Vari L-Shape Corner Electric Standing Desk review

REVIEW – Most standing desks give you a rectangle to work with, but what if you need more?  Vari has launched their L-Shape Corner Electric standing desk which makes it corner friendly, and offers the biggest work surface in their lineup.  We’ve put this behemoth together to see what it’s all about.

What is it?

This L-shape Corner Electric desk by Vari is a large, three-leg standing desk.  The design allows modularity in which side the long or short end of the desk go to fit your needs, and like most Vari products it’s very well built.  Reviewed in Walnut finish, it is also available in reclaimed wood, black, and light wood finish options.

We’ve featured Vari products for a while at The Gadgeteer.  Vari has been around since 2012 with the inception of their first ‘no-install’ standing desk system, to today where they have a full product line of ergonomics focused furniture.

What’s included?

• Vari L-Shape Electric Standing Desk
• Vari coaster
• Vari desk hooks
• Vari hook and loop cable ties

Tech specs

Design and features

The Vari L-Shape Corner Electric Standing Desk is designed to fit into the corner of a room, and the pseudo-pentagon (or manta ray, as debated in the Gadgeteer writers discord) shape of the centerpiece with curved front makes it easy to fit.  By design, you can place the long and short extensions on either side, so you have some flexibility in placement.  At the time of this review, this is the largest desk surface you can get from Vari, and a lifetime warranty backs it.

Given its size, motors are built into each of three leg assemblies.  The height controller connects to a central control box, which then talks to the independent leg motors to work in unison.

The 1.25″ thick surface is described as ‘3D laminate-wrapped’ which usually means a compressed wood core.  This isn’t unusual, and is very well done on this desk – a solid walnut desk in this format would be a bit more expensive.  The surfaces are uniform and solid, with no signs of delamination or issues with the finish.  The L-Shape Corner Electric Standing Desk features Vari’s ComfortEdge, which incorporates a gradual slope on the edge of the desk.  This keeps the edge from digging into the wrists or arms when in use.

Assembly, Installation, Setup

This desk is a big one, and you’ll definitely need an extra set of hands to get you through the install.  As we’ve come to expect from Vari, everything arrived in excellent condition despite some dings to the shipping boxes.  Three boxes in total were needed to ship the L-Shape Corner Electric Standing desk.

To get started, we left the plastic material on the floor to protect the respective surfaces and placed the corner and long surfaces together.  The frame pieces are installed first, followed by the support rail and support plates.  Lastly, the legs with integrated motor assemblies.  The third leg just gets attached to the support rails and the surface comes later.

Next comes the control box and controller mount, then we get to flip it over and see the fruits of our labor.  This is a heavy, awkward desk to move in this state – please make sure you have help with this part.  Lastly, the final surface is attached.  With a little bit of cable cleanup, we have a desk!  The instructions were generally clear, and all in took about an hour and a half.

Performance

Vari has been around for a while and has built a reputation for quality, comfortable desks.  The L-Shape Corner Standing Electric desk is no different in that regard.  The lift motion is smooth and quiet, and the overall build is extremely stable thanks to the wide base of the legs.

I am generally skeptical of marketing, especially when it comes to something like a desk.  The ComfortEdge system really does live up to its name though.  Despite always trying to keep good ergonomics with my forearms off the desk surface, whenever I use a mouse, I tend to rest my forearm down, and after a while, that indention from the desk shows up.  Not so with the the Vari L-Shape Corner Electric Standing desk.

Another feature of this desk that I really enjoyed in our space is the ability to dial in a precise height, and set profiles.  As the office is shared and my wife is a bit shorter than I am, it’s been great being able to push a button and have the desk automagically raise to where I need it – and likewise for her.

I’m not running monitor arms on this setup, and while the flat corner shape in the back would be fine for a cable pass through, I am skeptical if I’d be able to keep the desk flat against the wall with an articulating monitor arm system attached.  Given the size and weight of the desk, moving it around to install arms wouldn’t be a fun use of an afternoon, so this may be something worth considering depending on your setup.

What I like about the Vari L-Shape Corner Electric Standing Desk

• Wonderful aesthetics and robust build quality.
• Ability to program height adjustments.
• Ergonomics.

What needs to be improved?

• Leg motors are not user-serviceable, or replaceable without disassembling the desk.
• Pre-drilled cable management cutouts with grommets could be a nice option for a desk meant to be against a wall.
• Not a ton of space in the back corner for monitor arms.

Final thoughts

If you’re looking for more surface space in a standing desk, no doubt that Vari has a great option here in their L-Shape Corner Electric Standing desk.  While the price is high, the build quality combined with the lifetime warranty make this a desk that you can expect to have for a while.  I would prefer to see a more repair-friendly system in the leg motors, but otherwise am generally without complaint.

Price: $1295
Where to buy: Vari
Source: The sample of this product was provided for free by Vari. Vari did not have a final say on the review and did not preview the review before it was published.