Ergo Elements Adjustable Height Standing Desk
Hey everyone, welcome to my review page of the “Ergo Elements Adjustable Height Standing Desk with Manual Hand Crank Base”! It comes in three (3) different color options to choose from, that is, black, grey or white and which you can see for yourself via this link to the Amazon product listing page of the desk. I myself actually bought the white variation of the desk which I chose simply because I thought it would match the white/beige walls of my room which I use as a home office – and because white is kinda in the spirit of Apple, that is, white is kinda “Apple-ish” (or “Apple-like”,if you prefer) or “iPhone-ish”, haha. Albeit, I am actually not that big into Apple products because I’ve always avoided their higher end premium prices for Linux alternatives, Android, Ubuntu, et al. Nonetheless, I’ve always admired Apple’s aesthetics and their sense of design.
So, first off, the desk was really REALLY REALLY easy to assemble! It took me less than 30 minutes to piece together and I was taking my time so
I am sure it can be put together much faster than that if you are a man-or-woman -on-a-mission. It really is a nice modular shipping/assembly design that they have in place because it shipped in one box and there were just a few pieces that needed to be connected together as opposed to a zillion pieces and a gazillion screws and what not which is not uncommon with many things out there; and boy do I know, huh, countless weekends burned on assembling stuff I’ve bought that basically just came in a box. Getting back to the desk, what is also really great and which contributes a great deal to its’ easy assembly is that it doesn’t use the regular cheapo screws many self-assembly items require but rather it comes with hex bolts/screws which is really nice especially if any kind of de-assembly were required which would be or will be easy.
Anyway, so I should just cut to the chase and give you some bulletin point items with pros and cons instead of rambling off on every possible tangent:
Summary:
Pros:
1. Very easy to assemble (which I talked about in more detail above)
2. Solid/sturdy (I weigh over 230 lbs and am more than comfortable standing on top of it )
3. Adjustable height (27 “ to 45”) AND adjustable length (40” to 66”)!!! (noooice)
4. The hand crank allows you to adjust it to the perfect height, that is, within millimeter like precision if not increments less than millimeters.
5. Awesome price compared to other standing desks out there especially when you consider the quality of this desk as far as the frame and construction goes, as again, this desk has a solid, sturdy, metal build and it also comes in a very nice, clean, polished coat of paint (white, grey or black). Currently $299 on Amazon.com for the hand crank variation and $349 for the variation that comes with an electric controller for the height. The one in the video as you will see is the hand crank variation which is what I ordered and which I have been absolutely fine with it – in fact I like that it is manual and not electric. I can’t speak to the version of the desk that comes with the electric controller but I would say that you probably do not need this as the hand crank doesn’t really take very long to go from 27 inches to 45 inches (In the video I show exactly how long it takes which is about 1 and a half minutes)
6. The fact that it comes without a desktop (or table top) is a plus for me because I can be very picky about my aesthetics and I would have been happy with a cheap laminate table top or any kind of plastic table top or even the wrong color – for example, I would not have liked a white table top as that for me lacks a bit too much character. The easy alternative is to use your own piece of wood which some of you out there may already have perhaps from off an existing non-standing desk you already love or even some spare chunk of wood you found at a garage sale or estate sale or who knows what. Let me tell you what I did, I just went down to Lowes (Home Depot is another option but I prefer Lowes personally)
and bought a pieces of 24” by 48” Red Oak plywood. Usually these sheets of plywood which you’ll find at Lowes have a finished side and then a less finished side. So, you’ll want to pick a nice sheet of Oak plywood that has a nice natural grain pattern and smooth finish that you can use for the tabletop. In my case, this cost only $14 dollars – Yep, that’s right, only $14 dollars. So you get a nice wooden almost Japanese style-esq wooden table type for only $14 dollars. You don’t have to do this but what I also did was stain the wood with Tung oil and this link will take you to the Tung oil I used. If you go the Tung oil route I would suggest staining or layering the oil outdoors and then leaving the plywood to dry off for a few days if not a whole week as in my case I maybe used too much oil and it will otherwise hold a popcorn like smell to it until it fully dries off – I didn’t particularly like that scent but other people who saw the desk during this time actually really liked that popcorn like scent it had while the oil was still drying or evaporating off the wood. There are 4 holes built into the metal frame of the desk and I simply used some simple 2 1/2 inch stainless steel bolts to thread through the holes and bolt the wooden Oak table top firmly into place. Of course, you will want to use a drill to pre-drill ½ holes into the wood at the particular spot which isn’t too difficult as you just need to place the table appropriately on the frame and then use a pencil to mark where you will want to drill the holes – and of course, just as I go over in the video review, I’ll say again that you will want to pencil mark these holes on the finished side of the wood as that is also the side you would want to drill into – I made the mistake of doing just the opposite (I always jump into things like this too fast, I get all excited and don’t pause enough in-between steps to consider the best order of steps) which means as you are getting to the other side of the plywood (yes, keyword is “plywood”) you will actually make a somewhat unsightly break on that surface of the plywood whereas on the finished side of the wooden top which is the side you will see the drill hole should be perfectly clean so long as you keep a steady and slow hand while drilling the hole. In all, once you have your 4 drill holes it is just a matter of bolting the wooden table top to the metal frame of the desk which you can do with some stylish stainless steel bolts which you can find at a Lowes (again, or at a Home Depot). The wood and the stainless steel have a nice look and the red Oak which I choose also goes well with the white colored frame which is the color variant (again, the options are black, grey and white) of the desk I chose to go with. Make sure and check out the video review for images if you haven’t already and as well I will try and include some photos on this review page as well.
Cons: (honestly, I don’t have any real complaints as I am pretty happy with my purchase but I will try my best to be a negative nancy (or negative norman) for you as well so as not to appear bias, haha…)
1. I wish the height of the desk could go a little bit lower, 27” inches is just shy of what for me is the perfect ergonomic sitting position because as I like my keyboard write at my laptop and angled downward rather than a few inches above my laptop. That said, I try to use the desk in a standing position as much as possible and that is where the desk really shines as the 45” inch max height is more than enough for me especially with the monitor arms I use for my computer monitors which I will review in a separate video and article.
2. If you are going with a 24 inch deep desktop (which is what I have in the video, more specifically, 48 inches in length by 24 inches deep) then the depth under the
desk until you hit the metal frame in the center is about 10 inches and there aren’t many sliding keyboard trays out there that I can find that install under a desk where only 10 inches is available under the desk to install a sliding keyboard tray. But, this is really not a biggie, as I do kinda prefer having my keyboard and mouse on top of the desk rather than on a tray below anyway and in a standing position that is just fine if not perfect – the only prob is I just can’t adjust my keyboard height anyway lower than the desk itself right now when working in my most ideal or preferred sitting position. Still over all, it is a very VERY ergonomic desk considering the adjustable height itself and most especially when you are standing which is really what this desk is all about and should be about for anyone really considering it.
Okay, peeps, so I hope you enjoyed my review and if you have any questions please feel free to comment below via the Facebook commenting section or even better via the YouTube video comments section and I will try and answer your questions.
Have a great day and please remember to subscribe to my YouTube channel as there are more reviews to come! Peace out. 😉
