Varier Move Tilting Saddle Stool, Height Adjustable Gaslift, Perfect for Any Height Adjustable Des, 10-Year Limited Warranty, Designed by Per Øye, Red/Black

I use the Varier Move to sit at standing desk or kitchen counter (which are higher than a normal desk). I alternate between the Move chair and standing or walking or sitting on a desk chair or couch. I’ve found it effective for preventing soreness or stiffness from sitting in one position too long.I found the chair very comfortable when used on a carpet or padded surface but not on a hard surface. I thought the construction and finish were very good and the price reasonable, though not inexpensive.To get the full benefits from the chair, I needed to train myself to remember to tilt the chair frequently and become used to the tilting so that it doesn’t distract me from my work. I find the chair very useful as an option to vary my working position but don’t think I could use it all day as my only way of sitting.At 13.4 pounds, the Varier Move is heavy enough to feel solid in use but light enough to move easily if you want to use it at multiple locations in your home. (They also make a lighter version for easier portability, but it’s more expensive.)The chair has a surprisingly simple design. It has a slightly curved (concave up) wooden base with a rubber pad to prevent the chair from slipping and to provide a bit of cushioning. The base has a metal receptacle that you stick a hydraulic tube into. The seat has a receptacle that you put the other end of the hydraulic tube into. You don’t need to screw or lock the tube into place—gravity does the work.The seat is shaped like a triangle with rounded corners and slopes down at the center. You sit in the center and one of the three ends goes forward between your legs, like a saddle. It keeps you in place when you tilt and I find it pretty comfortable. The chair has medium-firm padding, which I find just about right.You can easily adjust the height by pulling up on a paddle lever and then raising or lowering the chair with your legs. The height is adjustable from 22” to over 31” inches, which is a huge range. The hydraulic lifting mechanism is smooth and powerful. I tried pushing the adjustment lever when I wasn’t sitting on the chair and the tube shot up and hurt my wrist (it recovered in a few days), so be careful.I had a small issue with the rubber pad on the base. The seller and manufacturer were extremely responsive and worked together to resolve the problem. So customer support is good. You can also chat live with the manufacturer if you have any pre- or post-sale questions about the chair.I chose the light-colored natural wood base. They also have a black base, but the price could be considerably higher.Here are a few general observations about ergonomic sitting and how the Varier Move chair might fit into your workday.The desk chair with back and arm support is the standard for sitting at a desk for a reason: for most people, it’s the most comfortable form of support for sitting at a desk for long periods. Part of the reason is that it distributes the load through multiple points of contact with the body: feet, thighs, arms and, if you can lean backwards, back.Some people, especially those with back problems, may have difficulty using a desk chair for extended periods. In addition, substantial evidence has emerged showing that prolonged sitting has negative health effects, though the reason for this is not completely understood.To alleviate discomfort and health risks from sitting for long periods, and to create new products to sell, manufacturers have come up with alternatives to sitting at a desk on a desk chair. These alternatives fall into several categories. One is the standing desk, which may include a pad to cushion your feet or an under-desk treadmill so that you’re not constantly standing in the same posture. Some alternatives allow you to increase the angle between your hips and back by sitting higher; these include saddle chairs and kneeling chairs and the Varier Move chair. Others allow you to vary your position by rocking or rotating while sitting; these include the Varier Move chair and exercise balls. If you work from home and don’t need to be at a desk, you can use an easy chair or couch or even a bed to take some of the pressure off your spine.All of these desk-chair alternatives have disadvantages and, for most people, are not a comfortable alternative for all-day use. Even the manufacturers of desk-chair alternatives have begun to subtly acknowledge, in order to manage customer expectations and avoid returns and dissatisfied customers, that their products may not work as a desk-chair substitute for everyone. For example, the product description for the Varier Move says: “You can use it as your primary work chair or as an addition to your traditional office chair for added variation, as it’s perfect for any height adjustable desk.” Translation: if you can’t use it all day as a desk-chair substitute, it still has value by adding variation to your work posture.Specific health issues with desk-chair alternatives include reduced blood flow (due to pressure or position); discomfort in the hips, knees, or back; varicose veins; and even accidents (from falling off an exercise ball or treadmill). If you use a desk-chair alternative all day, you may be substituting a new set of problems for whatever problems your desk chair was causing.The Varier Move is one option to supplement your desk chair (or whatever else you use) and vary your work posture. The two specific advantages of the Varier Move are that it can tilt in all directions and that it can be raised pretty high. Tilting has a few potential advantages if you tilt frequently. It forces you to move your ankles, knees, hips, spine, and neck, which may help lubricate your joints. It also varies your sitting angle, which varies the load on your spine and joints. Raising the chair height decreases the load on your spine by increasing the load on your legs and hips.One disadvantage of chairs like the Varier move is that they lack back and arm support, so your arms and back don’t provide support while you sit.I use the Varier Move either for sitting at a standing desk (at least 5” higher than normal desk height) or at a kitchen counter. I force myself to tilt regularly, mostly side to side. I found the chair uncomfortably hard when used on a ceramic tile floor (my hips quickly became sore) and I was about to return it. But when I used it on a fairly thick carpet, it felt much more comfortable. I bought a small 2’ x 3’ carpet to put under it when using it at a kitchen counter. (I asked Varier about this and they said that other customers had also commented that they found the chair more comfortable on carpets.)When I’m working from home, I try to vary my posture by sitting on a couch, a standard chair, or a Varier chair at a high position at a standing desk or kitchen counter and by standing and walking. Sometimes I use an interval timer like the GymBoss to remind me to change position.This is not a perfect solution, but it makes working for long periods tolerable. I don’t have serious back issues but do get different types of discomfort if I sit in one position for too long.Update: After almost a year of off-again, on-again use I have finally fully integrated the chair into my daily routine. The impetus was to reduce sitting time, which poses metabolic and other health risks. I bought a Fibion device (a relatively inexpensive research and coaching device that you carry in your pocket and has an accelerometer positioned to distinguish between standing and sitting, which most devices can't do (they can only distinguish sitting from movements like walking). I wanted to reduce my sitting time to under 4.5 hours, which seems to be a widely-used benchmark but isn't easy to reach if you do a lot of reading and writing.What I do is position the chair so that my legs are only slightly bent when sitting on it (which I think is how it's designed to be used). This allows me to quickly switch from sitting to standing to rocking on the chair, sometimes several times a minute, without breaking my concentration or interrupting whatever I'm doing. It's not a complete solution, I still feel a need to walk around frequently and to occasionally relax on a couch, but it's an important part of the solution.One other comment on my set-up: I use the chair on the far side of the kitchen countertop facing the sink (where people usually put bar stools) with the chair on a small 2' x 3' rug with two layers of padding under it. I found the rug and padding crucial because sitting on the chair on a tile floor was very uncomfortable for my hip and back.To complete the set-up I use an iPad Pro with a Epomaker TH80 Pro keyboard with Gateron Pro Red keys raised on two cork yoga blocks with an Ilano stand on top of it to get the iPad just below eye level. The Gateron Pro Red keys are low force and the TH80 Pro (bought on sale but there's a newer v2 version) is hot-swappable so you can install even lower-force keys or low-travel keys if you want. Keychron keyboards are also very good. A desk riser would work fine but they're much bigger and overkill for an iPad or smaller Mac, which I also use the set-up for.

