I don't often write a review but I felt that some feedback should be given on this purchase considering how heavily I relied on the reviews of others before deciding on this product.

First, I will concede that I was very hesitant to pay $1,300.00 for a chair and that I found it very difficult to believe that a chair could be worth that much. I am an executive that remains seated at a desk often and unfortunately do so for extended periods of time. As a result of prolonged periods of time in the seated position my back, neck, knee and thighs begin to get sore, resulting in my inability to stay seated any longer. I have had many chairs of varying styles and prices but unfortunately all of them regardless of price (up to $600) did not address these issues.

I read MANY reviews on the various Herman Miller, Steelcase and Eurotech Engohuman chairs which are widely touted as the best in quality and ergonomic comfort. Reviews on the previously mentioned chairs varied with many proclaiming their praises and some condemning them as ineffective. I eventually settled on the Aeron chair with options for several reasons to include styling, color choices, product reviews, and design options that I felt were specific to my needs however, I was torn between the Herman Miller Aeron chair and their Embody chair. Ultimately, it came down to price and the difference between the chairs was about $1,000.00. It is very difficult for me to believe that a chair could have that much more value over another chair that was already $1,400.00. I run a successful publicly traded company and I don't feel I could support paying $2,400.00 for a chair so I reluctantly purchased the Aeron medium sized chair as I am 5'6 180lbs, with the hope that this chair, at this price point, could help with my discomfort.

In keeping with what I have come to expect from Amazon, my chair arrived on time, in perfect condition and as I ordered it. Chair arrived in two pieces and is easily assembled in seconds. I have been in the chair for almost a week and felt an immediate difference. While I will say this chair is truly "as advertised" and has clearly earned its reputation, I still stand by my original assessment that this chair is very expensive and I find it very difficult to believe that the margin on this product needs, what I assume to be, excessively high. The chair however, is a quality made chair that does what it is designed to do so for that I give it high marks but the price is difficult to get past.

In the end, I may bring in an Embody to compare just as a reference but I am leaning towards bringing more Aeron chairs in for the rest of my staff that needs such a chair to address any discomfort they may be contending with. I hope you find my review as helpful as I found the reviews of others.

I have spent countless hours and months browsing for a new chair and have narrowed it down to what I see as the top in this market from the industry titans, Herman Miller and Steelcase. The Aeron, Embody, and Leap are what I and I'm sure many others see as the best of the best. However I eventually came to the conclusion that I wanted the Aeron over the others.
Why? It is the most utilitarian of any other chair. It brings a sleek, modern, industrial design while seamlessly blending both form and function. It also has the best and accessible third party additions such as the Atlas headrest (which I STRONGLY suggest you purchase as well as it is easily the best headrest on the market and incredibly made.) This chair does away with features that are, in my honest opinion not needed on a chair that yourself will use at home such as seat depth and arm width. These are ergonomic features that are great but with the three sizes you can find the perfect sized chair for your height and weight. Think of it like buying a great pair of leather shoes. If they are the correct size, they are the best fitting and most comfortable thing you own. But because of this I once again STRONGLY suggest you find a nearby seller that carries this chair and specifically the remastered edition as the chair has some size differences from its previous model. This will allow you, just like you would try on clothes, to find the right size for you in person. You could always buy this chair directly from HM or a dealer as well but purchasing through amazon is by far the best option as the delivery is so fast. I had the chair withing a few days after ordering. If I ordered through HM themselves, I would potentially have to wait weeks or even a month. You should absolutely be getting all the features on this chair regardless and since the fully kitted model is all they sell on amazon its the best way to go. At this price range you want every possible feature and adjustment they offer.
Now what should you expect if you do go through with this purchase? I will be sincere and brutally honest. It will be uncomfortable. You will most likely experience pain for the first week or two owning this chair. Now I know what you're thinking. Pain? Isn't that what you don't want? Of course but here's the deal. I would easily say 99% of people working from home or have any sort of office space in the homes at all have been sitting in fairly inexpensive chairs without the absolute best knowledge in ergonomics. Most chairs we sit in have regular padded seats or we seek comfort with big cozy armchairs or the classic large executive chair. Yea they are comfortable but they actually lack the right support for our bodies in the long run. For example, it is better we sat in firmer seats that can in turn properly support our pelvis and base of the spine. The classic padded arm chair, executive chair, or basic office chair causes us to sink more into the chair. This doesn't provide the support we need which can lead to back issues. Yes it's comfortable in the moment to veg out but it isn't great for our bodies. We aren't built to sit for extremely long periods of time so we need to have the most support we can get. When I first sat in this chair my butt hurt, it wasn't used to the firmer sit. But gradually over time it went away as my body adjusted and now it is extremely comfortable. I should add that one of the main reasons I was looking for a new chair was to fix the circulation of my legs being cut off from sitting in previous chairs. This fixed that right away.
The back support was also uncomfortable at first and took a bit longer for my body to adjust to but it has gotten much better and fixed issues I wasn't even aware of. I thought my posture wasn't terrible for the most part. I consciously sat up straight and looked for proper support where I needed it. But I was actually doing it wrong. Lumbar support is supposed to be right around or above the belt line, not below it. I , for as long as I can remember was putting the lumbar in the small of my back which of course felt more comfortable but, instead it was pushing my lower spine further inward along with causing more tilt in my pelvis. This is called anterior pelvic tilt and actually it is extremely common in people without them actually knowing it. This chair corrected this issue. Now it wasn't an extreme condition of it, but none the less I can easily see that my posture and pelvic alignment has adjusted to a more neutral position within a few weeks of using it. It corrected an ongoing and potential growing issue that I was doing to myself over years of poor seating in just a couple weeks. I attribute this to the PostureFit SL system that provides both support to the mid-back/actual proper lumbar position as well as support to the sacrum providing proper natural tilt to the pelvis. This is something I truly didn't notice or understand till after I figured out what it was doing.
The only chair I can honestly say that may do the same thing in some way is the Embody as it does provide that full on back support. But I don't thing it necessarily provides it as strongly which I think is what people actually need. The Leap doesn't have any sort of pelvic support as there is a gap between the back of the chair and the seat pan. There really is only the classic height adjustable lumbar support along with depth tension (which the PostureFit does provide). However as I finally figured out, if you don't know how to properly align your lumbar support and only put it where it "feels good", it could do more harm than good over time.
Some things to note, I love the arms on this chair and find them to be the best arms ever made. Yes they are better than the Leap's and by far and away better than the Embody's. I actually think the Embody arms are the worst designed arms of any chair, especially for a chair of that caliber. The seat recline is also something to be experienced as it is unique to Herman Miller chairs and I believe even the Aeron's is even more special.
I can honestly go on about this chair for more but the main take away is that, yes this chair is 100% worth the price just for the build quality and ergonomic prowess this thing brings let alone the massive 12 year warranty that covers everything on the chair. Herman Miller provides some of, if not the best customer service for their chairs in the business.

