Best Ergonomic Office Chair Under $300 Review 2023

Our Pick: Tempur-Pedic TP9000 Ergonomic Executive Chair

Like Serta, which we talked about earlier in this review, Tempur-Pedic is best known for its presence in the bedding market, but the company has made recent forays into the realm of office furniture. The results have been spectacular, and the company has proved that the skills they’ve gained in making world-class bedding translate well into this new market.

There are two basic approaches a company can take when designing an office chair. They’ll either load it with features, often lowering the overall product quality in a bid to keep the price reasonable, or they’ll focus on the fundamentals, offering a chair with a few key, well-implemented features that provide exceptional value.

Tempur-Pedic has opted to take this second approach, and we heartily approve. The chair is designed along wholly conventional lines and seems to go almost out of its way to look perfectly ordinary. Lurking beneath its understated appearance, however, are some powerful ergonomic features.

The chair has a trio of ergonomic features, all uniformly well-implemented. You’ll find:

Although none of these are adjustable in any way, they’re about as well implemented as we’ve ever seen and will provide you with years of reliable support.

The chair only offers two items we’d classify as extras but they’re both excellent, too: The armrests flip up for those times when you don’t need them, and the seat is padded with the same material Tempur-Pedic uses in their mattresses, making it delightfully comfortable even after spending several consecutive hours in the chair.

On top of that, while the seatback is mesh, the seat itself is upholstered in durable fabric and offered in a modest variety of colors, including:

This, combined with its under-the-radar appearance, makes it incredibly easy for this chair to blend into just about any home or office décor scheme.

The only serious quibble we’ve got with the design is that the weight limit is too modest for our tastes. The height adjustment range is just under the standard range commonly found on big and tall chairs, but the weight limit just won’t support that, which limits the chair’s market range to smaller and average-sized folks. That’s a pity because there are a lot of big and tall people who’d’ love this chair.

Highly recommended, especially for power users.

Runner-Up: AmazonBasics Big and Tall Mesh Swivel Chair

While our top pick focuses on a broad swath of the market and is a great choice for small to average-sized people, Amazon’s mesh chair focuses more on the other end of the market. Most shorter users will find this chair too big to use effectively, but long-legged average-sized folks and big and tall people will find it to be just about perfect.

Amazon is perhaps the perfect generalist company. They’re not experts in the furniture market, but they study the experts and replicate their creations, generally doing a good job, and often producing outstanding products that are very well priced.

This chair is definitely one of their strongest models. Being mesh, it suffers a bit aesthetically, but just as Tempur-Pedic did with their offering, Amazon took a hybrid approach here, which helps improve both the look and the comfort of the chair.

While the seatback is pure mesh, the seat itself is upholstered in a more tightly woven form of mesh fabric, stretched over conventional block foam. It’s not as comfortable as the Tempur-Pedic chair, but you certainly won’t mind sitting in it, even for extended periods.

This chair sticks to the basics, offering two ergonomic features: Lumbar support and an ergonomic seat. The lumbar support is not just well-implemented, it’s also height adjustable, allowing you to customize it so it provides support exactly where you need it. 

Most people consider lumbar support to be the most powerful and important of the ergonomic features and the fact that Amazon did such a great job with it makes this chair worth buying for that feature alone.

The ergonomic seat is good, but not on the same level as the lumbar support. It tries gamely to be a true waterfall-edge style seat but doesn’t quite manage to get there. It still provides ergonomic value, but again, it’s just not as strong a feature as the lumbar mechanism.

We regard the armrests as a bit of a missed opportunity. They’re not ergonomically sculpted and honestly a bit on the stubby side for our tastes, but they are height adjustable, which is valuable in its own right.

While a few users might be disappointed that there aren’t more ergonomic features on offer, honestly, we think you’ll be impressed. In our view, we’d much rather see one or two very well-implemented features than several that are lackluster, and we think a majority of the market feels the same way.

Amazon does that with this design. It’s a great chair, offered for a song. We love it and recommend it without reservation to average-sized or bigger folks who are looking for a chair that can stand up to the rigors of heavy daily use.

