I am working from home more and more, and I need to do something about my seating situation. I need to get a standing desk, but I also need the option to sit down. Anyone have any of the cheap amazon options that they'd recommend, or else has anyone DIY'd a solution?
Whatever the solution, it needs to be able to handle two 24" monitors.
Cheap treadmill, keyboard tray, Ikea table tops cut to 45 degree and mounted to the wall with brackets, dual monitor stand and a wall mount (already had them, but monitor mounts are relatively inexpensive online).
You can walk at a slow pace and I use the stool when I need to rest a bit.
The version that Costco sells is good, that is what we have. Not super cheap, but cheaper than Varidesk.
Here is a link to my DIY standing desk. Mine wasn't cheap though.
I'm glad I did it and have been really happy with it.
The links appear to be dead TJ.
I find this to be interesting (and ugly). But it is CHEAP: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01GGNV6QQ/?coliid=I23DQAXY5XW9XM&colid=3JYI0GP2NX1QU&psc=0&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it
That said - what is inexpensive to you? $50? $100? $500?
Ikea makes a desk that has a motorized up/down function for sub $500. The reviews all say that the electric motor dies out quickly, but maybe there's a work-around for a more GRM-ish person?
https://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/S59022528/
In reply to aircooled :
I forgot. All the pictures were on photobucket, so now there are no pics in that thread.
My wife uses this one:
https://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/S49084965/
Pretty cheap and she likes it. Infinitely height adjustable in it's range.
Here's a couple pics of my desk from when I finished it. Looks like this now except my desk is more cluttered.
2x4s to raise it up to standing height, and a tall chair to sit in.
Not necessarily relevant, but I was reading an article recently (no link, sorry), saying that now they think standing desks aren't really all they're cracked up to be. Paraphrasing, the original research found that sitting at desk all day was worse for you than getting up and walking around. It seems that everyone focused on the "sitting" part of the question rather than the "at a desk all day" part, and it turns out that spending all day standing at a standing desk doesn't actually help. What you need to do (they said) is get away from your desk and go walking around, and once you do that the type of desk doesn't really matter.
I have the Ikea manual crank one. Works just fine. I find I actually really like to be able to adjust the height even when just sitting.
PS, the motorized ones are like the biggest oxymoron ever to me. "I'm standing at my desk to get in better shape but I'm so damn lazy I need a motor to lift this desk up for me."
Stefan said:
Cheap treadmill, keyboard tray, Ikea table tops cut to 45 degree and mounted to the wall with brackets, dual monitor stand and a wall mount (already had them, but monitor mounts are relatively inexpensive online).
You can walk at a slow pace and I use the stool when I need to rest a bit.
At first I thought this was a joke. But taking into consideration its real, perhaps maybe a stationary bike would work as well for some? Smaller footprint vs the treadmill depending on the bike?
Robbie said:PS, the motorized ones are like the biggest oxymoron ever to me. "I'm standing at my desk to get in better shape but I'm so damn lazy I need a motor to lift this desk up for me."
Motorized seems likely to smoother and a lot less likely to send all the crap you have piled on your desk falling to the floor. :)
I've got a really nice motorized one at work. Was bout $600 as I remember but I really like it.
I converted a regular desk to standing at my old job just by boosting the monitors up some... I think on boxes? Then used a book to raise keyboard/mouse. Then just changed the tilt of monitors, and dropped keyboard/mouse back to desk when I wanted to sit down.
It's a nice way to dip a toe in the water to see if standing is right for you.
Also, make sure to keep something around to raise one foot or the other from time to time... can alleviate back strain from standing until your core strength/posture improve.
I was looking for the same thing at the beginning of the year since I work from 2-3 days per week, and then any inclement weather (snow or hail, etc).
As mentioned, the only desk I could find large enough for what I want that had good reviews were north of $600. I just couldn't bring myself to spend that much on a desk.
Before we remodelled our office at work, I had a cr@ppy L-shaped desk. I bought one of these from Amazon for all of $85, and placed it on one side of the L. I predominantly used the standup arrangement, but when I got tired of that I could pivot and sit down at the other side of the L.
We have since remodelled our whole office, and all of us have these great motorised standdesks: linky dink
codrus said:Robbie said:PS, the motorized ones are like the biggest oxymoron ever to me. "I'm standing at my desk to get in better shape but I'm so damn lazy I need a motor to lift this desk up for me."
Motorized seems likely to smoother and a lot less likely to send all the crap you have piled on your desk falling to the floor. :)
You can go to an ikea and check them both out side by side. the motorized one is the exact same mechanism (it just has a motor and power cords, etc).
I routinely run mine up and down with the hand crank with coffee on the desk and I have no worries about it. As long as you aren't trying to crank to a new world record, then it is super smooth. I actually worry more about the start/stop with motors since there is no softening of the stop and start like you can do by hand. I just ran a test and from fully down to fully up with my coffee right in front of me and took 83 seconds. From my normal up position to my normal down position is about 60 seconds. After I removed my hand from the crank and moved it back to the keyboard, I bumped the table and that shook my coffee more than the cranking (still nowhere close to threat of spilling).
Also, in terms of grassroots, the ikea hand crank one is $250 or $280 depending on if you get the big or small one. The motorized ones are $380 or $450. So you pay $130 or $170 for an electric motor and a couple buttons. The thing is just a simple hex drive so you could very easily hook any electric drill up to drive the table. The drill would give you variable speed and probably much more power than the Ikea motor, brand new at HF for like $15.
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