Herman Miller Sayl review: This is a brilliant, frustrating chair

With its unique design, clever recline mechanics but comically cheap arm rests, the Sayl is a chair of contradictions.

The Herman Miller Sayl chair.
(Image: © Future)

Our Verdict

Oh, this is a frustrating office chair! In many ways it's a beautifully designed, comfortable small chair that's great if space is tight and you want to elevate the aesthetics of your home office. But I don't think I've encountered such cheap-feeling arm rests, and when you consider that you'll be paying an upper-mid-range price for the Sayl, it makes it hard to fully recommend.

For

  • Good for small spaces
  • Memorable design
  • Clever recline mechanics
  • Comfy

Against

  • Horrible arm rests
  • Not the supreme quality of most Herman Miller chairs

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I understand that many readers of this review will just look at the stars I've awarded it, and base their buying decision mainly on that. That's why I really struggled to give the Sayl chair, from chair experts Herman Miller, its three and a half stars. Most people won't bother with anything lower than four, and I get that. Especially when the asking price is around $700.

So how about this: The Sayl chair is the best three and a half star chair I've reviewed! And I'm not damning it with faint praise. It's a really fantastic chair in many ways. It looks, frankly, beautiful – like much of the Herman Miller roster. It's comfy and has a tilt mechanism that I wish was picked up by more chair manufacturers. But those arms! Ooof, they be cheap!

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Features:Golden Gate Bridge design
Row 1 - Cell 0 All usual adjustments
Row 2 - Cell 0 Excellent recline mechanism
Max load:159kg
Dimensions679.5mm x 997mm x 660mm (depth)

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