Steelcase Criterion Plus Chair, Rouge Fabric

This is a very tough chair. It easily holds my weight and I do not doubt it could hold more. Unfortunately, this chair is far from comfortable, clearly designed by someone who is neither heavy nor tall.Problem #1: The seat cushion is too firm and not thick enough, making this not an especially good chair to sit in all day long. I find after an hour or two I am sore and need to stand up and take a break (which I should be doing anyway). I wish the padding was thicker.Problem #2: the seat fabric is not "grippy" they way it should be on a chair with strong back support. This means when the back support presses against your back (as it should), the result is predictable: you slide forward on the seat. This is *really* uncool. The only way to fix this is to adjust the tension in the back support (how strongly the seat back pushes against your back) to the point where it is no longer supportive. This would be almost manageable if the seat depth were sufficient, which is sadly is not (see next paragraph).Problem #3: Seat depth. This is by far the biggest issue. The seat depth is listed as adjustable and if you go to the Steelcase site they have videos showing you how to adjust everything. The thing is, the normal seat depth adjustment does not apply to the big and tall version of this chair, which they do not tell you in the product listing. The seat depth adjustment control mechanism is simply ...not there. But wait - it gets better...As the depth adjustment mechanism is apparently not installed on the big & tall version of this chair, it came with a card attached explaining that to adjust the depth on the seat, the chair has to be flipped over so you can remove the screws holding the seat to the base and reposition it to another of the available pre-drilled hole locations--a very manual process involving lifting up and inverting a 74 lb chair onto a work surface without damaging the arms. Once this feat is accomplished (careful you do not hurt your back; I recommend using use a narrow armless chair to flip it over onto so the arms can hang down over the sides), it becomes apparent there is a serious depth problem. The line of pre-drilled holed only allow you to move the seat cushion backwards, not forwards. This means the seat is adjustable in only one direction: you can make it shallower, not deeper. The seat is attached to the base at the furthest forward setting at the factory--there is nowhere to move it to, except further back, which is not helpful.Net result: If you are 5"11 or more, and have average-length legs (as do I), the seat depth will be insufficient. Add this to the fact that the fabric is not grippy enough to hold you in place, and yes, you guessed it--you slide forward off the seat, repeatedly, all day long. Even if you adjust the seat cushion angle to tilt rearward to help offset the forward slide, as I have, the lack of depth is still a big problem (and this is not ergonomically sound anyway). I slide forward all day unless I wear pants which generate a lot of friction (forget about wearing dress slacks).Additionally, and this is a little odd, I think my chair is defective in another way: the line of holes on the bottom of the seat where you screw the base onto the seat is not straight--they are not at a 90-degree angle to the front/rear direction of the seat, and seem to be a couple degrees off to the right. The net result here is the seat cushion is not facing directly forwards, but turned slightly to the right. The effect is the seatback presses more firmly on the left side of my back than the right, as it is obviously attached to the base of the chair, not the seat.Additionally, the seat back cushion is separating from the back, as though it is coming unglued (photo attached).End result: this chair is a disaster, and while it seems very sturdy, it is very uncomfortable. Definitely not recommended for anyone who properly qualifies as big & tall. Or who expects a high quality chair commensurate with the price of this one. I just got it and I already need to replace it. :(

I've had this chair for about 15 years and it's still in excellent condition. The seat is really comfortable to sit in for a full day of work, and the armrests are super adjustable. Everything is made from quality material and I see no signs of wear even though I've used the chair for so long. The back of the chair also reclines slightly if you put weight into leaning back in it.