UpDown Ergo Elite Chair Review: Pros, Cons & Verdict

Shots fired. The war is on. That’s what I could not stop thinking about as I was assembling the UpDown Ergo Elite in my home office.

Every part I lifted out of the box gave me a case of déjà vu.

Not only because I’ve assembled 25+ chairs over the past 5 years (and sometimes every chair part looks the same), but because the parts reminded me of a chair I’m familiar with – my current favourite mid-range ergonomic chair, the ErgoTune Joobie.

UpDown partnered with ErgoTune’s supplier to bring a nearly-identical competitor to market. But it differs in a few important ways I’ll talk about in a moment.

5 Things I Love About The UpDown Ergo Elite.

The Ergo Elite pleasantly surprised me. I was expecting another me-too ergonomic chair.

What I saw was a legitimate contender for my “best office chair in Australia” award.

1. You Sit Like A Rockstar.

Above: The UpDown Ergo Elite cuts a handsome shape. Broad angled edges at shoulder level contrast nicely with curves in the seat and the armcaps.

On first impression, the Ergo Elite is a remarkably comfortable chair.

I find that the first time you lower yourself into any chair, you immediately register either a “hmm, not sure about this” or a “hell yeeeees” type of experience.

The bucket design has a contoured seat and backrest, and these add up to make you feel cradled – almost hugged – from all sides.

15 adjustment points make it easy to find your ideal ergonomic position. You get everything you’d expect at this price point:

Above: Side view of the Ergo Elite offers a fairly typical ergonomic chair aesthetic.

You also get an integrated footrest – which, although easy to scoff at as a Boomer-only utensil – is surprisingly usable.

Slide it out, recline the chair fully, and you end up in what I refer to as “dentist chair mode” – a couch-like experience perfect for binge-watching Netflix.

The leatherette pad on the footrest is also a nice design touch.

2. Best-In-Class Armrests.

The Ergo Elite’s armrests are the strongest part of the chair. I can’t fault them – almost.

For example – if you make the armcaps soft, their durability will suffer. But if you make them durable, they’ll irritate people’s forearms and elbows.

Above: The outstanding armrests are covered in soft leatherette.

Ergo Flex erred on the side of softness for sure, making these the most comfortable-feeling armrests I’ve ever used. Period.

Super-soft, large and without hard edges, they never dig into any part of the arm at any angle.

This is partially due to Ergo Elite’s ability to tilt the armcap – a rare feature, and one I haven’t seen since reviewing the (30% more expensive) Sihoo S300.

3. Two-Piece Lumbar Support.

Above: Dual lumbar pads have a gap in the middle that can dig into your back.

Speaking of the Sihoo S300, that was the only other chair I ever encountered that had a two-piece lumbar support.

While a single horizontal pad can feel like a hard roll always pressing into your back, two independently hinged pads can offer more comfort – because they are better at contouring themselves to your back.

That’s the theory, at least. What does it feel like in practice?

Exactly as intended. Much better than a single roll design, actually.

I was expecting something gentle – probably the two pads look gentle – but the real-world experience is that of an urgent, confident pressure against the C-spine.

You can make it friendlier using an independent depth control knob. Height control is also possible, but it’s synced to the backrest height control – much like the original ErgoTune Supreme was.

You can feel it against your back if you move off-centre – especially if you also recline.

It’s not enough to become irritating, but it does mean the backrest doesn’t eventually disappear, as it tends to with single-piece backrest chair designs like the Steelcase Series 2 or Haworth Fern.

4. Solid Build Quality.

Above: The contrast grey trim panel on the rear and the splashes of chrome break up the monotony of black plastic.

UpDown’s build quality is exactly on point for its $699 price.

You get hard injection-moulded plastics – and surprisingly, a metal base. Mazel tov!

None of the chair’s body panels feels flimsy or cheap to the touch. And the whole thing feels satisfyingly heavy – without being difficult to drag around.

This is also the first chair I’ve ever used where the upright lock position has a legitimate lock.

Not so the Ergo Elite. Lock it in a tasking position, and you feel zero wobble. What kind of sorcery is this, UpDown?

But the build quality of the controls is a mixed bag. Some are fantastic while some are just “meh”. It’s as if every one of them was designed by a different team:

Thing is, these are purely UX observations. I’m not worried about the controls’ longevity – because all major components are covered by UpDown’s outstanding 10-year warranty, which I’ll discuss in a moment.

