Leap vs Gesture: My Opinion 3 Years Later

FYI: Steelcase EU announced a few days ago that they now offer 12 year warranty instead of 5 years.

My major issue as a 5’6” person is that these headrests are too high just like all office chair headrests. If you’re not 5’8” or taller the headrest shoves your head forward and ruins your posture. I would love to get a chair with head support but I can’t find one short enough

This is an incredible video and will be very helpful in my decision to upgrade. I'm looking between one of these two and the embody from Herman Miller.

I haven't had a chance to try out the Steelcase chairs yet, and I might not be able to, so if not, this video is my best option!.

Just found someone selling the leap a few blocks away for 50 bucks. They are calling it "very good office chair". Godbless online marketplaces

Would you choose the Gesture if you had someone refit it with a thicker more comfortable foam?

I have a spinal injury that resulted in neck surgery and I can only sit in a very specific position. I need to heavily slouch as a correct upright position cause my arms to go numb. I need to be able to sit in my chair for up to 14 hours a day, and currently the chair I have won't go low enough to get my feet flat on the floor and accommodate the correct position required. Out of both of the se chairs I need the one that is the most adjustable towards a heavily slouched position, that will allow lumbar support to try and avoid lower back issues. I'm finding it difficult to decide between these two chairs as the reviews are all so varying.

If you want to buy chairs like this go store and check yourself. I watched few videos and though Gesture is better than leap then i tried myself, for me is Leap much better.

You sound exactly like Matt Damon wtf

Pretty interesting that leap is so expensive now. I picked one up new 6 years ago for about $500.

i got a leap v2 and it made my tailbone start having intense agony. It was so bad i had to send the chair back its crazy because the chair is so adjustable yet nothing i did helped the pain.

Excellent video that really goes in-depth into the differences between the two and rare several years of use experience on the chairs. Really helped to inform an expensive purchase decision. Thanks!

"They're really focused on fitting the 95th percentile...so you should be fine if you're 6'5"...uh you might want to check your understanding of height percentiles.

What color is that green leap v2, your willow color?

I’m 5’5 165 which would be better for me?

This guy might be softer than my 15 month-old daughter. Can we get another opinion from someone who isn't such a delicate baby?

Just curious how tall are you and would you reccomend the leap v2 for someone that's around 6'3" 155lbs?

Which chair is better for gaming with a mouse? I need to be sitting upright with good back support and the ability to freely move my whole arm around.

Love the video, but can you please add metric units when you mentioned inches, feet, etc? Thank you :)

I nearly didn’t buy a gesture because of your review, mainly cause of the concerns of the seat comfort,
I’ve come from sitting on a secret labs Titan, and I can confirm that the gesture is far far more comfortable,
I was worried about the foam in the middle of seat being hard on the tailbone as you suggest in the video, but it’s honestly just not the case, been sitting in the gesture for 10hours a day and it’s really quite comfortable,
I also don’t have other high end chairs to compare it to, nor have I tried many,
However as a 6”2’ individual I am very Happy with the gesture with the headrest 👌

I just need my butt to not be so sore, then again I'm using the hyken lol with a seat pad currently 140 pounds was looking at the gesture

why do these chairs all have such a hard suspension?

Thanks for the great comparison! Minor question: is the fabric shown on the Gesture here the Era Night Owl or the Cogent Graphite?

I don't like that little part of the plastic that sticks out on the plastic underside of the seat bottom on the Gesture. It looks like a seam or some joint where two panels come together... Maybe it only look weird in the videos, but it almost looks broken to me... Given how expensive that chair is, it's really surprising to me they would have some part like that that sticks out and looks bad. Leap just looks better from a design standpoint.

interesting as the cutout in the gesture should scientifically result in relief to the tail bone area instead of pressure. i imagine thats why they designed it like that.

How about flatulence smell absorption? Do they handle some gas without retaining the smell?

I was surprised to find commend the lumbar support on the Leap v2. I had to remove the lumbar support piece from my Leap v2 because it was uncomfortable for me at all settings. For context, I have not had the opportunity to try other high end chairs to compare.

I was sold on the Gesture after watching 7 hours of these videos until he said "it's unbearable to sit in for long periods of time". Back to the drawing board.

I got my gesture for 350 new of a local auction in Michigan that auctions returns, over stock, shelf pulls. Had the original stickers and books

I've been looking at these videos for days and I still don't know what's best for me...
I'm a software dev / digital artist and I just want something that's comfortable for my work and wont hurt my lower back... I feel like this shouldn't be so hard...

chair weath that price ....OMG people you insane.

I don’t really like aggressive lumbar so I just took the lumbar system out on my leap v2, it’s still adjustable but just not as aggressive, but it’s no longer height adjustable only depth adjustable but it works for me

Jesus

Has anyone had experience with the gesture? The more upright position, less aggressive lumbar support and good headrest look very appealing to me but as someone who does long hours with a mix of writing and coding the stiffer front and weak tailbone region also sound worrying.

