In a Nutshell:
The Nouhaus Posture is a good chair that falls just shy of greatness. A good mix of features, this one should be considered a combination of an office chair and task chair. Recommended for users weighing up to 240 pounds who want a combination office/task chair with good lumbar support.
Value for the Money
Comfort
Brand Reliability*
Aesthetic Flexibility**
Overall Rating
4.1/5
Benefits
Drawbacks
Recommended For: Users weighing up to 240 pounds who want a combination office/task chair with good lumbar support.
Is your current office chair on its last legs? Are you looking for a replacement? If so, you will be intrigued by what you read in this—our Nouhaus Posture review.
Nouhaus isn’t one of the giants in the industry, but it is a well-respected company with a reputation for making stylish, comfortable chairs. This one is no exception. That said, as you’ll see when we get into the particulars, this model won’t be a good fit for everyone. Even if it’s not, other Nouhaus models might be.
Is it the right chair for you, though?
In the following sections, we’ll step you through everything the Nouhaus Posture chair offers so you’ll have the full details and can decide if this is your next office chair. If that sounds good, read on, and let’s look closer.
Key Features of the Nouhaus Posture Ergonomic Office Chair
This is a fairly strong component of our Nouhaus Posture review. As you will see, this section underscores some of the chair’s weaknesses and limitations.
Some office chairs are designed such that they beg to be noticed. They have such a striking aesthetic that they just pop, dominating their room—not because of their imposing size but because they have such a unique look.
This isn’t one of those chairs. The design team stuck mostly to convention here, creating a good-looking chair styled along mid-century modern lines—attractive but in an understated, unassuming way, which makes it easy to blend the chair in with whatever else you have in the room you plan on putting it in.
Even better, if you decide you want one, you can order yours in either flat white, flat black, or flat taupe, which makes color matching a snap in most cases.
However, there’s more to a good office chair than a stylish exterior, so let’s examine this model by its numbers and see what makes it tick.
Chair Specifications
Overall, these are good numbers, but there are a couple of disconnects and weaknesses to discuss.
First, we love the seat height range, but anything over 18” or 18.5” is typically considered venturing into big and tall territory. That’s fine, but check out the maximum supported weight.
On average, furniture (office or otherwise) supports about 300 pounds of user weight. This chair falls well short of that mark, which narrows its appeal. Based on the seat height range and the disappointing weight limit, this chair is a good fit for tall but lightly to moderately built people.
While that may describe a fair portion of the market, it somewhat limits the chair’s appeal.
Overall, we’d consider the next the strongest component of our Nouhaus Posture review. There’s a lot to like here but a couple of limitations.
Comfortable Padding
Many office chairs utilize conventional block foam padding, which is the lowest common denominator in the padding world. With sufficient quantities, that’s fine and can provide a relatively comfortable seating experience.
Nouhaus goes beyond that, using open-cell foam padding in this design. It is delightfully comfortable, but there’s a catch, and this is another of those points of weakness we hinted at above.
PU Upholstery
The chair is upholstered in PU.
We understand why Nouhaus chose it. PU is inexpensive, it looks good, and it’s easy to clean.
That said, it’s also hot because it’s not breathable. So, if you’re looking for a chair you’ll be comfortable in for several hours each day, this is almost certainly not the model you want. The more time you spend in it, the hotter and less comfortable you’ll become—excellent padding or not.
It’s much better suited for light or moderate use—say, no more than four hours each day.
In addition to that, PU doesn’t age well. Even if you’re incredibly careful with it, you can expect that it will start to show its age after about 18 months, which is only about half of the warranty period.
If we use the warranty period as a proxy for the chair’s useful life, you’ll need to pay to have it reupholstered around the halfway point. That’s not the worst thing, though, because when the time comes, you can have it reupholstered in fabric and, in the end, get a chair better suited to longer-term seating.
The other potential problem is that while the base is five-point and reinforced, it’s made of nylon.
There’s nothing inherently wrong with nylon bases, but no matter what a company’s marketing department tells you, they’re not as rugged or durable as steel bases.
