Steelcase Leap vs Steelcase Gesture

[max2]

I really need someone to help if possible. If not no big deal. Does anyone here own a Steelcase Gesture and can say how the chair is compared to a Steelcase Leap? If not that is ok even if you just own a Steelcase Gesture can you tell me how it is please ? Thanks.

All help is greatly appreciated.

 

[max2]

Ok I tested it out but still not sure. They only had one in leather I don't want leather.
[doublepost=1482428385][/doublepost]I will let you guys know how it goes and compared to my old Steelcase Leap. Ordered the Steelcase Gesture.

 

[tobefirst ⚽️]

Good luck with the Gesture. The Sweethome recommends the newer Gesture over the Leap, but had the Leap as their previous pick. I have a HM Aeron and couldn't be happier (especially since I got it for a great price used), but a great office chair is a worthy investment. I'll be interested to see how you like the Gesture.

 

[max2]

Good luck with the Gesture. The Sweethome recommends the newer Gesture over the Leap, but had the Leap as their previous pick. I have a HM Aeron and couldn't be happier (especially since I got it for a great price used), but a great office chair is a worthy investment. I'll be interested to see how you like the Gesture.

Thanks do you have any idea when the new Gesture was released compared to the old one? Thank you.

The lady told me 2017 Chairs will soon coming out from Steelcase so that will be interesting.

 

[max2]

Unfortunately my Steelcase Gesture chair won't be here until tomorrow (Saturday) that is ok I figured that would happen with Christmas deliveries.

 

[tobefirst ⚽️]

Thanks do you have any idea when the new Gesture was released compared to the old one? Thank you.

I don't. I don't follow chairs that closely, even though I do have a fascination with and love for well designed, iconic chairs. (The iconic part is why I chose to go with an Aeron over other, deemed-better-for-you options.)

 

[max2]

I don't. I don't follow chairs that closely, even though I do have a fascination with and love for well designed, iconic chairs. (The iconic part is why I chose to go with an Aeron over other, deemed-better-for-you options.)

Ok thanks. I will email Steelcase to see what they say! Hopefully my Steelcase Gesture is the latest chair off of Amazon.com

How do you like your Aeron chair btw? Comfort wise. Did you get the fully featured one as well ?

 

[tobefirst ⚽️]

The Aeron is miles better than the standard issue office chairs my work provides. I can't compare it functionality-wise compared to other high end chairs; the Aeron was the only chair I considered. It is fully featured. There is a guy in my city who refurbishes them and sells them. He had like 30 chairs around his house when I went to pick mine up.

 

[max2]

Received my Steelcase Gesture today and so far I think I like it! The seat is definitely comfortable and the back very close to the Steelcase Leap!

I will say that mesh chairs like Aeron are easier to keep clean though at least in my personal opinion.

 

[Hakka]

I've had two Leap v2 chairs for about five years. I tried out a Gesture recently.

I found the seat a lot softer. It's pretty hard on the Leap -- in fact, I took my Leap apart and added more foam to it, which definitely helps. Other than the seat hardness, I love the Leap -- the back is fantastic, and the arms move in every direction and are well padded.

The arms on the Gesture are shorter front-to-back, so if you lean back, and put your elbows to your sides, they miss the armrests. I'm sure I could work around that, but it seemed a bit silly to shorten them, since you can always just push them out of the way.

The controls on the Gesture weren't very solid feeling. They may well be durable -- they just felt kind of plastic.

Overall there was minimal improvement over the Leap, so I'm sticking with what I have.

 

[max2]

I've had two Leap v2 chairs for about five years. I tried out a Gesture recently.

I found the seat a lot softer. It's pretty hard on the Leap -- in fact, I took my Leap apart and added more foam to it, which definitely helps. Other than the seat hardness, I love the Leap -- the back is fantastic, and the arms flex in every direction and are well padded.

The arms on the Gesture are shorter front-to-back, so if you lean back, and put your elbows to your sides, they miss the armrests. I'm sure I could work around that, but it seemed a bit silly to shorten them, since you can always just push them out of the way.

The controls on the Gesture weren't very solid feeling. They may well be durable -- they just felt kind of plastic.

Overall there was minimal improvement over the Leap, so I'm sticking with what I have.

Thank you for a cool and honest opinion! May I ask where you tried the Steelcase Gesture at?

