ErgoImpact LeanRite Elite Standing Chair review – A transforming chair for your standing desk

REVIEW – Do you have a standing desk? Do you actively adjust settings during the day? Check and check. What if your chair could do the same? The how may not immediately come into view, but the LeanRite Elite Standing Chair from ErgoImpact can morph into each of the positions needed to support seated, leaning and even standing back support. You’re going to want to check this out.

What is it?

The LeanRite Standing Chair is a stool with an adjustable seat and a huge range of vertical positions combined with a weighted base and cushioned standing mat all in a single unit.

What’s included?

• Weighted, wheeled base
• Pneumatic post w/ seat, anchor plate and post trim
• Tilt lever
• Seat cushion
• Foot cushion
• Tool and hardware (heat-shrunk to card)
• Manual and info cards

Design and features

The LeanRite Elite may look a little funky in its most compact seated position, but it’s hiding a wealth of features.

The seat is similar to that of a lot of lab chairs with a textured, durable surface that’s spill proof and provides a fair amount of cushion. The included memory foam pad can be strapped into place if you’r looking for some additional cushion. The front edge has a nice rounded edge which comes in useful for a number of reasons.

The base is large, pretty heavy and has a full surface anti-fatigue mat which is great for long sessions on your feet. Especially if your office floor is concrete as is mine. The foot lever shown below operates the 1st stage of the pneumatic seat lift.

While we’re looking at the base, on the underside is a massive set of old school skateboard wheels that allow you to roll the chair around should you need to.

Due to the weight of the base, this is easier with the seat in the higher positions.

Under the seat are two levers. The left lever allows the seat to tilt between 3 positions; flat, 45º and vertical. The right lever operates the 2nd stage of the pneumatic seat lift.

In it’s full height position with the seat vertical, the LeanRite Elite looks like this.

Here’s the GIF you’ve been wanting to see to show how this all plays out. There are no preset positions for height, so you can adjust anywhere within the range you see here.

Assembly, Installation, Setup

First insert the post into the base and then install and tighten the 4 specified bolts through the anchor plate to lock everything together.

Next install the two-piece trim around the bottom of the post and secure with the included screw.

Insert the seat lift lever into the slot under the seat and secure with the screw post and screw, tightening with two hex wrenches. The lever is a little tricky to get into position and only requires a light touch to have the seat start to raise, so take your time and be ready.

If you want to use the seat pad, wrap the straps under the seat but above the levers, clip the buckles and snug up the straps. The foot cushion is vacuum sealed, so open that up and install it inside the zip cover and let it expand for a few hours. It’s a half-round style that feels good if you’re the type to take off your shoes.

Performance

I’ve been lucky enough to have a standing desk at work the last 3 years and I use it daily. I have a great office chair that does all the things a normal office chair should do, but 75% of the time, I’ve wheeled that out of the way and have the desk almost fully raised.

The first thing I noticed using the LeanRite is that the lowest position is higher than my chair. My standing desk has 4 memory positions, and I was able to set position (1) for my chair, (2) for the LeanRite in it’s lowest position, (3) LeanRite with the Stage 1 (heel lever) all the way up and the seat at 45º and (4) LeanRite fully raised with the back support vertical. Those positions look like this.

The fully seated position is my least favorite as my back starts asking where the seat back is, but if I remember to sit up straighter than in the above GIF, I’m good. I go between the other two positions a lot, including lowering the height a bit and tilting the seat flat so I can lean back against the generously curved front edge pressing against my lumbar area. The anti-fatigue mat is great, and works much better than the stand alone mat that I have to move out of the way when I decided it’s a full sitting-in-the-chair day.

Here are a couple of things you need to know… Your body weight is the easiest way to lower the seat. You can use your elbow/forearm to press down from the highest positions. From the mid to lower heights, it helps to unweight the seat a bit and then pull or step on a lever and weight the seat to get to the height you want. I actually end up spinning the chair 180º and rest my elbows on it like a podium for a spell. The wheels come in handy for that switcheroo.

I found it a little too easy to accidentally step on the heel lever in the mid height range (my position 3) which can result in a height drop unless you used the upper lever under the seat to get to your intermediary height. Similarly in that middle leaning range, sometimes I’d stand up and then widen my stance off the mat (I am a snowboarder after all), and then would be tempted to lean back in that stance. This is a no go as without your weight on the mat, those skateboard wheels help it just coast out of the way. I never fell, but quickly learned that your feet stay on the mat if you are using the chair.

The only other thing is to be prepared to answer a lot of questions, and let other people try it out. “What’s that? How does it work? Do you like it? Can I try it?”

What I like about ErgoImpact LeanRite Standing Chair

• Multiple positions to keep your body in motion throughout the day
• Anti-fatigue mat feels great on the feet
• No chair to move out of the way (if you can fully make the switch to this chair)

What needs to be improved?

• Sticker on left lever should say Tilt, not lift (I know that it says lift because you have to to tilt, but both levers say lift so…)
• Personal learning curve to not step off and lean

Final thoughts

The LeanRite Elite Standing Chair is unique in its ability to cover a lot of the same range of height as a standing desk while providing seated, leaning and standing options with a single chair. The incorporation of an anti-fatigue mat is genius as is the scenario where you no longer need to find a home for your chair when you choose to stand up. That said, I’m not sure all users would be able to switch 100% to a chair of this type.

Price: $699.00 (currently on sale for $589.00)
Where to buy: ErgoImpact.com
Source: The sample of this product was provided for free by ErgoImpact, who did not have a final say on the review and did not preview the review before it was published.