I found several cheaper Swiss exercise balls, but I think this might be a case of the old adage: "you get what you pay for." I decided that I want to use it as an office chair, so I want it to be good quality and not look cheap, I don't have time to screw around returning a cheap one, Vivora Luno's looks like the best on the market so I'm going to stop worrying that there are other brands that are five-or-ten-dollars cheaper. Right now, after just a couple of weeks, I'm glad I bought it from Vivora Luno. The ball itself was high quality. More importantly, the cover looks perfect to me: good stitching, straight seams, nice material. Nothing about the quality puts me off. "You get what you pay for."The cover makes all the difference. In the past, I had tried using a plain exercise ball (without the cover) as a chair. Way too flexible and bouncy, it wasn't practical and didn't feel professional at all. It didn't work at all — at least not for me. The cover keeps the ball from expanding out of shape and bouncing too much. The seams help keep it from rolling around. And here' is another benefit you might never think of: the cover takes away that pinging-ringing sound that echoes from a regular plastic ball without a cover. It's important to me, because I do a little audio recording and I noticed that even having a big plastic exercise ball in the same room didn't work, I could here the a nasty reverb sound coming from it when I was recording audible sound. Doesn't do that with this felt cover.The ball inflated easily and was not difficult to align inside the cover. However, I used my little compressor, in the garage, instead of the little hand pump provided. I was able to go slow, give it a little shot of air, then keep adjusting the position of the ball inside the cover. Of course, with a compressor and tank that has 100lbs+ in it, you have to be careful not to overinflate, but that's not difficult, and I had the ball ready ready-to-sit on in 2 or 3 minutes. I'm sure it is doable with the little hand-pump but I imagine it would take a lot more time and work — probably 15-20 minutes or more, leave your arm dead from all the pumping with the little plastic hand pump.As for use of the ball as an office chair, while working at the computer, so far I love it. I still have my regular office chair close by and have moved back to it every day, after my back and core get a little tired of sitting on the ball. To me, that means it's working, making me sit up taller, working my core in a very subtle way. That also tells me my core was getting weak and this will be good for it. I can see already, I'm using the ball for longer periods of time, but still glad I have the regular chair to go back to when I'm tired of the ball.Another thing that takes a little getting used to, it pushes on your rear-end differently than a chair does, so it can leave you a little sore the first few times you sit on it. In fact, I ended up letting a tiny bit of air out to make it just a tiny bit softer on my seat. Maybe I had it inflated too tight at first. But this, just like your lower back and core muscles getting used to sitting on the ball, it is sure to get better as I build up to using it more of the day. One other thing that should be mentioned, the plastic ball inside the felt cover doesn't breath in the way a cushioned office chair can, so it can heat up on your derriere. Once again, I think the benefits outweigh that inconvenience, butI'm able to spend a little more time on it every day. I can imagine that eventually I may spend the entire workday on the ball and opt to get rid of the standard office chair, or maybe not, maybe I always keep it hand so I have the choice to use either.