Fat Mans Lawn Chair

I know, I know, what a title for a post!

SitBetter.com does not carry lawn chairs, we don’t know them well enough, but one of the leading search engine enquiries is for that, or big chairs or…. whatever. There are many many people out there who are…. oversized…. It’s actually a national… issue… but, it’s there (yep, I’m trying to be… sensitive!).

The reality is that most office chairs are not built for bigger people (the rated capacity for most normal chairs is 250lbs.). These are people who go down to officestaplemax superstore, buy a chair, only to find out that it breaks too soon, the padding wears out very quickly (that’s typical for even smaller people like me!) or it’s just simply too narrow to sit in comfortably all day long.

A solution to that issue are the Big and Tall chairs. These chairs typically start with a higher standard of construction than regular chairs- beefier seat pans, stronger back attachments, sturdier mechanisms, heftier bases and other modifications which make them withstand weights higher than normal. Typically, they will run anywhere from 350 to 500 lbs. rated capacity.

One thing to bear in mind, if you’re looking for a chair like this, is that some manufacturers simply take a regular chair, make a couple modifications (like the cylinder) and say it’s rated to 400 lbs. Not a good idea- consider…. So the cylinder can take the extra weight but that does not mean that the back, or the arms, base, casters, are built to take it for any length of time! Be smart… get a chair that’s going to last longer than a number of months…. Go with a chair which was designed from the ground up to bear the added weight, you’ll appreciate it!

That being said, yes, I’m aware that typically, these chairs are going to cost considerably more than ‘normal’ chairs, but…. think of it this way…. The ‘normal’ chair runs you 150 and lasts for…. 10 months, a year, so you’re spending…. ohhh to be charitable, 8 bucks a month. The Big and Tall chair costs… 300 and lasts five years, easily…. that’s five dollars a month. Prorated a much better deal! Very much so when you consider you’re buying two, three chairs in the same time frame!

There are not exactly a ton of these types of chairs to choose from, actually. At SitBetter.com, we have chairs ranging from the low $200 range up to over $500. You’re going to get what you pay for, of course, the more expensive one is leather rated to 450 and offers a flip-up armrest, making it far easier to get in and out. The less expensive one… basic, rated to 350, but still sturdy!

I’ve included pictures of the two I’ve just described, but there are more available at (blatent commercial plug!) SitBetter.com, just stop on by and we’ll talk about what you might need!