I got a chance to see the Pogo® standing stool for the first time in the summer of 2018 at NeoCon in Chicago. I had previously seen pictures and video but seeing it first hand, and how it is used, was crucial to truly know how it performs. At that point, I had already brought in and tested around 15 standing chairs, so I had a good grasp of what to look for. After testing the Pogo® for a few minutes, I knew that I would need to bring it in and do a full in-depth review.
The main thing that grabbed my attention was the seat. Having a well-padded seat, with a large surface area, is a rare thing to find in the standing chair category. The Pogo® had that. There were also some other features that I liked, which I will go into further detail below. As with all our reviews, I will also make sure to go over any issues with the Pogo® that I didn’t like, ultimately letting you weigh the positives and negatives to decide if this is the right chair for you.
Note: The model I tested has the following options: standard height cylinder, silver frame, black spring and dreamweave heather ganit fabric.
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Manufacturer
Sitmatic is a licensee of Sitmatic SRL. Sitmatic SRL is an Italian chair manufacturer that has been in business since 1969. They have a heavy design focus and use high-end components. Their products range from ergonomic chairs to executive chairs, to waiting room chairs.
Sitmatic in the USA was started in 1985 and currently makes their chairs in Fullerton, CA. Like their Italian counterparts, they also consider good design aesthetics and high-quality components to be top priority.
Sitmatic Pogo® Links
– Specs / Features / Pricing
– Colors
– Return Policy and Warranty
– Shipping and Assembly
– Build Quality
– Sitting Mobility
– Portability
– Seat Comfort
– Range of Motion
– Making Adjustments
– Ergonomics
– What I Like
– What I Don’t Like
Country of Origin
Made in USA
Specifications
Seat Size: 14” Diameter
Seat Thickness: 3”
Seat Padding Thickness: 2 ¼”
Seat Height Range:
Low: 22” – 30”
Standard: 27” – 37”
Tall: 29” – 39”
Base Dimensions: 15” Diameter
Weight Capacity: No Limit
Chair Weight: 29 lbs.
Features
Spring in base allows for full range of motion
2 ¼” molded foam seat
Polyester fabric seat
Easy access pneumatic seat height adjustment ring
Non-skid steel base w/ rubber ring
Optional aluminum footrest for $81.90
2025 Price – $482.99 (Buy on BTOD)
The Pogo® is sold through a network of authorized dealers. Sitmatic has a Minimum Advertised Price (MAP) that they have instituted for the Pogo® that all authorized dealers must follow.
Color Options
The column and base plate come in your choice of black or silver finish. The spring also comes in your choice of black or silver. You then have eight seat colors to choose from: aqua, black, charcoal, cologne, ember, napa, navy or tropicana.
Return Policy
The Pogo® can be returned within the first 30 days but your return policy will depend on who you buy the chair from. Sitmatic normally charges up to a 75% restocking fee. Combine the restocking fee with the return shipping charges and there may not be any money left to refund. Some dealers will follow this policy and others will not. As an example, at BTOD.com we offer a full refund within the first 30 days. We just ask that you pay the return shipping charges and return the chair in the original packaing to give it the best chance at getting back in good condition.
Warranty
Quite a while ago, I wrote a list of the best office chair warranties. Sitmatic placed #4 on my list because I was so impressed with the coverage they offered. This still holds true. The Pogo® is covered by a limited lifetime warranty. The frame and base are covered for a lifetime. The foam, fabric, and cylinder are covered for 10 years. This warranty is valid for 24/7 use and it has no weight limit. Another cool thing about their warranty is that it follows the chair, not the customer. This means that the warranty will transfer to someone else if you sell the chair or give it away.
If something does go wrong with your Pogo®, then Sitmatic will send replacement parts, at their expense. If you happen to live within 50 miles of a brick and mortar Sitmatic dealer, then they will send a technician to handle the repairs or replacements.
Shipping
The Pogo® ships within two weeks via UPS or FedEx Ground. The chair arrives in a medium sized box that weighs around 35 lbs. I found it to be right on the borderline of needing a helping hand or not. Some people will be able to carry this box on their own while others will want some assistance. The box had no foam or padding to protect the chair. The chair seat was in a plastic bag but there was nothing else to protect the chair during shipping. Our chair arrived with no damage, but I do have some concerns about how little protection there was for the chair.
Installation
There is no assembly on the Pogo®. It arrives fully assembled and ready to go out of the box.
