HON HVL844 Executive Chair, Bourbon Cherry Frame, Black Leather for Office or Computer Desk

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Product Feature
- Tailored padded back design provides strong lumbar support
- Rich black leather upholstery
- Padded, leather-upholstered arms protect against nicks and scratches
- Swivel tilt mechanism with adjustable tilt tension accommodates users of all sizes
- Pneumatic seat height adjustment
Product Description
The prototypical managers chair, the dramatically scaled and styled back combine with rich black leather upholstery to deliver a chair that is big on class and sophistication. Available with wood arm and base accents in bourbon cherry or mahogany.HON HVL844 Executive Chair, Bourbon Cherry Frame, Black Leather for Office or Computer Desk Review
This chair is *slightly* better in quality and appointments than the typical office chair seen at Staples, OfficeMax and etc. It has real leather (not "bonded"), real wood trimmings, and a decent if somewhat simple mechanism. It went together quite easily with included screws and tool, and it looks EXACTLY like the photo.Here are a few cons:
1. The rubberized arm pads are mounted from below, and the wood is sloppily cut for the screws that mount it from the underside of the arms. The holes have splinters and very sharp edges and are easily and frequently touched when you grip the arm rest. Not good.
2. The casters roll ok, but they are a bit tight on turning, which makes the chair tend to go where it wants to go when you attempt to roll across the floor. I find myself fighting it to get where I want to go.
3. For me the back is NOT tall enough to lean my head back against. I'm 5'10", it supports my shoulders fine, but not my neck or head.
4. As with the arms, there are sharp edges on the underside of the wood trim on the base. Woe be the person who inadvertently rolls this puppy into the back of your heel!
That's about it. I do like the chair, and like other HON products I've owned through the years, it has good lumbar support and seems to be a good natural shape for long term sitting. I also find the padding in the seat of a good, firm quality, there's no way I'm bottoming out.
See if you can find this chair for under $250 shipped, that's a good price point.
Neil
Update review: 8/19/2012
The chair is pretty comfortable to sit in, but a few problem have shown up or have been amplified with extended use:
1. The arms creak a LOT. Every time I lean forward or back there's a loud creaking/popping noise from where the arms attach to the side of the chair. Both sides. This is because of how they attach the arms, there's a single screw at two spots, and the arm is an important structural part of the chair. Yes, I've tried tightening the screws, but this did not help.
2. The casters are really annoying. As I mentioned in the body of my review, they resist turning/aiming when I try to move around the floor. The result is that I have to dig in my heels to the floor or grab and edge of my desk while moving to overcome this effect, otherwise I roll in the then-current orientation of the caster. I've had many other chairs, this is the only one with this problem. I will try to lubricate the pivots, perhaps that will help.
3. The arms are too low, my elbows are an inch or so above them unless I slump. As one who actually uses armrests, these are of little or no value. Your mileage may vary, depending on your body dimensions. For my money, they're too darned low. I may put a pad or something on top to build it up, but I'm resisting modifying the chair. Shouldn't be necessary.
May be more to come. For now, I've reduced the rating one star from my initial report.
Update -- 8/24/2012, Final installment.
OK, I'm an engineer, I fix things. I added a steel washer between the arms and the sides of the chair, eliminated the creaking problem. I then swapped the casters from another known-good chair, fixed the "chair goes where it wants" problem.
All of this highlights what I already knew. Buying a chair without sitting in it is VERY risky. The good news for me is that this is fundamentally a comfortable chair, and I was able fix the biggest annoyances. I'm done, now on to work.
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