We seem to spend more time at our desks than ever before. Many people through the coronavirus pandemic had to work from home, and those who didn’t have desks invested in one, and people who did have them were doubling up their usage as they switch between working from home and playing video games. We’ve been fortunate enough to check out one of the latest innovations in the desk world (I think that’s a thing) with the Flexispot Standing Desk Pro Series.
Now, many people may not be aware, but standing desks are really a thing. And there are a vast amount of reasons why using one could benefit you:
- Standing lowers your risk of weight gain and obesity;
- Using a Standing Desk may lower blood sugar levels;
- Standing may lower your risk of heart disease;
- Standing Desks appear to reduce back pain;
- Standing Desks help improve mood and energy levels;
- Standing Desks may even boost productivity;
- Standing more may help you live longer.
So as you can see, using one really could be advantageous over sitting for hours slumped at your desk. And Flexispot is taking advantage of that and have released a wide range of standing desks in order to help users in search of high-quality versions of this revolution in home and office furniture.
First Impressions
The desk that we received was the Flexispot Standing Desk Pro Series E7 model, which comes with premium controls. We decided to go for a white frame and picked out a mahogany desktop to go with it. It ended up arriving in three pieces, two boxes for the frame, and one for the desktop. The first impression before even getting it out of the boxes was that it was bloody heavy. Like, I’ve had flatpack wardrobes that I think were lighter than these packages. I was expecting some more heft than a traditional desk as this particular model contains motors for adjustable height. But my God, it was heavy.
Getting the parts out of the box, they all seemed in excellent condition. Well-packaged goods are always a bonus as you know you’re unlikely to find any small damage such as scratches and dents to your new purchases. And straight away, you could feel that these were all quality parts. They didn’t feel like the standard aluminium frames you get from some cheaper manufacturers, it was all solid, nicely powder-coated, and they just felt like these were really good quality. It’s hard to put that into words, but you know sometimes when you just know something? That’s how these felt. I just knew Flexispot’s desk was good quality.
Setting Up
After placing all the parts around my living room (again it was heavy and I wasn’t lugging this to my office upstairs), I quickly got to reading the instructions. They were simple to follow and the Flexispot desk was fairly easy to assemble. However, with the weight of it, I would suggest this is best done as a two-person job, to avoid damaging the desk, and damaging yourself.
Now the worktops and the frame actually come separate, so if you do check out this frame and decide to buy one. Remember to add both to your basket. But the frame comes ready equipped to be connected. What I particularly liked, is that besides everything being included like all the screws and bolts you need, every hole that was pre-drilled for you to screw in, came with little rubber cushions in them that act as washers. These help not only guide your screws etc. into place but also cushions the desktop on top of the frame, and prevents you from causing any damage.
It sounds like such a small thing, but if you’ve ever built flatpack furniture before, especially the cheaper kind, you’ll know exactly the kind of issues I’m talking about. Everything fit neatly into place and lined up with precision. The legs already contain the motors for the adjustable-height too, so there was no real fiddling around with any expensive parts. The most you had to do was wire up the power packs for the motors, and once this was done, there is a nice little clip-on tray you can tighten with screws to hide all the wires away so it keeps a nice clean look. Flexispot had really thought about how this would all come together with ease.
For the control unit itself, it was just a case of plugging it in to get it to work. But what I really liked was that there were pre-drilled holes to screw it in on either side of the desk, so it could be attached to your preferred side with ease.
Features
So, we have reviewed desks in the past, such as the Genesis Holm 300 RGB, which came packed full of features such as a built-in USB 3.0 hub and a wireless charging pad, plus mounts for everything you could need from somewhere to stack your controllers to a place to stick your cup of tea. The Flexispot E7 doesn’t have all those technical features included, however, there are additional accessories you can add to your order on their website like an under-desk drawer, monitor mounts and cable tidies, all of which incur additional costs.
