As someone who works from home and plays a lot of games, I spend a fair amount of time in my office chair and it was important to have the most comfortable one I could find.
For years now I had been working with a DX Racer chair. When I first got it, it was plenty comfortable and the recline was great. Allowing me to kick back and watch a little TV or play a game at the end of the day in a more comfortable position.
After a couple of years though it began to contribute to a number of issues like back and neck pain. Once I moved into a hotter climate, the issues piled on. A little back and neck pain became a lot of a back and neck pain as well as the discomfort from sitting in a chair made of faux leather in the dead heat of Summer in Phoenix.
Case in point, this was no longer a chair I wanted to use. Sitting in it all day every day for work and then spending a few hours of leisure time in it at the end of the day was causing major issues. Enter the ErgoChair 2 from Autonomous.
An ergonomic chair that was seemingly perfectly suited to my work from home needs, as well as my gaming needs. After only a week of using it, my back and neck pain started to subside. I could also still game comfortably thanks to its generous recline.
So far the ErgoChair 2 has shaped up to be the most comfortable office chair I’ve ever sat in. Is it the perfect office chair? Let’s find out.
The most comfortable office chair doesn’t have to cost a lot
In your search for the most comfortable office chair you could opt for something from Herman Miller.
And if you were to do that you’d be getting a great chair that will last a long, long time. Herman Miller chairs also cost a whole lot of money. The most comfortable office chair doesn’t have to cost a whole lot of money though.
So far the ErgoChair 2 is fulfilling that role of being a chair that is comfortable to sit in for hours on end and it costs a fraction of what you’d pay for a Herman Miller chair.
The ErgoChair 2 retails for about $369 now that it’s discounted down from its original price of $419. Which makes this a really good value for what you get.
Autonomous packed it full of features that allow you to sit just the way you want. Whether it’s more upright with better posture, a tilted seat, or higher lumbar support. There are a lot of options of things you can adjust here.
That being said, this can be both a good and bad thing. All the chair configurations and features can feel a little bit overwhelming at first. Especially if it’s your first experience with an ergonomic chair.
This chair has features galore
At the very most basic, the ErgoChair 2 is great because it’s extremely comfortable. The reason it’s so comfortable though is because of all the features.
Which is also why it’s a great chair. There are a ton of different features built into this thing that you can adjust to really make it the perfect chair for you. You can customize and adjust the height and tilt of the headrest.
You can adjust the height and width of the arms. They even swivel a tiny bit and you can slide them forward or backward. You can also adjust the height and tension of the lumbar support, the seat tilt, the back tilt, and the height of the chair.
What’s more is that most of these things can be adjusted with a simple flick of switch. Save for the seat tilt tension which uses a sort of crank knob that you turn.
I use most of these features. Although I almost never touch the seat tilt or tension, it’s nice to have them there. I do however constantly use the tilting headrest, arm adjustment, and seat tilt.
For me personally, the best thing about this chair in terms of customization is the seat tilt and headrest. In just a few seconds I can go from sitting upright with good posture to leaning back for a quick 5 min break. A few more seconds and I can go back to sitting upright again and get back to work.
I’ve also noticed that it’s way easier to adjust the seat tilt than on the gaming chair I used to have. Which used a lever that you would pull similar to the seats in a car. The design of the seat tilt here with the ErgoChair 2 is superior in every way.
Not only is it simpler to adjust, but it’s much simpler to engage the locking mechanism that keeps the tilt at your preferred angle. Hands down, the ErgoChair 2 puts any gaming chair to shame.
If there’s one downside, it’s the arms
Moving from a gaming chair to an ergonomic chair was the best decision I ever made. I have no hesitation in saying that because it’s helped with back and neck pain immensely.
In fact I no longer get back or neck pain from sitting in my office chair all day. If there is one complaint I do have though, it’s with the arms. In most cases, the arms are fine when I work or play games on my PC.
However they’re not so great if I’m relaxing while playing on my PS4. This chair is my office chair. So it sits at my desk. I also have my PS4 set up here. So this is also where I play PS4 games.
My main complaint with the arms is that they don’t go out wide enough or in far enough to make for an optimal position when holding the controller. If I bring the arms all the way up, it’s kind of a happy medium.
But because the arm position doesn’t lock in place when it comes to the width, they can easily be pushed outward. This gets a little uncomfortable after playing for a couple of hours.
