Customer Reviews:
 The best of both worlds March 26, 2008
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
When I first laid eyes on this chair I knew it was for me. I have never been able to find a comfortable office chair, and I am stuck at a desk way too many hours a day. I've tried using a big exercise ball, but it took up so much room, I would feel like I was going to "fall off" and generally, it just didn't really make sense to me in an office.
This chair makes the ball work. If you have not tried to use a ball, I imagine it would be very disconcerting, but if you have tried the ball and found it too alien, - you will probably be very happy with this chair. It is compact and movable like an office chair, but otherwise, it is all about the ball. I sit right on top of the ball (Yes, I'm on the ball!) and never use the back or the handrails except to help in balancing /pushing off to stand up.
It rocks without rolling away - Love it!
 Smart Concept, Stupid Execution December 24, 2006
72 out of 73 found this review helpful
Before I say anything negative, let me admit that the product pretty much performs as advertised. It has, in fact, improved my posture and made me use my lower back muscles when sitting. However, other exercise ball chairs do that too and you might want to consider them instead.
My primary beef with this chair is that the armrests are inexplicably low. They actually fall below the tops of your thighs and poke into them. In fact, the armrests are so short that my elbows are a full five inches above them. At first, I thought this was because I am tall and the chair is quite small. But then I realized that the armrests would poke into your thighs no matter how tall you were because your seat would be at the same level regardless.
Look closely at the product photo. Yes, the ball will give somewhat under your weight, but not enough to get the armrests above your thighs, let alone up to your elbows. Despite appearances, that backrest is apparently supposed to support your lower back - not your upper back. That's fine: Lower back support is actually more important. But the designers must have forgotten that fact when they made the arm rests so much lower. The result is a sort of trompe l'oeil.
I can't believe this product made it past the development stage without someone catching this. Shouldn't someone have, you know, actually *sat* in the chair before putting it into production? Unless your knuckles drag the ground when you walk, there is no way those armrests will work for anyone, regardless of height.
Then there's the assembly nightmare. Apparently, the manufacturers don't believe in washers. Instead, they dab some hard plastic paint on the screw threads to serve the same purpose. Unfortunately, they a) sometimes use too much and submerge the threads entirely and b) don't believe in providing any spare parts. This meant I had to go at a few screws with a knife to make them usable. Again, somebody wasn't thinking.
After some consideration, I decided to keep mine rather than send it back. I just left off the armrests. It's obvious that they're missing, so it doesn't look terribly professional; but this chair is for home, so that aspect doesn't bother me. Also, it gives it a more industrial look, which I like (but you might not). To me, it both looks and feels better this way. For one thing, the armrests aren't poking into the sides of my thighs. For another, the armrests make the chair look child-sized even though the seat level is definitely at an adult height. Without them, it both looks and functions like an adult-sized stool.
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