 

[Hakka]

I tried them twice -- once at a Steelcase company showroom, and once at an office furniture dealer. Neither of them were very mainstream outlets -- they were targeted more to the corporate buyer of 100+ units. But they let me sit on all their chairs happily enough.

 

[jtara]

What's wrong with your old Steelcase LEAP?

Mine is still going strong - bought around 2000, leather Coach Edition. I had to replace the arms - any LEAP this old will have to have the arms replaced, as the original was a flawed design with some foam that disintegrates. The replacements are fairly costly but a one-time purchase as they changed the design. Do NOT buy new old stock on eBay - just get the new-design replacement arms directly from SteelCase.

It seems they used a different foam in the seat and back, as I have had no trouble with those.

The leather is just fine, BTW. I suppose, though, Coach Edition has a lot to do with that, as I recall the stock leather wasn't great.

I also replaced the wheels with proper natural rubber wheels when I moved from a place with carpeting to one with a laminate floor. I'll just stick a plug for castercity.com here, they were really helpful!

I can't imagine why I would want to replace it.

The Gesture just looks like a "modernized" LEAP. Maybe they actually made some improvements to ergonomics. Frankly, though, the style looks like it could become quickly dated. Maybe that is the idea - these things are just made so well that it is a probably getting customers to replace them!

 

[max2]

What's wrong with your old Steelcase LEAP?

Mine is still going strong - bought around 2000, leather Coach Edition. I had to replace the arms - any LEAP this old will have to have the arms replaced, as the original was a flawed design with some foam that disintegrates. The replacements are fairly costly but a one-time purchase as they changed the design. Do NOT buy new old stock on eBay - just get the new-design replacement arms directly from SteelCase.

It seems they used a different foam in the seat and back, as I have had no trouble with those.

The leather is just fine, BTW. I suppose, though, Coach Edition has a lot to do with that, as I recall the stock leather wasn't great.

I also replaced the wheels with proper natural rubber wheels when I moved from a place with carpeting to one with a laminate floor. I'll just stick a plug for castercity.com here, they were really helpful!

I can't imagine why I would want to replace it.

The Gesture just looks like a "modernized" LEAP. Maybe they actually made some improvements to ergonomics. Frankly, though, the style looks like it could become quickly dated. Maybe that is the idea - these things are just made so well that it is a probably getting customers to replace them!

Nothing.

Good points.

 

[cloudshift]

I've had two Leap v2 chairs for about five years. I tried out a Gesture recently.

I found the seat a lot softer. It's pretty hard on the Leap -- in fact, I took my Leap apart and added more foam to it, which definitely helps. Other than the seat hardness, I love the Leap -- the back is fantastic, and the arms move in every direction and are well padded.

The arms on the Gesture are shorter front-to-back, so if you lean back, and put your elbows to your sides, they miss the armrests. I'm sure I could work around that, but it seemed a bit silly to shorten them, since you can always just push them out of the way.

The controls on the Gesture weren't very solid feeling. They may well be durable -- they just felt kind of plastic.

Overall there was minimal improvement over the Leap, so I'm sticking with what I have.

I have a Leap, and find the seat rather hard too. Curious, was taking it apart, and adding more foam difficult? Seems like that might be something to consider. Thanks for any help!

 

[Hakka]

It took a couple of hours to figure it out and do it. Not too hard, but you'll need to:

o Watch some YouTube videos on how to remove the seat pan from the chair. There is a hidden release lever you need to press with a long screwdriver. Then it slides off.
o Unscrew the hard plastic cover from the bottom of the seat.
o Remove the staples and loosen the string that keeps the leather seat on the foam.
o Add the new foam. Carve it to shape. I added maybe 1" at the center, less at the edges -- too much and it won't fit together again. Go easy on it.
o Put the leather cover back in place and restaple / screw. If you don't pull the string tight enough, it will come loose on you down the road.
o Reassemble the rest.

Not trivial, but it was a worthy upgrade.

For what it's worth, I have the standard black leather, and it's stayed in great shape for 5+ years of heavy use. The foam in the arms is also in good shape. The Leap v2's arms are *terrific* -- soft, comfortable, large, and they get out of the way when you don't want them.

