AleraEtros Series Petite Mid-Back Multifunction Mesh Chair, Black

I'll throw in my 2 cents.TL;DR: This chair is wicked comfortable. I can't get over how pleasant it is now to be seated at length in front of my computer. I am 5'4" and around 125 lbs, and this fits me perfectly. It also feels well-built and solid, and I feel as though it will be around for a while.How I arrived at this purchase:Husband and I just moved to a larger space and I was looking to upgrade my old computer chair, which sadly did not survive the move. I'm also a graduate student and am currently spending many hours in front of my computer whiting my thesis, so I wanted something ergonomic and comfortable enough to allow me to sit with ease for long stretches of time, but that also fit within our budget. After some online research I narrowed it down to the Office Star SPACE Air Grid, the Steelcase Criterion (which I had found a great deal on on MadisonSeating), and this chair. All fairly comparable prices (if you use MadisonSeating's price on the Criterion). Having read the Amazon user reviews on each, I then initially settled on the Criterion, and ordered it through the other seller.Very much to my dismay, the Criterion chair arrived some weeks later with missing pieces. To their credit, either Steelcase or Madison Seating pre-assembles the chair, and upon arrival all you have to do is simply place the seat back on the chair frame and voila! It felt firm and comfortable-ish enough (though frankly, my husband's old Staples chair felt just as comfortable, if not more so, and I preferred it's "feel" as I sat in it compared to the stark firmness of the Criterion, even though his chair is rather worn down by now), but was missing the correct armpieces that allowed me to widen or narrow the space between the arms, and was also missing the lever to adjust the seat fore and aft, rather crucial when fitting the chair to yourself. So I sent the chair back to them (again, to their credit, they did not make me pay for return shipping). They offered to send a replacement, but after my brief interaction with the chair, I just decided to go another route.I looked at the SPACE chair again and compared it to the Etros. They both seemed to have very comparable features, and it was difficult deciding between the two. In the end, I settled on the Etros, only because the description said that it allowed you to adjust the width between the arm rests, while the SPACE did not appear to have this. I have very narrow shoulders, and I knew that bringing the arm rests in would allow me to adjust the chair to a more comfortable position.Assembly:To my surprise, there was not nearly as much assembly as I thought there would be. Much of the chair is pre-assembled, and you only have to do a few basic things. The instructions are clear, albeit extremely minimal, so I did youtube a video of assembly of the SPACE chair and the Alera Elusion (all I could find) to make sure I was doing it correctly. This chair requires you to place the casters onto the chair legs, which I discovered required a bit of force, but was do-able just by really pressing them in. Then you simply place the gas/height cylinder into the center of the legs, place the chair seat on top, and then place the seat back on top of that. The arms are attached by flipping the chair over, inserting the base of the arms into the slots on the sides of the seat, and securing them with little round pieces that are simply pressed into the holes. They provide two holes for this on the base of the arms - you can place the lock on the outermost hole if you want a lot of adjustability with the arm rest width, or place it on the innermost hole if you basically want them locked up against the frame. If you use the outermost hole, the arms easily press out or can be pulled in when you use the chair. Lastly, a similar lock is placed at the base of the chair back to secure it to the frame, and assembly is finished.Comfort and Adjustability:With so many adjustability options, I was happy to find comfortable positioning in only 10 minutes or so. It was easy to adjust the chair height, fore/aft position of the seat relative to the chair back, chair tilt, seat back tilt, arm rest width, and lumbar support position. The seat itself is firm yet extremely comfortable. Once all these variables were in place, I found myself able to sit at my desk for hours with no pain and very little movement. Really, a revelation over what I had been using. I don't get any more numbness in my glutes or legs, and my back has no pain. When I compared it to my husband's seat again, this time I was actually blown away by the differences. I didn't notice this on the Criterion (again, I was not able to fully adjust the fit to myself, and if I had been able to I might have better thoughts on the experience, yet I distinctly remember preferring the "feel" of my husband's seat to that of the Criterion), but on this it is night and day. My husband agrees, too.One last note on comfort:I have heard that having a "full back" chair as opposed to a "mid back" chair is better if you are to be seated for long periods of time. And I would be interested in a future detailed comparison. The Criterion I ordered was indeed a full-back and did come up to about my shoulders. However, I only used it very, very briefly and I cannot comment on whether or not the full back is more or less supportive than this mid-back chair. But I can say that I have now sat in the Etros for hours, and I cannot imagine it being any more supportive. Perhaps if you have chronic or extensive back issues, you may want to think on this. But I have a pretty healthy back, and I have no complaints on this here.Things I wish they might improve on:I really have nothing negative to say about this chair. I am truly impressed. However, if Alera is listening, an feature to allow you to lean the seatback back from your favored position would be a nice touch. Currently, the chair allows you to unlock the position of the seatback, allowing you to press it back or let it come forward, and once you find a position you like you can lock that into place. It would simply be a nice feature if you could continue to lean the seatback from this setting, but you only have the option to lock it rigidly into place, or allow it to have the full range of motion. At its most forward, it is very forward, causing you to almost lean over. You can adjust the tension required to lean forward and back, but I have no desire to have that seatback come to that fully foward position ever, while I wouldn't mind being able to lean back from where it is, or having it pop back into that place. I believe the Criterion did have this feature, and it was nice for the 30 minutes or so I got to use it.Also, colors. It would be nice to have some color options. Although, I admit, the black actually looks pretty spiffy in person.Hope this review helps.

