B00KY055GU

This is an amended review. In the one I wrote earlier today, I was critical of the way in which the seat pitched me forward.Within minutes of that review going live, however, the vendor rang me. In the course of our discussions, it emerged that I had attached the mechanism to the bottom of the chair incorrectly. It turns out that it makes a difference which way it goes. There is a front and a back to it. The handle should be on the right side of the chair. If you look closely at the plate on the front part of the mechanism, the word "front" is engraved on it. This critical information is not made clear in the instructions - a fact that I pointed out to the vendor.It's important that you assemble this part correctly for two reasons. One is that you will find yourself leaning forward unnaturally if you don't and second, because of the challenge you'll face trying to balance the chair upside down while you take the screws out, rotate the bottom with the wheels still attached, and then screw it back together. I rested part of the seat on a table to do it, but it would have been so much simpler if I'd done it properly to begin with.Now that it's put together the way it's supposed to be, it's easy to sit up straight. What was a propensity to lean forward has now become an inclination to sit back. This places the lumbar support exactly where it should be. An added bonus is that you can rock a little bit, too, which enables you to comfortably change your position from time to time.The fake leather is well made, but there is much less padding in the seat than I expected. It also doesn't breathe. If you wear polyester trousers, then you can expect to perspire a bit. I've found that by putting a cushion on the seat that sitting is much more comfortable than it is without it (https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00OA9ZKOI/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1).The vendor and I talked about this, too. I mentioned that something like a woven bamboo car seat, like one I'd seen as a child, would probably do the trick. Even while we were on the phone, he searched through various products on Amazon to see if such a thing was available. He made a couple of suggestions which I will evaluate later.The chair arrived a day earlier than expected, which was a bonus, and it only took about 45 minutes to assemble. For me, that's nothing short of a miracle, even if I didn't do it quite right.The instructions were fairly clear, apart from the positioning of the mechanism, though a cursory knowledge of what office chairs look like underneath helped with the assembly of the three black cones. The easiest way to put these together is to start with the biggest one, then put the next biggest on into it from the bottom, and then insert the smallest one. If you look closely at the two smaller ones, you'll see a lip that goes around the bottom. This is what keeps them from coming apart.The finish was slightly damaged when I unpacked it from the box. Personally, it doesn't matter. I bought it to sit on; not to display in a show home.I'm grateful to the vendor for taking the time to phone - on a Saturday morning and the day before Christmas - to help me alleviate what I thought would be a permanent problem. I'd be surprised if there were that many companies that would bother.

Considered this chair for a week or two before the price dropped at the end of November, which persuaded me to take a chance on it. As many of the other reviews mention, it is a well designed chair, with good lumbar support and is a good comfortable seat for many hours of use. It would be reasonably good value for over £100, so at under £80 it is great value.Assembling the chair is not as hard as I feared and took about 30 mins. One tip I would offer, for this or any similar chair, when fixing the first screw to the seat or back through the armrest don't tighten the screw all the way in. Leaving the screws fairly loose until all the screws are in place means that it is easier to see where to locate the other screw holes and then tighten all the screws evenly so that the back and seat end up in the correct position. Also, fix the lift arm mechanism to the base of the seat correctly by looking at the photos here (the large adjuster for tilt goes towards the front) - the instructions and arrow on the base of the seat were a bit vague on that, but otherwise were helpful. The gas lift easily slotted into position and works well.The only slight disappointment was that the gas lift for the seat only raises it to 52cm from the floor (not the 57cm in the description) unless you use the tilt to add a little more height to the front edge, but that doesn't raise the back of the seat. At 6ft tall this chair is just right for me, but I can't be sure that it would suit anyone taller than 6ft who knows that they need extra height to their seat to be comfortable. Having looked at a lot of chairs before buying this one I found not many that even offered 52cm height from the floor in the description.Overall this is a well designed and comfortable chair, with sufficient height to allow most users to find a comfortable position and height. The seat is broader and deeper than average and the style and colours look modern and stylish in the home or office.UPDATE 2016One year on I suddenly had a flare up of an old low back problem. In investigating likely causes and solutions I discovered replacement gas lifts. As I mentioned before I had really wanted 56-57cm seat height and that was not possible with the gas lift supplied. However, I have now replaced the gas lift on this chair with this one - Hartleys Replacement Chair Gas Lift Piston - Choice of Size & Colour (the 9" version, replacing a 7" original). The result is a total additional fully extended height of 7-8cm and I am now able to use the chair at the height I personally need. I still regard my 5 star rating for this chair as correct, as it is difficult to find any chair, even ones costing more than £300, which are actually any higher than 52cm from the floor. It has also worn very well over the year, despite constant daily use of 8-10 hours. See my review of the Hartley's Replacement Gas Lift for more details on how to make use of that product.