Well, the cheap old chair is dying fast. I really want to spend a few hundred dollars on something that will sit well and last for quite a few years. Just some lines about brands you hated or liked would be a big help. Or even a link to a decent online review collection--I can't seem to find anything substantial in that area, just spot-pieces and catalog chatter.

My friends and I just don't shop much. Any help would be much appreciated.

If your looking for a nice chair the Aeron is one of the best. I have 2 my self one at home and one at work. I also have a Mirra which is the slightly cheeper version of the Aeron. Its nice and I bet if you do some looking around you can find the Aeron or the Mirra for a good price. On a side note if you are looking at geting one of these be carfull they come in all diffrent sizes. Size A,B,C,D,E,F I beleave A is the smallest and F is the Largets. There are allso ones that extend a lot higher like bar stoll size so just pay attention to the dimentions if buying online.

http://www.hermanmiller.com/CDA/SSA/Product/1,1592,a10-c440-p205,00.html

Thank God I use my air conditioning, I don't like sitting in those meshed back chairs.  I'll take this cheap back supporting leather chair with the adjustable hight.

There was an article on Coding Horror back in July about office chairs. There was a lot of good recommendations in the comments.

I bought a herman miller aeron chair for my office.  Best money I ever spent.  Yes, they are expensive, but I have had the chair for 3.5 years now, used 6 days a week, approx. 8-10 hrs per day.  No problems, ever. 

I would never work in an office without one.

Just my input.

Thanks much for the link--that's a much more helpful piece than the ones I checked on round 1 of my hunt.

So, the only personal Aeron hits here are endorsements, and the Coding Horror writer is really happy with his newer-model Herman Miller Mirra. That piece also sold me on my conviction that I needed to think "amortized cost" and "how much are you in the dratted thing?" when I balk at spending more on a chair than I have so far on any single piece of my home entertainmaint gear (older PCs excluded).

I'm surprised to find that my humble county actually has a local Aeron dealer (who also carry a few other brands) and they have a modest showroom, so I can both test-sit a bit and maybe do my spending locally. It also turns out that there's an even newer Herman Miller flavor coming out in the first week of December, if anyone reading around here is also near a serious computing chair purchase.

You can try and hagle them on the price too. I got my Aeron's for I think it was $500 but I live like 2 miles from there Herman Miller Corp. Office. So I just go to there store and they have a lot of used/little scrach discount stuff. Its rediculas how much they take off for a little scrach about 1/4 inch long that is on the underside of the chair. I also have done contracted work for them. I tell you what they have to have some of the coolest offices.

I just wanted to type another thanks for the replies, this time from my sweet new Aeron. I did indeed save some money with a bit of haggling, although I couldn't get them down as low as Twistedpimp. Gainesville, FL, is a long way from Zeeland, MI.

My crappy old task chair actually died of metal fatigue about 48 hours after I finally put in the Aeron order. Its last gasps of life had left me unconsciously being *very* unergonomic at my workstation for several weeks, and after it died I had almost a fortnight where I had to use a straight-back wooden chair with a wee cushion. My lower back is practically singing with relief as I type. The newer X-shaped lumbar thingie is totally worth the extra few bucks.