That cheap X stand was surprisingly sturdy and comfortable. But it sure is nice to have the new one whose height is continuously adjustable. Great price, too!

Mine is a basic folding bench. I've been using a dining room chair for a while before getting a proper bench last year. At the same time had a bad fall and suffered hip joint pain for a month. Had trouble sitting for a long time and getting back up. The first few weeks relied on sitting on a chair with wheels made for an office to get around the room easily. Didn't use the piano bench until almost month after the purchase.

Bellyman wow, are the wheels locked? You put the office mat under it, so maybe you enjoy wiggling and playing? But the mat looks too small, so at least one wheel tends to go off of it...?

Not criticizing... I just find it interesting!

    It sometimes moves a bit, no wheel locks. I don't have any issue with that. Even with it on wheels, it doesn't move around as much as you might think. The floor is far from even or level. It actually slopes such as to make it easier for me to scoot in towards the keys rather than away from them. Plus, when I'm playing out, it is not uncommon for me to play on a carpeted surface where it takes a bit of effort to move it. It varies. I very much like that I can play multiple keyboards and get to a couple of workstations / computers without having to get up.

    Anyway, it works for me. Easy to adjust the height, too. 🙂

    @Bellyman Same here and I'm not sorry either. My back hurts too much if I sit too long on a solid bench so I have an ergonomic office chair. As you said it doesn't move as much as you might think. And if I have to play high or low octaves I can roll instead of sliding on the bench. 😄

    Ithaca The most expensive piano bench that I've ever seen (unfortunately it's not coming up on an internet search) was something like $6k for the basic version

    You may be thinking of the magic butt slide bench...
    https://forum.pianotell.com/d/873-piano-bench/6

    Make a joyful noise...
    Jane - expert on nothing with opinions on everything.

        Ithaca a plus was that it freely moved left-to-right (and possibly front-to-back; I'm not sure).

        I've sometimes wondered how something like this would work as a piano stool. (Minimum height is 51 cm, so maybe slightly higher than normal.) I'm very happy with my very ordinary piano bench, though.

        ETA: It's an Ikea NilsErik if anyone wondered.

          Ithaca I think the issue is that your elbow height changes as you shift around.

          Perhaps, but I doubt it's worse than on a stationary seat unless you can move your butt sideways on it. If your torso pivots around roughly hip height to reach the far ends of the keyboard that would cause a larger change in the heights of the shoulders and thus elbows than if the pivot point is all the way down on the floor.
          And you could get almost a hundred NilsEriks for the price of one magic but slide.
          I think pedalling might be a challenge, though.