When setting up your home office or giving it a makeover, the desk is the key to making the room a functional workspace. And if you're in there all day, it also has a significant impact on your health. Standing desks can help offset some of the adverse health risks associated with sitting all day, but it's hard to find a decent standing desk that won't break the bank. That's where Flexispot comes in.
The good thing about Flexispot is that it sells more than just standing desks. It specializes in ergonomic solutions for any workspace and sells fixed-height desks, climate-positive workstations, desk bikes, chairs, and so much more.
I was in the market for a new standing desk, and Flexispot was nice enough to send me one of its best-in-class desks to test: the Flexispot E7 Pro Plus Standing Desk. There are several customization options for this model, but I specifically tried out the 60-by-30-inch model with an ebony chipboard top, black T-frame, and premium keypad.
Desktop Choices
For the desktop material, you can choose between chipboard, bamboo, fiberboard, a solid wood texture, and rubber wood. From there, there are many different desktop colors to choose from, including different colors for each desktop material.
For example, the bamboo option only has regular and dark shades, but the fiberboard comes in oak, brown wood, white, or black. The chipboard has ten color options, the most of any desktop material.
Then you need to choose the size of your desk, which also varies depending on the material you choose. Sizes range from 48 by 24 inches to 79 by 35 inches. Bamboo and fiberboard both have curved options.
Frame Choices
Three frames are available for the desk: a T-frame like I tried out, a C-frame, and a high frame.
- The T-frame has the "legs" of the desk in the center and can go from 22.8 inches to 48.4 inches off the floor. With the T-frame, you can choose from three colors: black, white, or gray.
- The C-frame has the "legs" in the back of the desk and can go from 23.6 inches to 49.2 inches off the ground. This frame allows you to choose from two colors: white or gray.
- The high frame is pretty much the same as the T-frame but allows you to raise the desk higher than the other two frames. It goes up to 52.4 inches and down to 25.6 inches. You have two colors to choose from: white or black.
There are advanced and premium keypad options to control the elevation of the desktop. They look different but have very similar functions.
- The advanced keypad has a digital display showing the desk's height, three one-click memory buttons to preset height preferences, up and down controls, and a sit/stand reminder. This keypad is only available with a gray or white T-frame.
- The premium keypad has a digital display showing the desk's height, a touchscreen, four one-tap memory buttons to preset height preferences, up and down controls, and a child lock, and a USB charging port.
Packaging and Initial Look Over After Shipping
When I got the desk, the legs and the top were in two different boxes. These packages were very, very heavy. The shipping weight for the 60-by-30 chipboard was nearly 50 pounds, and the T-frame was almost 80. Both items were well packaged with styrofoam and other packing materials. However, after I took off the styrofoam on one of the sides, there was a big dent or chip in the chipboard.
Since it was well-packaged, it was likely a manufacturing defect or accident where they store and box products, not a shipping issue. However, I did contact Flexispot, and it offered to send a new one.
Installation and Setup
Overall, the desk is pretty easy to install and put together. To make it easier, I recommend getting a second person to help, but you can definitely do it by yourself if that's not an option.
As expected, Flexispot sends you all the screws, as well as an Allen wrench, also called an Allen key, in plastic packaging labeled letters A through F. The frame involved just attaching the bottoms, tops, and the motor for the standing part of the desk. Then you just screw in the desktop, and you're all set. You can put your keypad on either side of your desk.
However, the directions weren't clear if you needed to have the top at a certain length, so I looked up the "perfect" distance for the legs. And while the instructions didn't mention it, there is a YouTube video that explains how to install and set up the desk, which I didn't find until about 90% done with everything. That would have been helpful to see in the instruction manual itself.
Use of the Desk
I currently have a two-monitor desk mount, 32-inch and 27-inch monitors, two small basic speakers, a keyboard, and a mouse, and it seems to hold up the weight very well. The frame I used did have a loading capacity of 355 pounds, so it's not surprising. The desk has two motors, making the adjustable height stand work very well, along with the keypad, which tells you exactly how high the desk is.
While the touchpad controls are nice, I've had an issue with them being over-sensitive to touch. I would barely touch them while adjusting my monitors, the desk would go up or down. However, you can lock the desk's height by holding the "M" button, which fixes this problem.
Additionally, I have a few issues with a few features that Flexispot advertises. First, the desk is advertised as "stable at every angle," but that fails. If I try to put weight on the front, it feels like the desk will tilt over. Second, the desk is advertised to have an anti-collision function. However, I haven't found this to work very well. When I accidentally bump the keypad and the desk slides down, it gets caught on my chair and starts breaking the desk.
However, my favorite thing about this desk is the cable management. I have two computers — a PC and a Mac mini — and two monitors, so I use a lot of different cables and power cords. Sometimes it's hard to manage them, but this desk has an under-desk tray to hide most of the wires.
Pricing
The pricing for this desk varies depending on what you need. It starts at $579.99 and goes up to $1,159.99. So whatever your budget is, the E7 desk will probably have an option for you.
However, if you are looking for something cheaper, Flexispot does sell less expensive desks like the Comhar (pictured below), a great budget option.
It has an Amazon shop, where you can get most of the non-premium desk options, which start as low as $249.99.
What My Setup Looked Like Before
I've known about Flexispot for years and have always wondered what quality its desks are. A few years ago, I looked into purchasing one of Flexispot's standing desks and decided against it because, at the time, the company didn't have a desk big enough to fit my setup.
So instead, I made my own DIY setup with an IKEA tabletop and IKEA legs, then later swapped the legs out with a VIVO Electric Stand Up Desk Frame Workstation. For cable management, I used some generic plastic cable holders with gorilla tape to hold them up.
Overall, the Flexispot E7 Pro Plus Electric Standing Desk is a worthy addition to any home office, big or small, and adjusting the desktop height is as simple as possible. Aside from the few minor issues I had with it, it's still one of my favorite standing desks.
Cover photo, photos, and GIFs by Daniel Hipskind/Gadget Hacks
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