When shopping for a reliable ergonomic office chair, one brand surely comes to mind: Steelcase. Having won numerous awards for their outstanding designs, Steelcase has become one of the better-known brands in today’s modern working environment. Two of its products: Leap and Amia, are often compared as to which chair is better.
Steelcase Leap vs. Amia: At first glance, the Leap and Amia chair appear very similar, however, the biggest difference between Steelcase Leap and Amia lies in the Leap’s Lower Back Firmness Control. This allows you to increase or decrease the firmness of the back support. The Amia chair does not have this feature.
Nonetheless, there is more to this review than just chair adjustability. In this post, we are going to thoroughly review the Steelcase Leap vs. Amia chair comparison and find out which one is better. Surely, one of these amazing office chairs can complete the ideal office setup to help you achieve comfort while you work.
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Steelcase Leap
- Modern ergonomic design
- LiveBack Technology
- Adjustable seat and armrest height
Steelcase Amia
- Modern ergonomic design
- LiveLumbar Technology
- Adjustable seat and armrests height
Quick Overview
Before we dive into the comparison, let’s address the similarities. Many consider the Amia chair to be near-identical to the Leap chair. It’s hard to argue with that, considering that both chairs look like ‘cousins’. In terms of warranty and customer service, Steelcase is still one of the best in the business.
The Steelcase Leap is a chair that is powered by LiveBack Technology. It actually changes shape to mimic and support the movement of your spine. This unique trait provides you with a healthier way to sit. The goal of the Leap chair is to help reduce hunched postures that stress your spine while sitting at work.
The Steelcase Amia chair is designed to handle long hours of serious sitting, albeit, through a similar technology called the LiveLumbar Technology. This unique feature allows the chair’s backrest to flex as you move. Not to mention, you can slide the LiveLumbar higher or lower depending on your sitting preference.
Now that you’ve gotten familiar with both chairs, let’s begin the Steelcase Leap vs. Amia chair comparison. With excellent ergonomics and design, both chairs offer amazing value and can be considered worthwhile investments. To help you make the best buying decision, we will review the chairs based on three categories:
- Size
- Adjustability
- Comfort
One thing to remember is that reviews are always subjective by nature. This comparison is strictly based on our personal experience with the chairs. However, we will try our best to be as transparent as possible to help you make the best purchasing decision. Without further ado, let’s compare the two!
1. Size
Steelcase Leap
The Steelcase Leap chair comes in one size only. It has a seat width of over 19 inches and a back width of around 18 inches, allowing the Leap to cater to a wide range of users due to its adjustability (which we will cover in the next section). With 400 pounds of weight capacity, the Leap chair is well-built and sturdy enough to handle almost everyone, big or small.
Steelcase Amia
The Steelcase Amia chair also comes in one size only. It has very similar dimensions of over 19 inches of seat width and around 18 inches of back width. Similar to the Leap, it can also support about 400 pounds of weight. Judging solely by their appearance, it’s very clear that both the Leap and Amia look like twins.
WINNER: The first comparison of the size category is a tie. Pretty self-explanatory. Both the Leap and Amia chair have identical specifications and there is nothing to separate the two. These two chairs can support a tremendous amount of weight. This is a testament to the quality offered by the Steelcase brand.
2. Adjustability
Steelcase Leap
This is the complete list of Steelcase Leap’s adjustable features.
There’s a reason why Steelcase Leap is a regular contender for the best ergonomic office chairs throughout the years. By looking at the chart above, it’s pretty clear that Steelcase Leap comes with all the bells and whistles. Add in the fact that the armrests are fully-adjustable (can be adjusted in four ways), then you’ve got yourself a pretty good work chair for the office.
One feature that stands out to us is the Lower Back Firmness Control. This feature allows you to control how firm or how flexible the lower back support is based on your sitting preference. Personally, we feel like having the ability to adjust the firmness is a game-changer. Often, changing the way we sit is the best way to work, especially for long hours.
Steelcase Amia
This is the complete list of Steelcase Amia’s adjustable features.
While the Steelcase Amia is equipped with many adjustable features, just like the Leap, there are two features from the Leap that are missing from the Amia. Number one: Lower Back Firmness Control. Number two: Natural Glide System. Amia doesn’t have the ability to adjust how firm the back support is.
Moreover, the absence of the Natural Glide System means that the Amia’s seat will not glide forward together with the backrest. Fortunately, both the Leap and Amia have a flexible seat edge. This means the front edge of the seat will automatically flex to relieve pressure from your thighs. Without these two additional features, the Amia is still an exceptional chair.
WINNER: The Steelcase Leap claims a point in the adjustability category. While the Amia put up a good fight, the Leap came out on top because it offers the Lower Back Firmness Control feature and the Natural Glide System. These two adjustable features are what separates the Leap from the Amia.
3. Comfort
Steelcase Leap
When it comes to comfort, the sitting experience offered by the Leap can never be overstated. Not only is this office chair comfortable, but it’s surprisingly breathable. This is achieved by the Leap’s Thermal Comfort feature. The backrest is made with special foam and designed with slits to promote maximum airflow, to balance both heat and moisture.
For those of you who like to tweak their chairs, the Leap chair may be perfect for you. Another feature that’s worth mentioning is the Variable Back Stop. It allows you to set up to 5 levels of recline to help you change position while sitting. Personally, we find this very useful as finding the perfect recline angle is important.
Steelcase Amia
The Steelcase Amia chair’s claim to fame is the LiveLumbar Technology. Basically, this feature allows the backrest to flex and conform to your spine. Often, we move around while sitting without realizing it. This is where the Amia comes in. It does its job to provide comfort by adapting to the user’s natural spine curve.
Amia also gives you the ability to set the amount of resistance that you want as you recline; however, unlike the Leap, this feature only allows you to choose between two options: Full range of motion or no recline. This pales in comparison with the Leap, as the Amia only offers whether you can recline or not.
WINNER: Again, the Steelcase Leap came out on top in the comfort category. While comfort is a subjective topic, we personally felt that Steelcase Leap offers a better sitting experience than the Amia due to more adjustability. This is expected, considering that the Leap has a higher price point than the Amia chair.
PRO TIP: Steelcase offers an extensive lineup of top ergonomic office chairs. Two of them include the Steelcase Leap and Gesture, both often compared side-by-side by many to ultimately decide which chair is better than the other. You can check out our in-depth review should you consider buying Steelcase’s finest.
Final Verdict
And there you have it, the complete comparison and review of the Steelcase Leap vs. Amia chair. Both are excellent in their own right and can provide different levels of comfort for different users. With that said, you simply can’t go wrong by choosing either one. After all, you can be sure of the quality offered by a reputable brand like Steelcase.
But, if we had to choose one, we would go for the Steelcase Leap chair. After all, there’s a reason why the Leap has won the NeoCon Most Innovative Design Award. From the adjustability, comfort, and breathability, it’s hard to argue that the Leap is one of the best. However, if you want a more affordable version of the Leap, go for the Amia. 🙂
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