Standing Desk Duel: Uplift VS Jarvis VS Varidesk In The Ring

Once you have bought a standing desk, you are stuck with it for at least 2 to 3 years. Even if the performance doesn’t satisfy you, there’s a low chance you would again spend so much (that also so soon). So, the best policy is to keep comparing the renowned brands to identify which one holds the most benefits for you. In fact, this is the right place to start your research, especially if brands like Jarvis, Uplift, and Vari are on your wish list.

Uplift stays ahead in weight capacity and flexible height range. But Varidesk steals the show by showing excellent stability (with heavyweight). Nonetheless, Jarvis has the most flexible height range with a decent weight capacity of about 350 lbs.

Our goal is to find out which desk will shine out in some common categories. You can call it an ultimate duel if you want. Hopefully, it will make your shopping ten times easier. If you are ready, let’s get started.

Uplift VS Jarvis VS Vari: A Short Overview

A little short on time. Then here’s our quick comparison table for you. Take a look.

Particulars	Uplift	Jarvis	Vari
Motor	Dual	Dual	Dual
Desktop size	42” to 80”	48” to 72”	60”x30”
Weight Capacity	355 lbs	350 lbs	250 lbs
Height Range	25.3” to 50.9”	25.5” to 51”	25” to 50.5”
Price	$599	$938	$765
Power grommets	available	available	Not readily available
Anti-Collision System	available	available	available
Travel Speed	1.6 inches per second	1.5 inches per second	1.28 inches per second
Original frame manufacturer	Jiecang Company	Jiecang Company	Kaidi

Uplift VS Jarvis VS Vari: Which One Is Better For You?

Now that you have seen a short comparison between the three standing desks, it’s time to elaborate. The ultimate duel includes an in-details discussion of every factor that affects your buying decision. Abd, we will see which desk performs better than the rest. Shall we?

1. Which One Is Better For Taller Users?

 A taller user (above 5’7”) would need a standing desk with at least 45” of max height or more. The taller you are, the more inches you need from the desk. Usually, 48” is every brand’s average standing desk height. But the one with some extra height benefits will take the cake.

Brands	Maximum Height	Height Range
Uplift	50.9”	25.3” to 50.9” Or 24.5” to 50.1” Or 22.7” to 43.7”
Jarvis	51”	25.5” to 51” Or 30” to 49” Or 22.5” to 43.2”
Vari	50.5”	25” to 50.5”

As you can see, every desk we are trying today offers more than 50” for the standing height. To be honest, even a 6’3” would not require more than 49” to stand comfortably and work. In that sense, all three of them are fine picks.

However, since it’s a duel and we have to choose a winner, we would go with Jarvis. It gives a little extra when it comes to maximum height (51 inches or 1290mm).

 Winner: Jarvis

2. What If Your Height Is Below Average?

 Short people always have difficulty choosing the right standing desk. The minimum height of any standing desk hardly ever meets the recommended sitting height of a 5’ user. Uplift, Jarvis, and Vari are no different. The majority of their models start from 25” or 25.5”. That sounds okay if you are 5’3” to 5’5”. If you are below that height, you have no other choice but to increase your chair’s height.

 All of that being said, Uplift has certain models (the wall mount one) that start from 22”. But on the upper side, it can only go up to 43”. Still, it works for users who don’t need more than 43” from their standing desks. Uplift’s V2 commercial frame starts from 24.5”. These numbers are pretty close to what a 5’-5’2” person would expect from a sitting desk.

 Moving on to Jarvis; we see minimum heights like 30”, 25.5”, and 22.5”. It’s almost similar to the Uplift ones. But sadly, we can’t say the same thing about Vari. The brand is quite conservative when it comes to height range. You only get to see a 25.5” of minimum height from almost every desk they offer.

Winner: Uplift

3. Which One Can Lift More?

When it comes to lifting capacity, we can’t compare a dual-motor desk with a three-motor one. It’s unfair to expect a two-motor desk to lift as much weight as its multi-motor counterparts. You have to keep that in mind.

