Autonomous ErgoChair 2 completes my home office setup

Since the pandemic started, I shifted to complete work from home (WFH) status. Thankfully, as a freelancer I had a pretty good home office setup, complete with a dedicated room to work, and a standing desk. I’ve added some desk accessories along the way and even a new 4K monitor. I was lacking an office chair and Autonomous was nice enough to send one over for review, at no cost to me, as a way to complete my setup. The ErgoChair 2 has all the bells and whistles you can possibly want in a desk chair at this price point.

Autonomous ErgoChair 2 Review

Setting up the chair was a breeze. Honestly, figuring out how to spring it from the carefully packed box was more complicated than putting the chair together. You may need to have some help getting the box to your location of choice, given the total package weighs in excess of 60 pounds. The chair, however, is very light by itself.

Once you free it from the box, just fire up the assembly video on the Autonomous YouTube page. Thanks to the video, I was able to assemble the chair in less than 20 minutes between two meetings.

Let’s get the short list out of the way. There are a lot of benefits for the, ErgoChair 2 and only a few drawbacks:

Pros

  • Loads of features
  • Lots of positioning abilities
  • Arm rests articulate
  • Comfortable seat and back support
  • Lumbar suport
  • Head rest (hear me out!)

Cons

  • The arm rests move too easily front/bank and side-to-side
  • Wheels do not roll well on medium pile carpet
  • The seat cushion is like 2-3″ shorter than I prefer
  • Its a bit pricey, but not crazy for the functionality
  • Cost?

After getting everything assembled, there are so many things the chair can do, you will want to use the features and adjustment video to get everything setup to your preferences. This features video is also a great way to get a look at all of the features of the ErgoChair 2. This is where you can start to understand the price point of this ergonomic chair.

Naturally, the seat has a hydraulic height adjustment. It has a range that works well with my height and desk. The seat depth adjuster is one of my favorite features. I really like to have my seat as far forward as possible. I find this lets me get as far into the chair as possible and moves the cushion as close to the backs of my knees as possible.

The chair tilt feature is a take-it-or-leave-it option for me personally. I know there are a lot of ergonomic opinions out there that encourage a forward sitting chair stance. If so, maybe this is the best ergonomic office chair for you, since it includes this feature. I have mine at the level setting, which does still feel like it leans forward every so slightly.

Lumbar support is awesome. One of the reasons I was looking for an office chair was back pain. I kept a bar stool at my standing desk, which I crutched on a little too much over the last 11 months. My lower back was killing me when I got the ErgoChair 2 in the mail and after about a week of sitting in a proper office chair, my back feels much better. I think a lot of this is attributed to a very firm lumbar support on the ErgoChair 2. It really pushes into your lower back, if you have that setting in place. Now, the variation of the pressure on the lumbar support switch is very minimal. In fact, I can barely tell much of a difference if it is on or off. But, it is nice and stiff and really helps my back as a result. You can also raise and lower the lumbar cushion to match your back.

Back tilt tension is a really nice feature that you will not find on a budget office chair. The tension setting adjusts how hard you need to push into the back rest to get it to move. Similarly, you can also lock the backrest in three different positions. The tension support is more geared to an unlocked position. If you back off the tension completely, it is very easy to lean back in the chair, almost to the point where I felt like it wasn’t holding me in place at all. When torqued all the way down, there is a noticeable difference in staying-power, and will hold my weight in place without reclining, even if the chair is not locked upright.

The head rest unit slides up and down as a whole unit and the rest itself even pivots up and down. The rounded cushion works extremely well to support your head, even when sitting upright, which I wasn’t expecting. If you are reclined all the way back, tilting the cushion into the higher setting was great for keeping my head in place, when watching a show on my monitor. Sidebar, I actually came to my office several times over the last two weeks, even after hours, to sit in the chair and watch shows. I spent a lot of time with my head on the adjustable headrest and it’s a game changer. I’ve never owned an office chair with an adjustable headrest.

Adjustable arm rests are a make or break for me in a nice office chair. These pivot up and down. I found the range to be adequate. They also slide forward, back, and side-to-side. I really like that type of customizability and helps me comfortably use the keyboard and mouse. However, the sliding mechanism is not very rigid. I found that when adjusting myself in the seat, I put my hands on the rests and they move too easily. I would prefer if these sliding mechanisms locked the arm rests in place, similar to the height adjustment setting. It is not frustrating, but it is inconvenient.

Conclusion

Before you accuse me of an overly positive review, keep in mind that I tend to only accept reviews for products I am prone to enjoy! As a freelance writer, why would I spend my time reviewing a product that already seems lame on the website? So, yes, I was already interested in the chair, when the review connection was made, but after two weeks in the chair, it proved its value. If you don’t want to take my word for it, check out the reviews on their product page and know they have corporate customers including heavy hitters like: Salesforce; Adobe, Tesla, GE, Amazon, and Oracle.

I can say, I’ve never just come into my office to watch a show. As I mentioned, my back was really killing me when I got this in the mail and even sitting on the couch hurt because it causes me to slouch in place. Instead of sitting on the couch, I came to the respite of the, obviously named, ergonomic chair, ErgoChair 2. By the way, they have other ergonomic chair options, both more and less expensive.

No joke. Sounds crazy to prefer coming to my office chair to hunker down and watch The Expanse (5/5 as far as SciFi shows go by the way), but it is a truly comfortable experience. I set the chair to lock in place all the way back, set the headrest in the upright position and threw my feet up on my desk. I almost fell asleep in it. That’s a solid recommendation in my mind. But, it also keeps me upright and engaged while working, which is important too.

When I’m not trying to catch up on the Protomolecule, working in the chair has been great as well. Most of my day is spent across video calls and email. The large headrest got a few chuckles from my colleagues. It does look a bit ‘extra,’ but their loss, because I’m comfortable.

Again, to give context, I’ve been standing or leaning against a bar stool for almost a full year. You could argue that a folding metal chair would receive praise at that point. But genuinely, the ErgoChair 2 is a solid piece of kit. As far as pricing goes, this is the first office chair review I’ve ever completed, so I don’t have a lot of comparison material, but I do know that even basic office chairs at general box stores will run you $100, upwards of $200. While $399 is double that kind of investment, there is a laundry list of features in the ErgoChair 2. If you are looking for comfortability along with a lot of adjustable features, you are going to feel good sitting in this one.

Discount exclusive to iDB readers

Thanks to our contact at Autonomous, we are excited to offer our readers an 8% discount on your purchase of an ErgoChair 2. You can order an ErgoChair 2 in black, gray, black and white, evergreen, red apple, or baby blue. At checkout use promo code 26IDOWNLOAD.