Yaasa Chair put to the test – ergonomic chair for healthy sitting in the office
One of the most important things and in my opinion the first thing you need for a decent office, home office, gaming corner, etc. is a decent chair or an ergonomic chair. Mostly you buy cheap here because you just sit on it, but neglect the fact that you will probably sit on it for many years, maybe decades, for far too long every day. This may go well at the beginning, but after a certain time, usually when the serious complaints come, you notice that you haven’t done anything good to your back or your own posture. For many years it was similar to me with a chair that I used for 18 years. In the meantime, I sit in my chair for almost 16 hours on some days and notice: I would have got myself a slightly more expensive, but really good chair years ago. The first impulse is always a gaming chair, as marketing usually tells us that these are better at a low price. However, they are mostly only pseudo ergonomic and often restrict your movement even more. That is bad, because healthy sitting does not come from stiffly maintaining a certain position, but with freedom of movement while sitting.
In any case, I now have the Yaasa Chair, which keeps my ergonomic and height-adjustable Yaasa Desk Pro from my home office article company and has improved my seating quality since I was sitting for the first time. In this review, I’ll tell you what it can do and how the many features can help you sit down.
Yaasa Chair – design, functionality and seating
When the Yaasa Chair arrives, it must first be set up. The process is basically very simple and can be mastered with or without guidance. The chair is set up within a few minutes.
In terms of design, the Yaasa Chair is minimalist and modern and does not take up as much space as a gaming chair, for example. This is actually a good thing because it looks really good in the office, takes up little space and is also super easy to clean. Just briefly with the vacuum cleaner and that’s it. The backrest is constructed like a network and is accordingly also transparent. For me a feature that was important to me, because my last chair was unbearable both in summer and in winter, as my back was practically unable to breathe. The backrest is stable, offers a certain degree of flexibility and reduces the amount of heat generated by other chairs.
The Yaasa Chair does not have a head or neck support. Here I have deliberately chosen a chair without, because a headrest, like the one I had on my last chair, restricts head movement backwards. It often leads to the fact that you mostly hang in there, which is often the trigger for a stiff neck (and muscle breakdown), since the neck, like the spine, has to be moved regularly. But because the head has no room to move, you usually unconsciously bend forward after a short time, which favors poor posture.
The seat of the Yaasa Chair is also extremely comfortable, as the upholstery is much firmer than most other chairs. You don’t sink completely into the chair, but the chair gives in exactly the right amount. This makes it more comfortable and promotes a better posture because you are better supported. These two features were enough to automatically sit well right away, but it doesn’t stop there.
More important are the many small ergonomic features of the Yaasa Chair, which improve the quality of the seat and allow sitting to be comfortable even after many hours. One of these features is the lumbar support. Many chairs mostly rely on cushions here. I have made the experience here that pillows usually only help to a limited extent, as they usually neither fit the chair nor the back, give way too much and therefore usually do not achieve the desired effect. If they are made of fabric, there is also often a static charge. In the Yaasa Chair, the lumbar support is a height-adjustable plastic surface that is located behind the backrest and has air holes. So there is nothing between the seat and the back, the loin is very well supported without sinking into it and the back does not sweat. If the lumbar support is good, it also helps to keep your head effortlessly balanced.
The movable seat is just as important. By operating one of the levers on the sides, you can move the seat forwards or backwards. Not every body is built the same and not everyone sits the same, as most chairs assume. This makes it easy to find the perfect position for you, so that both your buttocks and your back are supported just right and you can sit comfortably. It is something that you will probably only hire once, but it is extremely important in the long term.
My absolute favorite feature of the Yaasa Chair can be seen below. It may not look special at first, because the backrest can be adjusted with practically any chair. Here, however, you can free the backrest and also set the resistance against the back with a rotary control. As a result, the chair gives way backwards when you consciously push your back backwards. If you lean forward, the backrest also comes along (completely noiseless). This floating function enhances sitting enormously, because it means that your back does not rely on the backrest permanently, which prevents muscle regression. It also gives your back the ability to move freely, which prevents the back from stiffening. Our spine or our intervertebral discs, which you can imagine like a sponge, are designed for constant movement and even a few minutes in the same position usually leads to discomfort. Correspondingly, good sitting requires regular movement and changes in position. Both ergonomics experts and the Alexander Technique therefore define sitting as a type of movement. Once you get used to the floating backrest here, you will no longer want to sit with a fixed backrest. Simply because it is more comfortable and back pain is reduced significantly within a few weeks. The Yaasa Chair implements this feature really well.
Both of the above features can be easily adjusted with one of the two levers and the rotary controls on both sides. Levers one and two allow you to adjust the height (seat height: 44 – 56 cm, chair height 96 – 108 cm, maximum load 130 kg) and to move the seat cushion (50 x 50 cm) forwards and backwards. The two rotary controls can be pulled out a few centimeters on both sides for better accessibility and allow the backrest to be released or locked, but also to adjust the resistance of the backrest, i.e. how much force is needed to move it backwards. Basically a simple and reliably functioning system.
A final important feature of the Yaasa Chair is the 3D armrest. The images below are also GIFs and can be played with one click, which makes it easier to imagine. As you can see, the armrest can be freely adjusted in height and moved forwards or backwards and left or right. Depending on the type of seat you are, this is quite practical to relieve the arms, which other chairs usually make difficult because they are often only tailored to a certain body type. It is interesting to mention here that the armrest can even go so high that in some cases it can even exceed the height of the table. So you can theoretically hold the armrest above the table and not under it when working, if you can and want to.
The last thing to mention are the roles. If you want, you can switch to hard floor castors, which Yaasa offers as an optional extra for the Yaasa Chair. I myself roll on laminate and so far have never had problems with the standard rolls, which are also very good in terms of mobility and allow you to move around the space or in the room without effort, if you want. In my opinion, the fact that the foot area is made of metal is another positive bonus for stability and optics.
Yaasa Chair – Price and availability
The Yaasa Chair can be purchased directly from Yaasa in the shop can be ordered in black or white and costs 349 euros. If you also want Harboden rollers, you can get a pack of five for 29.80 euros. In terms of price, I find the Yaasa Chair completely appropriate in view of the current market situation and the given features. You should also keep in mind that in many cases you will use an office chair for so many years that the price is relativized in relation to your own health. It certainly doesn’t have to be a Herman Miller chair, but with the 349 euros for a Yaasa Chair everyone is probably doing something good and also has a budget for a good height-adjustable table like the Yaasa Desk Pro, which I have been using very satisfied for a year and which is only half as expensive as a certain other brand, but is really top quality and can convince with its design. So you can also work standing up from time to time.
