demand from my chairs that the seat adjust like this so I can set the angle back. This gives me support on my thighs. If you're shorter this is fully adjustable to a large variety of angles. The third mode you can flip down the back lever and it will lock in place at any position. Setting this third position you can put the back and seat at independent spots for as tight an angle between back and seat or as wide an angle as you like. The back and armrests go up and down. NOTE: the back height adjustment is rather un-intuitive. from it's lowest position it goes up 5 positions, each with it's own click, locking as it goes up not letting it descend. If you pull it up past that, or pull it up all the way, it releases all the locks and drops to it's lowest level. The armrests do not move backwards or forwards or tilt in/out. I always found these options annoying because the arms will never stay stable with them so I was grateful these are simpler. The arms do have a little bit of width adjustment where they connect to the base if you're like 250+lbs you will appreciate that probably. Construction wise, this appears to be a fairly generic seat hardware piece that may be sold by other manufacturers. That piece is of good quality. The seat cushion is pretty decent, feels like a single piece of dense foam nicely sculpted. The other pieces look like "Alera" additions and are slightly lower in quality. The legs are a plastic casting and the casters are a metal axle but mostly plastic. The back is nicely supportive but I'm not sure how well the mesh will hold up. I'd also add that a lot of the levers are easy to confuse and seem like they might break if pushed too hard past their usable range. The back of the back in the middle is stamped alera. Nice that the company put their name on the product though I'm not sure the rest of the chair is anything but a grouping of chinese parts. They do provide some spring washers which really helps the arms feel more stable. Pretty solid overall I think it will hold up. Pros: -PRICE! This is not a $600 premium office chair but... -lots of adjustments for a perfect fit! -Independent back and seat adjustment. -seat angles are pretty flexible. Very forward for those who like that and decently back for those that want thigh support -seat moves independently back and forward (at any angle to boot) relative to the back -armrests can be pretty low to the seat for those with longer arms or fitting under a desk. They do go up if you don't need this -arms feel solid. A lot of chairs in this class the arms are wobbly. These really aren't wobbly Cons: -Materials aren't great but what you'd expect at this price -Levers are not confidence inspiring in strength. Not for kids. Probably not for teenagers either -armrests aren't padded or wide -lumbar support is nothing crazy. I like that and find strong lumbar annoying (probably because it doesn't hit me right) but if you want adjustable lumbar or even just strong lumbar, this chair doesn't have it 4 years later: Durability is better than I expected. The casters are a little gunked up but nothing has broken. I bought two but the second one doesn't get as much use. Still, 2 for 2 is good quality. The back mesh has stretched out over the years a small bit. This makes the lumbar even less forceful. I still worry a little about the quality of the mesh material and the plastic casters but it's been pretty great overall. The back makes a bit of noise but I haven't tried applying some WD40 to fix that, it's not a big deal. The seat cushion has held up very well. The thick foam feels like new. The actual seat and mechanical bits immediately attached to it must come from a really high end chair. Everything else feels plasticey and tacked on but they've held up well enough. I guess overall the chair "has it where it counts" with the adjustability. The other bits keep the cost down. Still nothing else I've found at this pricerange that's anywhere near as adjustable and 4 years later, the quality has exceeded my expectations.