Buying that perfect chair to get rid of back pain is not easy
Comfortable seating is a very important factor in our everyday life, especially for people like me who sit for long hours. We spend almost 8-10 hours at minimum ( which may even extend to few more hours) on this and finding that perfect chair is not an easy task.
After visiting several stores, I bought this Featherlite Optima High Back Mesh Chair in 2017 at a cost of INR 28000/-.
Back then, it was no less amount, but then this was the best that I could find then and I did not want to compromise. It has not disappointed me till date and everything is fine except the fact that, it's height is lesser than what I should have. I am having interim lower back pain since more than a year and as you know, exercise is a must to have daily routine for me. But even after that, the back pain would not go entirely and after doing several investigations and consultations with doctors, I thought, the height of the chair could be the issue. Based on my height, I needed a chair with a little more height - 2-3 inches more - this was having a maximum height of 20 inch then. It may appear to be a small correction, but when it comes to our spine, this has a big difference and impact. Back then, this was having max height, but we have got better choices now. And the nice thing now is that you can explore lot of possibilities online, without going anywhere. Since this was my favorite, the very first option was to look at the same brand - Optima High Back Mesh Chair. The price in fact is lesser now and even you get more discounts on other sites like flipkart. But then our hero (my son) advised me to explore some other options before taking a decision. There is a saying in my native language - ବଡ ଥିଲେ ପଚାରି, ସାନ ଥିଲେ ବିଚାରି। which means, we should seek opinions of elders and consider opinions of younger people. So I explored more options online and then this Green Soul Zodiac Pro High Back Mesh Office Chair appeared reasonable to me based on my several days of investigation. The other choice was Stylux Ergo SmartGRID Chair from The Sleep Company, but then I was not convinced about the max height from their spec and contacted them. They kept on pushing me to buy the product saying, the height of their chair ( 20 inch) should be good enough for me, but then there was no point to buy, as I already have a better chair with same height. I must say, they have a very niche marketing strategy - to make you feel like you must buy their product. In fact most companies do, but that is not the case with Featherlite.
So after considering several factors, I decided to go ahead with the Green Soul Zodiac Pro High Back Mesh Office Chair. Since my main concern was height, so buying this one at almost half the price of Featherlite Optima High Back Mesh Chair felt like a reasonable decision. And I decided to buy it from the company site itself. Pepperfry site did tempt me for quite some time with their discounts / EMIs, but then I realized Greensoul does have no cost EMI , so better to go with it.
One other very important learning from my experience that I must share - These chairs are replaceable only if there is any manufacturing defect - that too within a short period like 7 days. So if you are not happy with your chair, then there is nothing you can do, if it does not have any defect. When I had conversation with people from Sleep Company, they did give a nice suggestion - look in other sites like Amazon or Flipkart if there is any return policy. So do your own research before putting the money. They come with a warranty of 3 years, but there is no place where you exactly get what is covered and what is not. And from my experience, they will definitely go fine beyond 3 years.
These chairs come semi assembled and does not take a lot of time to put up as a whole. It came with instructions manual and two Allenkey ( a big and a small) - all you need is another person to help you and a wooden stool - to make it easy. You can still fit without these, but it will be a bit difficult.
And see whom I got as my assistant !! In fact he did everything, and I was assistant.
As you can see, putting those pieces on their place and then tightening the screws with the given Allen Key is not a big task, but having that wooden stool will ease it a lot. We were able to put it in half an hour in a relaxed way, though they say, it should ideally take 20 minutes. I did not understand why they had that plastic cover on the back side of the seat tightened with that fitting underneath - we had to cut it leaving those small pieces.
And then getting the base ready and putting the chair on top of it is quite straight.
Finally this is how it looks - almost exact to what they show on their site. I have been using this for more than 20 days and here is my feedback :
Based on price, the product appears to be a little over average, but I do not feel it to be of premium quality. The armrest is not very good and shakes a bit. The upholstery, sitting and back rest is comfortable, you have to pull the control handle for tilting. But the build quality is average - again missing the premium feel. Overall, it's a affordable budget chair but I still feel if you are looking for premium experience then go for Featherlite Optima or anything similar, if you are fine with the budget.
Green Soul wanted me to share a feedback and this post will be part of my feedback. Hopefully they will publish this transparent review and I am sure, this will help lot of other people to benefit from this review. I was waiting for few days of usage to write the review. And before I wind up I must say that my back pain has actually reduced - so that height was the key. And don't forget to take breaks every hour - that is a must for any sitting job.
A post for #MarketFriday initiative by @dswigle
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