 

[cloudshift]

It took a couple of hours to figure it out and do it. Not too hard, but you'll need to:

o Watch some YouTube videos on how to remove the seat pan from the chair. There is a hidden release lever you need to press with a long screwdriver. Then it slides off.
o Unscrew the hard plastic cover from the bottom of the seat.
o Remove the staples and loosen the string that keeps the leather seat on the foam.
o Add the new foam. Carve it to shape. I added maybe 1" at the center, less at the edges -- too much and it won't fit together again. Go easy on it.
o Put the leather cover back in place and restaple / screw. If you don't pull the string tight enough, it will come loose on you down the road.
o Reassemble the rest.

Not trivial, but it was a worthy upgrade.

For what it's worth, I have the standard black leather, and it's stayed in great shape for 5+ years of heavy use. The foam in the arms is also in good shape. The Leap v2's arms are *terrific* -- soft, comfortable, large, and they get out of the way when you don't want them.

Thanks for such a detailed response! Will certainly look in to doing this.

I like the arms quite a bit, and don't have any qualms with those at this point.

Thanks again!

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

I LOVE my Leap chair. I even got a replacement cylinder for it because it kept sinking.

I guess I have a harder 'bottom' then I thought. I do ride bicycles a lot. Hmm...

 

[HannahIso]

I LOVE my Leap chair. I even got a replacement cylinder for it because it kept sinking.

I guess I have a harder 'bottom' then I thought. I do ride bicycles a lot. Hmm...

[doublepost=1500634382][/doublepost]
I love my leap too. It's the best chair I've ever sat in. People think I'm crazy spending $800 on a chair but they don't know what they are missing!!!
[doublepost=1500634557][/doublepost]People always ask where I got it from. There's a new online store via ARKI Environments. Shipped from brissy.

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

People thought I was insane for buying an original Steelcase cylinder for 'an old chair' when new ones are cheaper. EXACTLY! 'Cheaper'!

 

[an-other]

I'm glad you're happy with your choice.

As a career corporate guy, I would note the maintenance of chairs is a hidden cost. There's regularly a chair corral here of our Humanscale Freedom chairs for arms/seat replacements. I'm sure the repair cost isn't a blip on the bottom line, but would be noticeable to my budget if I had to fix it. I average a replacement about every 15 months or so. The HM chairs before this weren't much better.

 

[HannahIso]

I'm glad you're happy with your choice.

As a career corporate guy, I would note the maintenance of chairs is a hidden cost. There's regularly a chair corral here of our Humanscale Freedom chairs for arms/seat replacements. I'm sure the repair cost isn't a blip on the bottom line, but would be noticeable to my budget if I had to fix it. I average a replacement about every 15 months or so. The HM chairs before this weren't much better.

[doublepost=1500669045][/doublepost]I'm the kinda girl who buys once. Buy well and quality. I'd hate to think about all this cheap chairs in a cheap chair grave yard filling our seas. Steelcase I read has an excellent sustainably program so you know you're making a good choice. All these cheap Chinese imports have no regard for when it breaks after 1 year. They have a life time warranty so they must really believe in their quality.
Just another reason I look after my leap and love it.
I also have the Think chair hat I bought 12 years ago. It's followed me around the world. You know quality when you sit on it!!

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

[doublepost=1500669045][/doublepost]
I'm the kinda girl who buys once. Buy well and quality. I'd hate to think about all this cheap chairs in a cheap chair grave yard filling our seas. Steelcase I read has an excellent sustainably program so you know you're making a good choice. All these cheap Chinese imports have no regard for when it breaks after 1 year. They have a life time warranty so they must really believe in their quality.
Just another reason I look after my leap and love it.
I also have the Think chair hat I bought 12 years ago. It's followed me around the world. You know quality when you sit on it!!

DAMN STRAIGHT!!! Most of that Chinese made junk actually insults the concept of junk. Seriously. I've heard of cartridges that leak, cushions that call apart, stitching and glue that fail, caster, well, caster, a simple thing right? Try telling that to the damn Chinese! So many casters fail, or fall apart.

I'm happy with my old and reliable Leap.

 

[Skytouch]

I LOVE my Leap chair. I even got a replacement cylinder for it because it kept sinking.

I guess I have a harder 'bottom' then I thought. I do ride bicycles a lot. Hmm...

Greetings Pinky, reviving an old thread. Do you have a Leap V2 Chair? And what replacement gas cylinder make/model did you purchase? I have a sinking feeling that I need to replace mine.

Regards,
Sky