I'd like to get a gist of if these are common issues or something Greg is particularly sensitive to.

do you know if the gesture needs a break in period? it feels so stiff when compared to t he leap v2

Went to local distributor and tried both chairs. I'm 5'10 and 182lbs and normal build. My sense and test showed that the Gesture was just a more solid and comfortable option. I like it that with the Gesture, there's a little back movement on full up tilt (6.40). It's feels more natural as it seems to me that your body is always moving and this small movement helps. The tilt function, when the personal tension is adjusted is a joy. The Lumbar option gives enough support without overkill. The seat and back are very supportive and comfortable. I opted and purchased the Gesture. Received today and very happy . The armrest movement is beyond brilliant . Gesture wins !!

Gesture is $1800 here in Japan.
Leap is $1000.
There's a 20% off coupon on their site I can use.
I'm on the fence. I sat on both at a store and couldn't decide. The arm rests are cool on Gesture but Leap felt more comfortable overall?
I've been sitting on a $6 kitchen chair with a silicone pad for the past 3 years so I doubt some tailbone pain can affect me anymore. I usually try to take a 5min break to stretch every hour anyway.

I can get a used Gesture for around $700 on mercari. Is it worth it over Leap?

Makes me sad that no one, including you guys, ships to Australia other than steelseries. I make decent money and even im pushed out of the market for getting one at full price. Super disappointing.

I am former Steelcase AP lead designer, is interested to see this in-depth vs review , good work 👍🏼 and u r right the leap head rest is lame 🤣

why are these chairs so expensive bruhhh

I just sit on a testing embody from a site for a little over a week now also had some tailbone pain the first 2-3days but it went away but slowly I feel like for how I sit and what i do in it (mostly gaming, and then also for straight a lot of hours at a time) the back on the embody feels too hard for me. Because I game and for ove ra decade always tend to slouch after a while no matter what (even on the embody which made the back feel even harder for me) I feel like the leap v2's "slouch function" where the arms and seat not tilt back with the backrest, is exactly how people that game slide down in their chairs and get a crooked back. I did and do the same even in the embody sometimes. And I can imagine with a light slouch in the leap v2, having the arm rest still straight on your desk height, this looks like The perfect chair function for long hours for me. I can realing imagine gaming a lot in this position and still having a straight back while being leaned back. I'm kinda interested in this chair now. I just hope the padding of it really is soft enough and also holds up for a long time.

Edit: weird question regarding the leap v2, but because of its slightly forward looking headrest and 2 thin straps that hold it, can you bend it slightly backwards?

I have been sitting in the Kinn chair for couple years now (mine was Merryfair OEMs) and I like the lumbar support. I had several chair before with a lot of adjustment to the lumbar support but none support me like Kinn even without any adjustment.

I tried both Gesture and Leap, thinking that I would go with Gesture for the armrest, I actually love Leap a lot more for how better it support my whole back. Gesture is at a similar level to Kinn chair while Leap just put my whole back in the pocket.

Leap armrest adjustment is enough for me so I’m okay with the trade off.

Man those critics feels like every chair above 1000 bucks has some serious issues.

I have a question for you guys at BTODtv :) Can the Leap V2's seat be transferred to a Gesture, like you've done with Amia?

Edit: Found an official response from Steelcase where they state they have reduced the warranty to 5 years to "make things less complex for the consumer". See reply to this comment for more info. (TL;DR: ugly reason & ugly move)

Edit2 (1 year after my post): Steelcase EU just announced that the now EU too has 12 years warranty instead of 5 years from now on!!! Yay!!!

Hi, (I noticed the other comment about the warranty case as well). But considering the Gesture's warranty in the EU is only 5 years, does that mean that it's made of different (worse) materials in the EU or something? (I saw on the website they make them in France for the EU I think). I really want to get a Gesture but because the warranty in the EU is only 5 years, I'm kind of scared that the chair's quality is somehow worse than the US version... And it's also not the case that every chair brand in the EU has max 5 year warranty either, because Herman Miller still offers 12 years here. Hell, even Neuechair offers 12 years in the EU.... What on earth is going on with that massive warranty difference? Hope you can give me some insight on this

Who the hell wants to pay that much for an office chair. That's insane

Steelcase case needs to make a chair with the back of the Leap v2, the seat of the Amia and the arms of the Gesture.

I'm 164cm so like 5' 3 or 4 ish.... I was leaning towards gesture but someone said they aren't good for people of my size? What do you think

"unbearable to sit in for long periods of time" is probably the last thing you're looking for in a chair that costs over 1,000$

When I spend $1000 on a chair I expect a car to be thrown in with it.