Mount-It! Electric Standing Desk Converter Review

The scales have tipped for electric standing desk converters. As recently as a few years ago, it was impossible to find a reasonably-priced one at all, now there is a wide assortment of them available.

The latest example is the Mount-It! Electric Standing Desk Converter. Coming in at just $239.99, it still offers most of the features you expect from a quality electric standing desk converter: It has a solid weight capacity of 33 lbs (read more about our lab testing of the weight limit below since it revealed this capacity isn’t quite right) and it adjusts easily and effortlessly, a huge bonus for those prone to low back pain. There’s no leaning over the unit to assist the lift.

Mount-It! also backs this converter with a 10-year warranty, which is great in this product category, and really great in this price range where 1-year warranties are common.

Assembly

Unlike the ZipLift, the WorkFit-T, or even the VariDesk, which come pre-assembled and can be set up right out of the box, the Mount-It! converter requires some minimal assembly. First, you attach two brackets to the keyboard tray with a total of six screws (screwdriver not included). Next, you hang the keyboard tray from four pre-installed bolt heads under the primary work surface and tighten the bolts.

The whole process should take 10 minutes or less, but do be aware the converter is fairly heavy at 50 lbs so you might want a second person to help you maneuver it around during assembly.

Design

The Mount-It! Electric Standing Desk Converter has a straight up-and-down lift mechanism. This is a big space saver since “Z-Lift” models have a forward arcing path that requires you to take a step backward from your desk when you lift them. The degree of that arc varies from nominal (e.g. ZipLift) to fairly extreme (Varidesk).

The other advantage to rising straight up is stability. Forward-lifting models create a moment lever or teeter totter effect where pressing down on the keyboard can cause the other end to lift off the desk. Again, this is more pronounced on units like the Varidesk that have a more pronounced arc, and of course the taller you are the greater the leverage and thus the instability. On a well-designed unit like the ZipLift it is practically immaterial but we’ve tested several units Z-lift units where there can be a significant stability risk at higher settings, so it’s nice when you don’t even have to think about it.

Of course, there’s also the risk of tilting backward, especially if you mount an ergonomic monitor arm with a couple of heavy displays to the back edge of the work surface. This is where the Mount-It’s 50 lbs of heft is a significant advantage over some of the lighter designs we’ve tested. And to be fair to the Z-lift designs this is one area in which they have an inherent stability advantage. But overall the combination of the Mount-It’s straight up-down movement and heavy base weight make it a very stable unit.

Instead of having a specific number of possible settings, the Mount-It! Converter height options are infinite within the 5.7”-17.7” height range. This is definitely an asset for ergonomics since it allows you to perfectly fit your body. The top-end limit of 17.7” is again one of those “good” specs that falls just shy of “great.” If you’re a particularly tall individual it may be a bit shy of reaching high enough to be ergonomically comfortable for you, but for 90% of folks, it’ll do the job just fine.

All its electronic components are housed underneath the main work surface. This protects them against damage during regular use and keeps the unit free from unnecessarily exposed components—not to mention keeping dust out of the motor works.

Attention to detail is nice in some spots as well. There are rubber pads on the top and bottom of the frame where metal components rest to reduce noise and wear. The converter also has leveling feet with rubber pads on the bottom to improve stability and keep the converter from sliding.

Work Surfaces

The Mount-It! Electric Standing Desk Converter only comes in just one color, black. The work surfaces are a nice quality of 3D-laminate “thermofoil” which allows for soft radiused corners all around the edges of both the top work surface and the keyboard platform. Even the bottom sides of the surfaces are laminated in this matte-finished laminate that appears to hide fingerprints pretty well. Again, for a unit at this price point, this is a high-quality feature we would not normally expect.

The keyboard tray is generously sized at 35.4” x 11”. It also rests lower than the desktop, which is essential to create sufficient vertical distance between your keyboard and monitors so you can work without craning your neck down to see your screen.

Unfortunately, it’s missing the next step in ergonomic adjustability: The ability to set your keyboard tray to a negative tilt, as we’ve seen on ZipLifts. Negative tilt allows you to type in a more neutral way that won’t strain your wrists and potentially lead to issues down the road. To be fair, most standing desk converters do not have this feature. Lacking the ability to install an ergonomic keyboard tray remains one of the biggest reasons consumers opt for a full standing desk over a converter these days, so it’s very much a “nice to have” when you can find it.

Like the keyboard platform, the desktop is generously sized at 35.4” x 23.22”. Mount-It! has struck a good balance here by maximizing the work surface space but keeping the base small enough to fit on 24”-deep desks.

