Steelcase Leap V1 vs Leap V2 (2026)

The V2 is the newer chair. The V1 is the better buy for most people shopping remanufactured, and the whole argument comes down to arms, padding, and price.

Side-by-Side Summary

Almost nobody comparing these two chairs is choosing between a new V1 and a new V2, because the V1 is not sold new any more. It reaches buyers rebuilt, which is also how a large share of V2 buyers get theirs. That reframes the question. The comparison is not old versus new, it is one rebuilt chair against another rebuilt chair at a meaningful price gap, with the new V2 sitting off to one side for anyone who wants a chair nobody has sat in.

Where a figure for the V2 is not in our verified spec set, this page says so rather than filling the gap with a number. Every dimension and rating quoted below is one we hold a source for.

What Changed Between the Generations

The documented differences between the two Leap generations are short enough to list in full, which is itself informative for a chair that has been in production for decades.

• The V2 added arm depth adjustment. The V1’s arms move for height, width, and pivot, with less depth travel.
• The V2 has cleaner styling, a visual change rather than a functional one.
• The V2 offers better back coverage for taller users.
• The V1 has thicker seat and arm padding.
• The V1 has a lower remanufactured price.

Read that list with a buyer’s eye rather than a spec sheet’s. One item is an adjustment you either need or do not, one is cosmetic, one is a fit question tied to your height, and two favor the older chair. The weight rating does not move at all: both generations are rated to 400 pounds and both are built for 24/7 multi-shift use, which is the rating that separates a commercial chair from a consumer one and the reason a twenty-year-old Leap chassis is still worth rebuilding.

What did not change matters more than what did. The lumbar control, the LiveBack flex, and the Natural Glide System recline are the reasons the Leap has held its reputation, and the V1 has all three. Our full Steelcase Leap V1 review and our Steelcase Leap review go deeper on each chair individually.

Armrests, the Clearest Functional Gap

This is the one difference that can decide the comparison on its own, so treat it first and treat it seriously.

The V1’s arms adjust four ways, covering height, width, and pivot, and they travel less in depth than the V2’s. The V2 added depth adjustment outright. In practice that means the V2 lets you slide the arm pads forward toward the desk edge or back toward your torso, and the V1 largely does not.

Whether that matters depends entirely on how you work. If you keep a keyboard and mouse in fixed positions and your forearms land in the same place every time you sit, the V1’s arms will do everything you ask of them. If you alternate between typing at a desk, holding a tablet in your lap, and leaning back with a laptop, the arm pads need to move with you, and the V2’s depth travel is the adjustment doing that job. Sitters with wider shoulders also tend to want the pads pulled back rather than pushed out, and pushing out is the only direction the V1 offers.

One caveat before you decide this settles it: arm position is the last adjustment in a correct setup sequence, not the first, and a lot of arm complaints are actually seat height complaints in disguise. Work through our guide to setting up an office chair in the order it gives before concluding you need arm depth.

Lumbar and Back Support

The Leap V1’s lumbar adjusts for both height and firmness. That is two controls, not one, and it is more lower-back adjustment than a great many chairs offer at any price, including several sold new for more than a rebuilt Leap costs. You can move the support up or down the spine to meet your own curve, and then set how hard it pushes.

Arm depth aside, lumbar is not among the documented changes from the V1 to the V2, so the V1’s control set is the reference point for both chairs rather than a compromise. We do not publish a separate V2 lumbar figure, because we do not hold a verified source for one.

The back itself is a LiveBack flex structure paired with the Natural Glide System recline, which is Steelcase’s answer to the problem of a reclining back pulling your shirt up and your eyes away from the screen. The back shape changes as you lean rather than acting as a rigid panel swinging on a pivot.

If lower back pain is the reason you are shopping at all, start with our explainer on what office chair lumbar support actually is, which covers which adjustments do the work and which are marketing, then read our best office chairs for back pain guide for the wider field. This is a fit comparison rather than medical advice, and persistent pain is worth raising with a clinician.