Moving on, we can see (from the table below), Uplift offers up to 535 lbs of weight capacity. That’s almost 242 kg. Apart from this premium version, the rest of the Uplift models can lift up to 355 lbs. Now, whether the desks can lift 355 lbs without losing their stability is another question. We will discuss it in detail later in this article.

So, Uplift takes the first place. Jarvis comes second with its 158 kg or 350 lbs of lifting capacity. It’s pretty close to Uplift. But that’s because both brands get their frames from the same manufacturing factory. So, it makes sense for the frames to have similar strength or capacity. But here’s the thing. We have searched the OEM’s website, and it warns users to load more than 281 lbs on the desktop.

 We have found this statement true watching the stability test. Both desk frames start shaking (rapidly) when you exceed the 300 lbs weight range.

Brand	Particular Models	Weight Limit
Uplift	UPL960 (dual-motor)	355 lbs
	UPL912 (custom laminate)	355 lbs
	UPL933 (Three-motor)	535 lbs
Jarvis	Bamboo standing desk	350 lbs
	Laminate Standing Desk	350 lbs
Vari	72×30 electric standing desk	180 lbs
	54×26 Ergo electric desk	200 lbs
	Essential Electric desk1	150 lbs

In third place, we have Vari. Compared to Uplift, Vari has a very restrictive weight limit for every model. The highest capacity you can get is 200 lbs. The Essential series comes with a max weight cap of 150 lbs. That looks low. But hopefully, if you plan to keep only one computer on the desktop, you wouldn’t need more capacity.

But you have to give Vari some credit for being transparent with the users regarding the actual ability of the frames. Because their original manufacturer also states the same weight capacity (almost 200 lbs) on their official website.

Winner: Uplift

4. Who Is The Original Manufacturer?

U.S.A based manufacturers are the top priority of many buyers. But little do they know that none of the brands we have discussed so far actually get manufactured inside the United States. Jarvis and Uplift have a partnership with Jiecang manufacturing company located in China.

Yes, both brands have the same supplier. Jiecang normally designs linear actuators and produces frames for these brands. So, now you know why it is so difficult to dictate whether Uplift is better/worse than Jarvis, as the frames come from the same place.

Vari Desk orders its frames from another China-based manufacturer known as Kaidi. It has been in business since the 90s. So, there’s no doubt about their expertise in this field.

That being said if you are someone who finds Chinese desk frames not up to the mark, none of these brands will make you happy. We would suggest you explore brands that order their frames from Logic-data or Linak. Sadly, no one wins in this particular category.

5. How Durable Are the Electronic Components?

Let’s talk about the control box design first. Jiecang, like most other Chinese brands, produce cheap-quality control boxes for their ergonomic furniture. The two-board system indicates that Jiecang didn’t design these components specially for standing desks. Since Jiecang supplies linear actuators across many industries, it must have mass-produced these electronic parts without any differentiation.

That’s why Chinese desk frames come at such low prices (thanks to the economies of scale).  Another issue with Jiecang’s frames is the use of plastic glides. As you know, glides help to marry one column to another securely. Without a durable glide, the entire column’s strength can be questioned. That’s why many users complain about their Uplift/Jarvis desks wobbling. 

Even if we temporarily avoid these design faults, the idea of not designing a separate control box circuit for the standing desks must be addressed. The plastic connectors also speak for themselves.

On the other hand, we have Kaidi making electronic components for Vari. Kaidi is a well-reputed manufacturer of high-standard actuators. We have inspected the circuit, and it turns out to be one board (well-connected too). Even though we don’t claim it to be as good as Logic data, the setup looks promising. At least, we are assured that Kaidi produced these circuits especially to match the requirements of their standing desks.

 Winner: Vari Desk.

6. How Is The Stability?

Vari has always been well-known for its stability. Let’s see how it performs on our stability test. As you can see, it was rock solid at its minimum height. We literally didn’t see a single movement, regardless of how hard the examiner pushed.

