I work as a designer in the contract furniture industry. I've worked for Haworth, Herman Miller and Steelcase either at the dealer level or the manufacturer level. I was the design director at both COI and HBI. Also did some work for Allsteel and Knoll. In my opinion these are the chair to look at:
Premium Chairs:
Gesture - Steelcase
Leap - steelcase
Aeron (its cool looking but a bit long in the teeth in terms of ergonomic design) Herman Miller
Zody - Haworth
Very Desk - Haworth
Freedom - Humanscale
Mid Level:
Mirra2 - Herman Miller
Series One -Steelcase
Think - Steelcase
Relate - Allsteel
Some of the things to consider is how long in the day you are sitting in it. Sizing is very important. Some chairs fit the 95th percentile while others come in A, B and C sizes. Always look for a chair that has an adjustable seat pan depth. This is especially important if you have long legs. Having a mesh chair over a fabric one is no benefit like it used to be. Today's fabrics breathe very well and you don;t get hot sitting in the chair. Mesh is more for looks or if it is a supportive mesh it is part of the back lumbar support design. Also consider function. If you are straight up a data entry warrior you need to have arms that support you while typing and ones that don;t pull away from the worksurface when you tilt back. That is usually a sign of a cheaper syncro mechanism.
I have my favorites over others. I've sat in all of them for good periods of time and owned most of them. Above all just go and sit in them. For example I know some people don't like the Mirra but others swear it is the best chair they have sat in. Most of the dealers in town have a used section where you can get a good deal on a chair that is essentially new. Sometimes chairs get ordered with the wrong options or a client doesn't pay their bill and the chairs come back.
Back support designs vary greatly. They all work but in different ways. If you have back problems some will feel better than others so it is best to try them out.
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Don't ever buy anything Herman Miller from EQ3. They are a retail outlet. Go to the contract furniture dealer Contemporary Office interiors and you will always get a better price.
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If you want a name for a person at RGO or COI let me know. Personally I think the Embody is an over priced piece of shit. When I was at COI we never pushed to sell them.
"if you disagree with my views are cannot adequately my criticism then ignore my posts." - Nusc