Build Quality
The Pogo® is Made in America and it is composed of high quality components. The base, spring and column are made from steel. They feel thick and strong. The base plate is surrounded by a styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR). This type of rubber is most commonly found in tires. It was chosen by Sitmatic because of its longevity but also because it performs well on both carpet and hard surfaces. The Pogo® has pneumatic seat height adjustment. It operates smoothly and quietly, with little grease showing on the piston.
Sitmatic uses PressureCast™ foam cushions. This is a molded foam product, which is superior to cut foam. A great analogy that I was told to show the difference between molded foam and cut foam is to think about it like a loaf of bread. Molded foam is like an entire loaf of bread. But, cut foam is like a slice of bread. The loaf is much stronger and won’t start breaking down as quickly as a single slice of bread. The process in which molded foam is produced also makes a much more consistent product because each individual piece is molded to the exact specifications instead of cut foam coming off a larger piece.
The seat fabric is also high-end. The Dreamweave fabric on the Pogo® is a grade 4. It is 100% polyester and it features a 3-dimensional knit pattern. The fabric is very durable at 250,000 double rubs. One double rub represents a person sitting down and getting up from the chair. It also passes flammability tests for Cal 117. On top of the good stats, the fabric feels good. It is not abrasive to the touch and it has a little stretch capability to it. It also has a nice looking pattern.
Sitting Mobility
Like almost every other standing chair, the Pogo® does not have wheels. The base is meant to stay stationary while you use the chair. The base is also most of the weight of the chair, so it holds its position well. This gives the Pogo® very little mobility while you are sitting in the chair. Moving it around to reach objects around your desk will not be an option. I did not find this to be a problem because I was already halfway standing so it was simple to just stand up to get the object that I couldn’t reach.
It was a much bigger problem when I needed to make small adjustments to get into my optimal typing position. I needed to get off the seat, move the chair slightly and then see if I liked the new spot. Rinse and repeat until I was comfy. You can see how this is more time consuming than a chair with wheels.
Portability
The Pogo® is not going to be the best option for portability, when compared to other chairs with a similar design. The entire reason for this is going to be the weight of the chair. It weighs almost 30 pounds, which is almost twice as much as chairs like the Focal Mobis or Muvman. It has a small footprint, but you will need both hands to carry it. I found that moving it around my office was not bad at all. But, moving it any further than a few offices away becomes a chore.
Seat Comfort
The seat comfort is the one thing that I feel is the Pogo®’s most attractive feature. I like the surface area, the foam and the fabric. The seat is a circle with a 14” diameter. This is not a huge seat when compared to a standard ergonomic office chair, but it is large for the standing chair category. Most standing chair seats have a similar size or smaller, but they have an awkward shape or contour. For example, the Swopper has a larger seat than the Pogo®. But, since the Swopper’s seat has a rounded top, you cannot sit on the entire seat at one time. With the Pogo®, it has a flat top. The shape lets you use the entirety of the seat so the usable surface area ends up being bigger on the Pogo® than the Swopper.
I mentioned in the build quality section that Sitmatic uses good quality molded foam on the Pogo®. It is over 2” thick, which is comparable to many standard ergonomic office chairs. The foam holds its shape very well. It does not bottom out or feel too squishy. It provided good support for the entire time I used the chair. I also liked the fabric. It is thick, so it adds another little layer of padding.
Range of Motion
The Pogo® has a similar design to many other popular standing chairs. The Muvman, Mobis, VariDesk VARIchair all function like the Pogo®. The main thing that sets the Pogo® apart is the spring at the bottom of the column that produces the movement. This system provides a much wider range of motion compared to the three models mentioned above. It gives it one of the widest ranges of motion I have seen on a standing chair. You have a huge range from side to side and you can move forward far enough to do a squat. You can also lean back to a straight up and down position, which is not possible on a lot of other similarly designed chairs.
Adjusting the Pogo®
The Pogo® only has one adjustment and it is for the seat height. There is a metal ring underneath the seat. You can pull the ring up toward the seat and it will unlock the pneumatic cylinder. Stand up from the seat, while holding the metal ring and the seat will rise. Sit down on the seat while holding the ring to lower the seat. The Pogo® has 10” of seat height travel and it is available in three different cylinder sizes for three different height ranges. This means that the Pogo® can be used by a large range of people. The short height will provide a range of 22”-32”. The standard height will adjust from 27”-37”. The tall version will go from 29”-39”.
