Steelcase Gesture 442 Stool Chair - Camel Steelcase Leather, Medium Seat Height, Shell Back, Light on Light Frame, Polished Aluminum Base

I bought this thinking I could write it off on my taxes but then my boss explained to me how deductions work and I realized that I could not. Anyways, I have a thousand dollar office chair now. Is it worth a thousand dollars? Probably not, but I'm stuck with it.It is super comfy and just about everything is adjustable, but once you find your preferred settings, you probably won't ever touch them again. Sitting in this chair is not a life changing experience. After awhile it just becomes a regular chair instead of a thousand dollar chair.When guests sit in this chair, they have no clue that it costs a thousand dollars, and when I tell them, they look at me like I'm an idiot and seem generally unimpressed -- bragging about my thousand dollar office chair is part of the reason I bought a thousand dollar office chair, so I feel that the value is slightly diminished when I don't get smug satisfaction out of telling people about it.Oh by the way, this thing ships fully assembled and the box is enormous so I hope you live on the first floor.

I had a Leap chair V2 for 10 years and gave it to my wife to use at her office. The Gesture was expected to be an upgrade as I bought it, I spend very long hours sitting at work and at the PC at home. Reviews of the Gesture are outstanding for diverse sitting positions. In any case both my wife and I are getting older and have a few back issues, and we both need good quality/supportive chairs. She loves the Leap so it's hers now. If I had not already enjoyed the great support and comfort of the Leap chair for years, I think I would be much more impressed with the Gesture. The Leap chair is that good even after all these years. The Gesture looks more high tech and modern while the Leap is more of a boring generic look, but I think in some ways the Leap chair is more comfortable for normal sitting. The Gesture is comfortable and supportive and as advertised it shines when you want to lean back in the chair (very smooth and supportive when doing this, one thing I think it is better at than the leap). Also the Gesture arm adjustability is superior. I think it's a great chair... but two things, I think the padding is a tad more comfortable in the Leap chair in the back and seat. Not to say the Gesture is not comfortable, it is. Also sometimes I almost feel like the Gesture seat bottom feels like it is tilted forward like I am sliding out of it. Just slightly. But this may simply be that after ten years in the Leap chair I have bonded with it - and after more time in the Gesture I will not even remember a difference. The arms on the Gesture are a stiffer surface and they tilt outward just a little and can make my arms almost slip off, which sometimes annoys me - as I was used to the solidly level feel of the arms on the Leap. Probably they are designed that way for a reason that I have not discovered yet. But I will say this, when I don't really focus on the differences and just use the Gesture chair, it just WORKS. It is intuitive and very easy to sit in different ways. I had to work 20 hours straight earlier this week, spent it all in the Gesture chair, and not a single complaint on how my back felt afterward or anything else. Including the fact that I never felt overheated in the chair (cloth version). Which ultimately I think is a pretty good test. And having done the same in the Leap many times it also passes that test. Which would I say is "better"? It's hard to say, the Gesture wins in the highly and easily adjustable arms, and smooth and supportive leaning back. The Leap feel just a tiny bit more padded in the back and seat. If forced I would say the Gesture is an improvement but not in every aspect.

I spend about 12 hours a day in a chair (programmer) and the cheap Officemax chair just wasn't cutting it, so I bought the Gesture.I've had it for a few weeks now and I'm not much of a fan.Pros:- It looks cool and futuristic- The adjustable arms are really nice. Before using them, I thought it was a gimmick. Totally sold- High quality materials throughout. This feels like a PorscheCons:- The chair feels like the seat pan is angled downward slightly, like it's trying to push me forward out of it- Didn't find it very comfortable, back support was lacking- Non-adjustable lumbar supportAll-in-all, this chair just didn't work for my back, so I returned it. I went and bought a Herman Miller Embody, and it is much more comfortable.

This chair might have been rated well 10 years ago, but today it is a basic chair. For the price it should be world class awesome, it's just not.Less then 6 months have gone by and the chair squeaks, wobbles and rattles just like any other cheap office store chair (nobody here is over 200lbs).The arm pads catch pant pockets with their corners because of the absurd pad shape.The pads never stay in place, so you can't lean into your chair.. the arms will move on you. Super annoying.The chair pad reminds me of a cheap car's seat - very hard and uncomfortable.The fabric is strong and durable but not soft.The wheels glide very well. In fact don't use on a smooth floor, you'll never stay in place.There is ZERO lumbar or upper back support, it's all in the middle of your back.There are a lot of adjustments, but that is fairly standard even in most cheap chairs these days.None of the basic adjustments on this chair made it "keep worthy" for the 8 people in our office.All 8 of us agree - it's ugly, mostly due to the large amounts of plastic and 3 tone 80ies color scheme (my fault I choose the color (white/licorice)). It doesn't even look good in our modern "techie" office (IT business), it just looks old (design wise).Now I get to try and pawn this junk off on a Craigslist fool with more money than brains. I guess I get to meet someone new - that's a positive right? (I'll probably let the intern deal with the Craigslist stuff (looking at you Ben ;) ))