Most advice for tall office workers stops at “get a chair with a high seat”. That is a third of the answer, and not the most important third. Below is a fit guide built only on seat height and seat depth ranges published by the manufacturers and on our own product pages, with the figures attributed so you can check them.
Where a chair does not have a published figure, we say so rather than estimating. If you are 195 cm and about to spend a thousand dollars, an estimate is worth nothing to you.
If you are at the other end of the tape measure, the companion guide is office chairs for short people in Australia, which works the same published figures from the bottom of the range up.
The three measurements that decide fit
Feet flat, knees near ninety degrees, back against the backrest — the three measurements below are what make that posture reachable rather than aspirational.
1. Seat height, which is about your lower leg, not your total height
The target is simple: feet flat on the floor, knees at roughly ninety degrees, thighs approximately parallel to the floor with no pressure ridge behind the knee. What sets that height is the distance from the floor to the back of your knee with a shoe on — your popliteal height — not how tall you are overall. Two people of the same height can differ by several centimetres here depending on how much of that height is leg and how much is torso.
This matters because a very tall person with a long torso and average legs may need almost no extra seat height and a great deal of extra backrest. Measure the leg, not the person.
If the seat cannot go high enough, the knees rise above the hips, the pelvis rolls back, and the lumbar curve flattens no matter how good the lumbar support is. The chair cannot fix a posture the seat height has already forced.
One technical note before you compare any of the figures below. Published seat heights are measured with a load on the seat — Flokk states 64 kg on its factsheets — because a gas cylinder compresses slightly under an occupant. An empty chair measured with your own tape reads a centimetre or two higher than the published number. That is normal, and it is why you should not choose a chair or a cylinder on a 10 mm margin.
2. Seat depth, which is the one tall buyers get wrong
Long femurs need a long seat pan. The test: with your back against the backrest, you want two to three finger widths of clearance between the front edge of the seat and the back of your knee.
Too shallow and you lose thigh support, which pushes you to perch forward off the backrest and defeats the lumbar support entirely. Too deep and the front edge presses into the back of the knee, so you slide the hips forward to escape it — and again end up off the backrest. Both errors have the same visible symptom, and both are far more common in tall users than a seat that will not go high enough.
This is why a seat slider matters more than a tall gas lift for most tall buyers. A chair with a fixed seat depth is a fixed decision — and the Herman Miller Aeron, dealt with below, is exactly that.
3. Backrest height and headrest position
A long torso needs support above the shoulder blades, and a headrest set for a 175 cm user sits behind a 195 cm user’s neck rather than their head, where it does nothing except get in the way. Check the published backrest height and, if a headrest matters to you, check its adjustment range specifically rather than assuming that “adjustable” means enough.
Published seat height and seat depth ranges
Every figure in this table is taken from the manufacturer factsheet or the specifications published on the linked product page.
| Chair | Seat height | Seat depth | Backrest height |
|---|---|---|---|
| HÅG Capisco 8106, 200 mm lift | 460–640 mm | 370–470 mm adjustable | 440–500 mm adjustable |
| HÅG Capisco 8106, 265 mm tall lift | 550–810 mm | 370–470 mm adjustable | 440–500 mm adjustable |
| HÅG Capisco Puls 8010, 200 mm lift | 455–640 mm | 400–470 mm | 400 mm |
| HÅG Capisco Puls 8020, 200 mm lift | 470–650 mm | 400–470 mm | 400 mm |
| HÅG SoFi Mesh, 200 mm gas lift | 450–640 mm | 380–460 mm | 720 mm back pads (2019 factsheet) |
| HÅG SoFi Mesh, 165 mm gas lift | 390–540 mm | 380–460 mm | 720 mm back pads (2019 factsheet) |
