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I was introduced to the ErgoTune brand a few years ago when the Singaporean company released the Supreme (gen 3) office chair to the Australian market. Not only did it score well in our ErgoTune Supreme review, but I waxed lyrical about its successor in my ErgoTune Joobie review.
Following on the success of the Joobie, ErgoTune then released the Vesby, which is quite unlike its older siblings. It resembles a peacock chair more than an office chair and that, perhaps, is also what makes it one of the most comfortable seats I’ve had the pleasure of sitting on at my desk.
According to the ErgoTune website, it’s taken the company three years to develop the Vesby and, in my opinion, that time was put to good use. It combines good looks and ergonomics quite well, and you don’t have to set it up from scratch like the other two ErgoTune chairs. However, the prebuilt parts have one annoying issue that I’m sure can be fixed if the company decides on making a V2 model of the Vesby in future.
ErgoTune Vesby review: price & availability
The Vesby is the most expensive ErgoTune chair I’ve tried, coming in at AU$999 / SG$899 retail. That’s still a competitive price point, given there are several all-mesh chairs from other well-known brands that go well over the one-grand mark.
The good news is that there are usually small discounts to be had throughout the year directly from the brand. For example, at the time of writing, when there are no major sales on, there’s AU$110 / SG$130 off the Vesby. It’s not a huge discount, but then I can’t think of anyone who would scoff at a little savings.
ErgoTune has a six-year warranty on the chair, beginning from the date of delivery. This covers manufacturing defects and functionality issues that include the hydraulics, armrests and the wheels. Cosmetic problems reported after seven days from delivery, however, are not covered in the warranty.
Delivery is free and it will require some amount of assembly after it arrives at your door.
ErgoTune Vesby review: Unboxing & first impressions
The ErgoTune Vesby comes in two boxes – the large one housing the prebuilt seat pan, the armrests and the backrest; the other flat box holds the base and wheels. Also in the flat box are a couple of Poppits (clippable design elements) that can be fitted to the backrest, although purchasing additional ones is only available to Singapore-based customers. Handily, all the tools you need for the assembly are in a little hatch under the seat.
The moment you unbox all the parts, you can see quality oozing from them all. The only exception is the underside of the seat pan where the little door to the storage space has been cut out. This has rough edges, and while I didn’t need to do more than remove the tools housed in there, a little filing or smoothening could prevent any accidental cuts to the hand.
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The product listing page on the ErgoTune website states that assembly is “easy” and should take about “10 minutes”, although I should note that, if you’re in Australia, the links to the video and the user calibration guide don’t work (they revert to the Supreme’s listing page). That’s because these are hosted on the Singapore edition of the ErgoTune site and you’ll need a VPN to view those.
I think this is an oversight on the company’s part even though you can do without either of them as all the information is within the box. However, these are useful resources that should be available to all (potential) consumers in every market that the brand sells in.
The website and the detailed assembly instructions on the large sheet inside the box made it seem like setting up the chair on my own would be easy, but that wasn’t my experience.
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The seat pan is heavy, so just getting it onto the large box to begin adding the armrests (as instructed) could be difficult for some people. The angle of the arms is the bigger problem here, though, as they make the seat shift on the box and someone has to hold the pre-built seat in place while another person does the assembly.
Then getting an even heavier half-built chair onto the base isn’t a one-person job, so I tipped the base over the undercarriage instead to better sight the positioning of the gaslift rod.
Getting the backrest attached was probably the easiest part… after the whole thing was done.
The good news is that after all that hard work, plonking into the chair is the most satisfying thing I’d felt. Sure, I was exhausted after assembling the Vesby solo, but the chair felt roomy and I was tempted to lounge rather than sit straight. Fortunately, the lumbar support ensures you don’t slouch and yet it was very comfortable from the get-go. And it looked so unlike any office chair I’ve seen – in a very good way. It was love at first sight.
ErgoTune Vesby review: Design & build quality
While I think the ErgoTune Vesby looks like a peacock chair, friends and family who’ve seen it in my home say it looks like something from an alien movie set. One person even exclaimed it looked like a frog… probably because I have the Celadon Green colourway. Either way, I love the overall design of this mesh chair and encourage you to get something other than the usual black – the colours give it personality.
Key specs
Material: High-quality mesh
User height: 145cm and above
Max load: 130kg
Seat height: 46cm – 57.3cm
Seat depth: 38.5cm – 45cm
Adjustable points: 14
Available colours: 5
Warranty: 6 years
Other than the black variant, the other models in the Vesby range use a darker shade of their colourway on the plastic frame, adjustment controls and arm pads, which adds an extra dimension to the look – it’s not one-note, so to speak.
Seen from behind, the Vesby’s rounded backrest makes it look broader than the standard office chair, and while the seat width is the standard 50cm like the Joobie, the armrests are set wider apart, which makes the chair feel roomier. And that’s a good thing for larger or bigger-built people like me, although its load capacity maxes out at 130kg (as with the Supreme and Joobie). If you’re heavier, you’ll need to look elsewhere.
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The arm pads are broader than Supreme or the Joobie and, importantly, they pivot a full 360º. That means you can roll them right around your waist if you ever feel the need to. The armrests also move back and forth, and that takes care of my complaint with the Joobie where I found the elbows hung off the back of the arm pads.
Overall, the Vesby is very well built, with each part out of the box feeling solid and sturdy. It feels just as strong when fully assembled. I’ve been sitting on my chair for about 8 months at the time of writing and it still looks brand new.
