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Review: The Zody Chair(Misc)
Posted: Apr 21 2008, 02:28 PM
Reviewed: The Zody Chair
Make/Model: Fully Loaded · Manufacturer: Haworth ·
Description: The Zody Chair is the premier chair from Haworth's lineup of office task chairs. It's made to be as environmentally friendly as it is ergonomically friendly. It was the first chair to get a seal of approval from the American Physical Therapy Association.
Review Title: The Best Chair I've Ever Owned. Fits Like a Glove.
My Rating: Thumbs Up!
My Opinion: There are two things that I'm very picky about. My keyboard and my chair. I'm still looking for that perfect keyboard (oh what I'd do for one of the Apple Design II keyboards in mint condition), but I can cross the perfect chair off of my list at least.
I've owned two chairs from Herman Miller (including the Aeron) and the CXO Chair. All of them said to be award winning chairs for their design and comfort. All were excellent chairs, but I had pet peeves with all of them that eventually made them unfit for the heavy hours that I'd put into them. I'm in my chair for 10 to 12 hours on most days. What feels great after one 8 hour day may start to become painful after your seventh 12 hour day in a row.
The Zody Chair is the first chair that doesn't have some design quirk in it that would cause me to have to compensate my posture to get comfortable after extended use. The adjustability of the Zody is awesome. I'm really able to mold it to fit my body, something that was not totally possible with any of my other chairs. It has all of the adjustments you'd expect out of a premium task chair, but there's one that's done so cleverly that I have to call it out.
Like a lot of chairs, you can adjust your seat back tension to adjust how easily the chair or the back of the chair tilts backwards. This is usually done through some spring on the bottom of the seat pan where it's hard to reach and impractical to adjust frequently. They put the seatback tension in a crank on the side of the chair that you can adjust very easily throughout the day to give your body some relief from being in one position for too long.
They really tout their super adjustable lumbar support, but really I'm not sure what all the hoopla is about there. You can isolate your lumbar support by adjusting a dial for right side tension and left side tension. The problem is that I can't figure out exactly how much tension should be applied per side and I have a Master's Degree in Physical Therapy. The other thing is that the settings on the two sided lumbar support don't stay. I've toyed with the left and right side adjustments only to find that the settings slip back to their defaults a few days later.
The Zody is built with a slightly flexible seatback that gives it a kinda flimsy feel. I'm used to my chairs being built like tanks from top to bottom so I have to admit I was a bit concerned about the worksmanship of the chair when I felt the seatback bend a bit. I knew it was that way by design, but it was still disconcerting until I sat in it. It really makes a difference when you're leaning back in your chair. It supports your back, but allows you have a little bit of natural movement from side to side so you don't have to resort to slouching if you find the rigidity of your "ergonomically perfect" chair tiring after a long day.
My only real complaint about the chair is that one of the adjustable armrests is a bit loose and moves too easily. It hasn't been a problem, but it is a bit annoying sometimes.
Finally, if you want to get one of these chairs, you might want to see if you can find a local office furniture dealer who carries them. I found a local salesguy who sold me a fully loaded chair customized with my pick of trims, leather, and fabric for at least $300-400 less than what you could find it for through online discounters. If you're in the Silicon Valley or East Bay area, contact me and I'll give you his contact info.
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Make/Model: Fully Loaded · Manufacturer: Haworth ·
Description: The Zody Chair is the premier chair from Haworth's lineup of office task chairs. It's made to be as environmentally friendly as it is ergonomically friendly. It was the first chair to get a seal of approval from the American Physical Therapy Association.
Review Title: The Best Chair I've Ever Owned. Fits Like a Glove.
My Rating: Thumbs Up!
My Opinion: There are two things that I'm very picky about. My keyboard and my chair. I'm still looking for that perfect keyboard (oh what I'd do for one of the Apple Design II keyboards in mint condition), but I can cross the perfect chair off of my list at least.
I've owned two chairs from Herman Miller (including the Aeron) and the CXO Chair. All of them said to be award winning chairs for their design and comfort. All were excellent chairs, but I had pet peeves with all of them that eventually made them unfit for the heavy hours that I'd put into them. I'm in my chair for 10 to 12 hours on most days. What feels great after one 8 hour day may start to become painful after your seventh 12 hour day in a row.
The Zody Chair is the first chair that doesn't have some design quirk in it that would cause me to have to compensate my posture to get comfortable after extended use. The adjustability of the Zody is awesome. I'm really able to mold it to fit my body, something that was not totally possible with any of my other chairs. It has all of the adjustments you'd expect out of a premium task chair, but there's one that's done so cleverly that I have to call it out.
Like a lot of chairs, you can adjust your seat back tension to adjust how easily the chair or the back of the chair tilts backwards. This is usually done through some spring on the bottom of the seat pan where it's hard to reach and impractical to adjust frequently. They put the seatback tension in a crank on the side of the chair that you can adjust very easily throughout the day to give your body some relief from being in one position for too long.
They really tout their super adjustable lumbar support, but really I'm not sure what all the hoopla is about there. You can isolate your lumbar support by adjusting a dial for right side tension and left side tension. The problem is that I can't figure out exactly how much tension should be applied per side and I have a Master's Degree in Physical Therapy. The other thing is that the settings on the two sided lumbar support don't stay. I've toyed with the left and right side adjustments only to find that the settings slip back to their defaults a few days later.
The Zody is built with a slightly flexible seatback that gives it a kinda flimsy feel. I'm used to my chairs being built like tanks from top to bottom so I have to admit I was a bit concerned about the worksmanship of the chair when I felt the seatback bend a bit. I knew it was that way by design, but it was still disconcerting until I sat in it. It really makes a difference when you're leaning back in your chair. It supports your back, but allows you have a little bit of natural movement from side to side so you don't have to resort to slouching if you find the rigidity of your "ergonomically perfect" chair tiring after a long day.
My only real complaint about the chair is that one of the adjustable armrests is a bit loose and moves too easily. It hasn't been a problem, but it is a bit annoying sometimes.
Finally, if you want to get one of these chairs, you might want to see if you can find a local office furniture dealer who carries them. I found a local salesguy who sold me a fully loaded chair customized with my pick of trims, leather, and fabric for at least $300-400 less than what you could find it for through online discounters. If you're in the Silicon Valley or East Bay area, contact me and I'll give you his contact info.
This is an automatically generated post created when a new opinion has been posted to the Opinion Boards. You can comment on this opinion directly or post your own opinion
