Standing desk recommendations

I'm upgrading my home office and thinking of getting a standing desk. My top candidate at the moment is this: https://www.mightyape.co.nz/mn/buy/mighty-ape-gorilla-office…

Anyone have any experience with this desk, and in particular the depth of the drawer? (I'm wondering if my office drawers will fit under it at the lowest setting).

Any other recommendations gratefully received - my requirements are basically something sturdy (I must be an enthusiastic typist as when I work at a cheap IKEA desk it shakes when I type). Drawer not essential, but preferably it would have white legs and a pale wood top, and memory setting for the different heights. Thanks!

Comments

  • +1

    Ok, I'm going to have a bit of a rant, but hopefully you find something useful…

    In my opinion most desks, particularly adjustable height ones, aren't low enough to sit at comfortably unless either you're a 7 foot basketballer, or you have a jacked up chair and a good foot rest. I'm over 6 foot, but prefer my desks to be around 65cm from floor to desk top. That's low.

    The reason for this is simple: right angles. When sitting, the ideal position is for your feet to be flat on the floor, knees at right angles, back at right angles to your thighs, arms as close as possible to right angles and parallel to the desk top. This is easiest with your thighs right below (even touching) the under side of the desk top, and your arms directly over the top. If you try this and measure yourself, you'll find the ideal desk height is probably much lower than you expect.

    So: back to your question: I've never used that desk but I notice a few things: the minimum height is 72cm, which is common but (imho) too high unless you have a good, and quite high, foot rest. The desk itself is quite thick with that extra layer under the desk top. This makes it harder to get your arms in the right place, they will always be too high I think.

    Finally, it's interesting they don't show you under the desk. A good desk will have no cross pieces in the way of your legs and knees: adjustable desks are often the worst at this, because they need a linkage between the two uprights so that the motor can lift both sides at the same time. On cheaper desks this linkage goes directly between the uprights, further limiting leg space.

    All in all, probably not a great design. But I don't have any other recommendations, sorry. I learnt this from experience buying the wrong adjustable desk about 4 years ago and I'm still annoyed by it daily… 😂

    • Quite a few options have extended adjustment that go down to 60 cm. To name a few, deskbird or unofurniture both can.

      Having said, that mightyape one linked is quite a small desk and budget tier. I would probably prefer getting a normal desk at that price point.

      • Yeah sorry, I should have been clearer. I just said that ~72cm minimum was common. You are right that some (typically higher end) desks do go lower.

    • I think im about 5 ft 6 or so, have a deskbird standing desk and it goes below my right angle elbows, which is nice. 72cm according to the screen like that one.

      But my chair is old and sinks over the day!

    • Thanks for the detailed response!

  • I had a good experience with: https://www.powercore.nz/desks
    I bought the frame only and attached to the desk I already had.

  • If you plan to have lots of weight on the desk, try look for a dual motor.

  • +1

    Highly recommend DeskBird. I've had one since 2020 which I picked up at the start of the pandemic and have used it every single day since being full time work from home. Its been faultless and easily holds triple 27" monitors and I tend to use it in standing every hour or so, so it gets a fair but if use. I recommended them to 4 people in my team at work and all of them ended up with them and love them, one guy went with the PBTech Loktek(?) one first and got a Deskbird when the PBTech one failed after a year.

  • I have Lumi Premium 1.8m standing desk from this deal and very happy with it. Currenlty have 32" & 27" monitors plus 16" laptop. I don't see the same model on the website, but this one looks similar. Atleast the top is the same.

  • Hey I've had a really good experience with deskbird. I've got the small standing desk and they were wonderful to deal with.

    For what it's worth, I did get an alignment or balance error and couldnt find the manual and it turns out the frame they use has exactly the same troubleshooting as other brands I found on youtube looking to fix it.

    Their CS is really good. I'd recommend going for more than the base top if you're not going for a deskmat.

    Call me old but it was definitely one of my top 2024 purchases, having always had WHS or mocha desks in the past

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