VIVO Electric Sit Stand Desk Review: Buttery Smooth

POSITIVES

✓ Affordable

Lots of features for 400 hundred dollars

✓ Fantastic motor

Smooth adjustments

✓ Comes in multiple colors

Tons of customization options

NEGATIVES

✘ Uneven desk top

Not the most friendly for writers

✘ Desk top a bit funky

Comes in three pieces

✘ Some ergonomic issues

Cable management trays hit your leg and chair

retail price: $399.99

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Ever since the pandemic started, work from home equipment has been a hot commodity. Now that we’re a couple years past 2020, a lot of workplaces have since adopted the hybrid format of going into an office a few times a week but for some of us, including myself, we’ve become fully remote permanently. Now since I’ve been fully remote, I’ve gotten a few more accessories that I feel have really made my work from home setup productive and comfortable, so if you want to learn more about those later, be sure to subscribe and stay tuned. 

The VIVO electric sit stand desk is actually one of the top selling sit stand desks on Amazon currently. It retails for about $400 and comes in a 63 x 32 inch configuration. Full disclosure, I received this desk from my previous employer for free but picked out the colors and installed it all myself. Amazon actually has quite a few colors of this desk but this particular one I chose is the light wood and black combination. 

easy assembly

For those who have a walkup or an apartment, the VIVO sit stand desk actually comes in two boxes so it’s not too challenging to move around yourself. It is a little heavy so if you have access to a dolly it might be beneficial. Otherwise, we opened the boxes when we got mine and individually brought up the pieces prior to assembling upstairs in my office. Alex and I assembled it together and because we are not the most handy of people, it took us about an hour or so. Hands down, the most annoying part was actually putting together the desk pieces. I’ll come back to this, but the desk itself is essentially made up of three wood sections that join together and you have to try to align them pretty well together otherwise you get some terrible seams that look crooked.

well made and functional

Aside from some minor assembly issues, I actually really like the look and feel of this desk. This light wood especially has a nice contrast to it and the desk feels sturdy and has good weight behind it. The legs are made from steel and on carpet, they’ve been in place and stable without significant wobbling. The VIVO sit stand desk is able to support up to 176 lbs and while I’ve never actually sat on the desk, I haven’t had any issues with it holding my large monitor, multiple laptops, and plenty of other accessories around. While it does hold weight well, it’s not necessarily shake-proof so if you were to put a good amount of force in shaking the desk, light weight items off the edge might fall off. Nothing dramatic enough to be concerned about though and this has never affected my day to day use of it.

The height of the desk starts at 29.5” and rises up to 49.6.” I’m about 5’6 in height and the highest setting I go up to is this 103 number so that my elbows are close to 90 degrees for me to type when standing. Speaking of height adjustment, the motor on the VIVO sit stand desk is buttery smooth. We’ve had other sit stand desks here at The Sypnotix, including one of the first-generation Ikea Belkant desks released and the improvement in motor technology is significant. I usually adjust the height of my desk at least twice a day and the motor has never acted finicky at all. It’s a smooth transition that is surprising for this price tag. What’s really cool about the VIVO desk is there’s also a memory mode on here and memory to store up to 3 settings. There’s also a timed reminder mode that you can set in increments of 30 minutes so that when the timer has run out, it’ll beep letting you know it’s time to adjust your settings and get up to stretch. This is great if you like regular reminders to stand or if you want to split your day working in a few different heights. These features are probably some of the best parts of the VIVO sit stand desk because for this $400 price range, not a lot of other brands offer these programmable settings with a digital touch display to boot.

some questionable design choices

There’s definitely a lot of pros to this desk especially when you consider the price and overall value here, but there’s a few cons that I wanted to call out as well that I notice in my day to day uses. The first is that there’s a cable management tray that sits just below where your keyboard is usually placed on this desk. It’s great that VIVO provides a convenient way to hide and maneuver the cables connecting this desk but if you have a chair that you push in frequently or a chair that has arm rests, it will very likely continuously hit this cable management tray and possibly warp its shape too. If you’re also the type of person who likes to cross their legs while working, this will also be impossible with the tray. VIVO should have moved this tray to be towards the back of the desk to avoid some of these scenarios.

not for the writers

While I did mention that I love the wood top of the desk, I felt that it was also important to share that by no means is this wood smooth. It has a good amount of texture to it, meaning that if you write frequently and need a flat surface, this is not smooth enough for you to write on. You’ll need a writing mat on this desk or a notepad to place it on. I give VIVO credit on making it look smooth from further away but it’s not practical for those who require more writing space on their desk.

Your Mileage may vary

Finally, this last point is one that I heard when I recently did an ergonomic assessment at work. Apparently if you are under 5’8, this desk may be a little too tall for you even at the lowest setting. The height range for the VIVO sit stand desk starts at 29.5” and if you are unable to adjust the height of your chair to sit higher, those who are around my height should technically sit at a slightly lower height to the ground. Your mileage may vary with this because you should do what is most comfortable for you, but this was something that was pointed out to me in my ergonomic review. If you are unable to adjust the height of your desk or chair and find your feet just a little higher than they need to be from the ground, definitely consider a footrest or other option to help alleviate some of that pressure so that you can sit comfortably for longer.

Final thoughts

All in all, there’s not much to complain about regarding the VIVO sit stand desk. It ships quickly from Amazon, is easy to install and setup, and performs exactly as advertised for a competitive price. It’s not perfect and there is room for improvement, but I’ve been very happy with my VIVO sit stand desk and have been able to use this desk regularly for 10-12+ hour days without any problems.

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