Standee Bamboo Sit Stand Workstation Review

Review

We at WorkWhileWalking believe the ultimate in active workstations these days means adding a treadmill under your height adjustable desk. But, understandably, some aren’t quite ready for the leap it takes to start walking. If that’s you, and you’re looking to stave off the symptoms of sitting disease by infusing some movement into your workday, one option is to start standing. You can either 1) purchase a height-adjustable standing desk, or 2) plunk a sit-stand workstation on top of your existing desk whenever you’d like to work in a standing position. The bamboo Standee desk would fall under option two.

The Standee raises your desktop to standing level by resting on the surface of your existing sitting desk. With a starting price of $99.95, it costs significantly less than some of its more complex competitors like the Kangaroo or the Ergotron WorkFit-T (which offer height adjustability). And with its sturdy wood construction, it’s also more rigid than some of the shakier risers like the Workfit-A. The trade-off is that Standee lacks the ergonomics and capabilities of these more sophisticated devices, and requires users to compromise on the position of their wrists and neck, which, as many desk-bound office workers can attest, may have lasting harmful effects on the body.

A Sit-Stand Workstation… or a Box?

We give the Standee a hard time not because of its make (it’s constructed of durable and attractive bamboo wood), but because of its functional limitations. It looks like a box and acts like a box, and so if you’re committed to calling a spade a spade, you have to declare…well, we’ll let you decide what it really is. The point being that the Standee is up against competition (albeit at a bit of a higher price range) that offers cutting edge, ergonomically sound features like monitor arms and height-adjustable work surfaces – there’s none of this functionality in the bare bones Standee.

It consists of a wooden tabletop that secures atop three hinged panels. You can put it together in under a minute, and it’s lightweight so that you can easily remove it from your desk for when you want to sit down again. The Standee comes in four heights: 10″, 12″, 14″, or 16″. No matter which model you settle on, the idea is the same: You place your laptop on the Standee when you want to stand. When it’s time to sit, you remove it—and either slide the Standee out of the way or just disassemble it. It’s not an elegant height adjustment by any means, but you get what you pay for. Its only saving grace is that it’s lightweight enough to move around and remove from your desk—something you can’t exactly say for the bulky Varidesk, for instance. Light frame notwithstanding, the Standee has all the adjustability of a plastic crate, which costs in the ballpark of about $10. The question you should ask yourself, therefore, is whether you’re willing to spend up to an additional $90 for Standee’s portability (it folds up flat so you can take it with you), or its bamboo construction.

Ergonomically Boxed In

This lack of height adjustment poses some serious ergonomic challenges. Without some sort of workaround, you’ll be typing and looking at your laptop. The space between the keyboard and the display screen on a laptop forces users to crane their necks, breaking one of our cardinal rules about office ergonomics. The relatively small platform doesn’t allow for most ergonomic monitor arms or keyboard trays, and users can expect a great deal of neck and wrist pain over time, so we wouldn’t recommend relying on it for your full standing day. A sit-stand workstation like the Kangaroo may be pricier than the Standee, but it’ll save you more than a few trips to the chiropractor. There are more functional sit-stand workstations available that offer more in adjustability, ergonomics, and even just work surface space. Check out our sit-stand workstation comparison review to find out more about these models.

The Standee Bamboo Sit-Stand Converter is also included in our Top Stand Up Desk Converters Under $350 round-up.

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