Autonomous standing desks

Autonomous no longer sells the SmartDesk Core: its old product URL now redirects to another desk, and the Desk Core it sells today is a different, single-motor design at $349. The SmartDesk Core stays here for anyone weighing a used one. It earned its volume on two published numbers, 2.3 inches per second and 39 dB, and on a $499 price that included the top. The frame is two-stage but reaches 25 to 52 inches at the work surface, a wider window than most two-stage designs manage. Where the price showed was the warranty: one year on the electronics and one on the desktop. It was a lot of desk for the money, on a short warranty.

Best for: Weighing a used SmartDesk Core against the desks still on sale.

Autonomous no longer sells the SmartDesk Pro: its page is gone, and the Desk Pro it sells now is a different desk at $499 with other heights, capacity and speed. As a used desk, the SmartDesk Pro is the Core with a third leg segment and heavier motors: 310 lb instead of 265, seven years on the frame instead of five, four presets instead of three, and enough travel to cover both a low sitting height and a 51-inch standing height. It keeps the 2.3 inch-per-second speed that makes Autonomous desks feel different from the 1.4 in/s crowd. The confusion to be aware of is the height figure itself — Autonomous publishes a frame range and a work-surface range that differ by nearly two inches, and third-party listings mix them freely, so any comparison against another desk needs both numbers on the same basis. For $200 over the Core you get the longer warranty and the third stage, and the third stage is the part worth paying for.

Best for: Weighing a used SmartDesk Pro against the three-stage desks still on sale.

Autonomous has stopped selling the SmartDesk Connect: its page is gone, and the app-controlled desk it sells now is the Desk Pro AI. The Connect was the SmartDesk Pro with a Wi-Fi controller and a phone app: schedule the desk to rise, track how long you actually stood, drive it from the sofa. Underneath it is the same three-stage frame at the same 310 lb and the same 2.3 inches per second, for $100 more. Whether that is worth it depends entirely on whether you will use the reminders, and the honest answer for most people is that a preset button and a calendar alarm do the same job for free. The app does one thing a keypad cannot: it makes the stand-up habit measurable, which is the actual difficulty with a standing desk. Note it uses the proprietary Autonomous controller, so third-party desk controllers are not an option here.

Best for: Weighing a used SmartDesk Connect, or anyone curious what the app-controlled SmartDesk offered.