Quick Verdict
It’s never easy to evaluate a product in a category where the price can range anywhere from $50 to over $2,000. It’s even more difficult to convey with words how a proper chair can change your life, especially if you sit in it eight to 12 hours a day. With a starting price of $1,749, there’s no denying the Anthros chair is a premium offering on the market. While the price is comparable to options from Herman Miller and Steelcase, Anthros is relatively new to the industry, so it’s fair to wonder whether it’s worth the cost.
Everyone should know that just because something is more expensive doesn’t necessarily mean it’s better. This is especially true within the chair space, particularly when it comes to the trend of gaming chairs that resemble racing seats from cars. When it comes to the Anthros chair, however, you’re getting what you pay for. It’s a high-quality chair that’s built in America, very customizable, but more importantly, designed to promote proper posture. It’s one of those products that might feel expensive, but it actually saves you money in the long run because it can be the only chair you’ll need.
Posture Partner
Photo credit: Jason Siu / FullCleared
For over 20 years, I’ve spent, at minimum, 10 hours a day sitting on a chair in front of my computer. When I was younger, I didn’t put much thought into the chair I spent the majority of my day in, and it wasn’t until recently where I started being more wary about my terrible posture. About 15 years ago, I decided to invest in a quality mattress after hearing so many people tell me what a difference it makes. One would think after that realization, I would connect the dots and do the same with a computer chair. The problem is, computer chairs can be difficult to shop for, even if you have a local store that lets you test them out. The reality is, you have to spend days, not hours or even minutes, to know whether a chair is truly comfortable for long-term use. Things were even more difficult for me, since I have terrible posture. Trying to correct decades of improper sitting doesn’t happen overnight.
Before I start talking about the Anthros chair specifically, I want to spend some time going over my history with computer chairs. When I was in my 20s, I would just buy whatever comfortable chair I could find at the local office supply store for under $200. At the time, I thought spending that amount on a chair meant I was getting a good one, but those would typically last a few years at most. I then bought into the hype around the IKEA Markus chair, which many touted as one of the best chairs under $300. Again, that chair lasted me a few years, but it didn’t really help promote proper posture or fix my back pain. In 2019, I followed the advice of every “best gaming chair” list I could read—despite knowing better—and bought a Secretlab Omega 2020. For over three years, I kept trying to convince myself that it was a good chair, even though my body told me it was not. The Secretlab’s cushion was hard and uncomfortable for long sessions, and I often find myself slouching even more than before.
My back and shoulder pain continued to get worse and worse, which prompted me to invest in an entirely new desk and chair setup in late 2023. This time, I decided to seek out professional advice and spent a couple hours sitting in various chairs from Herman Miller and Steelcase. I ended up purchasing the Steelcase Gesture, not because it was the most comfortable, but because it forced me to sit in a proper position. For the first few weeks, the Gesture was actually extremely uncomfortable and my body was constantly sore. My posture was so terrible, that I was essentially working out muscles sitting upright. At this point, I even had an in-home consultation with an ergonomics expert to ensure I was not only sitting properly, but everything else at my desk was set up correctly.
Elite Ergonomics
Photo credit: Jason Siu / FullCleared
For about a year, I was extremely happy with the Steelcase Gesture, but I found myself sinking back into old habits. Without thinking, I would slouch or even slide down my seat, extending my legs and finding myself in a lazy position. I have to admit though, within that year, there was a noticeable difference to my lower back pain. I used to experience a lot of soreness while vacationing in Japan and spending all day walking. After using the Gesture for a year, I found myself in significantly less pain despite walking even more during a recent trip to Japan.
However, the biggest reason I decided to start searching for a new chair again late last year, was the Gesture’s seat cushion. It’s one of the thinnest cushions and the way it felt after a year of continued use made me question why the Steelcase Gesture demands such a premium price. One night, I complained about it to my usual gaming group and fellow FullCleared contributors on Discord, and one of them turned my attention to Anthros. I had never heard of the brand, so I began going down the rabbit hole of research, reading and watching reviews.
Admittedly, the price tag made me hesitate a bit. However, that didn’t stop my friend, who I jokingly say is allergic to money. He ordered the Anthros chair and after using it for about a month, had many positive things to say about it. That’s when I decided to reach out to Anthros in hopes of getting a review unit. Fortunately, Anthros was open to the idea, allowing me to customize my own chair and shipping it over for evaluation.
