FlexiSpot E5 vs FlexiSpot EN1

FlexiSpot

FlexiSpot E5

The E5 is the entry into FlexiSpot's three-stage frames and the answer to the recurring question of whether a cheap desk is automatically a bad one. It is not: three-stage legs, a 25.4-inch working minimum and nearly 25 inches of travel at $350 is a genuinely good specification. The economies are where you would expect — 220 lb of capacity, three presets instead of four, a chipboard top in the base configuration and a cable tray that costs extra. The frame's honest limit is load: at 220 lb it will carry a laptop, two monitors and a lamp without complaint, but it is not the frame for a butcher block and a tower. Shoppers regularly cross-shop it against the E7 and end up paying the extra for the capacity; if your setup is light, that money is doing nothing.

FlexiSpot

FlexiSpot EN1

Not sold new in the US. FlexiSpot's US page shows the EN1 as "Off Shelf" with no way to order it, and the store's sitemap no longer lists it.

FlexiSpot has taken the EN1 off sale: its US page now reads "Off Shelf" with nothing to add to a cart, so this entry is a reference for anyone weighing a used one. It was FlexiSpot's cheapest complete desk and the clearest illustration of what one motor and two-stage legs cost you. It arrived nearly assembled, the top already on and the cable routing built into the frame, so you were working in twenty minutes — all genuinely good. But two segments per leg means the lowest it goes is 29 inches, which is the height of an ordinary non-adjustable desk. A 29-inch surface suits someone around 6 ft 1 in sitting; for anyone shorter it is the same too-tall desk they already have, just one that also rises. A single motor drives both legs at an inch a second and lifts 154 lb, which is enough for a laptop and two monitors and not much more. If you are tall, or the desk is mainly for standing, a used EN1 is a lot of convenience for the money; if sitting at your current desk hurts, it is the wrong desk.