| Kyoto Ergonomic Task Chair | 470–560 mm | 490–540 mm | 560 mm; 655–715 mm with headrest |
| Humanscale Liberty Mesh, standard cylinder | 405–535 mm | 420–480 mm | 570 mm |
| Humanscale Liberty Mesh, high cylinder with foot ring | 520–725 mm | 420–480 mm | 570 mm |
| Humanscale World One LM | 397–527 mm | 416 mm mesh seat | Not published |
| RH New Logic 220, standard gas stem | 394–526 mm | 400–499 mm with slide | 620 mm |
| RH Mereo 220 | Not settled — see note below | 465 mm pad; 403–483 mm with slide | 630 mm |
| RH Mereo 300 | Not settled — see note below | 465 mm pad; 403–483 mm with slide | 630 mm |
| Control Master 24/7 | 450–540 mm | 465 mm | 650 mm |
|
RH Secur24 Sold as the BMA Secur24 before BMA Ergonomics merged into RH in January 2025 |
410–535 mm | Seat slider fitted; range not published | 600 mm |
| Herman Miller Aeron | A 366–490 mm, B 376–579 mm, C 401–579 mm | Fixed by size: A 406 mm, B 432 mm, C 470 mm | Overall height A 869–978 mm, B 935–1044 mm, C 1016–1153 mm |
A note on the RH Mereo seat height. Flokk publishes three different figures for the Mereo on the standard gas stem across its own documents: 388–520 mm on one factsheet, 410–565 mm on another and on the Flokk webshop, and 410–550 mm on flokk.asia. We have asked Flokk which is current and do not yet have an answer, so we do not present any of them as settled. If the exact range decides your purchase, ask us and we will get it in writing first.
The full published measurements for every Capisco and Capisco Puls model, including the 150 mm lift and the backless variants, are set out on our HÅG Capisco models and measurements page.
One chair is absent for lack of data rather than lack of merit. We do not hold a published seat height range for the LiberNovo Omni SE, so we have not invented one. The Omni SE is published as suiting users from 153 to 186 cm, with a recommendation to sit in one first above about 188 cm, and its seat depth is fixed at 45 cm or 48 cm at the time of order and cannot be changed afterwards; we stock the 48 cm only. For a tall buyer that fixed-depth decision is the whole ball game — ring us before you order.
The Capisco 265 mm tall gas lift
On an 8106 the tall cylinder reaches 810 mm, which is perching height at a raised desk rather than sitting height at a conventional one.
This is the most useful single answer we can give a very tall buyer, and it comes with a real trade-off.
The Capisco gas lift comes in three heights, and Flokk publishes a seat height range for each. On the Capisco 8106: 150 mm gives 400–540 mm, the standard 200 mm gives 460–640 mm, and the tall 265 mm gives 550–810 mm. The same three cylinders fit the Capisco Puls 8010 and 8020, and swapping one takes about five minutes with the unblocking tool.
Two caveats worth stating plainly.
First, the tall lift raises the whole range, it does not extend it. On an 8106 the 265 mm cylinder starts at 550 mm and will not come down to the 460 mm where the standard cylinder starts. If you share the chair, or move it between a sit-stand desk and a conventional one, you are gaining height at the top and losing it at the bottom. Our own product note is blunt about this: the tall lift makes the chair very high and is really only for people over about 183 cm, or for anyone who wants a high perching position.
Second, the Capisco and the Capisco Puls are measured on separate factsheets and do not share figures. A Puls 8010 on the standard 200 mm cylinder gives 455–640 mm and a Puls 8020 gives 470–650 mm, against 460–640 mm for the 8106 — close, but not the same, and the gap widens on the tall lift (795 mm and 805 mm against 810 mm). The backless models sit lower again. Use the range published for the exact model and cylinder you are buying, which is what our measurements page is for.
The Capisco is a saddle chair, so it fits tall users by a different route as well: perching raises the hips relative to the knees and opens the hip angle, which suits long femurs better than a conventional seat pan does. If you have never sat on one, do not order one sight unseen.
Herman Miller Aeron sizing
A, B and C are separate frames, not one frame with a wider adjustment range, so the size decision is made before the chair arrives.