Third Pick: Nouhaus Ergo 3D Ergonomic Office Chair

While our first and second-place winners are both offered by companies that almost everyone will recognize, our third-place finalist is offered by a company you’ve probably never heard of. Nouhaus is a tiny off-brand. They don’t have a big national footprint, and as such, their products tend to get overlooked, which makes this chair something of a hidden gem.

At first glance, some people might be put off by the chair. It’s not outright ugly, but mesh chairs do tend to take a hit on the aesthetics front, and this one makes matters worse by featuring a segmented seatback design. It definitely won’t win any beauty contests, but most people who are in the market for a mesh chair care more about function and form, and this chair has all kinds of functionality.

Before we focus on its ergonomic features, though, let’s review the stats from the summary table to see exactly what this chair is:

Most big and tall chairs have a seat height adjustment range of 18” to 22” so on the face of it, it looks like this chair should be geared to that segment of the market but check out the seat depth. Check out the maximum supported user weight. 

Neither of those elements supports the idea that this is a big and tall chair. While it’s useful for taller people with lean builds and long legs, big-boned folks are going to find this chair too small to be useful. 

Granted, big and tall people represent a minority of the total market, so this chair still appeals to quite a broad swath, but it would be a mistake to classify this as a big and tall chair, in our view. We’d estimate that this one would be of use to people up to about 6’2” in height, just to give you a general guide.

While the other mesh chairs we’ve talked about so far took a hybrid approach, using tightly woven mesh or fabric to cover padding in the seat, this model is mesh through and through, so there’s no padding at all in the seat.

If you’ve owned mesh chairs before, you know that doesn’t mean it’s not comfortable; it is! It just approaches comfort from a different direction, relying on the inherent breathability of the mesh itself, combined with well-implemented ergonomic features to make it a joy to sit in.

This chair offers three such features:

While the seat design falls short of greatness, we actually can’t decide which of the chair’s other two ergonomic features are better. They’re both incredibly well done.

Where the lumbar support is concerned, the company uses a proprietary technology they call DVL, which stands for “Dynamic Variable Lumbar” support. The implementation of this feature explains why the company opted for a segmented seatback design. 

The lower portion of the seat back is designed exclusively to accommodate this technology. Any time you move or shift your position in the chair, the lumbar support that segment provides shifts with you, so it always provides you with exactly the support you need, no matter how you’re using the chair.

We were stunned to see proprietary technology being used by an off-brand and were absolutely blown away at how great a job they did on this feature. Honestly, Nouhaus’ lumbar support shines even when compared to ergonomic office chairs that cost twice this chair’s asking price.

The chair’s armrests are equally impressive. While they’re not ergonomically sculpted, they are highly mobile, which provides a certain amount of ergonomic benefit all by itself. You can move the armrests forward toward the edge of the seat, backward toward the seat back, and scoot them closer together or farther apart as you like.

This gives you the ability to totally customize your seating experience for maximum comfort and performance. Again, not something we expected to see from an off-brand and certainly not at this price. That’s amazing.

While Nouhaus may be relatively unknown, we don’t expect that they’ll stay that way. Not when they’re capable of producing chairs like this. It’s just a matter of time before they’re nipping at the heels of the bigger, more established brands in the same way that Flash Furniture is. 

We fully expect to see Nouhaus products winning spots in roundup reviews we do in the future. This is a great chair, made by a fantastic if relatively unknown company. We recommend it for smaller to average-sized power users who need a chair that can stand up to the challenges of heavy use.

Also Great

Hbada Ergonomic High Back Office Chair

If you’ve spent any time in Europe, you’re probably familiar with the Hbada brand. It’s quite popular there, but here in the United States, they’re not very well known. That’s slowly changing thanks to the wonders of online shopping, which makes it easier than ever for someone living in the States to get one of these chairs. There are a number of reasons why you should consider doing so:

First, check out the score of this chair if you take the Brand Reliability dimension out of the mix. This chair scores just above a 4, which is outstanding. Second, check out how consistent the numbers are. Literally, the only thing dragging this model’s overall score down is the fact that the brand is relatively unknown in this country. The chair itself, though, is pretty amazing.

