I am often thinking of ways to improve my desk setup. But I’m cheap, so I have held off on buying anything. Instead, I’ve MacGyvered a few desk setups mostly with redundant university stuff (see “Office Space: Desk Setup“). But I recently gave in and bought something to upgrade my desk setup: an adjustable sit-stand desk attachment.
SIT-STANDÂ DESKS
I can’t afford an entirely new adjustable sit-stand desk. Fortunately, there are sit-stand desk attachments. They are made to be used with traditional sitting desks. And some of them are affordable.
VIVO’S SIT-STANDÂ DESK ATTACHMENT
I found that VIVO had some of the more affordable sit-stand desk attachments. Also, some of their sit-stand desk attachments are very adjustable. Particularly the ones with the arms that can be raised/lowered and rotated (along multiple axes).
The STANDSIT1C comes with, among other things, a keyboard tray. Since I will not use a keyboard, I also bought VIVO’s laptop tray. I’ll just swap the trays and sell the one I don’t use.
HOW DO I LIKE IT?
I like it a lot! Here’s what I like:
- Sturdy! I had no idea that it would be so sturdy. I expected quite a bit of wobble, but there is VERY little; almost none.
- Versatile. There are a lot of possible configurations!
- Fit. I find the travel in the arms to be sufficient for my height (5’11”).
- Posture. I set up the sit-stand desk attachment so that the monitor is just above eye level in both the sitting and standing configurations. That way, I cannot slouch while working. My neck and back are very thankful!
- Cable management. The kit comes with cable management attachments that tame cables from the base of the all the way to my peripherals.
- More deskspace. Prior desk setups involved various contraptions on or around my desk that propped up my monitor and laptop when I was standing. This meant that I had little desk space when I needed it. The base of the attachment takes only about 3″ x 3″ of desk space! I like being able to move the computer and laptop to one side when I need to use the whole desk surface.
- Overkill. In general, the product offers more than I will ever need, which is comforting. For instance, the pole is probable 6-8 inches taller than I need it to be and the thickness of the steel is probably twice what I need.
- Setup. The product was not assembled when it arrived, but it was not too difficult to assemble. I used the instructions, but — in retrospect at least — the assembly seemed easy enough to do without instructions. Building the product took less than 30 minutes.
- Price. As far as I can tell, this might be the most competitively priced sit-stand desk attachment out there.
While I like it, there are a couple of things that bother me.
- The keyboard tray isn’t ideal. Each connection between the post and the tray are ever so-slightly loose (they probably have to be to allow for motion), so (a) there is some wobble in the tray and (b) the tray is a bit out of level at certain angles. It’s totally fine …when I don’t notice it. (This isn’t a problem with the laptop tray.)
- Two cheap parts. The cable management pieces are plastic. All except two are very sturdy. The two cable tracks under the spring arms are attached by rather small plastic tabs. One tab broke off while I was attaching it to its arm. The piece is still attached, but only by three out of the four tabs, so it’s a little less secure than it’s supposed to be. This doesn’t impede function at all. And I don’t even see these parts when I’m using it. …but it annoyed me when I was setting it up.
SUMMARY
I really like working at the sit-stand desk. It is very, very good, albeit not perfect. Imperfect as it may be, it’s definitely an improvement on my previous setups.
