iMovR Jaxson Standing Desk Review

The electric standing desk was invented in 1998. This is the first significant new motor technology to be introduced since.

In the office ergonomics industry we can always count on iMovR to push the envelope as the leading technology innovator, so it’s no surprise that they would be the first manufacturer to introduce this next-generation “brushless” DC motor technology in a standing desk.

Brushless motors have been around for years in industrial applications, but the sophisticated controllers used to control the motors were generally thought to be too expensive to use in a cost-sensitive product like a standing desk. But like all things electronic, it was only a matter of time before this problem was licked. And now iMovR has once again moved the goal posts on standing desk price/performance.

While the Jaxson isn’t going to threaten the very top tier of standing desks (such as iMovR’s own Lander line), which even with their brushless motors are still the quietest, most stable, and most reliable lifting desks around—unparalleled in every spec—it is poised to massively disrupt the middle of the market where the best known brands of standing desks live.

To adequately review this product we had to dive deep into the weeds on what this new technology brings to the table, which you’ll want to read up on, too, if you’re considering buying an electric standing desk. See our separate primer on brushless motor technology for standing desks. We imagine that over the coming years, given the price/performance advantages of the technology, more and more manufacturers will switch from conventional brushed technology. 

The reason this new technology is such a game changer

If you look at our standup desk review round-ups they’re generally broken into four pricing tiers, just because there are so many models to choose from these days:

• Standing desks under $500 is where the bulk of the models are, including almost everything that you’ll find sold on Amazon. These are, to a one, made in China, and truly “commodity grade.” Even if the maker has an American-looking website it’s a Chinese company behind it, and often completely without any physical presence in the US. This is the stuff where if it breaks you just toss it and buy a new one because the warranties are generally worthless; these desks generally have a low useful life expectancy, high rates of out-of-the-box failure and shipping damage, and put the greatest amount of assembly burden on the consumer. We’ve reviewed many—none of them getting decent ratings—but if you’re budget constrained then definitely read our reviews to ferret out the least-worst of these options.
• Standing desks between $500 and $800 is where the meat of the market is in dollar volume. This is where major ecommerce standing desk brands like Uplift, Fully, Flexispot, Autonomous and Vari generally focus. These products are more likely to be purchased off the brand’s website than through Amazon. Many are actually American companies, but they make their products in China. The quality is going to be better than the sub-$500 tier, but never as good as actual American-made standing desks. By and large we still consider the vast majority of desks in this tier to be “commodity grade,” even though they may come with longer warranties. We say virtually all because there are just a handful of American-made standing desks in this category now, the iMovR Jaxson Compact Desk joining its predecessor the iMovR Energize (now discontinued), and the ZipDesk, near the top end of the $800 range.
• Standing desks between $800 and $1,100 is where you start to see premium-grade standing desks, including made-in-USA models like iMovR’s Lander Lite, Herman Miller’s Nevi and Floyds’ birch desk, and now the full-sized Jaxson Standing Desk.
• Standing desks over $1,100 is where you find the super-premium and luxury standing desks like iMovR’s Lander Desk, Herman Miller’s Motia, Fully’s Jarvis Albright, Humanscale’s Float Table and all the Height Adjustable L-desks and Height-Adjustable U-desks.

Where the Jaxson is upsetting the world order is in that second price tier, in the core of the market, competing with all those popular models in the $600-$700 range with its starting price of only $760. For a small price increment compared to the best of the Chinese-made products, consumers can now buy a state-of-the-art, made-in-USA model that runs circles around them in reliability, design aesthetic and color selections, stability, sound signature and all sorts of groovy tech features we’ll get into below.

For an apples-to-apples comparison between comparable sizes we calculated roughly a 10% – 20% premium over the competition in this tier… a stretch well worth making for most consumers. iMovR’s own marketing copy openly declares their strategic intent with the Jaxson desk was to “give American consumers and businesses a way to ditch their dependency on cheap goods from Asia (99% of standing desks sold online are built in China, with the cheapest possible components), yet without breaking the bank.”

The Broad Strokes on Jaxson’s Competitive Advantages

iMovR already makes more standing desk models, and certainly more technologically advanced models, than any other player in the office ergonomics industry (see our round-up of all our iMovR reviews for a sampling). The Jaxson is basically replacing their Freedom desk line (the Energize and Cascade desk models, their corner standing desk variants, and the Freedom DIY base frame)—which for seven years was their most inexpensive premium-grade standing desk line—as iMovR’s new flagship line for the mainstream customer. You can even order it in the unique corner shape those desks had. It will surely become their highest-volume desk, popular with both the WFH market and the enterprise market.

