I have standing desks in both my home and work offices. I love them. In both cases, however, assembling the desk took quite some time. The Vari ProDesk 60 Electric solves this issue without tradeoffs. The desk, whose MSRP starts at $995, can be assembled in about five minutes yet is an impressive no-compromise standing desk.
My idea of a good standing desk isn’t exactly complex. I want a desk that offers a large, stable work surface and an easy and quiet mechanism to raise end lower the surface. That’s it. I don’t need bells and whistles. I don’t need elaborate materials or fancy, eye-catching design. No, I want something that looks clean, is functional and doesn’t call all that much attention to itself.
The Vari ProDesk 60 Electric delivers all that and assembles in under 5 minutes. The motor is both quiet and powerful and goes from sitting to standing in just seconds.
The control panel comes pre-installed. You can choose any height between 25.5″ and 50.5,” and the three programmable memory presents let you move from sitting to standing and back again all with the touch of a button. And it’s well built. Vari uses commercial-grade materials and employs their own heavy-duty laminate for the work surface in order ensure it lasts the life of the desk. It can hold up to 250 pounds!
This desk may be on the more utilitarian side of things (I like it that way!), but the 60” by 30” desktop is also available in four finishes. You can choose from Butcher Block, Reclaimed Wood, Darkwood, White, and Black and find the work surface that best meets your decor. As Vari explains:
We built the ProDesk 60 Electric from the ground up – after talking to customer after customer to find what they wanted in a motorized electric standing desk and what problems they had with ones they’d tried. The ProDesk 60 Electric is tough enough to withstand use in a corporate environment and can help create a workspace that makes you feel healthier and more productive and engaged.
Our goal was to create the highest quality, most stable, and easiest-to-assemble height-adjustable standing desk for commercial offices. We created the ProDesk 60 Electric with commercial-grade materials and designed it to do something no other motorized electric standing desk can do – assemble in under 5 minutes while being incredibly stable at any height. Each desk has a heavy-duty laminate finish as well as a sturdy steel frame with a stability crossbar for enhanced stability. Unique legs with a patent-pending, easy-to-attach feature means setup only takes minutes. This desk also offers ample work space and has 3 programmable settings to easily and quietly adjust to heights up to 50.5”. Plus, this high-quality electric standing desk features chamfered edges and is available in 5 finishes.
The Vari ProDesk 60 Electric arrives in a few boxes. Once they are unpacked and laid out, it becomes immediately apparent that it won’t take long to get the desk set up and ready for use.
Unlike my other desks, the electronics are pre-installed into each of the two legs.
The cabling beneath the desk is already in place and attached to its underside. The control panel and its three pre-programmable buttons are attached and ready to get to work.
The company includes a specialized tool for tightening the included bolts.
The first step is to place the work surface upside down and put each of the two legs in place.
After putting the bolts in loosely, they can be tightened with the included tool.
Then, you simply connect the cables coming from each of the two legs to the cabling that was already in place under the desk.
Before flipping the desk over, however, there is one more step. The desk ships with a cable management tray. Attachments points for the tray are pre-installed so all you have to do it place the tray in position and click the two together. I note this because the company could easily have included the tray but required you to attach it with screws, but that would have required additional work and tools thereby defeating the goal of being able to set the desk up in five minutes. Once the cable tray is locked in place, and the bolts are sufficiently tightened it is time to turn the desk over. Trust me; you will want to get someone to help you. I learned that the hard way.
The Vari ProDesk 60 Electric, now standing on its own two legs, is almost ready for use but the company wanted to ensure their newest product delivered “enhanced stability.”
The ProDesk 60 Electric sits on a sturdy frame and includes a steel stability crossbar to provide maximum strength and a stable desktop at any height. So go ahead and work active without disrupting your desktop.
The steel crossbar makes a huge difference in the desk’s stability. Here too, however, Vari made the setup as easy as possible. As they explain, you first plug the desk in and raise it up to its maximum height. The crossbar has a flange on either side that sites into a slot pre-installed on each of the legs. The company includes a rubber mallet and instructs you to place the flange into the slot in the leg and then give it a few whacks (my word not theirs) to fully seat it in place. It makes a huge difference.
Once the crossbar is in place, the desk is ready to use.
The desk has clean lines and looks great. The legs and crossbar make it exceptionally stable, and the motors are both quiet and fast.
The fact that Vari includes a cable tray, two desk bag hooks, and a coaster, so you don’t leave mug rings on your desk is a touch of added awesomeness.
FEATURES:
- Commercial-grade adjustable height desk
- A steel stability crossbar for enhanced stability
- Assembles easily in 5 minutes or less without special or complicated tools
- Continuous height settings from 25.5” (64.5 cm) to 50.5” high (128 cm)
- Spacious 60” (152.5 cm) (W) x 30” (76 cm) (D) desktop
- Cable management tray included
- Three programmable memory settings
- Control panel with energy-saving LED display screen
- Stylish chamfered edges
- Powerful, quiet motor makes it easy to go from sitting to standing
- Holds up to 250 lb (113.4 kg)
I like the Vari ProDesk 60 Electric. The ease with which I was able to put it together is impressive, and the desk itself is a pleasure to use. The slight curve built into the side of the desktop that sits next to a wall (if that is how you are placing it) means cables from monitors and computers can easily find their way from the device to the cable tray. The result is a clean look that is as appealing as it is functional. As the company puts it, “The ProDesk 60 Electric is easy to put together, easy to use, and easy to fit into your individual workday.”
If you want a terrific standing desk that doesn’t require a doctorate to assemble, you owe it to yourself and your office to check it out!
Source: Manufacturer supplied review sample
What I Like: Assembles in minutes; Motor is quiet and powerful; Stable; Looks great; Ships with a few nice accessories
What Needs Improvement: Nothing, this desk was designed from the ground up, and it is terrific