I have been encouraged over recent months, along with all the other supporting info on the interwebs, to look into a standing desk. When I had setup my home office about 25 years ago, I had to fit a lot of stuff into a 9.5′ x 13′ space (think person-sized lasagna pan). Desk, filing cabinets, bookcase, storage cubes, shelving, etc. The best place for my main workstation was in the far left corner. I was able to order a decent corner office workstation at the time, that even boasted a riser for a monitor, which was neat, but which I never used. I have another long flat table on the opposite wall with a printer, PC, and portable phone base station as well as my Ooma.

Most of the offerings I researched were rectangular, wouldn’t fit the space and hugely expensive. Others were smaller, but wouldn’t fit the corner space. I needed something that would not require me to rejigger my office setup, wasn’t too expensive and was easy to use. Enter VariDesk. It checked off all the important points for me. 1.) It fit the space. It’s a standing desk topper, sitting on top of the existing desk, which doesn’t upset my office’s feng shui. 2.) Easy to use. With its weighted base and pneumatic articulation, moving the desk up and down is easy and doesn’t require the arms of Popeye, simply grab the releases on each side and pull toward you to go up, push away from you to go down. 3.) Inexpensive(ish). Seeing how some of these desks ran past the $1,000.00 mark, I think the $375.00 price tag (with free shipping) was more agreeable. 4.) Perks. Comes with velcro straps to organize your cables and a sticker!

It’s a heavy beast when you take it out of the box, fully assembled and well packaged. It really feels like you’re getting something for the money. Position it on your desk, add computer, keyboard, peripherals and toys and you’re all set to go. I like the lower deck for the keyboard and mouse and even mail or working docs, while the upper deck handles the peripherals and my Star Trek Micro Machines collection. I also found it to be extremely stable, working on it or moving it up and down doesn’t upset the balance of my starships on their stands. The Borg may wish to assimilate this technology.

Health benefits? There is a lot of discussion about the benefits of a standing desk. Having the ability to switch it up, stretch the legs, move around, sit when tired can’t be worse than sitting one’s backside the entire day, which I had been prone to do. Oh, one more thing. Make sure to acquire a good anti-fatigue mat like the CumulusPRO from Imprint, your feet and legs will thank you. Do you use a standing desk? What has been your experience?

Flat on the desk.

Standing height.

Flat with the mat, by Dr. Seuss.

Standing tall.

Just the mat, and that is that.