Vari Curve Electric Standing Desk

The Vari Curve Electric Standing Desk is a perfect example of how a company can improve upon an already great product. The original Vari Electric Standing Desk has held the top spot on our list of the best standing desks for quite some time now, and for good reason. Not only is it by far the easiest standing desk to assemble, it’s also quiet while in use and has an appealing design. Now though, Vari has outdone itself with its new Curve Electric Standing Desk.

The Vari Curve Electric Standing Desk improves upon its predecessor by adding grommets at the back of the desk for easier cable management and a curved edge at the front of the desk to make it more comfortable when resting your arms while typing. However, these improvements come at the cost of customization options. Unlike the Vari Electric Standing Desk, the Vari Curve Electric Standing Desk is only available in black and there’s just one desktop size to choose from: 60 x 30-inches. Our Vari Curve Electric Standing Desk review will help you decide if this is the right standing desk for you, or if you’d be better off going with its predecessor instead.

Vari Curve Electric Standing Desk: Price and availability

The Vari Curve Electric Standing Desk is available directly from Vari’s website for $895 with free shipping and comes with a 5-year warranty. If you have any problems with the desk or it isn’t the right fit for you, the company offers a 30-day hassle-free return policy where it pays all shipping costs. The review unit sent to Tom’s Guide also came with Vari’s cable management tray which is available separately for $50, though I highly recommend picking one up.

If the Vari Curve Electric Standing Desk is too big for your space or a bit out of your budget, then you might want to consider the Vari Electric Standing Desk instead. It’s available in several different sizes from 48 x 30-inches for $750, 60 x 24-inches for $795, 60 x 30-inches for $850 and all the way up to 72 x 30-inches for $950. There are also five different desktop finishes to choose from as opposed to the single black option with the Vari Curve Electric Standing Desk.

Vari Curve Electric Standing Desk: Design

The desktop itself takes center stage when it comes to the Vari Curve Electric Standing Desk’s design. It’s made from durable laminate which makes it very easy to clean and the waterfall front edge is not only aesthetically pleasing but also makes the desk more comfortable to use.

While the Vari Curve Electric Standing Desk can’t be outfitted with a reclaimed wood or butcher block desktop like its predecessor, it makes up for the lack of customization options by adding 3-inch grommets (small holes) at the back of either side of the desk for running cables. 

Vari has chosen to use the same T-Style legs that it uses with its other electric standing desks for this desk. They’re sturdy and come in a metallic gray color. Unfortunately, you can’t customize them like you can with the FlexiSpot E7 Pro Plus or the Uplift V2.

Likewise, while FlexiSpot has begun incorporating USB charging ports into its keypads, Vari has stuck with its same, simple keypad. This isn’t a bad thing though, as it’s easy to use to program your preferred sitting and standing heights and blends in well with the rest of the desk. The keypad is also slightly angled and sits flush with the edge of the Vari Curve Electric Standing Desk. However, this time around, you can push it in slightly if you want to hide it from view.

As it does with its other standing desks, Vari also throws in some useful accessories with this desk. You get two headphone hooks that can be placed anywhere on either side of the desk as well as a rubber coaster to protect the desktop from coffee rings.

Vari Curve Electric Standing Desk: Assembly

The Vari Curve Electric Standing Desk sent to Tom’s Guide for review arrived in three boxes. The largest one was for the desktop while the medium-sized one contained the legs, feet and all of the other parts. The cable management tray arrived in its own separate box.

If you’re not that handy or need to get your new desk setup right away, the Vari Curve Electric Standing Desk should be your first choice. Unlike other standing desks that require a power drill or other additional tools for assembly, you can literally build one of Vari’s desks using only the two included Allen wrenches. In fact, it only takes eight bolts to put the Vari Curve Electric Standing Desk together. 

Another great thing about Vari’s standing desks is that their frames come pre-attached to the desktop. With other desks like the Fezibo Electric Standing Desk and those from Uplift Desk and FlexiSpot, you need to install the frame yourself. This can be really tedious, especially if a company has multiple desktop sizes available and you need to pull the sides of the frame out for your specific desk size.