Third is the aesthetic. While mesh chairs aren’t exactly known for their stellar looks, Hbada takes a different approach to design than most American companies do, which gives this chair a delightful and refreshing aesthetic. It’s just different enough to be distinctive and interesting, which is a very good thing. 

Before we go further, though, let’s do a quick review of the basic stats that define this model so we know what we’re dealing with.

This is a very different chair than the Nouhaus we talked about just before getting to this model. 

It’s very clearly aimed at the big and tall segment of the market, with the seat depth, width, height adjustment range, and maximum supported user weight all working in tandem to support that conclusion. In fact, given the lowest seat height setting of 19.6,” shorter people probably won’t be able to use this chair effectively.

Like our top picks in this category, the Hbada chair utilizes a hybrid approach, featuring mesh fabric in the seat, stretched over a modest amount of padding. 

Note that the padding isn’t as plush or as plentiful as you’ll find on most other padded office chairs, but it’s certainly enough to provide a comfortable seating experience, and as with other mesh chairs, this one relies on the strength of its ergonomic features to further enhance comfort, making up for its relative lack of padding.

Although the seat isn’t waterfall-edge, it is an ergonomically sculpted design that provides impressive ergonomic benefits, which means you won’t have to worry about getting that annoying pins and needles sensation in your legs, even if you spend several consecutive hours in the chair.

In addition to being delightfully breathable mesh, the seatback is curved to follow the shape of your spine and is further augmented by a well-implemented lumbar support system. 

This ties in beautifully with the articulated headrest that provides good head and neck support, giving the person sitting in the Hbada ergonomic office chair stellar support that begins at the head and runs all the way to the backs of the user’s thighs.

The chair’s armrests are a mixed bag. On the plus side, they’re height adjustable through a total of seven different settings, which is a good thing that adds versatility to the design. On the minus side, though, they’re not very long and covered in low-quality PU, which won’t stand up well to the rigors of heavy daily use. 

Another interesting thing to note is the chair’s recline angle, which starts at 90 degrees and extends all the way to 150 degrees. Most office chairs recline to about 120 degrees, with a few reclining to 135 degrees, so this model gives you more of an ability to lounge back and relax. Unfortunately, the chair doesn’t include an ottoman, but it’s easy enough to engineer one, giving you a passably good makeshift recliner when you’re ready to take a break.

The Hbada chair has more strengths than weaknesses, but there are two things that keep it from being a great model for heavy daily use. First, the padding. It’s decent but falls short of greatness, and after spending more than about four hours in the chair, it’ll start getting progressively more uncomfortable. Second, those stubby little armrests will begin to show their age rather quickly.

Based on that, we’d rate this is a great choice for bigger, taller users who are looking for a chair for light to moderate daily use.

Smugdesk High Back Mesh Recliner

It was agonizing to try and select the final model for our mesh chair list because there were so many interesting options to choose from but ultimately, the Smugdesk mesh recliner won us over. We’ll be quick to say that this chair won’t be for everyone, but it’s so interesting we didn’t feel that this portion of the roundup review would be complete without giving it a mention.

Smugdesk is another one of those little companies you may not have heard of, but if you look at the breakdown of the chair’s score, you’ll see that it’s exceptionally capable and well-rounded, with the only thing dragging its final score down being the lack of brand heft and recognition. Functionally, this is a great little chair. 

Let’s start by reviewing the core statistics that define the model:

As we’ve been doing, when focusing in on the seat depth, the height adjustment range, and the maximum supported range, we can conclude that this chair isn’t targeted at the big and tall market, nor is it an especially good fit for shorter users. It’s aimed squarely at the middle of the market. Average sized people. If you fall into that segment of the market, you’ll find a lot to like.

It’s got all the features you’d expect in an office chair: Tilt and lock, recline to a maximum of 135 degrees and 360-degrees of swivel, but you also get a little something extra in the form of a pull-out ottoman!

There aren’t many office chairs that pull double duty as recliners but this is one of them, and the fact that you can use it in that way makes it an excellent choice for power users who spend tons of time in their office chairs, enabling you to stretch out and take a break when you need to, getting far more comfortable than most office chairs allow.