When lowered all the way, the keyboard tray is resting on the desk itself, which is great for stability. But this does lead to one unfortunate design issue with the converter that seems like it could easily be fixed by the manufacturer. When the keyboard tray is resting on the desk, the point of contact is the heads of the metal screws that hold the keyboard tray brackets on. Brushing against the rough metal on these screws will likely lead to damage to the desktop surface as the screwheads scrape across it in that one touchdown spot over and over again. You could easily hack this with a thick piece of electrical tape covering the screw heads, though (and we’d recommend doing so).

Larger Size

We lab tested the standard size, but the Mount-It! Electric Standing Desk Converter does come in a larger size. The larger size has extra desktop space that extends out to the left. The main workspace is 48.5″ x 23.25″, with some of that space cut out as you can see in the image to the right. The keyboard tray measures 35.5″ x 7.5″. This large size’s height range is 6″ to 19.25″ particularly strong and could make it a good option for very tall users.

Mounting An Ergonomic Monitor Arm May Be Challenging

This converter’s work surface does not feature any grommet holes, thus restricting your monitor arm mounting options to the edge-clamped variety. The problem is that there’s a metal frame member that runs under the back edge of the work surface that leaves only 2.4375” of clearance for an edge clamp. Most monitor arm edge clamps require more space than that. This is similar to one of the key design flaws of the Vari converters that they’ve never fixed over oh, so many years.

We have a few dozen different monitor arms around the test lab that we tried to attach to the Mount-It! electric converter, and found only two that worked: the ZipView Single and ZipView Dual. Every other make and model of monitor arm we had around was too big to fit.

Can you find some compatible monitor arms that will fit your monitor(s) and work on this converter? Very likely, yes, with some research. But it probably won’t be as simple as taking the one you already have on your desk and moving it to the converter, as very few arms have an edge clamp bracket this shallow.

Other Features

The main desktop features a small plastic slot that can hold up your smartphone, tablet or other small accessory. At 10” long, it will fit the vast majority of those devices.

The hand controller is simple with up and down buttons. It’s tucked away nicely right under the desktop. There’s also a USB charger on the hand controller. You can never be too rich, too thin, or have too many handy USB charge ports in convenient locations.

Performance

While it avoids the teeter totter issue by rising straight up (as we mentioned above) overall stability is decent, but not in the same class of the best converters. Side-to-side stability was “ok.” We saw some springiness when you push down because of play in the frame itself (as you can see to the right). This will affect you while you’re typing, though it is by no means a deal-breaking level of instability, especially for shorter or medium-height individuals.

Stability, i.e. shakiness of a converter is one of those things you’re more likely to notice more a) the taller you are, b) the more force you tend to pound the keyboard with when you type, and c) the more monitors you use and the heavier they are, as any vibrations in the converter body are only going to be amplified by the monitor arm. Is it as rock-solid as a ZipLift? No, not remotely. But it’s better than most, and very reasonable compared to other units in its price range.

Mount-It! lists the weight capacity at 33 lbs for the main desktop and 5 lbs for the keyboard tray. This weight capacity is just fine, nothing exceptional. However, when we tested our unit in the lab, it worked all the way up to 98 lbs before we stopped pushing it. The motor definitely seemed to be straining, but we were impressed it lifted the weight at all.

Kids, don’t try this at home. We wouldn’t suggest lifting that amount of weight frequently or it would likely either burn the motor out or break the linkage mounting points. But that’s why we lab test this stuff. Bottom line, it’s a solid architecture. The unit is placarded for “pinch points” and it does indeed have several exposed pinched points, so this is a consideration if you’re going to be using this around small animals or children. Again, in this price range pretty much all the designs have open linkages and don’t spend money covering over linkages that create potential pinch point hazards.

The electric height adjustment works well but it’s a little slow and it gets louder under strain. It takes about 14 seconds to rise through the 12” range with no weight load on the unit.

While the converter doesn’t slow down when it reaches the bottom height, it does settle in gradually instead of crashing down as we see with some other converters.

The Takeaway

The pluses and minuses of the Mount-It! Electric converter being what they are, we have to take all this in the context of its very competitive price point. If you’re looking for the absolute best in ergonomic design, or rigidity, or adjustment range, this isn’t it. But if you’re willing to take something that’s “good enough” in those areas at a truly great price point, this could be the unit for you.

And the price is really the main point about this converter. At $239.99 for an electric standing desk converter, it’s hard to go wrong. Once you add in the 10-year warranty, Mount-It! has delivered a winning entrant into the category.

To learn more about the types of standing desk converters and which one is best for you, check out our full roundup of standing desk converter reviews. You can also read our roundups of electric standing desk converters and standing desk converters under $350. And be sure to subscribe to our newsletter to keep up with the latest news and reviews.

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