Product Review: Steelcase Think

The Steelcase Think Chair is touted to be “intelligent enough to understand how you sit, and to adjust itself intuitively”. The awards this chair has won is numerous…from the IDSA IDEA Gold Award…to the Red Dot Award for Product Design. Its list of accomplishments would make any mother proud. To say that “this is the chair with a brain” is a bold statement, so we were happy to receive our Steelcase Think recently so we can try for ourselves. You can find the Steelcase Think Chair on Amazon for about $689, which matches the options on the one we tested. For more info, you can also check out the Steelcase Think mini-site for more info. Anyways, here are our thoughts below:

Our Summary: Workified Score – 7.5

When we first pulled this chair out-of-the-box…we initially thought “sexy chair”. We received this chair the same time as the Steelcase Leap, and judging a book by its cover, we thought this Think chair would be the one to beat (we were wrong, we liked the Leap better). Starting with what we liked about the Think chair. The visual design of this chair is excellent…sleek lines, mesh back, cushion seat pan, vibrant color. When you first sit on this chair, it’s definitely comfortable and the pneumatic height adjustment cylinder provides a good amount of springiness without making you feel like you sat on a rock or sat on a bobble head. Its got the same highly adjustable arm rests we loved on the Steelcase Leap. Lastly, instead of the infinitely adjustable recline tension knobs found on most chairs, this one has a dial offering four simple options ranging from full upright lock to easy recline mode. Very nice touch. The biggest thing we didn’t like about the chair is the mesh backing. The material just felt a bit cheap to us, and we weren’t convinced that the many horizontal metal bars running along the back to support the sitter was the most “thoughtful” approach to back support design on a chair.

Photo Walkthru

The hydraulic cylinder is located in the center of the chair, but it doesn’t pivot back and forth like cheap office chairs. The tilt mechanism only reclines on the chair back, and the seat pan stays stationary (which is a good thing so that your feet stays flat on the floor while you recline).

This is probably our favorite feature of the chair, the “Preference Control”. Basically, it’s a knob with four click settings that adjusts the recline tension. The highest tension locks the chair back in the upright position. Much better design than those infinitely turnable knobs.

We found the seat pan to be very comfortable. There’s good amount of padding, and it adjusts forward and backwards to accommodate short and tall users.

Excellent adjustable armrests. Arms can telescope forward and back, move sideways, and adjust up and down so you can find a natural position that comfortably supports the wrists, forearms, shoulders and neck.

We love the sloped seat pan in the front. When you sit forward in the chair, the front of the seat pan relaxes a bit to accommodate the forward weight without cutting of circulation in the legs.

We like the breathable mesh back, but thought they could have used a little better material as it felt a bit flimsy. The metal crossbars provide adequate support, and the padded lumbar adjusts up and down to accommodate different users.

Additional Photos