Last updated: September 6th, 2024
ErgoTune has recently launched the Joobie alongside the battle-tested winner of our “best ergonomic office chair” award, the Supreme V3. It will set you back the same amount of dough (just over $700) while offering a few new features.
Are the features enough to dethrone the Supreme from its #1 spot?
And is the Joobie the new best mid-range ergonomic office chair in Australia? I test-drove one for a couple of weeks to find out.
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6 Things I Love About The ErgoTune Joobie.
Spending a nudge over $700 on a home office chair is a big decision for most WFH young professionals. Here’s why the Joobie is worth it.
1. Adjusts To Any Body Shape.
Above: The ErgoTune Joobie’s waterfall-shaped seat pan and generously-sized lumbar support.
Joobie’s 15 points of adjustment allow you to adjust the chair to your body instead of adjusting the body to your chair.
The Supreme offered “only” 11 points and was already one of the most adjustable office chairs on the Australian market. The new additions are:
- Lumbar tension and height adjust independently of the backrest.
- VerteSync recline extends your recline position.
- Footrest (a $50 optional feature) is great for lounging in your chair.
How do the new features stack up? It’s a mixed bag:
The first is excellent.
The second is entirely useless (more about it shortly).
The third is great – but only if you enjoy binge-watching Netflix and napping in your home office.
Above: The Joobie in Sand Beige colour looks sleek, modern and minimalist.
You can also expect all the usual accoutrements that helped the ErgoTune Supreme earn the #1 spot in our “best ergonomic office chairs” roundup:
- Seat pan height and depth adjustment.
- Backrest height and lockable recline with tension adjustment.
- Lumbar with height and depth adjustment.
- Headrest with height, depth and swivel adjustment.
- Armrests with height, reach and angle adjustment. Curiously, while Supreme’s armrests swivel 270 degrees and offer a width adjustment, Joobie’s armrests manage 360 degrees but miss out on the width adjustment.
Expert Tip.
The absence of armrest width adjustment is surprising but isn’t a dealbreaker. The oversized, wide arm pads provide a de facto width adjustment capability. You can place your forearm on the part of the arm pad you find most comfortable.
Important!
ErgoTune allows you to choose Small, Medium and Large chairs at checkout. This feature changes the chair’s gas piston height and is excellent for tailoring the chair to extra tall or extra short people.
2. Strong (But Comfortable) Lumbar Support.
Above: The lumbar pad is separate from the backrest.
Are you a sloucher? The Joobie’s lumbar will do a great job of keeping you upright.
On first impression, it’s very prominent – almost too firm. You can always feel it pressing into your back, and my initial concern was that it would become annoying.
To my relief, I got used to it just after one afternoon in the driver’s seat.
Compared with the Supreme, the height adjusts independently of the backrest, so you can target the pressure exactly where you need it.
Depth control, meanwhile, has two settings – strong and stronger. Neither is uncomfortable, but it’s not the chair for you if you like your lumbar flaccid and borderline nonexistent.
3. Classy Ergonomic Design.
Above: Side profile view reminds me of the Herman Miller Embody.
Let’s call a spade a spade. Ergonomic chairs are never beautiful. Most are ugly. But some are more attractive than others.
The Joobie’s aesthetic is definitely on the “pretty” end of the scale.
If you asked me to coin a term for it, I’d name it “upmarket ergonomic”.
I can see it appealing mainly to the 25 to 35-year-old male demographic.
Controls are minimalist, stylish and unobtrusive. Everything is controlled via levers – except recline tension. This creates a very tidy look, one that makes the Supreme’s knobs look like yesterday’s technology.
I decided to order my Joobie in “Sand Beige”, leaving the comfort zone of black. Whilst it’s not the most exciting colour, it works well if you’re aiming for a home office with a neutral colour palette.
As you can see in the photos, it also compliments the brushed aluminium look of Apple products, like my Studio Display and laptop.
Expert Tip.
I’ve also owned a Charcoal Black and a Coral Red Ergotune Supreme. The Sand Beige is my favourite ErgoTune colour so far – but it has one major issue (see below).
4. Solid Build Quality.
Above: All-mesh construction offers plenty of ventilation but is vulnerable to stains.
Joobie’s build quality is what you’d expect at this price.
Solid injection-moulded plastics are everywhere, including the base. The chair feels sturdy and expensive to the touch. Nothing squeaks, rattles or feels like it’s about to break or fall off.
Mechanisms are reassuringly made from metal – not plastic.
Unlike some budget office chairs, the chair doesn’t give me any reasons to think it’d fall apart within a couple of years.
My only concern is longevity of Joobie’s fabric-infused mesh. While it’s very comfortable (see below), I do wonder whether it will begin to fray after a few years of heavy-duty use.
Important!
