Humanscale’s Freedom Chair or Herman Miller’s Aeron Chair?

2 Comments

1. Christopher

   That’s a really good question, both the Freedom and the Aeron are high quality office chairs and are likely to give you years of excellent service.

   You’ll probably find the best thing to do is to actually try out each chair and see which you prefer. So, I’d try and find a local dealer for each and see if you can try them out.

   I would also suggest looking at some of the better HÅG chairs as they too make quality stylish chairs. Take look at my article about their philosophy
   You’ll find a review of their H04 model here.

   Hope that helps.
   Duncan M

2. Hi Christopher,

   It’s funny you bring this up. I am actually a consultant over in the New York City Humanscale office. We sit in the Freedom chairs all day during work. Without being biased, I will give you my expert opinion in regards to both office chairs.

   There is generally a lot of confusion regarding how to evaluate an office chair. It cannot be judged based on just a few minutes, which is why we stress for people to come in, just as the last person replied, and test them out in person. If you are located in the New York or Tri-State area I definitely recommend coming to one of our showrooms.

   Now, to compare the two:

   First, the Aeron is mostly an iconic chair. The technology is a bit out-dated when it comes to seating. There are knobs and levers which can be somewhat confusing for the user, and it does not have the same comfort, as well as new-age look that you seem to be looking for, as you say you sit in your chair throughout most of the day.

   The huge advantage of the Freedom is that it eliminates knobs, levers, and manual adjustments. Most of the time the user doesn’t have it adjusted correctly for two reasons.
   A: They don’t have time to make the adjustments and
   B: They don’t even know what the adjustments are for

   The Freedom has 3 one-time settings designed custom to fit to you. It boasts a self-reclining mechanism, meaning it enables the user to recline & sit up straight, all the while moving with the user’s body weight.

   Another beneficial feature is it’s arm support. As you change tasks, the ideal position for arm support changes dramatically. For example, when keyboarding, your armrests should be out of the way. When on the telephone, your armrests should be in a high position. Not only do Freedom’s armrests adjust effortlessly to encourage frequent positional changes, but they do it together, synchronously, which cannot be said for any of the other competing office chairs.

   After it’s all said and done, however, I suggest you come down and try it out in person, and you can see for yourself how each chair feels, as well as looks aesthetically.

   Feel free to call me anytime over at my office.

   My name is Mike and my phone # here is

   1-212-725-4749 Ext 147

   Take care and good luck!

   Mike