Crafted Comfort
Photo credit: Jason Siu / FullCleared
For starters, the Anthros chair has an assortment of options so you can customize the chair to your liking. I personally think this bespoke experience is necessary for the price range, even if some of the options are an upcharge. I began by selecting my color, opting for Onyx over Quartz, and I chose the ShapeKnit Boucle fabric in a matching shade. This fabric type is a textured stretch fabric, while the alternative option is a synthetic leather. I’m not a big fan of synthetic leather, but it’s there for those who are. There are various colors to choose from with both fabric types.
The back customization was my favorite, with options ranging from standard Onyx to colored wood shades and my personal choice, carbon fiber. Anthros is also working on offering Dreamhack and ESL back panel designs, as it is the official chair of ESL and Dreamhack. For the base, there are two options, a swivel five-spoke and a fixed four-spoke. I opted for the swivel five-spoke base, which allows the chair to swivel independently of the base. The four-spoke base does not swivel and moves with the chair, which helps protect feet from hitting the casters. With my configuration, I only had one option for casters, but choosing the Quartz base color gives the option for standard casters or hard casters. Finally, buyers can choose between having no arms with the chair or the 4D arms, which do cost $99 extra.
Now, while there’s no denying the Anthros chair is at a higher price point than most of the options out there, it does come with some free bonuses. The Anthros Footrest is included, which is adjustable and tilts. The company also includes a guidebook and a personalized posture setup with an Anthros professional. Considering I previously paid for a consultant to visit my home office, there’s value in what Anthros offers. Each chair comes with a 30-day money back guarantee and 12-year warranty.
Easy Assembly
Photo credit: Jason Siu / FullCleared
The chair arrived in two separate boxes, one with the base, and the other with everything else. After unboxing all the items, I inspected each component closely while taking photos. This is where some of the thoughtful details really stood out to me. For example, what you see in the above photo is a built-in cylinder removal tool. While the chair has been designed and developed to meet the 12-year warranty, Anthros is well aware that if anything is going to break, it’s the cylinder. It’s a piece that eventually fails in many chairs—it happened with my IKEA Markus—and it’s one that can be a real pain to replace. With that in mind, this piece you see is one of the innovations on the Anthros chair, and it’s actually new to the market. By using an Allen wrench, the cylinder removal device breaks the taper so that it’s easy to replace the cylinder if you ever need to. Even more thoughtful, the Allen wrench you need is taped to the bottom of the chair, so you don’t have to go hunting for one.
Once I got all the pieces upstairs, it was time to see if the company’s claim of five-minute assembly time was accurate. I was admittedly skeptical, especially since I struggled assembling the Secretlab Omega, which ironically, caused me a lot of back pain. I’m happy to report that the chair can be assembled in as little as five minutes. The base is keyed so it can only be inserted one way, and then attaching the adjustment knobs takes a few seconds each. After attaching the upper seat back, which is also extremely straightforward to line up, the hardest part is getting the cover panel to snap in properly. The chair was so easy to assemble, that I started triple-checking the process to make sure everything was actually correct.
My initial impression upon sitting on the chair for the first time was how comfortable the cushion was. Again, this was one of my major complaints with the Steelcase Gesture I had just been using for over a year, and I’m not exaggerating when I say it’s a night-and-day difference between the two. The company claims that the Anthros chair features the world’s lowest pressure cushion, and results from an independent university test show it outperforms all other office and gaming chair seat cushions tested. Obviously details aren’t provided, but having spent a good amount of time testing various Herman Miller and Steelcase chairs, the difference in the Anthros cushion is immediately noticeable, nevermind the park bench-like hardness found on my Secretlab. When hopping between the four chairs at my disposal—IKEA Markus, Secretlab Omega 2020, Steelcase Gesture, and Anthros—it’s not even a competition. Now that I’ve used this chair daily for nearly a month, I’m even more confident in saying this is the best computer chair cushion I’ve ever sat on.