The mesh on my Supreme is still going strong after 3 years. However, I’m not a heavy user, as I only sit in my office chair for 2-3 hours each day (and stand behind my standing desk for the rest). I’ll provide an update in a year or two.
5. Feels Damn Nice To Sit In.
Above: The headrest is surprisingly useful, and adjusts for height, reach and tilt.
ErgoTune’s fabric mesh feels amazing on the skin. Only the (more expensive) Sihoo Doro S300 beats it – by a slight margin.
Hot climate drellers will appreciate the Joobie’s all-mesh construction.
It offers plenty of ventilation across your back and nether regions, whisking heat away from your body, keeping your temperature low and your sperm count high.
I like to lock the Joobie in the most upright setting, which feels quite commanding and “proper”. I don’t ride horses, but I imagine that’s what sitting on one would feel like.
Unlock the recline, and the Joobie will let you lounge back. I love that the recline locks in any spot and feels nice all the way down. It’s exactly the same as Supreme’s recline.
Expert Tip.
If you’re an office chair nerd, consider it a mix between an HM Aeron and a Steelcase Leap. You won’t feel like as much of a boss as you would in the former, but you will be more comfortable than in the latter.
Last but not least, the Joobie’s backrest will flex with your body to facilitate movement whereas the seat will not.
This hybrid approach, is – again – a fusion of Aeron and Leap philosophies.
It doesn’t shoehorn you into a specific position. Yet, it’s also opinionated about what that “ideal” position should look like, and doesn’t allow you to deviate far from it.
6. Pretty Good Warranty.
Above: The Lumbar depth mechanism offers two settings. Here it is in the open, “firmer” position.
Here’s how office chair warranties stack up:
- 10-12 years: luxury / premium brands that cost $1,500-$3,000
- 1-3 years: cheap / budget brands that cost $100-$500.
Joobie slots neatly in the middle, offering 4 and 3-year coverage on the chair’s frame and mechanisms respectively.
Expert Tip.
ErgoTune will extend the periods to 6 and 5 years if you share a photo or video review of the chair on social media.
That’s pretty good for a mid-range home office chair. Ten years would make me feel more comfortable, but I’m willing to bet that you’ll get bored of the Joobie long before you break it.
3 Things I Hate About The ErgoTune Joobie.
The Joobie has failed to rectify some issues that plagued its predecessor, the ErgoTune Supreme. It also introduced a weird new feature that’s more of a bug.
1. Light Coloured Mesh Will Stain Easily.
Above: Good luck trying to remove grease and coffee stains from this mesh.
Deviate from standard Charcoal Black colour mesh at your own peril.
While the beige, green, grey, red and blue colours add a welcome splash of funk, they will pick up and show stains.
I accidentally dropped a sandwich on my Coral Red Supreme a couple of years back, and it never fully recovered.
2. Armpads Are Still Mediocre.
Above: Arm pads are larger than the Supreme’s but are made from harder plastic.
I criticised the Supreme’s average armrests.
The Joobie’s armrests are equally “meh”.
The generous armpad width offers a workaround (just place your forearms where you want them), but it’s still a surprise to see ErgoTune delete an adjustment most users would view as essential.
I like to lean on my elbows while I think, and it stops feeling comfortable after about 10 minutes.
That said, the armpads feel perfectly fine if you simply use them as forearm support while tasking.
3. VerteSync Is A Gimmick.
I tried to like it.
I really did.
I still think it’s useless.
For context, VerteSync unlocks an additional hinge on the backrest, allowing you to recline by about 10 degrees without changing your seat pan angle.
Unfortunately, the movement feels notchy, and I don’t see what it achieves that the standard recline doesn’t.
Functionality-wise it achieves very little, but from a marketing point of view it helps the company pitch the Joobie as a successor to the Supreme.
How The ErgoTune Joobie Scored.
The Joobie has no deal-breakers, scoring high across all categories. If you want a comfortable ergonomic office chair for less than $800, this is a great pick.
| Ergonomics | 5/5 |
| Comfort | 4.5/5 |
| Aesthetics | 4.5/5 |
| Build Quality | 4/5 |
| Ease Of Assembly | 5/5 |
| Price | 5/5 |
| Warranty | 5/5 |
| Return Policy | 4/5 |
| OVERALL | 4.6/5 |
Key Takeaways:
The ErgoTune Joobie is:
- The best office chair if your budget is around $700-$800.
- One of my top picks for people with lower back issues due to its strong lumbar support.
My Verdict On The ErgoTune Joobie.
The ErgoTune Joobie office chair is better than the ErgoTune Supreme V3 because of its independent lumbar support adjustment, 3 more colour choices, cleaner adjustment controls and footrest option.
It is the new title holder of my “Best Ergonomic Office Chair In Australia” award.
Steven
