I’ve bought RECAROs! Now to find out what exactly they are..
On the most recent and last entry of being in Penang, I mentioned that we’ve finally secured a set of Recaro “Ergomeds”
Well, it isn’t exactly true, so it begs the question; What are they?
Some others too; Differences? What are mine? Office chair feasibility?
RECARO lineup
To start, not all Recaro seats with this shape are Ergomeds. I’m not sure who else initially thought of it this way, but I was completely convinced it as such until I was doing research on my new-to-me set.
To simplify my summary, I won’t be including the SR series and other seats as they are comparatively different in general design from the “Classic design”. So seats like the SR-3, SR-4’s and beyond I will not be talking about.
For these variant of seats, Recaro has offered many names for them, included but possibly not limited to:
This list is not full as information is both scarce and varying due to possible options and variants. Other variants such as the Orthopaedic are not included in this overview.
Variants per model are many, like the RECARO Expert S or M, or Ergomed D and E, LS, LX, LS-VF – the list can go on forever.
However, again, information is plenty scarce since there are many variants, and these seats were produced over decades of different variants, patterns, offerings in different cars and more.
Below is my best attempts at trying to differentiate between the different models of RECAROs of this non semi-bucket style.
Ergomed
These have come in both thick and thin bolster configurations, depending on variant. Suppose the E variant that is currently available on RECARO’s website (EN Link) use the thick configuration, while the listed Ergomed that is available on RECARO Japan’s website (JP Link) is a thin variant similar to the LX.
The MV variant for instance and in comparison to the E is a thin variant with lumbar support, and an adjustable seat length.
The E has thicker bolsters and has a distinguishable inner seat padding, with adjustable seat length (or cushions), seat adjustment and an optional climate package that introduces seat heating and air conditioning.
Image credit: RECARO
Image credit: MillerCanvas
Expert
The Expert model comes with a distinguishable inner seat padding, similar with the Ergomed. It features different prominent side bolsters compared to other models. The backrest side bolsters are adjustable as standard.
LS / LX / Specialist
Regarding the LS and LX, the difference in either is seen mostly on the backrest, with the LS having a more pronounced backrest bolster. Both came in fabric and leather choices.
Image credit: RECARO (Brochure)
The Specialist features a similar distinguishable inner seat padding as the Ergomed and Expert, with less bolstered lower side bolsters, and available from RECARO as an office chair. The upper side bolsters remain as the same as the LX.
New-to-me RECAROs
What is my set then?
With heavy digging thanks to Pingable and ambaddriver, we have come to the conclusion that these are a set of LX-VS Ellisse II.
Color me surprised that the set that I bought turn out to have a name similar to a certain Lotus. Suppose the stars have aligned again.
These were produced sometime from 1992 to 2004. They also came with blue inner fabric, and I believe red as well.
One of the seats has the original identification tag on it, the other one had disintegrated and unretrievable.
Conversion to office chair
The base does not fit, which prompted the search for what the seat was, and etc. We deduced that the base provided was for a newer seat, prompting our search on how old the seats actually were. It is likely that the seat is a 1992 model.
Conversion wise, the screws also do not fit, so we are looking to have the base modified.
~Efini
Read more: Penang: December 2024: Entry 4 (4/4)
FIRE