Embrace the Tilt
Photo credit: Jason Siu / FullCleared
The cushion only goes so far though, because the rest of the chair needs to support your comfort. The biggest difference between the Anthros chair and many of its competitors is the pelvis support in lieu of a traditional lumbar support. This also doubles as a seat pan adjustment, meaning it’ll dictate the seat’s depth rather than being able to move the seat pan itself. The initial adjustment of the Anthros chair is also pretty straightforward, and the videos found on the site are extremely helpful. However, I chose to take advantage of their included consultation service, scheduling a call with Ashley Williams. Ashley is a Doctor of Physical Therapy and has worked in the wheelchair seating industry for 15 years, and it shows when conversing with her. She patiently walked me through the adjustments on the chair and even gave me some pointers on re-adjusting my overall setup, including my monitor height. I instantly felt the difference when she told me I should lower my armrests just a bit.
Admittedly, the pelvis support takes a bit getting used to, along with the gap found on the back of the chair. Like the Gesture before it, the first week with the Anthros involved taking breaks and stretching my back. I felt a similar soreness, which goes to show just how lazy I had become with the Steelcase Gesture, reverting back to poor posture seating positions because they felt more natural. The Anthros really prevents that from happening because of the pelvis support. Anytime I caught myself trying to slouch, the chair would remind me it was a terrible idea, and I naturally ended up sitting more upright throughout the day. If you take the time to consult with an Anthros professional and set up the chair correctly, sitting properly is near effortless, instead of something you feel like you consciously have to do.
Perhaps the biggest reason I’m such a fan of the Anthros chair is that when I want to be lazy, it allows me to be without ruining my posture. You can adjust the tension on the tilt, meaning how far back the chair leans and how much effort it takes. Even when you decide to lean back, the chair promotes that optimal S curve of the spine thanks to the pelvis support, since the chair tilts rather than reclines. I no longer found myself sliding down the chair’s cushion, even when leaning back for an extended period of time. Adjusting the tilt tension is just a matter of turning the knob, and there’s a separate knob to adjust the tilt mechanism, which offers three settings. Locking it keeps the chair in a fixed, upright position, while another setting is a patented feature that is unique to the Anthros chair: the six-degree tilt. This setting offers a slight tilt, and it’s one I find myself using more and more. The third setting is unlocked, which gives 16-degree tilt, allowing me to fully lean back to relieve tension. Once I got familiar with how tilting worked with the Anthros chair, I had a much better understanding of its advantages over reclining.
A Seat Above
Photo credit: Jason Siu / FullCleared
My biggest criticism with the Anthros chair is its 4D armrests. All the praise that the Steelcase Gesture gets for its armrests is well deserved, and I do wish that level of adjustability and versatility was present on the Anthros. For me, it would make the Anthros chair the perfect chair, but as it is, I found it a bit limited. If you’ve never used the Steelcase Gesture before, then this might not apply since you wouldn’t know what you’re missing. But over the last few weeks, it’s the one major complaint I have with the Anthros, particularly wishing that I could swing the armrests out at an angle for when I’m playing a console with a controller in front of my TV. The armrests on the Anthros remind me of what’s found on the Secretlab Omega 2020—they’re not great, but they’re not awful.
Even with its shortcomings in the armrests, specifically when compared to the Steelcase Gesture, the Anthros is still my chair of choice. To be clear, this won’t be the most comfortable chair to be lazy in, but to me, it’s a lot more comfortable than other ergonomic chairs from Steelcase and Herman Miller. Most importantly though, I have spent upwards of 14 to 16 hours in this chair with short breaks and never once did I get up from it and experience any sort of pain. The supportive cushion on the chair has made a world of difference to how I feel at the end of the day. I’d recommend the Anthros to anyone who spends at least six hours sitting in a computer chair per day, or those who have spent years neglecting their posture. It’s also a great recommendation if you’re complaining about the cushion on your current chair.
While I can’t travel into the future to see how it holds up after 12 years of daily use, I will say this: If I added up the amount of money I spent over the last 12 years on multiple different computer chairs, I’ve spent more than what a customized Anthros would have cost me. Had I had the opportunity to just buy an Anthros, I’d probably be healthier for it and I would have saved a few thousand dollars over the years from not having to keep a Massage Envy membership. After a month of use, the build quality and materials used on the Anthros chair gives me confidence it’ll last, but only time can tell. Take it from someone who paid little to no attention to posture over the years—consider a good chair an investment in your health. Your body will thank you each time you stand up.
This review is based on a chair provided by Anthros. However, Anthros did not preview or influence the content of this review prior to its publication. While FullCleared has affiliate partnerships, these do not influence our editorial content. We may, however, earn commissions for products purchased via affiliate links.
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