I've been sitting in a Steelcase Think for a few months now and, for a $700+ chair, it feels cheap. It is crazy configurable and seems to be doing all the right things, but here are some of the problems with it:
One of the chairs arrived broken. I understand that shipping is stressful but if a chair breaks during the stresses of shipping, I cannot imagine the rigors of thousands of hours of work is good for it.
It looks metallic and even has a metallic name, but it is mostly plastic.
The lumbar .. bar never stays up. It will also get caught between the horizontal "wires" that make up the back of the chair. These two annoyances means that no one uses the lumbar support.
And, lastly, it just feels like a cheap knockoff of a "real chair". I have been attributing this as a manufacturer-wide problem with Steelcase and just assumed that the Think chair would be symbolic of the rest of their line. That's why I'm surprised to hear a comment that suggests a Leap over an Aeron. Did they just suck with the ultra-configurable Leap and actually make better chairs in general?
Individual fit makes a big difference here. I prefer a Steelcase Leap or (especially) a Haworth Zody to an Aeron, and I know others who prefer Aerons. Based on my experience, those issues w/ your Leap are unusual.
I also really like using a lap desk and coding in an Eames lounge chair, but that's probably not as good from an ergonomic standpoint.
(Incidentally, I live within an hour's drive of where all four are produced, and great furniture is occasionally quite cheap on craigslist here. My wife snagged an Aeron for $50!)
I own 3 Steelcase Leap chairs (previously owned an Aeron and didn't care for it). The one I'm sitting in now, I've owned since 1999. It's survived 4 cross country moves and numerous transports to job sites and back.
I originally bought one for work (as I didn't like the "ergonomic" chairs that the company I was at provided) and liked it so much that I eventually got another for my home office and my wife got one as well.
I had an Aeron at my previous job. My experience with that chair was that it tended to act like sandpaper for whatever I had in my back pockets, even a very thin wallet. I bought a Leap for my home office and I really like it. In my opinion, the upholstered bottom and back on the Leap are more comfortable than the mesh on the Aeron. YMMV.
No matter what chair you're in, if you are going to be sitting all day - get everything out of your back pockets! Otherwise you're putting strain on your lower back, and it might punish you someday.
I bought an Aeron over ten years ago and have never regretted it. Everyone's different, so go try chairs and make sure you have a return period. What feels fine after five minutes in the store may not feel so good after five hours of coding.
I also dislike the Aeron. I have a Leap and it's not bad. I've never had a chair that's felt perfect. I'm curious if anyone out there has tried the Humanscale Freedom chair with a headrest?
