For the past year, I haven't had much of a "setup" - I used my Framework 13 on the couch, with a little lap desk and my mouse off to the side. It worked surprisingly well until I moved homes, we rearranged the couch, and suddenly found myself with little desire to ever use my computer.
Over the next few weeks, as I finished moving in, there were fewer and fewer things to occupy my time with. I was bored out of my mind. I knew something had to change, until I snapped and decided that I needed a desk again. Later that day, we made the trip out to our local IKEA and I came home with an MITTZON desk - the same one my partner bought earlier that month.
I had already been researching chairs for a couple weeks on and off, anticipating the desk I would someday buy. I narrowed it down to just a few models that would suit my preferences: robust, sleek, well-known, and well-received. The one bang-for-your-buck winner came out clear: the Steelcase Leap V1.
My first impressions
This thing is heavy. Many of the structural bits (wheel base, arms) are metal, and you can feel it just sitting on it. I can see why they switched to plastic on the V2, and maybe it'll get a little old, but I love it. I don't think I've ever owned anything this robust in my life.
When the seller was demonstrating this chair to me in his driveway, he kept showing new mechanisms and adjustments I never even knew it had. How did they even fit so much in that tiny little base? I can't believe a team of people managed to engineer a chair enough to impress me.
The design language is right out of the early 2000s, in the most tasteful way I could possibly imagine. The upholstery reminds me of some of the older bus seats in the area, material and all. Sitting on it feels like I'm being transported right back to its time. It's fun.
Settling in
Lately, I've been binging a Minecraft mod pack for up to 10 hours a day. I haven't played a game this much in years, but it's taking it really well. I feel well supported, even when sitting for hours. The sharp aches and pains I had with my previous chair are gone.
It's definitely showing its 25 years of age. The mechanisms feel a little gunked up and sticky. Some of them (particularly in the back) have even started to squeak a little bit, not enough to be annoying though. They probably need some new lubrication - something I'd like to tackle some day soon.
I chose a chair with foam over mesh, as I don't trust the durability of mesh, especially with the way computer chairs have ended up over my life. It's definitely an important choice you'll have to make. I'm not a particularly sweaty or hot person, so it works great for me.
The Seat
The foam is holding up okay. It's clearly a bit flattened, like a quality mattress you've owned for a decade. Given it's over twice that age, I'd say it's held up well enough. For the first day or so it hurt my butt while I got used to it, but no complaints since. Maybe it's just because I haven't sat in a proper computer chair for a year or two.
The adjustable thigh support means I never feel like I'm sliding out of the chair. I used to lean my chairs back an unhealthy amount to counteract this, so the support is nice.
The Arms
The arms on this chair are pretty neat. By default, they're unusably far from the seat for the average person, but the mechanisms allow you to pull them in to your liking. If I had to change one thing about them, I wish they went a little higher.
Every other chair I've owned forced me to use my desk as an armrest, scraping up my wrists as I move my mouse around or type on my keyboard. Having usable armrests for the first time in my life feels nice for a change, and I'm sure my wrists will appreciate them.
The Back
The Leap's lumbar support is incredible. It's the first time I've felt like my whole back is truly supported sitting in a chair. The lower portion of it has a whole mechanism (not just flexibility!) to conform to your back, something I had no idea about until I manually pushed the seat back with my hands.
The way Steelcase uses flexible plastic for lumbar support is the most recognizable and striking part of their design language to me, and one of the reasons I chose this over the other options. I bought a Cobi second hand for CA$40 a couple weeks ago to use at my workshop table for just that reason, albeit way less luxurious.
What about spare parts?
You aren't going to find spare parts for the Leap V1 anymore. Not that it matters; pretty much any OEM part I could replace would cost more than the money I paid for the whole chair.
Aftermarket foam replacement is available from a company named Crandall, but they don't ship outside the United States and some reviewers are disappointed in the longevity of their foam. They sell a thicker but softer (lower density) foam pad so compression and sagging seems kind of inevitable.
To my knowledge, nobody has made a headrest specifically for this model. A few people have managed to get various headrests to work with 3D printed brackets and (shudders) drilling. I can't stomach the price for a Herman Miller or Atlas headrest, but I would like to try my hand attaching a cheap AliExpress/Amazon headrest eventually. It'd be a fun little project, I think.
Would I do it again?
Given the same budget, absolutely. Even V2s a decade old are at least double the price. I wish I had thought to buy a chair when all the offices were closing down during the pandemic, but I'll take what I can get.
I would consider Haworth or Humanscale options if they were even remotely comparable price-wise in my area. I particularly like the look of the Haworth Soji, but the price and featureset of the Leap V1 is just unbeatable to me.
If I ever felt like burning a thousand dollar hole in my pocket then maybe I would get a newer Leap or Aeron, especially with better foam. My chair still supports me enough to keep those thoughts off the mind. Maybe the next time the entire world shuts down, heh.