It seems well made, and looks good, BUT I can't sit for more than 10 minutes as my legs go numb from the pressure of the seat. I end up standing mostly, sitting back for a sec, standing again. I was hoping for something I could sit on in a high position, somewhere between standing and sitting in a regular chair. My legs get tired standing and working for extended periods of time. I just ordered a different chair. I wish I had kept the packaging and returned it. Too expensive for how uncomfortable the seat is.

I have an adjustable desk and wanted to work more in the standing position, but I have a habit of locking my knees if I stand for awhile. This unconscious habit led to leg cramps and other discomforts. With the Varier stool, I'm comfortable in both the sitting and the "leaning-forward-semi-standing" position. When I am in the semi-standing position, I can plant my feet, relax my knees, and shift most of my bodyweight from my seat and to my legs without any discomfort. Best news is that my back and shoulder posture is vastly improved. I will add that for the first several days of usage, I felt a bit like I had been horseback riding all day. It's much better now.

I bought this to use with my keyboard so I could mostly stand up while singing. It was fairly comfortable for this but the saddle part would get old after a lot of sitting IMO.What it works fabulously for, however, is chair aerobics.I'm awaiting total knee replacement for both limbs and it's going to be a year before they're both done.In the interim, I simply can't get meaningful exercise any way except with what is known as 'chair aerobics' which is just what it sounds like. You sit upright in a chair and use your arms and legs to get your circulation going.And here's where this stool comes in. With a regular chair, even one without arms or a stool, you can't really move your torso around very much because the chair is fixed. But with the Varier, I have full range of motion because it tilts on an axios so I can twist, go forward or backward or sideways. Just a whole lot of variety of movement is possible. It's almost as good as low impact dancing in place for 30 minutes in terms of the flexibility it gives you.I think the stool is overpriced, frankly. Although it IS very well built and easy to put together. But I'd buy it again at the same price or higher as I've found it absolutely invaluable in helping me keep in decent shape despite my knee problems.Hope this helps a couple people at least that are in the same predicament and have the moolah to spring for this puppy.

Love these stools. Built like a tank! I’ve since ordered 3 more 👍🏻

Amazing chair and amazing service from Furniture For Life. Both are 5 stars!In terms of the chair, I love it! It keeps me very mindful of my sitting posture while working at my desk, which I do for many hours every day. I move and stretch in different ways to open up my hips and stretch my back and leg muscles. I switch back and forth from the seated and standing positions which is something that makes this chair better than any other I’ve ever owned. It will take some getting used to. My tail end was sore after the first day of use but only for a day or so and it can take some effort to keep your back straight but I’m pretty sure that’s the point and it gets easier the more you use the chair. I can already feel an improvement in my lower back and hip stiffness.In terms of the seller’s service, Amazon shipped the wrong color chair from their warehouse but the seller fixed it immediately! Excellent communication and even a follow up later to make sure everything was as it should be. I would recommend buying from them without hesitation.