As cool as that is, though, this roundup review is focused on finding great ergonomic chairs, so the rest of our notes about this model will be focused squarely on that, and there’s quite a lot to talk about. The Smugdesk mesh recliner features all four of the major ergonomic features commonly found in the office furniture environment:

Early on, we mentioned that there are two basic approaches furniture companies take when designing office furniture: Focus on a few features and implement them very well or offer everything and the kitchen sink in hopes of dazzling prospective buyers with a rich, diverse feature set.

While our top picks took the more focused approach, Smugdesk lives at the other end of the spectrum. While none of their ergonomic features are as well-implemented as those offered by our top contenders, they’re certainly good enough to provide genuine value.

Of the four, the chair’s lumbar support is the best of the bunch, offering decent but less than stellar support. While you’re unable to adjust the tension, you can height adjust the lumbar support mechanism, which is a nice bit of customization you won’t find on a huge number of chairs on the market today.

The head and neck support is the weakest of the bunch. The headrest is height adjustable, which is good, but it’s not articulated, so the amount and flexibility of the support you get are limited.

While the armrests are ergonomically sculpted and quite comfortable, they’re not height adjustable which again limits their value somewhat, and the seat is another clear bright spot in the design, being, in our view, the second-best ergonomic feature of the chair. 

We applaud the company’s decision to use a sculpted seat rather than trying to work a waterfall-edge style into the design. Given the presence of the pull-out footrest, that would have been difficult, if not impossible, to implement well. Their decision clearly demonstrates their knowledge of the office furniture market.

Just so we’re clear on this point, none of these features are bad; they’re just not as well or as strongly implemented as the ergonomic aspects of the other models we’ve talked about to this point. Most of the time, when an off-brand tries to implement a whole raft of features, many of them wind up being so badly rendered that they’re practically useless. 

Smugdesk’s ability to handle them fairly well is proof positive that the company has some serious design chops. We’d love to see more of their work and see what they can do with a tighter focus. 

As it stands, though, this chair is a pleasant surprise. Unless you need superb lumbar support because you have chronic back pain, this one will almost certainly be good enough to serve you well.

In addition, it’s worth mentioning that Smugdesk incorporated oversized casters into the design of their chair. It’s a small thing, but it was another detail that impressed us. 

Many office chairs use smallish casters that are fine for hardwood or other flat flooring surfaces but struggle on the carpet. The casters that come with this chair are great on just about any type of flooring except for the thickest and plushest carpet. Bravo. We’d love to see this become standard practice across the industry.

Finally, Smugdesk offers a surprisingly good warranty for an off-brand. With most smaller brands, you’re lucky to get a year. Smugdesk offers eighteen months and free component replacement for two years, which includes things like the levers and controls and the gas lift mechanism itself.

Based on all of this, we feel certain that we’ll be seeing Smugdesk appearing in some of the other roundup reviews we do. They’re an interesting, up-and-coming company and this chair is an excellent example of their work.

We recommend it to any average-sized person and perhaps a few shorter folks who are looking for a robust, versatile ergonomic office chair that also pinch-hits as a decent recliner.

Best Ergonomic Office Chairs Under $300 Roundup 2023 Conclusion

So, what is the best ergonomic office chair under $300 in 2023? While we stand by our top picks in the two categories we outlined at the start, we understand that tastes and preferences vary, and because of that, our top picks may not align with yours, which is why we included the other models we compared against the ones we ultimately selected.

If you find yourself disagreeing with our top picks, here’s how we’d recommend finding the chair that is right for you:

In any case, we feel certain that if you’re looking to spend three hundred dollars or less, your next office chair is lurking somewhere inside this roundup review!

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REFERENCES & RESOURCES

• La-Z-Boy, Official Brand Website.
• Flash Furniture, Official Brand Website.
• La-Z-Boy Bellamy Executive Office Chair User Manual.
• Top Reasons Why Comfortable Office Chairs Enhance Productivity, Industry Buying.
• A Pilot Investigation into the Effects of Different Office Chairs on Spinal Angles, NCBI.