I tried every single chair in our office and the seat of every single one of them was so long that, even sitting where the front of the seat hit the bend of my knee, the back of the chair was still a good 8" - 12" away from my back! I am 5' 2", by the way and have had chronic back pain since I was a teenager. So I ordered this chair because my old one was killing me due to lack of support.I was super excited to find a chair for short, or petite, people. The only other petite chairs I could find were a minimum of $500 and the length of the seat was no where near as short as this one- and they definitely were either not adjustable or not adjustable in the ways that a petite person would need. So not only was this one easy to find, but it was a great price as well; and since my company was paying for it, that was pretty important.Assembly was a joke. DO NOT PAY THE EXTRA MONEY TO HAVE THEM ASSEMBLE IT FOR YOU! I put this chair together in about 5 minutes. There are no bolts to tighten, etc.. The pieces just slide into place. I chose to assemble the chairs without the arms and I am happy that you can't tell they were ever meant to be there.The seat of the chair is firm, yet supportive. It is actually very comfortable. The lumbar support on the chair back is adjustable by sliding it up or down. The chair back is of course made of mesh and the seat cushion is covered in mesh as well. I have not noticed either the chair back or seat feeling hot or making me sweat. Upon first glance, the arms of the chair appear to be made of just a generic textured hard plastic-like material. In reality, they are actually very firm, cushions (they indent when I applied pressure with my thumb and I never felt a hard bottom) covered in a vinyl type material,It took me a few minutes to figure out how to adjust everything, but once I figured it out, it was very easy to adjust. I did have to change the position of the seat tilt and length immediately after assembly. I couldn't believe that the seat depth was initially too short. I slid the seat forward about an inch and now, while sitting all the way back in the chair, the bend of my knee is about an inch away from the edge of the seat. Perfect! The only other adjustment I had to make was to the seat tilt. Upon assembly completion, the seat position was tilted forward- so I felt like I was going to slide out of the chair when I sat down. I just slid the tilt lever to the unlocked position, tilted the chair to the proper angle, and then slid the tilt lever back into the locked position. Oh, I guess I did do the same to the seat back, just because I don't like my seat back to move when pressure is applied because it makes me feel like I am going to fall backwards.The only negative thing I can possibly say about this chair is about the height from the seat to the floor. When the chair is at it's lowest position, only my toes and the ball of my feet reach the ground. That is a pretty big deal for a petite chair. It should be a few inches lower than it is. Even the other chairs in my office (the ones that were too big for me) adjusted to a position that was actually too low for me. In my case, however, this isn't a deal breaker. I have to lift the chair even higher in order to sit properly at my desk, so I have always had a box under my desk to prop my feet on (I use a box because it isn't visible. There are foot rests available for purchase for this exact reason, though.)Overall, I am very pleased with this chair. I would absolutely recommend this to anyone. Using a chair that is too big for you is terrible for your posture and your circulation. I hope to purchase one of these for use at home as well!I think I covered everything, but let me know if you still have any questions and I would be happy to answer them to the best of my ability!

The first chair I got lasted about 15 mins before the piston got stuck had to be returned but amazon took care of it and sent me a replacement.The chair, out of the box, would have been great if it height adjustment wasn't an issue. I've had many office chairs before and never have I had a chair that couldn't go low enough for me. I'm 5'4", not tall, but not short enough that my feet shouldn't be touching the floor. This may not be an issue for some, but I ended up switching the base (which arc up higher) with the base of my older chair which is lower and allowed the piston to sit lower as well. The chair ended up being perfect for my build. The chair is super easy to put together, with no screws what so ever and seems pretty solid. All you need to do is slide the parts in and snap 3 locking caps on. The arm rest is hard plastic and wobbly, but not too bad. The other concern is that the lumbar support may be lacking for some. It does have an adjustable cushion that slides up and down, but I don't think it really makes a different. Have to give it time to see how it performs long term, but so far so good.ProsMany adjustments: seat dept and back tilt, back height and tilt, lumbar support height, and heightCushion is firm enough to be comfortable yet supportiveCasters roll easily on carpet"Petite" refers to size (not height) so everything is proportional to meConsToo high with stock base. If this is an issue for you, try switching out the base for a standard one.Arm rest is wobblyThe lumbar support is a little lacking and the adjustable part doesn't make that much of a difference

Seller delays, promising support untilthe guarantee period for the refund runs out. No support / replacement in the end.