Padding, Seat Fit, and Long Days

The V1 carries thicker padding in both the seat and the arm pads. This is the difference most people notice inside the first hour, and it is the one that splits opinion hardest.

A softer seat reads as more comfortable on first contact and suits sitters who shift position often, sitters who find firm foam unforgiving under the sit bones, and anyone coming off a hard task chair. A firmer seat, which is what the V2 gives you, holds its shape longer under one position and tends to be preferred by people who sit still for long stretches. Neither is better in the abstract. If you know which camp you are in, you already know which chair to buy.

Padding is not the same as fit, though, and the dimension that decides more seat complaints than any other is depth: how far the pan extends under your thigh. We do not publish a seat pan depth figure for either Leap generation, because neither is in our verified spec set, so measure yourself rather than trusting a number from a listing. Our explainer on office chair seat depth covers how to take that measurement and what to do when a chair does not match it.

The Leap V1 Highback

The Highback is the variant that quietly resolves the strongest argument for the V2, and a lot of buyers never learn it exists.

It is the same V1 chassis with an extended backrest, adding upper back and shoulder coverage, and it is the pick for taller sitters. That matters because better back coverage for taller users is one of only three things the V2 does better than the V1. If height is your reason for leaning toward the V2, the Highback addresses it on the older chassis, keeping the thicker padding and staying well under the rebuilt V2’s price. It costs a little more than the standard V1 and still lands comfortably below a rebuilt V2.

What the Highback does not do is add arm depth travel, since the arms are unchanged. A tall sitter who also wants the arms to move forward and back is the one buyer for whom the V2 is clearly correct. For the wider picture on sizing, see our best ergonomic chairs for tall people guide.

Buying Remanufactured and What the Warranty Covers

Remanufactured is not a polite word for used, and the difference is the warranty rather than the description. A chair sold as-is on a marketplace carries whatever the seller says it carries, which is usually nothing. A remanufactured chair from a specialist is rebuilt and then covered.

Crandall Office remanufactures both Leap generations, and its remanufactured chairs carry a 12-year warranty. Read the terms rather than the headline number: it covers parts and not labor, it applies to the original owner only, it is US only, it is non-transferable, and returns are free. Twelve years of parts cover on a chair bought for a fraction of new is the single strongest argument for the whole remanufactured category, and it is why we route Leap buyers here rather than to a listing with no cover behind it.

The practical question buyers ask next is what actually gets replaced during a rebuild. That varies by chair and by the condition of the frame that came in, and the specifics for any given unit sit on the product page rather than in a general rule, so read the listing for the configuration you are considering before you commit. The chassis is the part you are really buying, and on a 24/7-rated Steelcase frame it is the part least likely to be the thing that wears out.

Price and Value

The price gap is the entire reason this comparison is interesting, and it is larger than the feature gap.

A rebuilt V1 costs roughly a third of what a new V2 costs, and around sixty percent of what a rebuilt V2 costs. The V1 Highback sits between the two, still under the rebuilt V2 while adding the back coverage that is one of the V2’s three advantages. Put plainly: the money separating a rebuilt V1 from a rebuilt V2 is buying you arm depth adjustment, cleaner styling, and a back shape better suited to taller sitters, and it is buying you slightly less padding in exchange.

Spread across the service life a 24/7-rated commercial chassis is built for, both figures land at a low annual cost, and both beat replacing a consumer chair every three years by a wide margin. The V1 simply reaches that outcome sooner and with less capital tied up. If you want the counter-argument written out properly, our editorial on whether the Steelcase Leap V2 is worth it makes the case for the newer chair on its own terms.

There is one situation where the new V2 is the right call despite the price. If the chair is going into a client-facing room, or you want a warranty relationship with a chair nobody else has owned, buying new resolves both at once and the rebuilt route does not.

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