The other option is to lower the arm height as much as I can and then push the arms outward so I can hold the controller at more of a waist level. This way my arms sit in between the arms of the chair instead of on top of them. Still, this poses a bit of discomfort because my elbows still hit brush up against the inside of the arms. And it feels more cramped than anything.
Overall the comfort of the arms is pretty good. But it could be better if the width was a little more forgiving and if the width was lockable.
The easiest leanback you’ll see of any office chair
Part of what makes the ErgoChair 2 such a wonderful chair to sit in is the reclining functionality. Not the fact that it can recline in general because a lot of chairs offer that.
No, rather the wonderful part is how easy it is to recline and get the chair to your preferred angle. Instead of having to pull on a lever like you would with some office or gaming chairs, you flick a locking/unlocking switch on the left side of the chair and that allows you to lean back.
If the seat back is already locked in place, then you can simply flick this switch and then lean back in the chair. Flick it again once you want to lock the seat back in place. It may not sound like this is a big deal but trust me it is. It’s way easier to lean back in this than any other chair I’ve used over the years.
You may not be leaning back 50 times a day, but you will probably lean back in it a few times a day even if only for five minutes at a time. And the ease of use to lock and unlock the seat back during these times will definitely leave an impression.
Another good part about this is if you leave it in an unlocked state, you can lean back hands-free anytime you want. You can even sit mostly upright if you aren’t putting that much pressure on the seat back. Basically if you’re sitting upright with good posture, the back stays where it is. Then you can just lean back when you need to.
This is also easy to do because the chair helps train good posture. So the more you use it over time, your posture is bound to improve.
I wouldn’t necessarily recommend sitting like this all the time, of course. Because the locked state of the seat back and the included lumbar support are meant to serve a specific purpose. And you really have less support for your back if you can’t put a little bit of pressure up against the back of the chair.
The breathable mesh back is a life saver in warmer rooms and climates
When looking into getting a new chair for your home office, your game room, or both if they’re the same thing, don’t underestimate the value of having a chair that comes with a breathable mesh back. Or just better ventilation altogether.
Prior to the ErgoChair 2 I was using that DX Racer with a faux leather seat and back. This was fine when I lived in a state with a colder climate. My office/game area was also in a room that was more well ventilated and didn’t get as hot.
Once I moved to Phoenix, having a chair made with mostly faux leather material was a nightmare. It gets incredibly hot here during the Summer and my desk is right next to a window. Suffice it to say there was a lot of sweating. And because I work in this chair for hours on end, this was extremely uncomfortable.
I have never once had this issue in the month or two I’ve been using the ErgoChair 2. And it’s now getting close to the hottest part of the year. There have routinely been days where the temperature was over 110 for more than a couple weeks now.
You don’t want to be sitting in something that has no breathability or airflow in that heat even if you are inside. This could somewhat be avoided if I wanted to keep the AC on all day every day and at a low enough temperature. But that would lead to an insanely high energy bill every month.
The ErgoChair 2 has allowed me to keep cool enough to stay comfortable while I work and game without having to run AC until I go to sleep. The value of the chair’s breathability really can’t be understated and is part of why this is the most comfortable office chair you’ll ever sit in that doesn’t cost an entire month’s rent.
Should you buy the Autonomous ErgoChair 2?
The ErgoChair 2 is a fantastic office chair. It’s also a fantastic chair for gaming. As it was designed to promote better posture and a healthier sitting position for anyone that sits at a desk and works with a computer all or most of the day.
At just $369 now for all but the green color (which is $350), this is really a steal. The build quality is also impressive for an affordable price point and I feel this is a chair I could keep for years longer than the chair I had before without a quality degradation.
If you’re still working from home or you just want a more comfortable chair to sit in while you play games or use your computer, then consider the ErgoChair 2.
There are certainly less expensive chairs out there for home office use. But a good chair is something you don’t want to skimp on if you’re sitting in it all or most of the day. I learned this the hard way after using a gaming chair for 4+ years and causing myself to have a sore back and neck most days.
A good, comfortable chair like this one is a smart investment. And you’ll be pleasantly surprised at how comfortable is and why I’m saying it’s the most comfortable office chair. That being said, the ErgoChair may not be the best chair for everyone.
If you sit in front of your computer at home for only an hour or two a day, or just a few hours a week, then there are less expensive options. The nice thing is Autonomous also has less expensive options.
So if the ErgoChair 2 costs more than you’d personally want to spend, it’s still good enough that it warrants considering other chairs that Autonomous makes which come in at a lower price point.