As I stated in an earlier post, I’ve been struggling with back pain for quite a long time. Last year, I purchased a new mattress from Verlo, and that definitely helped. But I knew I could do more. I decided that I needed to figure out a way to try the option of working at a standing desk to see if that helped.
From what I can gather, standing desks are by no means a new idea. They’ve been utilized off and on for at least a few hundred years, but I couldn’t find any citations to confirm that. Supposedly, it is a healthy way to work compared to sitting at a desk all day, but that seems to be more supposition than confirmed fact. Personally, I’ve seen a few of these in use, and even had a few coworkers who had one. But, since I had never had a chance to use one myself, I wasn’t even sure if I was going to like it or not. So I knew going in that I needed to have a way to convert back and forth, and I also wanted to keep an eye on the budget.
There are a ton of articles on the Internet proclaiming various “do it yourself” methods of building a standing desk. Some of the ones I found were quite ingenious, but hardly any of them allowed for the option of converting back and forth.
Searching the web, it was no surprise that I found a ton of different vendors hawking their wares. The price ranged from as little as $249 to over $3,000 depending on the selected options and gadgets and widgets. I finally happened upon Varidesk, and decided to purchase their Pro Plus 48 unit. It was priced at $400, but because it weighs 85 pounds shipped, there was another $110 of shipping tacked on. This was a bit more expensive from what I had originally wanted to spend, but the mechanical operation coupled with the fact that I could use it with my existing desk was quite tempting.
On Wednesday, I received the behemoth. I was able to manhandle it up the stairs (they suggested team lift, of course, but I didn’t have anybody to give me a hand). The unit is fully assembled; all you need to do is remove it from the packaging and place it on the desk. I took a few pictures as I got everything set up; it only took me about 45 minutes to get everything situated and ready to go.
Empty desk, before adding the Varidesk
Desk with the Varidesk standing desk on top
Full desk, in the sitting position
Full desk, in the standing position
The only concern I have with the desk is that when it’s in the standing position, it feels a little wobbly. I suspect this really isn’t an issue with the Varidesk itself, but rather the cheap desk I have it sitting on. For purposes of style, the desk has only two legs coming up from the floor, mounted on a horizontal crossbar which makes it almost like a wide I-beam from the side (you can see this pretty clearly in the first picture). So, when the desk is raised, I have to be careful not to lean on it, but that’s probably better anyway.
All said and done, I really enjoy using the desk. I’ve written this entire article in standing mode, and I can feel it in my legs (which is a good thing). Standing has also made it easier for me to take short breaks and walk around a bit, or at least has given me the illusion that it’s easier. If I decide to continue using a standing desk, I already am starting to suspect that at some point I will need to make a decision and either replace the cheap desk that I have the Varidesk sitting on, or possibly purchase a more expensive electric standing desk like an Uplift desk.
But I need at least a month before I make a decision either way.