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Pain at work: A good chair can help relieve tension
Photo: South_agency / Getty Images
The tendency to work from home continues. According to the Ifo Institute, 25 percent of all German employees worked at least part of the time from home in August 2023. It is to be hoped that these people will no longer sit at the kitchen table, as they did in the early days of the corona pandemic, but will have got themselves a desk and an office chair. Many of them could still sit poorly. At least that's what a current test by Stiftung Warentest suggests.
The experts tested nine office chairs for issue 2/2024 of the magazine “test”. The testers gave only one of them, the
Home Worx Office 95
from Höffner, which costs 400 euros
, an overall rating of “good”. But even with this model you have to make compromises in terms of comfort and handling. The test report says that the thin padding is a problem: “If you sit on it, you can feel the substructure.”
You should pay attention to this
It is fundamentally important to sit on a chair that is both comfortable and can be individually adjusted. The experts recommend using chairs with adjustable lumbar support. These bulges in the lower part of the backrest support the natural S-shape of the spine and thus ensure a healthy posture. However, they are not built into all chairs and, if they are, they are not always easily adjustable.
Before buying, you should also check what seat height and depth the selected model offers. On the current test winner from Höffner, even in the highest position, you sit only 50 centimeters above the ground, according to the testers. They say: "This could be too low for tall people." Another model, however, only starts at just under 46 centimeters, which could be too high for some people.
Choosing the right roles for your home workplace is just as important. If you want to place the chair on carpet or carpeting, you should use hard castors. Soft casters are more suitable for hard floors and are less likely to scratch the floor. If the right rollers are not included when purchasing, you can usually exchange them for the ones you want, which you should do as soon as possible.
Some gas out, others break
It's unfortunate: None of the chairs in the current test achieved a rating of "adequate" when it came to handling. Some of the tested models tipped over during the safety test, while others lacked the GS and RAL test marks. In one model, the testers still found outgassing of formaldehyde after 28 days, although the measured value was below the legal limit. The armrests of several models broke or bent during the long-term test, others were designed in such a way that the testers feared that they could "get their fingers badly pinched" when adjusting the settings.
Due to the uninspiring results of the current test, Stiftung Warentest refers to previously tested office chairs that were rated better than the models now tested - and are still available. Your price tip is the
Nowyl Styl Navigo
, whose price the testers put at 289 euros. With an overall grade of 2.2, he performed better in the last test than the current test winner, who received a grade of 2.5. Even better, but also more expensive with an average street price of 355 euros, is the 2021 test winner, the
Dauphin to strike comfort pro sk 9248
, which was given an overall grade of 2.0.
You can find more information on the topic and the complete test results at Stiftung Warentest.
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