Solidly built and with an impressive weight limit, the Flexispot E5 lacks child safety features such as a keypad lock or collision detection, but is otherwise an essential purchase for anyone working from home.
- Brand: Flexispot
- Lifting Mechanism: 3-stage dual motor
- Maximum Load: 125kg (175lbs)
- Colors: Seven optional desktops
- Desktop Size: Up to 200x80cm
- Above average weight limit
- Three user-programmable height presets
- Cable tray built into the frame
- No safety lock
- No collision detection
Flexispot E5 Electric Sit-Stand Desk
other
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Despite the end of COVID restrictions being in sight, many have found the work from home regime to be preferable—and employers are finally starting to accept it actually increases productivity. We spend less time traveling and needn’t go through the stress of a hurried daily commute.
But what it doesn’t do is increase our physical health and activity levels. If, like me, you tend to flop into your office chair for eight hours, you might have considered a standing desk instead. But is standing actually healthier than sitting? I’m dubious. It might eradicate some of the issues associated with sitting for long periods of time, but it comes with its own set of aches and pains instead!
What if you could have the best of both worlds? The ability to swap between seated and standing positions at the touch of a button? Meet the Flexispot E5.
Featuring a three-stage strong dual-motor design with three memory buttons, the Flexispot E5 comes in white or black (as reviewed), with a range of desktop colors and sizes. Bored of sitting? Hit the button and stand up as your desk elegantly glides up to the perfect position.
Note: the Flexispot E5 is sold in Europe and the UK, however, the EC4 and EN1 (our review) are the closest matches on the US store, with broadly the same features and the same trusted build quality.
Delivery and Construction
The Flexispot E5 arrives flat-packed, with all the tools you need and a comprehensive set of instructions. As the desktop is an optional purchase, they arrive in separate boxes (in fact, ours came on a different day and from a different courier). We opted for the black frame with a large 140x70cm, curved brown desk top. It can accommodate up to 200x80cm desktops safely.
A quick word of warning about delivery: the E5 frame comes in a single box of around 30kg. It’s bulky and very awkward to move. Those of smaller stature will need help to get it to its final destination for construction.
The sheer weight of this should convince you that it’s solidly built, but the motors also come with a 3-year warranty, with 5-years for the frame.
Putting the frame together took us about an hour in total, and broadly consisted of:
- Bolting the feet to the motorized legs
- Loosely attaching the cable tray components (the middle section is extendable, so it can accommodate different widths of desk up to 200cm)
- Attaching the cable tray to the legs
- Bolting on the underframe
- Plugging in the cables to the control box
The desk can then attached via a series of screws from underneath. The electric frame is available to purchase separately, but if you buy a matching desktop from Flexispot you’ll find some pre-drilled holes on the underside.
However, if you don’t like the look of the available desks, you can easily attach your own sourced from elsewhere. There are no special attachment points or bolt holes needed, just some screws on either side and in the middle. Swapping to another desk would be trivial.
The final step is to attach the remote control. Again, you’ll find pre-drilled holes to aid you with this on the left or right side, but the cable is long enough that could place it elsewhere around the edge of the desk if you wanted.
Once you’ve mounted your menagerie of computing devices, you can then start neatly cabling. The Flexispot desktops come with cable cut-outs at the rear corners, and the E5 frame has a built-in cable tray on both sides. The trays are easy to remove, featuring four thumbscrews. Loosen these slightly and shift the tray a little to release it. Ensure cables underneath have enough slack to accommodate the full height transition of the desk.
This system should be sufficient for most people with a few power cables, but for those with more desktop gadget clutter like hard disks and USB hubs you may find extra cable management is still needed. In addition, one of the cable trays is almost completely filled by the motor control box, so there isn’t room to run a large bundle of cables from one side of the desk to the other.
Honestly, I’m hopeless with cabling. I just have too many, and no amount of cable trays is going to help me.
In the course of the review, I also decided to move my dingy office entirely. To be specific, I claimed the spacious family living room as my new studio. Since the desk is too wide for the doorways and tiny corridors of our 1850s house, this involved completely deconstructing the Flexispot E5, transporting it upstairs, and rebuilding it. I’m pleased to report this was a painless process, with everything going back together without issue.
Build Quality
Everything about the Flexispot E5 feels premium. I found no exposed metal burrs on the durable powder-coated steel frame, bolts went in smoothly, and there were no alignment issues.
My only slight disappointment with the overall build quality was the desktop itself. For some reason, I had the impression that it would be solid wood, and the color is a little more orange than it appears online. On close inspection, the surface is clearly printed and laminated on—you can see the pattern dithering from the printing process. In fairness, no part of the sales page actually states it’s “wood” at all, so that’s entirely my mistake. It appears that Flexispot does sell solid wood desktops elsewhere in the range, but not as a bundle with this frame. Again though, there’s nothing tying me to a Flexispot desktop, so once this desk starts to wear, it can easily be replaced.