What the Flexispot desk does feature though as previously mentioned is dual motors that allow you to adjust the height of your desk. Now there are two control units available, a basic (the E6), and a premium (the E7). Both can be used to raise and lower the desk, although the premium controller allows you to have set heights that you can tap so it adjusts precisely to the height required. All that is required for them is a quick tap of the button and it will raise or lower to the height that you have registered for your desk to be at.
This is a great feature that allows you to switch between sitting and standing, as and when you wish. The minimum height it will drop to is 58cm off the ground, with the upper limit being 123cm. What’s really cool though, is if you’ve left your chair tucked under the desk at a height that isn’t the normal height for your chair, maybe if someone else has been using your desk, it has an anti-collision system built-in.
So if you try to drop it to a lower height and it detects something in the way, it will quickly detect it, and readjust itself to a height just above where it detected the contact. Preventing any damage to your chair or anything stored beneath.
If you’re worried about whether the Flexispot E7 will be able to handle your desk load, well, it has been tested, by them and us. They state it has an operational load capacity of 125kb where the motors will still keep moving at their full speed of 3.8cm/s. And without giving too much away, I’m not far off that weight limit and lying down on the desk, I can assure you it’s firstly, extremely strong, and secondly, still is able to shift even my heavy ass with ease. I wouldn’t suggest riding it yourself, but I can assure you it is pretty safe to do so.
We also did what I like to call the Jurassic Park test. You know the scene with the glass of water when you see the ripples appearing? Well, we copied the same test you can see in the video above, and it’s such a smooth system, there was barely any movement in the liquid at all. It was just like Flexispot had captured that moment when you’re sat at a lovely fishing lake on a hot summers day, with just a light breeze. The water is still, and it just all seems so peaceful and you wish the moment could last forever.
Value for Money
Ok, so how much is this wonder of a desk going to cost? Well, currently, the Flexispot website has the frame listed with either control at £399.99, their desktops then start from £79.99. Plus there are, as mentioned before, a number of other accessories that you can add which will keep seeing your cost increase. Now, luckily, they always seem to have a sale on. At the moment, they have 10% off on their website, you’ll find the code on pretty much every page to remind you to use it. So it’s very unlikely you will pay the FULL price. But even then, it is still expensive.
It is probably a bit more of a luxury item or something you may only invest in if you are looking for a standing desk for work after an occupational health assessment. There are cheaper options available, even from Flexispot themselves. But this is their top of the line range. So it is expected to cost more than their basic desks, and so may not be within everyone’s price range, but with my experience so far, I think even with the high cost, it is actually good value for money, excellent value if you manage to bag yourself some of their discount codes.
Where Flexispot may fall is when compared to competitors, as they do seem to have a bit of a higher price point than others for similar desks. I can’t speak for the others available though, but this desk right here, it’s exceptional. Flexispot has spared no expense when it comes to crafting an extremely high-quality piece of furniture. I genuinely couldn’t find a single fault with it, except that it is pricey. And again, even then, you’re very unlikely to ever pay the full cost due to online discounts.
Overall thoughts for the Flexispot Standing Desk Pro Series
What can I say about the Flexispot Standing Desk Pro Series? Well, it is a fantastic desk. It’s may not be the desk for everyone, but at the same time, it is a desk for everyone. It looks smart, it’s built extremely well, and it can even hold my body weight. The height-adjustable features are extremely handy, meaning it can be adjusted to suit your needs, and with safety features such as the anti-collision system, it has also been thoughtfully created with safety in mind.
When more people are looking at standing desks, Flexispot’s E7 really is a game-changer, especially as the dual-motors allow you to smoothly adjust the height with absolute ease. It comes in a variety of colours, to suit all rooms, and there are so many accessories you can get to help boost the health benefits of having a standing desk. Is it pricey? Yes. Is it worth it? Also, yes.
You can find more information and where to buy the Flexispot Standing Desk Pro Series on their official website HERE. Whilst you wait for it to arrive if you do decide to buy a desk from Flexispot, why not check out more of our hardware reviews HERE.