On the technology score

The Jaxson has redefined the state-of-the-art in the mainstream standing desk market. Besides the brushless motors, the future-proof handset has integrated Bluetooth, and of course a health coaching smartphone app to take advantage of it. iMovR was the first to introduce Bluetooth to the standing desk market with its Lander desks in 2018. Combined with the Lander Lite, ZipDesk and now the Jaxson, the company has four lines of desks with smartphone interfaces while its main competitors still have zero (with the notable exception that UpliftDesk and ApexDesk both had Bluetooth for a while but their apps were so dysfunctional that they’ve since removed the feature).

In the case of the Jaxson there are two other new features we’ve never before seen on a standing desk controller. The built-in infrared presence sensor can detect when you’re standing at your desk and when you’ve walked away. This is vital for the health coaching app to work optimally, as it’s easy to leave your phone at your desk and leave the area—even leave the building—and leave your desk thinking you’re still present. So it’s a little more foolproof, and eliminates the chance that your health coach is measuring the health of your desk instead of your own.

Intriguingly, the Jaxson’s controller also has a built-in NFC reader. In the future iMovR intends to develop this into a badge reader for shared workstation areas on the corporate campus (a.k.a. “hot desks” or “hoteling desks”). Imagine walking into a workstation touchdown desk area as is becoming so common now in the post-pandemic, hybrid/remote era, picking any available desk for yourself, and placing either your ID badge or your NFC-equipped smartphone over the Jaxson’s handset to “log into” it automatically. To identify which desks are available and which are logged into by other users, the LED lights on the handset would be lit either green (available) or red (occupied).

On the design score

With its streamlined, modern aesthetic the Jaxson looks just as elegant in a home office environment as on the corporate campus. Gone are all the hard 90-degree angles of a typical stand-up desk, replaced with smoothly chamfered square columns, ergo-contoured desktops, and an exceptionally discrete controller handset (the aerodynamically streamlined design of the controller handset is 95% concealed under the desktop, leaving only two up/down buttons and a set of LED lights visible to the user. Warmer colors on the metal frame and an extensive selection of sensational desktop colors and textures transform the Jaxson from mere office furniture into a beautiful decor element of any room. 

As we explore in our primer on the best desk top materials for standing desks, if you have the purse for genuine solid wood you can’t beat that for the ultimate in elegance and class. But when it comes to mainstream, affordable options, absolutely nothing beats the elegance, durability, cleanability and versatility of true Omnova Surf(x) 3D laminate. Ever since iMovR introduced 3D laminate on its first standing desk in 2014 they’ve somehow managed to maintain exclusive access to this technology in the standing desk industry.

On the customer experience score

While not factory pre-assembled to the same degree as iMovR’s Lander and Lander Lite models are (which require 3 minutes and 8 minutes to assemble, respectively), the Jaxson is still one of the fastest-assembling desks we’ve ever tested. Like their other desks, each Jaxson is extensively QA tested before shipping out, ensuring a nearly guaranteed successful installation by the user. Other desks in this price range typically require a good hour to assemble (including IKEA’s Bekant and Idasen desks unsurprisingly).

Overall the assembly process is actually quite fun in itself, thanks to all the care that was taken to make the process as easy and foolproof as possible. This is a degree of polish we just don’t see on any of the commodity-grade, Chinese-made desks, which can have an out-of-the-box failure rate as high as 8% with some brands.

So with that overview out of the way, let’s get into what it’s like to customize, order and install an iMovR Jaxson desk…

Taking the Edge Off

In 24 years since the first electric standing desks were introduced into the world the standard aesthetic can best be described as hard edged. Most lifting columns are still square or rectangular in shape, with 90-degree angles all around; most desktops are still hard-cornered HPL affairs that’ll leave marks on your forearms and bruises on your hips. And that look is fine, perhaps, when everything else in the commercial office from cubicle walls to ceiling light fixtures are similarly hand-angled, but it isn’t the nicest look in a home office, or for that matter, a nicely appointed law firm. It just doesn’t blend in as well with other classically designed furniture.

A consistent attribute of iMovR’s brand since the company’s inception has been smoothly-radiused “ergo-contouring” on all their desktops. With the Jaxson they’ve taken this initiative one step further by reshaping the lifting columns with a unique chamfered square profile—a refinement we haven’t seen on any other standing desk. And while virtually all other standing desk bases come powder-coated in the traditional colors of black, white and silver, the Jaxson’s color selections are just a little warmer and friendlier. The Basalt Black has brown undertones, the Alabaster White has cream undertones, and the Starlight Silver shimmers with a starlight pattern at certain light angles. 