With the Vari Curve Electric Standing Desk’s desktop flipped over, you first need to install the legs at either end of its frame. Before you begin putting it together though, I highly recommend laying a blanket down to prevent scratching the laminate desktop. I know this from experience as I scratched the Vari Electric Standing Desk while assembling it. However, it was the very first standing desk I built.

Once the legs are in place, you then need to slot the control box into the middle of the frame and connect the wires from the motors inside the legs. Unlike some of the frames I’ve seen on other standing desks, Vari’s have a crossbar on either side that you can use to keep the desk’s cables from sagging.

Although the bracket used for the keypad is pre-installed on the right, there are holes on the other side if you prefer to have it on the left instead. It slots right in and no screws are needed. This is another example of how Vari has worked to make assembling its desks as easy as possible.

With the keypad in place and the legs connected to the control box, the last thing you need to do before plugging in the power cable is to attach the feet to the legs. The legs also have adjustable feet which you can use to level out your desk if your floor happens to be slightly uneven.

Before flipping the desk over and going through the initial setup procedure, now is the perfect time to install the optional cable management tray. Instead of screwing directly into the desk, you need to install brackets on either side and the tray slides right in. Like with the rest of the Vari Curve Electric Standing Desk, there are pre-drilled holes to make installation easier.

Vari Curve Electric Standing Desk: Performance

After assembling the Vari Curve Electric Standing Desk, I first tested it out using a Microsoft Surface Laptop Go. The desk was comfortable to use with a laptop and there was plenty of extra space for accessories. 

As the Vari Curve Electric Standing Desk has a 200 pound weight limit and is 60 inches wide, I then decided to try it out with a desktop computer and a dual-monitor setup. Even with two monitors and a desktop onboard, the desk remained sturdy at both sitting and standing heights.

In my testing, it took the Vari Curve Electric Standing Desk just over 10 seconds to move from my preferred sitting (29 inches) to standing height (40 inches). Besides being quiet in operation thanks to its dual motors, the desk also passed my coffee test, where I place a full cup of coffee on the desk and try to raise and lower it without spilling a drop.

Although they may seem like a small addition to some, the grommets on either side of the desk proved extremely useful when putting together my dual-monitor setup. I used the grommet on the right side of the desk to run cables from the back of my PC down to the underside of the desk while I used the one on the left to run the cables from my monitor back to the PC.

While I wish it was included in the base price, I consider Vari’s cable management tray a must-have accessory for the Vari Curve Electric Standing Desk. In addition to holes at either end to run cables through, the tray itself can swivel forward or backward. This makes plugging in new devices a breeze as you can do so without having to move the desk. The cable management trays offered by other companies are fixed in place.

Vari Curve Electric Standing Desk: Bottom Line

If you’re looking for the best standing desk for your home office, the Vari Curve Electric Standing Desk is the one to get. The curve at the front of the desk allows you to sit closer to your monitor or laptop and the desktop’s waterfall edge makes typing much more comfortable. When paired with Vari’s cable management tray, the grommets at either side of the desk make it surprisingly simple to hide the cables running from your PC to your monitor. The Vari Curve Electric Standing Desk’s dual motors are quite in operation and let you quickly switch from a sitting to a standing position.

The only downside to the Vari Curve Electric Standing Desk is the lack of customization options. However, this could change in the future. If it doesn’t though and you’re looking for a wood desktop instead of a laminate one, the Vari Electric Standing Desk is a great alternative. For those that want extra storage space along with grommets and USB charging ports, the Realspace Smart Electric Height-Adjustable Desk might be a better fit. 

Still though, with excellent build quality, a 5-year warranty, 30 day hassle-free returns and an assembly process that can be completed in less than 15 minutes, the Vari Curve Electric Standing Desk is a fantastic standing desk you’ll be able to rely on for years to come.