Ergonomics
The Pogo® takes a different approach to ergonomics than a normal ergonomic office chair. Instead of sitting flat on the seat, with your knees and hips at 90°, you are placed into a position with a more open hip and leg angle. The piston is naturally pitched forward at about 7°. This angles the front of the seat downward, which makes it easy to naturally lean up against the seat. A normal office chair is meant to keep you in one ergonomically correct position for an extended period of time. The Pogo® is meant to allow you to move and stay active while you work. The thought process behind this is that you are engaging your leg and core muscles. This helps to increase blood flow and keeps your muscles active and loose while you work.
Stability
The base on the Pogo® ensures that it is stable during use. It is most of the chair’s weight, larger than the seat, and has a non-slip rubber ring around the outside. At no point did I ever feel like the chair was going to tip. While the chair itself is stable, you do have to take into consideration the wide range of movement the Pogo® allows. Since the spring has a small amount of tension, the seat doesn’t hold you in position as well as products like the Muvman or VARIchair. You have more freedom with the Pogo®, but you will be doing a lot more of the work.
What Do I Like?
Made in USA
There are not many standing chairs that are made in the USA. Products that are made in the US typically have good quality components, along with high manufacturing and testing standards. This is the case with the Pogo®. The Pogo® is among the better quality products I have seen in the standing chair category.
Solid warranty
Sitmatic offers the best warranty I have seen for any standing chair. Not only is the coverage period long, but the warranty is not limited by weight or time usage.
Good seat comfort
The seat is what initially drew my attention to the Pogo® and I think it will be the biggest reason why people buy this chair. The seat was not a limiting factor in how long I could use the chair at a time, like all the other standing chairs I have tested have been.
Wide range of motion
The spring adjustment system provides a huge range of motion while you are sitting. This gives you a lot of versatility to sit, perch and lean in a variety of different positions. The Pogo® is a nice option for people that are looking for a lot of movement and not just a more stationary perched position.
Large seat height adjustment range
With the three different cylinder options, there is a total seat height adjustment range of 22”-39”. This range is wide enough to accommodate short people, tall people, and everyone in between.
Good option for big and tall
As mentioned in the seat height range above, the Pogo® can accommodate tall people. People up to 6’7” or 6’8” should have no problem using the Pogo®. The Pogo® also has an unlimited weight rating. There are a couple options out there with 300 pound ratings but no options in the standing chair category for anything heavier than 300, except the Pogo®.
What Don’t I Like?
Takes time to get used to
Similarly to the other standing chairs I have reviewed, the Pogo® will take some time to get used to. Using different muscles and sitting in different positions may cause some soreness, pain and fatigue. It took me about two weeks to get used to standing chairs. It may take a bit longer with the Pogo than some other models because of the large range of motion.
May not be good for long hours
The Pogo® will not be a good option for everyone that is looking for a standing chair to use for long hours. The reason for this is the huge range of motion. While this is one of my positives because of the freedom of movement it affords you, it can also be a downside. Since the spring has very little tension, you are doing most of the work to hold yourself up. Lower quality chairs, like the VARIchair or Hon Perch Stool, have a more limited range of motion, but they hold you in position more so than the Pogo® does. People looking for a standing chair that will do more of the work for them may want to look for an alternative to the Pogo®.
One thing that really helped me to increase the time I could use the chair was to use the footrest that Sitmatic sells. Being able to press my feet against the footrest put them at a more comfortable angle and better aligned my legs to support my weight.
Lack of sitting mobility
Not having wheels made it a bit annoying trying to find my most comfortable typing position. The wide range of motion helps because you can move the seat more than other models. I did spend more time getting into my initial position than I do with my normal chair on wheels.
Bottom Line
The Pogo® lived up to a lot of the expectations that I had for it but there are some things to be concerned about. The time it takes to get used to a standing chair may make some people look for a different seating option. The Pogo® is also going to be a turn off for people that need a standing chair that does most of the work in terms of maintaining a perching position. The loose spring tension takes more physical effort to use than other models, so it may be difficult for some people to use for long hours.
While the Pogo® has some things that concern me, I am really impressed with the product. There are a lot of positives that helped propel the Pogo® to a score of 86/100. The high-end build quality is backed by an industry leading warranty. The spring functionality gives great range of motion to increase activity. The thick, molded foam seat will keep you comfortable for the long haul. The large seat height adjustment range and unlimited weight rating mean that almost anyone can comfortably use the Pogo®. The Pogo® is a well-rounded standing chair. It is not perfect and won’t work for everyone, but I think this will be a nice option for a lot of people.