Satisfyingly Surf(x)

The Jaxson desktops are first shaped on advanced CNC equipment with 1/5000ths-inch precision, and then hermetically sealed with Omnova Surf(x) 3D laminate (see the entire color selection). The chosen laminate is then molecularly bonded to the highest-density MDF core available, using an advanced 3D lamination process that covers every exposed surface of the wood, even all the way through the grommet holes. All materials used in making these astoundingly beautiful tops are environmentally friendly. 

This 3D lamination method is not only more elegant in appearance compared to the old-school, high-pressure laminate (HPL) still being used on 98% of desk furniture, it better protects the tabletop from moisture damage and warping and guarantees a much higher level of durability. So durable, in fact, that even the strongest cleaning solutions used in hospitals will not discolor your tabletop’s finish or affect its integrity in any way (the same cannot be said for HPL). Learn more about the advantages of 3D lamination, and be sure to watch the cool video of how it’s actually made.

These 3D laminate and other high-quality desktops can also be purchased separately if you want to get your ideal parts for a DIY desk project or just want to upgrade your current desk’s surface. Take a look at all the best standalone desktops we have reviewed for all you need to know about different kinds of desk surfaces and materials.

Futuristic Handset, Bluetooth and Health Coach App

The beautifully-contoured Jaxson handset isn’t just hanging off the front edge of the desktop like the switch panel on a piece of industrial equipment. With its up/down buttons recessed below, the handset only minimally protrudes into view from underneath the desktop. 

While the design is certainly sleek and “aerodynamic,” it’s even more impressive on the inside. No other standing desk controller has Bluetooth, NFC, and an infra-red presence sensor built-in. 

These electronics are designed to work with iMovR’s Jaxson Desk Control app (iOS and Android) to enable precise, yet non-disruptive, continuous measurement of your sitting versus standing time—the key inputs to the app’s built-in health coach. Rather than measuring “the health of the desk,” the infrared sensor ensures that only the user’s presence and position are being recorded. 

The app ubiquitously records your use of the workstation throughout the day and keeps track of your actual daily standing time versus your set goals. Gentle reminders are pushed to your phone when your personally-set maximum sitting time thresholds have been reached, to remind you to change position. This seemingly simple feature has been shown to lead to a 117% increase in standing time for average users.

Slick Assembly

As with all our standing desks, iMovR pays more attention to the user experience than other desk makers do, starting with the assembly process. Watch the video to see just how easy it is for an average person to put their new Jaxson desk together in less than 15 minutes. Or download the full-size, full-color installation guide that comes with the desk. Building a Jaxson desk is the very antithesis of tackling an “IKEA project.”

Most components are already factory pre-assembled to make the job as easy as possible. The desktop is pre-drilled not only for attachment to the base, but also for popular add-on accessories like iMovR’s SteadyType Slide Keyboard Tray, Trackless Keyboard Tray, or Premium Drawer, and for alternate-side mounting of the handset. 

15-Year Made-in-USA Warranty

Brushless motors are a game changer in standing desk reliability, especially for one in this price range. They permit iMovR to back the Jaxson with the same 15-year top-to-bottom warranty they offer on their pricier Lander and Lander Lite desk lines. Even the Surf(x) 3D-laminated desktops are included in this 15 year warranty.

As we delve into in our primer on How to Compare Standing Desk Warranties there’s a lot of fine print in some of the warranties being touted by standing desk manufacturers these days. Most don’t even warranty anything beyond shipping damage when it comes to desktops, and there are plenty of other carve-outs to look out for with Chinese-made products. iMovR has by far the best warranties in the industry, and it’s the same one on the Jaxson as you’ll find on their $5000+ standing desks. 

One indication of the quality of this standing desk is that it is one of the rare ones sold via e-commerce that carries the gold standard ANSI/BIFMA X5.5-2021 certification, independently tested by Intertek. Typically a feature of costly commercial-grade office furniture from companies like Steelcase or Herman Miller, iMovR is the only digitally-native brand that puts all their premium desks through the test (the Lander and Lander Lite are all similarly certified); the only other desk model sold direct-to-consumers that we’re aware of with this certification is the Uplift V2 Commercial.

Like all iMovR products, the Jaxson is sold with the company’s standard 100-Day Satisfaction Guarantee. 