I’m also not worried about the longevity of the chair’s mesh. It’s certainly on the more utilitarian side, and what it trades off in softness it gains in robustness.

5. Ridiculous 10-Year Warranty.

Above: Dentist mode activated. Cue Netflix and popcorn.

Mid-range office chairs typically offer 3-6 years of warranty. Cheapies from Amazon offer 1-2. Premium luxury brands like Herman Miller and Steelcase offer 12.

UpDown decided to offer 10.

And they’ll cover the most important stuff, too – i.e., mechanisms and structural components.

Chairs aren’t just a piece of furniture. They’re a statement about our identity – and we tend to outgrow them psychologically in parallel to wearing them out physically.

A 10-year warranty means you’re far more likely to “feel ready” for a new chair than the chair falling apart on you.

Which is excellent – and means you spend roughly $70 bucks a year for the next decade on seating. Bargain. And if something does go wrong, it’s an UpDown problem – not your problem.

6. Handsome Looks (To An Extent).

Above: The Lumbar depth mechanism offers two settings. Here it is in the open, “firmer” position.

OK look.

As I’ve said dozens of times on this blog, ergonomic chairs are never pretty – unless you pay closer to $2,000 for more advanced materials and engineering (e.g., fully integrated backs and weight-sensitive mechanisms).

However, some brands are better than others at stylising them – and the Ergo Elite is one of them.

I particularly like the chair’s front and 3/4 front angles – they remind me of the premium Humanscale designs, like the Liberty.

And the same square-ish edges differentiate the chair from the plethora of el cheapo ergo chairs, which for some reason always look like they’re melting.

3 Things I Dislike About The UpDown Ergo Elite.

The Ergo Elite has a few issues. It also doesn’t have recline tension control, which is an unusual design decision.

1. Dynamic Backrest Support Is A Gimmick.

Above: Lumbar depth control is on the right. The dynamic backrest support lever is hidden just behind it.

The ErgoTune Joobie has it. Apparently the UpDown decided the Ergo Elite must have it, too.

But it’s just as useless here as it is on the Joobie.

But in reality, it just reduces the depth of the seating position when you lean back, making the chair a little bit less comfortable.

Worse, it does this with a sudden mechanical “clunk” that catches you off guard when it happens.

I never use it. You’ll never use it. Ignore it.

2. Looks Like Every Other Ergo Chair.

Above: From the rear, the Ergo Elite looks familiar – because it looks like just about any other ergonomic chair.

Have a look at the photo above – have you seen this chair before?

I’m willing to bet that if I lined up 20 ergonomic chairs from different manufacturers side-by-side, even the owners of their respective businesses would struggle to pick out their chair from the bunch.

On one hand, that’s fine – because it works well, and if something isn’t broken, why change it?

On the other hand, wouldn’t it be nice to see something different? Even a little bit?

For example, I would love to see an ergonomic chair at a $700-ish price point with a solid backrest that hides all the controls within it. Like the Fern does.

Just sayin’.

3. No Recline Tension Control.

I’ve left the worst till last.

Where’s the recline tension control, UpDown?

By not including it, you’ve turned off everyone who likes to sit with the recline unlocked, balancing the tension against their body weight.

I weigh 110 kg, and leaving the lock open means I rapidly travel backwards until I’m in the (admittedly impressive) 150-degree recline position.

People who weigh roughly 80 – 85 kg will be fine – because their weight will roughly match the default tension of the chair. But lighter people will remain stuck upright, while people like me will be stuck lying down.

I’m not sure how much money UpDown saved by not speccing this feature, but I’m sure it wasn’t a lot. It’s a huge miss.

How The UpDown Ergo Elite Scored.

The Ergo Elite scored fantastically overall. The strongest areas are its ergonomic chops and warranty. The weakest – return policy.

Key Takeaways:

The UpDown Ergo Elite is:

It’s great for a very specific type of person:

My Verdict On The UpDown Ergo Elite.

Uff. This is a hard one. The Ergo Elite is an excellent chair, and is outstanding value for the price. But is it better than the OG – the ErgoTune Joobie?

Its warranty and armrests are the standout features. No other chair under $1,000 even comes close in those departments.

But these gains come at a price – namely the Joobie’s lovely fabric-infused mesh and the recline tension adjustment.

For me, the tension control is a must-have, and I don’t keep my chairs for longer than a few years, which is why the Joobie is still #1.

But you may be different – in which case, the Ergo Elite is a great pick.

Steven