Serta Claremont Ergonomic Executive Office Chair with Back in Motion Technology, Adjustable Mid Back Desk Chair with Lumbar Support, Bonded Leather, Black

I started my search for a new chair and did about a month of research. I had already owned a ~$150, rather nice Office Max chair. It was a decent chair, but a chair’s comfortability is more important to me than most people, sans a few who may be in a similar boat as me. I suffer from RSD (Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy), and it is a degenerative, disabling disease that causes chronic pain in limbs; in my case, I suffer from nearly constant burning pain down my left leg, blow-torch burning. I’d rather be water-boarded than spend an hour in an average high-school metal chair. Now that I have stated that, you know how important a good chair is for me.I happen to spend several hours a day at my home office, sitting for more than half the day working, playing, et cetera. In the beginning of my research, I debated between those high end Mesh chairs, high end Gamer chairs like DXRacer, and this Serta chair. I was really torn between the three. I was afraid the Mesh wouldn’t be comfortable enough, and feared the DXRacer would be geared more toward young adult gamers than office workers (though I am a gamer as well). So, knowing Serta has a good reputation with their products being comfortable, I took a good look at this chair and purchased it after watching the Amazon Video on it. I took a gamble, telling myself I could always return it.My uncle helped me assemble the chair. It took us about 20 minutes tops, me being skilled at assembly and he a little less so, but I imagine most people can assemble this chair without issue and within reasonable time. The instructions were fine, but looking at the box’s chair picture also helps.The Serta has all the stock, expected features and then some. It has height adjustment, with an above average max height. Me being six foot one, at full height extension, my lanky legs can’t reach the ground, which speaks to its scope. There’s only one other lever beneath the seat, so it’s unlike many higher end chairs that have a gamut of confusing levers. The lever on the left side will lock and unlock the reclining feature. When unlocked the reclining extent goes pretty far back. Let’s put it this way, I have yet to hit the max reclining position in a real life scenario. The last adjustable feature is the arm rest height. It works well, offering many different ranges of height. This feature in particular was one that I never knew I missed or needed. It helps improve ergonomics drastically. I tend to like the armrests high, subsequently my shoulders relax and experience less neck and shoulder pain at the end of the day. One downfall with the arm rests—this is likely true for only my unit though I’m not positive—is that the right one wriggles and doesn’t feel sturdy. It doesn’t impact my everyday use, but when wiggling it, it moves loosely. The left suffers from no such defect.In terms of comfortability, long-term sitting, and overall feeling, it is by far the best office chair I’ve sat in. In all my previous office chairs, of which I’ve owned many (eight?), within a certain time frame, possibly minutes or hours, I’d start to hurt. My chronic pain would flare up after hours of sitting or even just a few minutes. And my chronic pain wasn’t the only thing that would bother me. Sometimes my back would ache, my knees would hurt, and my neck and shoulder area would become particularly obstinate. The Serta has terrific lumbar support. Instead of a flat back, a gaping hole where your back would naturally slouch, the Serta comes in to support. It curves naturally with my back and holds me up well despite bad scoliosis. It’s not a full backed chair, for there is no head support, but I never found myself needing head support. I don’t sit in my office chair to rest me head and, unless your job is extremely boring, I imagine you don’t either. This is the first chair I’ve sat in that contours to my entire back. It feels as though every nook and cranny is molded to it. The seat’s width is nearly sized to my exact preference. If you’re a little… bigger… on the backside, it may be too narrow. I can say myself, I very skinny and there is about an inch and a half left on either side of the seat. For this reason, it may not be suited for larger people. Speaking of butts, after prolonged periods of time, my butt never goes numb sitting on the Serta, which happens to be a first concerning my experience with chairs. Also, unlike those faux padded sub-$150 chairs, my weight never pushes me past the cushion on the chair’s seat. I’m light, but I do believe this is just superior craftsmanship and is the reason no butt-numbing ensues.On carpet the castors are extremely stubborn. The Serta is a hard chair to move when over carpet, especially when sitting in it simultaneously.The chair’s biggest selling point is its biggest downfall. The Back-in-Motion pivot design simply doesn’t work well. It can even be uncomfortable in some positions. I don’t know if this is the case because I am a mere 140 pounds, but the back in motion technology fails to move with me when I lean forward. The only way I can get it to move with me is by kicking my legs out forcefully, and then it fights with me until it reverts back to its natural position. Also in my office it’s difficult to kick my legs out—not to mention awkward—because my leg room is restricted by the computer and desk in front of me. I would have returned the chair for this sole reason if it wasn’t perfect in nearly every other category. Having been a person with back problems, multiple surgeries, and chronic pain, I can overall strongly recommend this chair. If you’re in a similar situation to mine, the Serta just may be the answer to your problems.

I have had this chair for a few weeks now and find it to be comfortable, supportive and good for preventing lower back pain. If you are a desk jockey like me, you probably have back pain from leaning forward at your desk and computer. This medium-height chair provides firm, upright support between the natural waist and tailbone, alleviating my lower back ache. (I am 5'9", large build.) All the chair parts (seat, headrest, sides, armrests) are plush. The padded lumbar support moves with me as I lean forward and backward, and it always presses a little into my lower back but in a comfortable way. This chair naturally promotes sitting up straight with good posture and does not allow much slouching. If you prefer a super cushy chair that you can sink into and lean back or rock, this is probably not the one for you.The wheelbase glides nicely on the floor with smooth, quiet motion. The seat adjustment controls work well and have nice levers that are well-marked and easy to operate. Overall the chair feels sturdy and has no wobbling. It rocks and swivels with smooth, easy motion and makes no "chair noise" squeaks, gas shock hisses or other distracting sounds.The leather is decent quality but I do wish that Serta used black thread for stitching instead of the white stitching that is everywhere and does not look upscale. The plastic arms and wheelbase have a thin, acrylic faux metal coating. This is the only part of the chair that has a cheap look and feel. The wheelbase arrived with some minor scratches to the plastic finish. I think I will need to be very careful as this thing will probably scratch if you just look at it funny.Total value? A whole lotta chair for $239. More comfortable than I expected, looks nice and the quality appears high enough to provide years of use.