Progressive Desk Economy Ryzer Standing Desk Review

This is a “first look” synopsis on the Economy Ryzer manufactured by Progressive Desk. A full review of their line of standing desks is coming soon.

Richmond, BC-based Progressive Desk, an offshoot of Arlington, WA, USA-based linear actuator components importer and integrator Progressive Automations (and a sister offshoot of Progressive Bed). Launched in 2019 as a desk manufacturer primarily focused on the Canadian market, Progressive Desk is actually a relatively unknown player in the US market. Their products appear to be the usual fare of commodity-grade Chinese imports, and they’ve had some alleged run-ins with intellectual property theft claimed by US- and European-based manufacturers, but they have a broad enough product line and customer history now to be considered one of the next-largest players in the Canadian market after market leader Ergonofis.

The Economy Ryzer standing desk by Progressive Desk as its simple name would suggest is a low-budget option within the adjustable-height desk category. There isn’t a single element from the design to the component make up of this desk which delivers an element of quality to the Canadian consumer. After a comprehensive sweep of all the standing desks sold by Canadian companies we can declare it is in fact the cheapest standing desk sold in Canada. In every sense of the word.

Starting with the single-motor, dual stage operating system, the desk offers the bare minimum within the category. The weight capacity is about 100 pounds after factoring in the weight of the desktop (learn more about Why Standing Desk Weight Ratings Matter), the transit speed of 1 inch-per-second is the second-slowest in the industry (in that statistic beaten out only by the Branch Standing Desk‘s 0.5 ips). Then there’s the height-adjustment range of the single-stage frame, which has a stroke of less than 20″ and short users will find as uncomfortable to sit at as tall users will find unergonomic and shaky to stand at.

Next, there is the cheap, commodity-grade desktop made of medium-density fiberboard (MDF) with high-pressure laminated top and bottom and color-matched PVC edge-banding; pretty basic, decades-old technology. Progressive Desk offers these tops in three sizes (42″ x 30″, 48″ x 30″, 60″ x 30″) and in 11 color finishes. To understand the variety of desktop surfaces used in modern standing desks read our primer.

Bamboo is among the options of desktop materials, but as we go into in great depth in our article on Bamboo Standing Desks – Separating Truth From Fiction in Environmental Claims it is a very poor material to make standing desk work surfaces from. This is evidenced by the complete carve-out for “natural bamboo material defects” in Progressive Desk’s warranty details. A) there’s no such thing as “natural” bamboo wood, an B) we know it has a strong tendency to delaminate. In other words, you’ll be buying a new desktop as soon as it does, out of your own pocket; so just avoid it.

Progressive Desk claims a very simple installation process for the Economy Ryzer; one that purportedly takes only “20 minutes.” While we haven’t lab tested this product yet, we’ve built plenty of other single-motor standing desks in the past, and have a hard time conceiving of putting one together in only 20 minutes. For certain you will want a second pair of hands to hold the opposite leg in place while you attach the connecting transmission rod. As a rule of thumb, the cheaper the desk, the more labor has been shifted to the customer. Expect to spend a good hour assembling this desk, and have a power screwdriver on hand to save time. You might want to bring a microscope to the assembly party to read the instruction manual.

Progressive’s website is full of inconsistencies, especially when it comes to warranty coverage. In most places, it states that its desks come with an “8-year warranty on the desktop, seven years on the dual-stage frame,” but on its main Warranty page, it states that as of July, 2021 it now offers a comprehensive 15 year warranty on all its desks, including desktops. That’s great in that they’re trying to be competitive with US brands like iMovR, UpLift and Fully as compared to their Canadian peers that offer much shorter warranties, but they have buried a few carve-outs into the fine print. (For this reason we always recommend checking out our article on How to Compare Warranties on Standing Desks before making a purchase.)

The company currently offers a 30-day trial period. For comparison reviews of the other Progressive Desk standing desk options, please see our individual product reviews of the V-Ryzer, Corner Ryzer and Solo Ryzer.

If you only need a tabletop for a DIY project or to replace a damaged top, Progressive Desk does sell them separately. Check out what our experts think in our report of their standalone desk tops.

Also, be sure to check out all our top-rated standing desk reviews, and if you are looking for something specifically Canadian, see our roundup of Canadian standing-desk reviews.