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Buyer Reviews
Average Buyer Rating:
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The BMW of office chairs
It's interesting reading reviews here and elsewhere on the Aeron. Chief complaints seem to be the front of the seat digging into the thighs and various back support issues.
This chair is very much like a fine sports car. It's highly adjustable and, like a sports car, lets you do a lot of things, some of which you probably should not be doing. The key to this chair is taking the time to adjust it properly (and making sure you buy the right size in the first place since it comes in three sizes). With eight adjustments, it's easy to get one or more dimensions wrong and end up uncomfortable. On the other hand... almost every aspect of the chair is adjustable, so it's very likely that you can get it to fit your exact dimensions and seating preferences.
The front-of-seat problem that some reviewers report is a great example of this. If the chair height and forward tilt are adjusted properly, and you're in the right size chair for you, this shouldn't be a problem. Many people adjust chairs to sit too high because previous chairs were more comfortable that way or their desks are too high for comfort. If you sit too high on an Aeron it will push on the bottom of your thighs... but in other chairs you'd be sitting too high and screwing up your back without realizing it.
Now the back support -- there I agree that the old lumbar support was less than ideal. The PostureFit system included with this model did the trick for me at least. Comfortable and easy to adjust.
The chair does come with a step-by-step guide for chair adjustment and there's a video guide on Herman Miller's web site that shows you how to operate each adjustment. It does take some fiddling to get it exactly right, but once you're there it's a great fit.
Been in this chair a month and I sit several hours a day. It forces me to sit up straight but it's comfortable to do so, unlike my old chair. Wouldn't trade it for anything.
Customer Rating: 
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Crash, bang! Several hundred dollar chair falls apart?
First the good news. This chair is very comfortable. I've wanted one of these web or mesh or whatever they are called chairs ever since I saw my first one. You can adjust just about everything. And the height range is pretty good as well.
Now the bad. I've got an inferior brand at work, and I like it almost as much as my HM Aeron. I'm sure it was hundreds of dollars less.
And now the ugly. The #@^% thing has basically fallen apart on me! Got it in Novemeber of 2004, and the seal on the lift started leaking a few months ago. So the chair would suddenly drop an inch or so. A few days ago, one of the carpet casters (option available at additional cost) broke apart. When I picked up the chair to take a look at the bottom to see what was wrong, the chair came right out of the base! And this unit comes pre-assmebled so I could not have put it together incorrectly.
Very dissapointing. The chair is under warranty, but the warranty company wants a hundred bucks for a loaner while they fix my chair. Guess it takes a while.
Customer Rating: -
Aeron Chair is Wonderful...with Caveats
I understand why the Aeron gets mixed reviews for comfort, and have come to peace with this. For years, I have sat in my company's Aerons, for hours at a time, and loved them. They were comfortable and I wanted one. So, I bought one. I brought it home, sat in it, and within 10 minutes my legs were tingling and after an hour my back and legs were aching. I tried the chair again the next day and had the same problem. The model I bought was a size "B" Aeron. I returned it today for a size "C" (1.5 inches longer seat depth). Now, my legs feel fine. So what gives?
The Caveat: If the Herman Miller sizing chart shows you to be an A/B or B/C - in other words, capable of using a B or C sized seat in my case, watch out. While you might normally think this means that you could 'theoretically' fit in either seat, what it really means is you have a borderline condition and you need to dig deeper. The B sized seat was painful for me, even though the chart implied I would be comfortable with that size. On the front of the Aeron seat, below the mesh, is a foam crescent-shaped insert. If you get the wrong sized seat (for your actual needs, not for what the chart says), the foam crescent applies a LOT of pressure on the exact wrong part of your thighs. I found the pressure from the B sized seat crescent to be absolutely intolerable. Fortunately, my local retailer let me swap the chair out.
The C size seat adds about 1.5 inches to the seat depth (the distance from the front edge to the rear edge) and, on me, that extra distance moves the crescent forward enough to shift the pressure point to a part of my leg that is less sensitive. I now have no pain in my legs. The point to all this? Use the sizing chart as a basic guide, but if you plan to buy an Aeron, you need to sit in the chair first and size it up for yourself, especially if you are between sizes.
Here is a point on the lumbar support vs. the Posturefit unit. The lumbar support is just a block of rubberish plastic pressing against your back. It works, but if you put it in the wrong place, it will be a pain. The Posturefit unit is more refined and allows a degree of tuning that the lumbar unit does not. However, either can be painful if set incorrectly for your needs. Set correctly, each contributes to your posture.
In conclusion, the Aeron is well-built, really cool and expensive. However, if you get the wrong size - even if Herman Miller thinks the size is a good fit - it will be a pain and you will hate it - absolutely hate it! Remember that these are chairs, not feather beds. Don't build up a false expectation - driven by excessive marketing hype - that sitting in the chair will be some orgasmic experience. Whenever you sit, your skin, muscles, nerves and bones experience pressure. Until Herman Miller repeals physics, pressure = potential discomfort. The Aeron reduces but does not magically eliminate the potential for discomfort. For me, it took 2 chairs and a lot of research and knob twisting to get an acceptable (but not perfect) level of comfort. Take care in your selection!
Customer Rating: 
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Overpriced - Doesn't Last - Lousy Customer Service
My Aeron chair is barely 3 years old and the seat fabric has already split, rendering the chair unusable. I'm willing to pay for a new seat, but that's proving to be impossible. Most dealers don't want to get involved (I guess that means that there are a lot of busted seats out there!). I found two places that claim to offer replacement seats. One told me that they sent it, but I never received it and they're no longer responding to e-mails. Another said that it would respond in 24-48 hours. Well, it was more than a week ago when they first said this, and I've written to them several times since then, but each time they say "we'll respond in 24 - 48 hours." Save yourself some big bucks and a lot of trouble -- buy a cheaper chair at Ikea or Staples. Skip the overpriced, poorly made chair that could fall apart as mine has, leaving you with an expensive piece of garbage and nowhere to turn.
