tldr; Minimal adjustments on purpose - auto-adjusts to you. Weight-sensitive recline. Love it or hate it approach.
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Best praise vs top criticism for Humanscale Liberty
“During the pandemic, a lot of people had to work from home and found their dinning room chair was not cutting it for hours on Zoom meetings, etc. However, they did remember that they could sit for hours at the office and starting looking for those exact chairs to use in the home. This is how the subreddit started. I had to hold 6 hour long Zoom meetings and I starting buying used office chairs from a local reseller. I have had almost every high-end chair available - Celle, Leap V1 and V2, Freedom, Liberty, Aeron, Think, Sayl, etc. Today, I probably know more about office chairs than most. I even designed a 3D printed spacer to add the Lorell Mesh Headrest to my wonderful Leap V1 high-back and make a little coin from selling it on eBay. It made a great chair the perfect chair for me and a lot of others too.”
“No, a more expensive chair is not necessarily better. There are some things that are objectively better on high end chairs from companies like SC, HM, Haworth, which is the build quality, warranties, track record, etc... But comfort and ergonomics are always somewhat subjective. The chair I have seen the most widespread positive feedback to is the Steelcase Amia, which would be considered a mid-tier chair in their lineup if you went off price. Showrooms are great, but ideally go to a reseller. Authorized dealers can only show one brand at a time typically, but resellers can show many brands in one place. Try out lots, and while yes you are correct that chairs take a few weeks, don't go out of your way to try something that didn't suit you. **Also make sure that when you sit in the chairs that you take the time to adjust the settings to you, otherwise the test is moot.** To respond to your questions. \- If you ever fold a leg over, mesh seats can be very hit or miss. But there are some with flexible mesh seats like the steelcase karman, or herman miller mirra 2. \- Movement is good, go for one that supports it. ie, Leap over Gesture, Fern/Zody over Very, etc.. some frames are more stiff, some flex. \- No issue with cushions then. \- If you don't know mesh, might be safe to avoid it primarily as a seat. \- Armrests will be mostly good on all these brands, you can always put padding over top but you can't change how the armrests move relative to the recline. It's hard to see but on some chairs like many HM chairs the armrests tilt with you, and away from the desk. Comfortable for sitting, but maybe not for working. Contrasted to many Steelcase chairs they will stay flat and stationary, less comfortable for rocking and moving, but better for working. [https://youtu.be/DWSLora5jOU?t=32](https://youtu.be/DWSLora5jOU?t=32) [https://youtu.be/ebNvWlg-hb4?t=56](https://youtu.be/ebNvWlg-hb4?t=56) Also here is the list, I'd recommend looking at Okamura, Interstuhl and HON as I believe they are easy to source in the EU. Steelcase - Gesture, LeapV2, Amia, Think, Series 2, Series 1 Herman Miller - Aeron, Embody, Mirra 2, Sayl, Cosm, Lino Haworth - Fern, Zody, Zody 2, Breck, Very, Soji, Humanscale - Freedom, Liberty, Diffrient Smart, Diffrient World Knoll - Generation, Regeneration, Life, Remix Okamura - Contessa 2, Baron, Obilis, Sylphy Interstuhl - Silver, Pure, Joyce Allsteel - Acuity, Sum (imitation Leap), Evo, Lyric HON - Ingition 2.0, Solve, Nucleus, Hive Ikea - Jvarfjillet, Markus, Matchspel Staples - Ayalon, Dexley, Hyken HAG - Capisco SitOnIt - Wit”
142 Reddit opinions analyzed • Last updated 2/24/2026