A Desk Chair Needs To Be Great
For all the talk of standing at a desk, most know that they’re going to be sitting when working in an office environment. And that same realization also tends to mean that the chair in question isn’t going to be all that great — instead it will be whatever the company is able to purchase in quantity and at the best price. That might help the company’s bottom line, but it doesn’t do all that good when it comes to providing a proper seat for a person.
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Unfortunately this mentality of getting a “just a good enough” desk chair often extends to the home office too. Which is bad for sure and also unnecessary since the person’s home office should have as good a chair as possible,
So with that in mind, what’s needed isn’t just a “good” chair but a great one. Which the C7 Ergonomic Chair Black with Footrest easily provides.
Get Ready To Assemble
Since we’re not talking about some flimsy chair, you’d expect the C7 to have a good heft to it. Considering how heavy the shipping box is, plan on having two people bring it into the area where it’s going to be assembled (if that’s not practical, just leave the box where it is and bring it piecemeal to its final destination in your home). The assembly is going to be similar to any desk chair, with the various components consisting of a separate base, wheels, piston, seat, back and so on. Looking at it all, we expected it to take about an hour to assemble and turns out we were right (we took our time) because the process is straightforward and the instructions were simple and clear. In hindsight, the only trouble encountered was in getting the wheels into the base — a tight fit requiring some wiggling and tapping to properly seat them.
Side note: Instead of the usual L-shaped allen key used for tightening bolts, the assembly kit comes with a T-shaped key with a large plastic handle on it. This makes it way easier to use and was really appreciated by the assembler.
Features
Once assembled, you’ve got to admire all of the features and adjustments this chair sports. The most obvious is the built-in footrest, which is really unique in the world of desk chairs. It may work best for somewhat shorter people however, as it has only a certain range of extension. For many users, this feature will be more like an “ankle rest” but it’s still helpful. Note that it’s manually deployed and you need to pull it straight out or push straight in using both hands for smooth operation.
The chair also features an adjustable headrest. It can be both angled back and forth as well as moved up and down so as to create the most comfortable position for your neck. The armrests are equally flexible since they can also be adjusted up and down, fore and aft, and angled left and right. They can also be moved pretty high up so that they will support your forearms even if a keyboard is on the desktop instead of in a keyboard tray. There is also seat height adjustment and a handle locking the seat back from reclining.
There’s More Features
Adding to the above is lumbar support, a separate piece that can be infinitely adjusted fore and aft easily with a locking lever: just unlock it, lean back or forward to your most comfortable spot, and lock it in. But possibly the most interesting function is being able to separately move the seat bottom — both fore and aft — offering some extra thigh support to taller users (you can angle the seat as well). FYI, these functions work best when you keep the chair from rolling while you’re adjusting it.
Sitting Down
After some extended testing, this chair has proven to be comfortable enough to allow for hours of use at a time. The foam seat bottom is cushy and easy to get used to and the multi-part mesh back keeps you cool and comfortable. All of the adjustments let you easily tweak your seating position over time, and the footrest lets you take a quick break and relax. All and all, a good seating experience, especially considering that over the last 15+ years we’ve had any number of chairs that didn’t cut it and had to be disassembled and returned (a major pain in the seated area).
The C7 Ergonomic Chair Black with Footrest is a good comfortable chair that does what is expected well while also adding in additional and unexpected features that add to its appeal. It comes in various colors too.