Fully Jarvis Bamboo Standing Desk review

When I was apartment hunting last year, my ultimate choice came down to three things: the spiral staircase, the backyard and the second floor. When I descended the stairs and saw that space, I had already decided that half would become a home gym with the remaining space acting as my office. But this wouldn’t be just any office, this would be a techie paradise –– a melding of my love of audio, gaming, RGB lights and overall geekery.  

And since I’ll be working from home for the foreseeable future, it’s the perfect time to get my office set up. The first major piece is the Fully Jarvis Bamboo Standing desk (reviewed at $1,029, starting at $549). A combination of circuitry and wood, the Jarvis is a great example of form meeting function. With a quick touch of a button, the desk quickly rises, taking you from a potentially unhealthy sedentary lifestyle to an energized standing position. 

It’s a tad expensive, but if you’re looking for a piece of office furniture that works as hard as you do, the Fully Jarvis Standing desk is worth the investment. 

Fully Jarvis Standing Desk pricing and configuration

The base model of the Jarvis starts at $549. That gets you a 30 x 24-inch natural bamboo rectangular desktop with a single black grommet for wire management, a mid-range desk frame that lifts and descends from 29 to 48.3 inches, and a standard up/down switch. 

For my review, I configured a desk with a 72 x 30-inch rectangular bamboo desktop ($210). I opted for a pair of powered grommets in black ($69), and a desk frame with extended range that can be adjusted from 24.5 to 50 inches. I added some creature comforts including a programmable height adjustment switch ($35), casters ($29), a cable management kit that ships with a surge protector ($49), and a bottle opener ($9) because it’s 5 o’clock somewhere. That brought the total of my desk to $1,029.

If wood isn’t really your bag, or you’re looking for a budget-friendly entry point, Fully also has the Remi and Laminate Standing Desk that start at $449 and $499, respectively. Or you can just purchase a Fully desk frame for $399 and add your own desktop. Looking for something more premium? There’s the two-toned Designer Ply desk ($899 starting), the Hardwood ($1,099 starting), or the L-Shaped and the Reclaimed wood –– both of which start at $1,249.

Some further upgrades I’m looking to add at a later date include the single Jarvis laptop arm ($128), Fully desk drawer ($49), ESI CPU Holder CPU01-14 ($125.40), the Sidekick file cabinet ($199) and the LifeSpan Standing Desk Treadmill TR5000 ($1,530).

Fully Jarvis Standing Desk design

Man, this desk makes me feel like an adult, a cool grown-up that can spend hours upon hours gaming, but an adult no less. The light bamboo desktop is simply beautiful with its unique grain striations. To keep the wood looking as pretty as it did when you unboxed it, the sustainable material is treated with a UV-cured, water-based polyurethane coating. The result is a smooth-to-the-touch, easy-to-clean surface that looks great in any office environment. And if you want a darker wood, Fully offers a Dark Bamboo option for an additional $35.

The metal desk frame is sturdy and features a motor in each leg to do all the heavy lifting. The frame can support a maximum of 350 pounds which is good, as I’m looking to eventually house a desktop PC underneath the desk in the future. My desk frame is black, but it’s also available in Silver and White for no additional cost or Alloy for $30.

The tabletop measures 72 x 30 x 0.8 inches and weighs 54 pounds. The desk frame measures 74 x 27 x 21 inches and weighs in at 46 pounds.

Fully Jarvis Standing Desk setup

Building the standing desk reminded me of how much I like working with my hands. A small Black & Decker handheld drill with a Phillips head bit, the various screws and components, and a bit of reading comprehension is all you need. Or if you’re more of a visual learner, you can find a video on how to build your standing desk on Fully’s web page. 

Using the directions included in the box, I assembled the desk in 48 minutes and 20 seconds. The directions were easy to follow and all the pieces and fasteners were all there; the company even included a few spares just in case. Everything was really easy to connect, even connecting the wires to power the motor.

I did run into a small problem during the build. When I was installing the console, I couldn’t drive the screws in as deep as I wanted. As a result, the console slides a little if I press forcefully. 

Once, I attached all the extra accouterment (casters and bottle opener), I was finally ready to stand the desk up. It’s recommended that you get a friend to help, but I managed to muscle it up on my own. From there, I swapped out the regular grommets for the powered ones and clamped on the surge protector. From there, it was just a matter of threading all the wires for my various gadgets through the wire management kit and plugging everything in and I was good to go. 

Fully Jarvis Standing Desk features

While the bottle opener is a cool little add-on, the black programmable console is the star of the show here. The black module features seven buttons, four to set desk height, power, two buttons to manually adjust the desk height and an M button to put the console into programming mode. The console also features a small OLED screen so you can keep abreast of the action. 

Programming the desk is pretty simple: hold down the M button to initiate the programming mode and use the manual control buttons to cycle through the options (Max Height, Min Height, Units, Anti-Collision Sensitivity, Screen Brightness, Button Brightness, Calibrate Height and Memory Preset Mode), hit 1 to enter the desired menu and use the arrow buttons to select your choice. 

So to program my ideal desk height while sitting and standing, I chose Memory Preset Mode, hit 1 and raised the desk to my desired height and hit 1 again to set it. For my sitting height, I repeated the process but hit 2 at the end to map it to that button. 

Fully Jarvis Standing Desk performance

My Jarvis can lift from 24.5 inches to 50 inches. While it’s a cool party trick to show people, what I appreciate most about the dual motors in the Jarvis’ desk frame is just how quick and quiet they are. Even when it’s noiseless in my makeshift office and I hit the button, there’s minimal sound. And it takes about 10 seconds for the desk to switch between my preferred heights. 

Aside from having the ability to go from sitting to standing at the touch of a button what I love about the Jarvis is the space. Anyone who’s had the pleasure/misfortune of sitting next to me in an office knows that I’m a space encroacher. Laptops, headphones, smartphones, paperwork and an endless amount of tchotchkes mean that sooner or later at least part of their desks will become my desk. But not here. 

That 72-inch width comfortably accommodates a 34-inch curved Alienware monitor, an Elgato Stream Deck XL, Elgato Key Light Air, Elgato Thunderbolt 3 Pro Dock, HP Tango X wireless printer and currently a pair of Creative T100 speakers. And there’s plenty of room for a Dell XPS 17, the Asus Zephyrus Duo 15, a Blue Yeti Blackout mic and a headset stand. True, I haven’t put any toys up there yet, but I also have a whole bookcase and several walls dedicated to my ever-growing collection.

Bottom line

Whether you’re commuting into an office or working from home, a standing desk is a game-changer, but the Fully Jarvis Bamboo Standing Desk takes things to another level. At $1,029, the desk is made from sustainable materials that lend a sophisticated air that will up the wow factor wherever it is. The dual motors are quiet and switching between heights is a quick, seamless process and, best of all, it can support up to 350 pounds. That means you can load it up with all the goodies. 

Speaking of loading the desk up with all the goodies, the customization option can quickly bump the price up to an exorbitant amount. But the good thing is that, if you have a power drill and patience, you can build your ideal desk piece by piece. Overall, if you’re looking for a standing desk that looks great and offers tons of customization and functionality, you’d be hard-pressed to do better than the Fully Jarvis Standing Desk.