Plastic Components
In addition to that, this chair relies heavily on plastic components. This was a conscious design decision by the Nouhaus design team that sought to keep the final price of the chair low. The problem, however, is that plastic components don’t stand up well to the rigors of heavy use.
Lumbar Support
On the other hand, this chair offers excellent and easy-to-use lumbar support in the form of Nouhaus’s “Click5” system. This system makes it simple to customize the level of lumbar support you want. It’s a good feature, but it’d be even better on a chair that could withstand heavy daily use. Even so, we’re thrilled to see it included here.
It makes a difference and adds value to the design.
ReclineRock Feature
In addition, the Nouhaus Posture ergonomic offers a ReclineRock feature, which makes the chair more comfortable, especially for shorter seating periods.
Ergonomic Armrests
Finally, although this model doesn’t feature height-adjustable armrests, which we feel would strengthen the chair, the armrests are ergonomically designed and padded.
They can also be flipped up if and as needed to get them out of the way entirely, essentially giving you an office chair and a task chair in a single package.
Extras
This will be a short section because there’s not much to discuss here. We’re calling the heavy-duty gas lift an extra, but it feels out of place here. If the chair had a rugged frame and a steel base, we could see the value in adding it. But given its modest weight limit, we can’t see that a heavy-duty lift adds anything to the equation.
In theory, you can call the ReclineRock feature an extra, too. But since it is directly tied to the chair’s overall comfort, we feel like it belongs in the last section rather than this one.
Does Not Come Assembled
As is the case with most office chairs, if you decide you want one, you’ll have some work to do when the box arrives at your door. The good news is that the production quality is quite high, and even though many pieces are plastic, everything fits together seamlessly.
Working by yourself, the process from unboxing to sitting down should take 15-20 minutes, and if you’ve got an extra pair of hands on standby when the chair arrives, it’ll go even faster.
Pros and Cons of Nouhaus Posture Ergonomic Office Chair
For the money, this is a good chair. It’s a solid design with excellent, easy-to-use lumbar support, and it will be a stylish addition to any home.
On the other hand, it has two weaknesses potential buyers need to be aware of. First, it’s upholstered in PU, which makes it uncomfortably hot if you spend extended periods sitting in it.
Second, it only supports a modest 240 pounds of user weight.
That second point won’t matter to you (if you weigh less than 240), or it will be an absolute dealbreaker.
Nouhaus Posture Review Conclusion
We like the Nouhaus Posture, but we don’t love it. It’s a great chair for anyone of light to medium build, especially if you’re on the taller side, and it’s a solid choice for anyone looking for a chair for light to moderate daily use (say, about four hours a day max). In light of that, we give it a provisional recommendation.
Other Options To Consider
If the chair we just talked about doesn’t meet your needs, here are a couple of other options to consider:
Recommended For: Anyone who spends several hours a day in their chair. This thing is virtually indestructible.
This chair is a monster—it has solid steel construction, is capable of supporting nearly twice the weight of the chair we just talked about, and is upholstered with durable, breathable fabric, allowing you to sit in it for extended periods without discomfort. It’s an amazing piece of furniture that will serve you well.
Granted, it only has basic lumbar support, so it’s not as ergonomically friendly as the Nouhaus, but in terms of durability and longevity, this one is a wonder.
Recommended For: Users weighing up to 240 pounds who want a combination office/task chair with good lumbar support.
Although it’s a pricey model, it’s worth every penny. This is basically the chair that Nouhaus wants to be. It’s amazingly adjustable and comes with a warranty that puts the warranties offered by most other companies to shame. Steelcase is the final word in office chairs.
REFERENCES AND RESOURCES:
- Nouhaus Office Chair, Official Brand Website.
- Nouhaus Posture Ergonomic Office Chair User Manual
- Working in a Sitting Position, Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety.
- WFH Posture 101: How to Sit, Stretch, and Upgrade Your Back Game, Greatist.
- The Science of Posture: Sitting up Straight Will Make You Happier, More Confident and Less Risk-Averse, Buffer.