Next, the height was increased to 39”. There was no movement when the examiner pushed back and forth. But a side-to-side push ended up moving the table a little. After that, the height went up to 42.5”. In this stage, it took less effort to see the desk wobbling. But we would say it wasn’t out of control or something intolerable. Finally, the desk reached its highest point. Any desk would be weak at such a height. So, we don’t blame Vari Desk for losing stability due to a single thumb push.

Total Weight on desktop	Height Setting	Comments
100 lbs	25”	Very stable
	39”	Back and forth: no movement   Left to right: small movement (tolerable)
	42.5”	Back and forth: small movement (tolerable)   Left to right: starts wobbling
	50.5”	Back and forth: Unstable   Left to right: Unstable

But previously, Vari desks used to be more stable due to a cross-support under the desktop. Since the newer models lack that feature, the left-to-right rocking has increased.

The Uplift V2 desk’s stability desk looks completely opposite of its Vari counterpart. While Vari showcased better stability during the back-and-forth wobble test, Uplift is better at preventing left-to-right movement. Thanks to its high-quality wedge system attached to the columns. Since Uplift and Jarvis use the same type (almost) of frames designed by the same manufacturer, they performed similarly in the stability test. Check out the results below.

Total Weight on desktop	Height Setting	Comments
100 lbs	25”	Very stable
	39”	Back and forth: small movement (tolerable)   Left to right: no movement
	42.5”	Back and forth: starts wobbling   Left to right: small movement (tolerable)
	50.9”/51”	Back and forth: Unstable   Left to right: Unstable

You can already tell it’s difficult to reach a conclusion by the 100 lbs stability test. So, we went further and put 200 lbs on the desktop. But what we saw really amazed us. Even though Vari advertises its desks to lift only up to 200 lbs, it did well then both Uplift and Jarvis. At the highest point, the wobbling started (as expected), but it was not too dangerous.

On the other hand, Uplift and especially Jarvis performed poorly as the weight and height increased. The Jarvis desk started shaking rapidly (back and forth) even below 42.5”. That’s a major red flag since it claims to support 350 lbs of weight. Nonetheless, we choose vari to provide the best stability among all three desks.

Winner: Vari

7. Does It Fit In Your Budget?

Being expensive can’t be counted as a fault. Still, we would hype the desk that offers similar features at a lower price. Our basis of comparison is a standard 2-motor desk. Because the price will logically go up for a three-motor or four-motor option, right?

Uplift offers you their V2 standard dual-motor desk at $599. Jarvis charges around $938 for their bamboo standard desk. You can get it within $800 if the desktop material is laminate. Lastly, we have Vari, offering their standard electric desks at $675. It’s not like there are no $200 to $300 options within Vari. It’s just that those desks don’t have the standard features you expect from your work desk. So, we will skip that for now.

Winner: Uplift

8. Which One Is Easier To Assemble?

“Easier to assemble” doesn’t necessarily mean how fast you can finish the entire process. Because it varies from person to person. Suppose an expert can do the job in less than 10 minutes. But that doesn’t make it less difficult for a novice.

However, here’s what our experience says. Vari sends their boxes in two separate boxes. In one box, you get all the tools, screws, and instructions. At the same time, the other box is for the desktop. But the good news is that the desktop has an attached support frame for the rest of the body. So you don’t have to drill it yourself.

All you need to do is, place the legs in the instructed position and secure them using a hex key (provided in the box). The rest of the job includes attaching the control box, connecting cables, and so on. There’s hardly any chance for you to mess things up due to wrong measurements.

However, both Uplift and Jarvis desks send their desktops without any pre-attached frame. So, you have to do everything from scratch. There are a lot of measurements to do depending on how much width you want to keep; there are a lot of measurements to do.

 Winner: Vari Desk

Before You Leave!

Every desk we have covered here is considered top-notch in this industry. But if you are not looking to spend so much on a desk, you can also explore some mid-tier brands. May we introduce you to Topsky and Vivo, both known for their decent-quality and affordable electric desks? For a deeper insight into the desks, check out our article featuring Topsky VS Vivo in their full glory.

Article link: Battle of standing desks: Topsky VS Vivo