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Flexispot Pro Series electric standing desk hands-on

The Pro Series electric standing desk from Flexispot. Image via Flexispot
The Pro Series electric standing desk from Flexispot. Image via Flexispot
The Flexispot Pro Series electric standing desk is a solidly built and easy-to-use standing desk. A multitude of options for both the desktop finish and support colors allow potential buyers to pick a desk that matches their office aesthetic.

Introduction

The centerpiece of any home office setup is the desk, and with much of the workforce transitioning to a work-at-home environment over the last year and a half, many workers have likely contemplated upgrading their home office and, thus, their desks. While there is no shortage of options, there's a good chance some kind of standing desk sits near the top of many home office wish lists (maybe even yours).

There's a good reason for that; research has shown numerous health benefits standing desks bring over the standard style of workspace. A growing style of standing desk is the electric flavor, which features an electric motor that can raise or lower the desk at the push of a button.

Flexispot, a growing office furniture company, sent me one of their most popular electric standing desks: the Pro Series adjustable standing desk. I've used it for the better part of three months and across two houses. I work in a home office several hours each day writing news, editing written content, and homeschooling three of my children, and all of that happens on this desk. Here are my thoughts.

Design, build, and assembly

Flexispot sent me their "Special Walnut" desktop along with the adjustable legs and electric motor system. The desk's footprint is large at 72 x 30 inches (~183 x 76 cm). The desk itself is solidly built and has a satisfying (if bulky) weight. It feels very well built and hasn't shown any signs of warping or bending, despite supporting a printer, two monitors, a small desktop PC, a small library of 15 books (with bookends), and the occasional toddler (~25 lbs or 11 kg).

The desk's aesthetic is clean with defined edges and rounded corners. The edges are too sharp for my taste. They often dig into my wrists while I'm typing, which has slowly trained me to push my keyboard further away from the desk edge than I'm used to. Flexispot could improve things here with rounded or beveled edges to prevent the edged threat to users' wrists. Otherwise, there's little to complain about.

Flexispot offers nine different colors/finishes for the desktop: maple, mahogany, black, white, grey wood grain, white wood grain, special walnut, ebony, and bamboo. The company sent me the special walnut finish, and it looks striking. The nutty brown color mixes well with most office settings to give the desk enough pop without being too garish. The metal legs and frame come in either black or grey. I'd like to see more color options for the legs to give the whole desk more character, but that is a nitpick.

Special Walnut with black legs and frame. (Image via Flexispot)
Special Walnut with black legs and frame. (Image via Flexispot)
The walnut grain gives enough character to the desk without being overblown. (Image: own)
The walnut grain gives enough character to the desk without being overblown. (Image: own)

Assembly is fairly straightforward. The desk arrived as two separate shipments: the legs and frame came in one box, and the desktop came in a second package. The legs and frame required no assembly save for screwing in a supportive crossbar. The desktop shipped with predrilled holes that lined up perfectly with screw holes on the frame. Thus, I was able to quickly screw the frame to the desktop without much fuss. There were also predrilled holes for the control panel and motor, so these went on easily. After these components were screwed to the wood, I attached the three cables to the motor (one for the control panel, one for each leg), plugged the motor into the wall, and stood at the now-assembled desk. Total assembly time was roughly 10 minutes.

Predrilled holes make assembly much easier. (Images: own)
Predrilled holes make assembly much easier. (Images: own)
Grommetted holes in the frame will help reduce wear.
Grommetted holes in the frame will help reduce wear.

Features, shortcomings, and personal impression

The control panel allows users to save three preset heights and set a timer.
The control panel allows users to save three preset heights and set a timer.

As a motorized standing desk, the primary feature of the Flexispot Pro Series is the electric motor that extends or shortens the desk's legs to a wide range of heights. Flexispot sells three different styles of extendable legs that can raise the desk from 22.8 to up to 50 inches (~58-127 cm) from the floor and can support between 220 and 275 lbs (~100-125 kg).

Flexispot sent me the Pro 3-stage frame, which extends from 22.8 to 48.4 inches (~58-123 cm) and holds up to 275 lbs (~125 kg). As far as adjustable electric desks go, the Pro Series is fairly simple with some nice features. The control panel can adjust the desk up or down with fairly high precision (less than 1/10 in or 1/4 cm). It can also store 3 preset heights; when a preset button is pushed, the desk automatically adjusts to the saved height. I set mine to store a good sitting height, standing height, and to fully extend so I could store things under it after the workday. (This also prevents my kids from messing with anything on top of the desk, which has saved my computer gear a few times.)

The desk itself is somewhat large, but Flexispot does sell smaller sizes in certain finishes. I recently moved to a new house, and the roomy desk presented a challenge for the much smaller home office. As mentioned above, the fairly high full extension height is a nice space saver; after the workday, my office chair will actually fit under the desk so that it's out of the way.

The control panel also features a timer that can be set between 1 and 99 minutes. Flexispot advertises this timer as an "activity timer" to remind workers to move around at specific intervals. The utility of this timer is limited compared to the timer included in every phone and most watches, but it's fairly unobtrusive. I will comment that the timer sound is fairly soft and would likely get drowned out in an open office environment. Also, there's no indication that the timer is active, which may lead some to wonder what might be making that soft beeping noise.

Lastly, the motor itself is fairly loud for an electric standing desk. I've used two electric standing desks prior to the Flexispot Pro Series, and the Flexispot is noticeably louder than either of those. It's not grating, but it is audible from an adjacent room. 

Conclusion

The aptest compliment I can give the Flexispot Pro Series electric standing desk is that its novelty wore off about 20 minutes after assembly. It quickly blended into my office workspace after I set everything up. Coming into my office and hitting the preset for either sitting or standing became second nature thanks to the simple operation. After moving into a smaller space, its high extension height became a massive plus as it kept everything on the desk out of reach of prying hands and allowed for ample storage space.

Most people don't think too much about the desk they sit at every day. After all, it's just a flat piece of wood. However, if you have been considering a standing desk and want something simple to use to excel at what a standing desk should do, the Flexispot Pro Series should be near the top of the list.

Keep in mind that electric standing desks are relatively expensive to their standard counterparts, and the Flexispot isn't any different. Compared to other adjustable electric standing desks, though, the Flexispot is competitively priced, starting at a penny shy of US$400. The desk Flexispot sent me (special walnut, 72x30 in, 3-stage frame) comes in at $579.99.

The Flexispot Pro Series adjustable standing desk is available from Flexispot starting at $399.99 as of press time.

Disclaimer: The author of this review received the Flexispot Pro Series adjustable standing desk free of charge for the purpose of testing

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Sam Medley, 2021-07-19 (Update: 2021-07-19)