Thanks to Adam Dunn for this guest post!
Sitting is bad for your health. It’s bad for your lower back. It’s bad for your heart. And it’s bad for your waistline. That last tidbit was interesting to me. So interesting, in fact, that I looked up the differential in caloric burn for eight hours between standing and sitting. It turns out that for a two hundred pound male that difference could be as much as 500+ calories per day according to the American Council on Exercise. You can play with the numbers to see what it might be in your case.
Naturally when faced with these indisputable facts, (it’s science for goodness sakes!), I sought out a more ergonomic solution for my office bound life. In my search I came across two front-runners, and put brief reviews for each in this article. Now, in the spirit of full disclosure, I am going to tell you up-front that neither of these options worked for my situation; so, being an innovator and overall problem-solver, I created a third product, and have detailed it just as briefly here. Also, despite my obvious bias, in an attempt at fairness, I have included all the links to their sites, all the research, and a link out to a separate review for each product. My goal really is to be informative. The last product to be reviewed here is mine, and my friend Pace McCulloch’s invention and it is not yet on the market, but will be launched as a KickStarter project soon.
Now to the meat of this article!
The GeekDesk
Favored Model: http://www.geekdesk.com/default.asp?contentID=633
Price: $749 – $799
Outside Review: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/22/technology/personaltech/22basics.html
The GeekDesk is absolutely a terrific desk. It raises and lowers with the push of a button, and sports a truly huge (79’’ wide) work surface. This would easily be large enough to fit two monitors, and all of your work materials on top. The main benefit of this desk is that you if you feel fatigued, you can lower the desk back down, and have a seat.
If money were no object, and I didn’t have to worry about deconstructing and removing my current expensive and very heavy desk from my office, this desk would be mine. Those were the two drawbacks for me, and they were just too steep. The price was too high, and I didn’t want to put my nice desk up on craigslist.
Kangaroo Pro
Favored Model: http://www.ergodesktop.com/content/hybrid-kangaroo
Price: $599 ($459 for the single monitor option)($549 for iMac users)
Outside Review: http://lifehacker.com/5914271/transform-any-desk-into-an-affordable-flexible-standing-desk
This stand up unit truly has an ingenious design. It mounts to your existing desk, (big win), and also raises and lowers with convenience — very nice. It comes in four different styles, and I think I would go with black if I were to get one.
I just couldn’t do it, however. I am a software engineer. I am a two monitor guy. That means that I would need to pay around $600 bucks to stand at work. The other big negative for me? I’m not just a two monitor guy, I’m ahigh maintenance two monitor guy. I have to have my Mac laptop and accompanying Apple Cinema display, and I just didn’t find a solid solution for that. So again, the price was out of my range, and although I would consider paying good money for the perfect solution, this just didn’t do it for me.
Stand-Up Desk Kit
Pace at his Stand Up Desk Kit with optional keyboard mount, and monitor stand.
Price: $187-$199, free shipping in the lower 48 states.
Again, I apologize for any biases. My journey truly was to find the best solution for my problem, “butt-in-chair-itis”. This design is so simple that I really don’t know why it doesn’t exist in the market. It is a 47’’ by 23’’ work surface, supported by four patent pending adjustable legs. You simply set it up on top of your existing desk. Big win, remember? The adjustability allows for people, short and tall, to stand at work. The top comes in a plethora of styles allowing the user to really define and match its style to their office. We really took the Occam’s Razorapproach to it’s design: the simpler the better. It has the lowest price of all competing solutions, and still checks all the boxes to be ergonomically compliant.
The biggest negative is that it is not adjustable on the fly, but that was very easy to remedy. I used a stool. When it is time to sit, I sit, when I want to stand, I kick the stool away and stand. If I need break, I’m already on my feet, so I take a walk and clear my mind. Once I had set the desk at my preferred height the thought never occurred to my to fiddle with it again. As far as setting the monitors at the right height, you can take the “el cheapo” route and use books, but if you want to avoid the “ghetto look” like I do, you get the “still pretty el cheapo” monitor stands. All of these extras add up to about $140, making the grand total about $327ish – still about $260 less than my second choice.
This product is not currently on the market, but hopefully will be with the help of KickStarter supporters.
So there you have it. Those are my honest opinions of each of my favorite standing desk products. If you have any differences of opinion or any comments whatsoever, I would love to hear them, because after all, we are just trying to come up with the best solution for each other. Happy standing!