Mine is probably about 8ish years old, and still works fine. That said, there may be survivorship bias there.
I have \*zero\* qualms about recommending any cheap Vivo hand-crank frame though. I abuse the heck out of two I use as workbenches and there's not much of anything that could ever go wrong with them.
Get a manual one! I have the Vivo manual crank desk and honestly it takes 30 seconds to adjust. The exercise is actually nice and there's nothing to break. Mine was $250 and feels just as stable as my coworker's $1000 Herman Miller. Standing 2-3 hours per day is realistic, more than that gets uncomfortable even with a mat.
I used a desktop version at work from ‘20-‘22 when I was in an office and spent about 1/3 of my time standing. I found that when I was reading a lot of information, I was standing and when I was typing a lot, I would sit.
At home, I have a Vivo desk frame with a butcher block top, and use it to stand when I’m editing videos. I get mentally fatigued when editing, but standing breaks that up for me. I am one that fidgets in my chair nonstop, I never sit in the “proper position”, and have back issues due to my job already, so a standing desk has changed how much time I can be behind my monitor, both at home and work.
I have a VIVO I've been using since 2021 from Schmamazon. It was $250. They have a few options I believe. It's sturdy, holds my 4 monitors, and all my junk.
I got a Vivo frame and used an old desktop. SUPER happy. I got the premium or heavy duty or something and it was $250. Motor is super quiet, has three presets, and it barely wobbles--definitely no more than a non-adjustable frame of the same design. Got mine on Amazon, though it looks like it's the same price at Walmart (and likely other places, too).
I'm a big fan of the sit/stand routine, whether that's done by adjusting the height of the desk or getting a tall task chair that is as comfortable as the desk chair you would otherwise use. In my case, I went went the adjustable desk because it's right in front of the living room window (NYC livin'), and I want to be able to drop it as low as possible when I'm not working at it, to get as much light and view as possible.
As u/Acceptable_Treat_101 says, though, if there are things to "fix", the desk is only one part of the puzzle. I rock a split keyboard and a vertical mouse, and they both make a huge difference. (Also, I keep my monitor much lower than most people recommend because of my particular neck issues.)
https://preview.redd.it/qcl0r5bjwoig1.jpeg?width=1512&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3e12847f546da227921c2cd25a3396b8be5d80c5
Top Standing Desks on Reddit
1
Flexispot
E7 Pro
93% positive of 97 users
Affordable and stable, but assembly can be confusing.
nonoohnoohno
.jpg "Flexispot - E7 Plus")