On the highest standing position, I experienced a very small amount of wobble, but only because I tend to be quite a “furious” typist and a little heavy-handed. Even so, I never found it distracted me from work. For most people, this desk will be rock solid.
Weight Limit
With two powerful motors, the flagship E5 desk has a maximum weight capacity of 125kg (275lbs). It just so happens that I weigh 110kg (242lbs)… I think you understand what had to be done. Please don’t try this at home, kids.
Soon, I was lying down and touching the ceiling. Although noticeably slower on the upward trajectory, the Flexispot didn’t sound like it was struggling.
It then spent the new few weeks with a 55″ TV on it. This isn’t nearly as heavy as I am, but still quite a load, and probably more than most people would ever put on it.
After a month of daily use, and testing it to the weight limit a number of times (what, you think we only rode it once?), the motors show no signs of wear, and motion is as smooth as when it arrived.
Suffice to say, most people shouldn’t have an issue with heavy loads. The weight limit is well above competitors’ models. The only time you might need to consider it would be if you planned to use a large, thick, solid wood desktop, with multiple monitors. In that case, it might be worth doing some sums beforehand.
Also: please don’t actually sit or lie on your Flexispot E5! It’s my job to do the dumb stuff so you don’t have to.
Adjustable Height
The Flexispot E5 goes from 62 to 125cm(24.4 to 49.2 inches) at a maximum speed of 3.8cm/s. There are buttons for manually adjusting the height, as well as three user presets. Simply set the desired height, then press the M button, and the number to store that preset. Press the numbered button again at any point to recall the position.
It’s extremely easy to operate, but it’s worth noting that the motors are rated for a 2 minute on and 18 minutes off cycle. That means for every hour of use, you should spend no more than 6 minutes moving the desk up or down. In typical use, you won’t be anywhere near that, so it’s not something you would normally need to worry about. After all, it only takes around 15 seconds to move through the full height range.
However, I mention it because there are no specific child safety features. Other than turning the switch off at the wall socket, there’s no way to lock the keypad and prevent little hands from playing with the controls. There’s also no collision detection as far as I can tell. The motors are strong and will crush anything squishy if it happens to get caught.
If you often find your child has crawled their way onto your desktop, this could obviously be a problem. Or if your child is regularly pressing random buttons, you’ll need to secure your office in other ways. Alternatively, the Flexispot E7 has both anti-collision, and child safety lock, for around £40 more than the E5.
You might be wondering what the “A” button on the keypad does: it’s an alarm, to remind you to move about. It sounds remarkably like my microwave oven, which can be a little confusing. Don’t worry though, it’s entirely optional. If you do want it, the alarm can be set anywhere from 1 to 99 minutes using the up and down buttons (and remembers the time, so you needn’t set it again if you work in set blocks). It could also be useful for productivity systems like Pomodoro.
Should You Buy the Flexispot E5, and Will It Actually Improve Your Health?
The great thing about an electric standing desk—particularly the Flexispot models with built-in position memories—is that they make it effortless to swap between seated and standing positions.
At £360 for the frame, or £450-500 with a bundled desktop, it’s also great value for money. The closest competitor to the Flexispot E5 is the Ikea Bekant. Although slightly cheaper (in a similar black frame with oak veneer desktop), it has no preset memories, which means a bit more fiddling to get the right height each time. It’s also rated for significantly lighter loads at 75kg, which limits it to small desktops.
I’m not convinced that standing has any health benefits compared to sitting, and users who switch to standing desks often ended up reverting after less than a week. If your work involves just a laptop, then relocating yourself as and when needed isn’t an issue. But for anyone using a full-size keyboard, a monitor, or with plenty of attached accessories, this isn’t practical. An electric sit-stand desk makes a lot more sense.
Safety might be a concern though. Anyone with small children, or those that can’t understand boundaries, may want to pay a little more for the Flexispot E7, which does come with a child safety lock and collision detection to prevent squishing of body parts.
While you’re here, it’s also worth mentioning the Flexispot under-desk bike. Pictured below is actually the original Deskcise Pro Bike, which has a small desk attached to the front. I’ve removed that and just use the bike portion. The desk-less model is newly launched in the US and a perfect pair with a standing desk. It should be launched in Europe soon.
During my month of testing, I’ve found I’m a lot more active overall. Not because I’m standing up most of the time, but because the act of swapping to each position encourages me to get up and move around—perhaps go and shoot some videos. With just a seated desk, I find it all too easy to simply procrastinate the more physical tasks, and opt to just respond to a few more emails, or write a little more.
If you’re planning to keep working at home, even part-time, the Flexispot E5 is an essential buy.