So I decided to write a review, after I saw some negative reviews here, first of all I don't work for HM nor Amazon and have no association with them.

I used the first Aeron chair about 20 years ago at a job for about 9.5 years, I am big/tall (6'4" / 290lb) and I thought that was one of the most comfortable chair I ever had at a work place, especially for the 40-80 hours / week job as a programmer.

Fast forward today, I've been looking for a home office chair since my $200 office-depot chair I have been using for the past 15+ years has been taking a beating, is missing an armrest, and has got some serious noise issues, but I had kept it since I had got used to it over the years, but it's very uncomfortable since I started working from home.

I looked at many online reviews (wirecutter, reddit and youtube) and narrowed down to the Steelcase Gesture and Leap and HM Aeron and Embody, but since I couldn't find any local dealer to test them, I decided to get/try the Aeron directly from amazon since I know I could trust them.

First of all, I didn't want to assemble the chair and when you buy from amazon directly, it's assembled already and comes with a big box, you just open it up and roll the chair out!

By buying via amazon directly, you also do get peace of mind in terms of warranty from HM (I called them to make sure of that) and the chair was brand new and never used.

So this chair comes with the Posturefit support, the one I used back during my work days was with the lumbar support. I liked the lumbar support quite a bit since I could adjust it up/down, the only downer for that was if you pushed it up too high up, it could fall off and come out, so that was annoying.

The Posturefit on the other hand is fixed and doesn't move up or down (I wish it did, and for that reason I drop 1/2 star), but you can change its support engagement with knobs. I personally pushed them out and I am not using them as they feel a little bit weird on my back. But the basic support is there if you leave them as is.

The other adjustment settings are simple enough to follow via their printed guide or youtube video (which I watched)

As far as the cost, this isn't an inexpensive chair and I am not going to remove stars based on that. It's like removing stars from a fully loaded Audi because it doesn't cost as much as a Volkswagen, or a Ford.

What you get though is a Made in the USA chair, excellent/courteous customer service with very good repair service stories I've read online, and a chair that will last a long time that is definitely good for your posture / health.

Though unfortunately I'd have to drop another 1/2 star, that even though this is a V2 remastered version of the original chair I had, they did not make it with a headrest which would have been totally amazing for this chair, and I actually had to buy one separately (I chose an Atlas headrest) to go with this. I wish HM had actually gone this way, since having a headrest by default would have made this chair totally perfect!

Still this is an amazing buy for such a chair and I would totally recommend it. Though if you have never sat on one, it's probably best to find a local dealer to try it first.

Having sat in a variety of "cheap" chairs during this pandemic for a home office, the biggest issue I faced was lower back pain. Both my work and my hobbies are at home on the same desk so overall sitting time could be upwards of 16 hours on extreme cases for example. This type of lifestyle usually destroys your back if you aren't sitting in a good chair; and it did for me. I couldn't wake up and sit on the chair right away without feeling uncomfortable on my lower back.

Lo and behold, I did a round of both work and gaming, which is about 16 hours; went to sleep, and was able to sit on it comfortably after waking up with surprisingly NO back pain at all. The mesh seating, while it might look cheap, relieves a lot of pressure from your tailbone. Combine that with the lumbar support, which makes sure your lower back isn't being overused as well, absolutely saves your back.

The only thing I can complain about is that the carbon edition I purchased didn't look as clean and polished as I hoped. The plastic parts looked a bit smudgy when received it. The chair was also covered with dust and other very small materials that made it look "cheap" when I opened it the first time. So you'll definitely want to expect it looking a bit scuffed when you receive it. After a round of cleaning it does actually look decent, I'll admit.

Lastly, if you're on carpet, getting the wheels to move on the chair is a bit of a pain. So you'll probably want to invest $25 to buy herman miller carpet casters and replace the wheels.

Closing notes: Objectively it does what it's supposed to - help with my back pain. The assembly was super minimal and it was able to withstand a 16 hour session with no problems. I have no choice but to give it a 5/5 for my standards. Not having back pain is godsend.

Very comfortable , several adjustable features for the right fit. Good build quality. Lean forward feature excellent to relieve stress on back.