The Aeron comes in three sizes, A, B and C, and they are genuinely different frames rather than one frame with different adjustments. The Aeron is sized primarily by user height, which makes it the one chair in this guide where the size decision is made before any adjustment is touched.
| Size | Recommended user height | Seat depth (fixed) | Weight capacity |
|---|---|---|---|
| Size A (small) | 147–163 cm | 406 mm | 136 kg |
| Size B (medium) | 157–183 cm | 432 mm | 159 kg |
| Size C (large) | 178–198 cm | 470 mm | 181 kg |
The seat depth figures come from Herman Miller’s published Aeron specifications; the weight capacities come from its separate size and fit reference document, because the public specifications page does not carry them.
Three things follow, and they matter more to a tall buyer than to anyone else.
The bands overlap on purpose. Between 178 and 183 cm both B and C are within Herman Miller’s recommendation, and the tie-breaker is leg length rather than height. Long femurs point to C; a long torso on average legs often stays in B.
Seat depth is fixed, not adjustable. There is no seat slider on an Aeron. The depth is set by the size you order — 406, 432 or 470 mm — and cannot be changed afterwards. That single fact decides more Aeron fit outcomes for tall users than seat height does.
Above about 190 cm, size C is usually the only sensible starting point, and it is worth sitting in before ordering rather than after.
Herman Miller chairs bought through us carry Chair Dinkum’s own 12-year warranty on frame, tilt mechanism, gas lift, base, armrest structure and suspension materials, including 24/7 use — see our warranty page.
When to stop reading and come to the showroom
Twenty minutes in the right chair settles questions that no published range can.
Specifications answer some questions completely and others not at all. Come to Pyrmont if any of these apply:
- You are over about 190 cm. Above that height the published ranges stop being decisive and the interaction between seat depth, backrest height and headrest position takes over.
- Your leg length is unusual for your height in either direction. The seat depth decision is the one that cannot be reversed on a fixed-depth chair.
- You are choosing between Aeron sizes B and C, which is most people between 178 and 183 cm.
- You are considering a Capisco with the tall lift and have never used a saddle chair.
- You want a headrest and are tall. Headrest range is the specification most likely to disappoint at the top of the height distribution.
Our showroom is at 1/209 Harris Street, Pyrmont NSW 2009, by appointment. Bring the shoes you actually wear at work and know your desk height — both change the answer. Details at contact us, or browse the full ergonomic task chair range first.
Frequently asked questions
What seat height do I need if I am 190 cm tall?
There is no single answer, because seat height is set by your lower leg length rather than your total height. Measure from the floor to the back of your knee while wearing work shoes and sitting with your feet flat. That figure, give or take a centimetre, is your target seat height. Then check it against the published ranges above, remembering that published figures are measured under load and an empty chair reads slightly higher.
Which chair in your range goes highest?
On published figures, a HÅG Capisco 8106 fitted with the 265 mm tall gas lift reaches 550–810 mm, and the Humanscale Liberty Mesh with the high cylinder and foot ring reaches 520–725 mm. Both are intended for high or sit-stand desks, and neither will come down as low as its standard configuration.
Does the tall Capisco gas lift also go as low as the standard one?
No. On a Capisco 8106 the 265 mm cylinder shifts the whole range upward: it starts at 550 mm where the standard 200 mm cylinder starts at 460 mm. If more than one person uses the chair, or you move between desk heights, that lost low end matters.
Is seat depth or seat height more important for a tall person?
Seat depth causes more problems in practice. A seat that is too shallow for long femurs pushes you forward off the backrest, which cancels out the lumbar support you paid for. Look for a seat slider. The Kyoto publishes 490–540 mm, the RH New Logic 220 publishes 400–499 mm with its slide, the RH Mereo range slides 403–483 mm, and the Capisco 8106 adjusts 370–470 mm. The Herman Miller Aeron has no slider at all — its depth is fixed by size.
Which Aeron size should a tall person buy?
The Aeron is sized primarily by height: Herman Miller recommends size A for 147–163 cm, size B for 157–183 cm and size C for 178–198 cm, and the bands overlap deliberately. Above about 190 cm, size C is the starting point. Because seat depth is fixed by size — 406 mm on A, 432 mm on B, 470 mm on C — and cannot be adjusted afterwards, leg length is the tie-breaker between B and C. If you are in the 178–183 cm overlap, sit in both.