Even the mesh used on the Vesby is different to the material used on the Supreme and the Joobie – instead of a 2:1 fabric to polyester ratio, the Vesby features double the fabric (so a 4:1 ratio) for better breathability. And I can vouch for how lovely it is in Sydney’s humid summer months – it feels more like cotton than polyester and that makes a huge difference when humidity is high.
The only issue with the overall build is the clicky lumbar support and that comes pre-assembled. Every time I lean back, it clicks quite loudly – that means it’s either not fitted well or the attachment point needs redesigning. I can understand that it requires a little give to allow for body movements and some natural flexing, but it shouldn’t be a disturbance to the user and I find it very distracting.
Like the Supreme, the lumbar curvature here is also quite extreme, but it’s perfect for people with lower back issues and, I for one, truly appreciate it. I also love the fact that it can be adjusted in both height and tension (just like the Joobie), so it should suit a wider height range of users than the Supreme.
The biggest design change that I’m a fan of involves the underseat control levers – they’re bigger and easier to reach for compared to the Supreme. They’re also shaped differently from each other, so you don’t always have to look down to identify them (once you’ve learnt which one does what, of course). That said, the controls are quite tight on my chair, although the height adjustment lever is beginning to loosen after months of forcing it to move.
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I am yet to meet a headrest on an office chair that I like, and the Vesby is no different, although the new shape makes it a lot more comfortable than the Joobie or the Supreme. The headrest has three adjustments – height, depth and angle. The height allowance means it can sit lower than the top of the backrest and, for short users like me, that’s a massive improvement. While there’s a locking mechanism for the height and depth adjustments, there are none for the angle, although it takes brute force to change the angle of the headrest.
ErgoTune has also added a touch of decorative flair to the Vesby by collaborating with designers to make Poppits – simple plug-and-use additions to personalise the chair. These clip onto the edge of the backrest but, sadly, they’re not available from the Australia ErgoTune online store (which is where I’m based).
ErgoTune Vesby review: In use
The Vesby looks more like a regular piece of furniture than an office chair and it sure sits like one too – and that’s a good thing. Whether you want to maintain good posture while working at your desk or you want to lounge with your feet up, it feels comfortable. If there was any ErgoTune chair that can double as an office chair during the day and a gaming one in the evening, I would say it’s the Vesby.
A lot of that I can attribute to the wider arms that make the chair feel spacious, and the ability to loosen the lumbar support and lean fully back to relax makes a world of difference in real-world use. I’ve often done that when needing to write some of my thoughts down while planning an article or a review. I just find the clicking of the lumbar support annoying.
The extra fabric in the mesh also makes this chair feel nicer, not just more breathable – although I admit that could well be my personal preference as I’m not the biggest fan of polyester materials anyway.
The one thing that some users might have an issue with is the deep curvature of the lumbar support and not just because it could be harsh – it can reduce the seat depth significantly so that your knees aren’t exactly touching the edge of the waterfall seat. And that means you’ll need to find a sweet spot with the seat depth, backrest angle and lumbar adjustments that work for you, so don’t expect this chair to feel fantastic on the first go.
The waterfall seat edge is very welcome but, if you’re anything like me and occasionally bend your knees acutely to keep your feet under you (rather than the correct 90º angle), the hanging edge can push into the top of your calf muscles. Then again, that’s a good reminder to maintain a correct sitting position at all times.
And while the adjustment controls are easy to reach, getting them to shift is harder as it takes a good amount of muscle power to move the levers. This excessive force means you might exceed the point of adjustment you want to reach, so it takes a few tries each time to get the right setup. This could, however, be a unique use case where the chair sent to me for this review has tight controls, but it’s well worth noting – as I’ve already mentioned, I found it hard to adjust the seat height for a long time, and now the lever is a little easier to use although not quite as smooth as I’d like it to be.
The waterfall seat edge and the tight adjustment controls are small niggles and the clicky lumbar support could just be my specific chair – on the whole, however, the Vesby is very comfortable for all-day use, no matter the climate. I do wish that the Poppits were available in Australia too.
ErgoTune Vesby review: Final verdict
|
Attribute |
Notes |
Score |
|
Value |
It’s the most expensive ErgoTune chair, but it does justify its cost in some ways. |
4.5 / 5 |
|
Design & build |
It’s a solid, heavy chair that will last a long while, but a clicky lumbar support is annoying. |
4.5 / 5 |
|
In use |
It feels roomy, is very comfortable and doesn’t compromise on ergonomics. The adjustment levers are tight though. |
4.5 / 5 |
|
Overall |
If you want a good-looking chair that costs under a grand, you can’t do better than the ErgoTune Vesby. It’s not quite perfect though. |
4.5 / 5 |
The ErgoTune Vesby is a very different style of office chair, designed to blend into a user’s home decor. It successfully blends looks and ergonomics in a unique way that I think is better for a home office rather than the workplace.
You will, however, need to shell out more for the Vesby than the Joobie or Supreme, but I think it justifies the higher price tag. Firstly, it uses more material thanks to the broader design, but I think having the feeling of more room thanks to the wider armrests is enough to justify paying a premium for some users. Personally, it’s also the first Ergotune chair whose headrest I actually like and use, even though it’s still not quite perfect.
That said, you are still very much paying for the looks here as the Joobie has similar adjustment points and remains my pick of the best office chair in Australia and in Singapore. The good news is that there seems to be a year-round discount available on the Vesby, but you could see bigger savings when popular shopping events like Black Friday come calling.
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sharmishta.sarkar@futurenet.com (Sharmishta Sarkar)