Customization Options Galore

Desktops come in depths of either 24” or 30”, and in widths of 47”, 53”, 59”, 65” and 71”. They also come in two thicknesses: 0.75” Slim for a more sleek and modern look, or 1.125” Select for a more traditional look with a larger edge contour radius.

iMovR offers more than 20 choices of desktop finishes which can be seen here. You can also order physical 4”x6” color samples here.

The Jaxson base comes in three different height ranges, whereas all the other (non-iMovR) desks in this price range come in only one or two ranges (i.e. “single stage” and perhaps also a “dual stage”). For medium-stature users, the single-stage base is like most standing desks in the market and is the lowest cost option. For very short or very tall users, or for compliance with ANSI/BIFMA G1-2013 Ergonomic Guidelines (especially for corporate and government buyers), the dual-stage base has a 26.1” total stroke to accommodate nearly every conceivable user.

iMovR also uniquely offers 6” leg extenders on all of their custom desks, recommended for users who have an under-desk treadmill, are extremely tall individuals, or for those who just seek the maximum desk stability at higher heights. High-quality, non-marring, and lockable caster wheels are also offered on the Jaxson (these also enhance the stability of the desk by raising the bottom tubes, and can be combined with the 6” height extenders).

The Takeaway

In extensive lab testing of the Jaxson desk, and even its iOS and Android app, we had a hard time finding any significant flaws. As one of the most experienced manufacturers of tech-forward standing desks, and one of the few that still make their desks in the USA, the refinement that went into the Jaxson’s design is the kind of thing we just don’t see with any other brand. From ease of assembly to reliability, the many technological features, the elegant design options and the overall price/performance ratio, one thing is clear: iMovR is really giving the major brand, Chinese-built competition a serious run for the money with the Jaxson.

What the Jaxson doesn’t offer isn’t anything you’ll find on any other desk in this price tier. There is clearly a dividing line between the Jaxson line, offered only in 3D laminate, and iMovR’s higher-end Lander and Lander Lite lines that are built with super-premium Linak componentry and also come in 36 different solid wood versions. While those models dominate the luxury category for standing desks, Jaxson has the potential to dominate the mainstream, middle market of the standing desk industry.

And like virtually all of its competitors in the mid-market, the largest desktop you can put on a Jaxson (unless you buy the DIY Jaxson Base Frame and build your own top) is 6 feet wide. To get any larger you have to move up to iMovR’s Lander line, which adds four more sizes up to 8′ wide (note: these are necessarily shipped by freight rather than parcel), as well as offering L-desk and U-desk upgrades.

In terms of stability, sound signature, reliability and all the other performance tests we put a standing desk through, the Jaxson performs well better than any of its Chinese-made peers. That said, it’s not of the same caliber as the Lander or even the Lander Lite, which are built on much pricier Linak chassis. Even though they are not made with brushless motors their quality is such that they still outperform the Jaxson in every spec and require the least amount of assembly effort. But, they are commensurately priced to reflect this.

In terms of anti-collision detection, the Jaxson may be superior to any other desk we’ve ever tested simply because the brushless motors eliminate the “noise” from commutator brushes that can sometimes interfere with the performance of the detection circuitry (a serious problem with a lot of Chinese-made standing desks). That said, the performance of the two higher-end Lander models is as equivalently flawless as we’ve seen. The Lander desk also has a G-force (anti-tilt) detector that the Jaxson does not include, though this is an even less important feature for most consumers.

A more significant distinction between the Jaxson and the Lander lines may be that while the Jaxson well meets the FTC definition of “made in America,” as is fully disclosed on iMovR’s site, it does have 40% European genealogy. Some of the LogicData base components are robotically manufactured in Austria, Hungary and the Czech Republic, while the desktops are made in Michigan. Whereas with the Lander and Lander Lite all the components are robotically manufactured in Kentucky and the desktops are similarly made in Michigan, each being 95% and 93% made-in-USA, respectively.

While the percentage mix of American-made components may be of interest to some, from our review staff’s perspective the key takeaway on the Jaxson is that it will do more to level the playing field with Chinese-made brands like Uplift, Flexispot, Vari and Autonomous than any other standing desk that has come along to date. Tariffs and the rampant inflation in deep ocean freight from China have definitely helped, but it’s the new brushless motor technology that tipped the scales completely in favor of the Jaxson in this regard.

If the storage possibilities in a desk are what you are looking for, see our other reviews on desks with built-in storage options.