I own a v7 Chameleon and I demoed a v8 for a short time. I think what Steve from Hardtail Party says in his review is close to accurate. First thing I noticed on the v8 was the STA being steeper and the stack being higher. The bike also feels longer (which it is).
If I had to compare the two, I'd say the v8 is more like a trail bike and the v7 is more like an XC bike. The v8 gives up some of its "chameleon" quality to be more trail oriented. I considered getting the v8 to replace the v7, but I find the v7 more versatile because I do things like bike packing and gravel riding as well as normal trail riding. The v7 is basically the perfect bike for that, a bit of a "do everything" bike. The v8 is not a bike I would go bike packing or gravel riding on. That said it is much more capable on the trail than the v7 is given its geo.
In the end it really depends on what you want to do with it. I don't live out west and my terrain isn't insane, so I don't need crazy geo numbers, so for what I want to do the v7 works perfectly for pretty much everything. If you do live in an area with terrain that will really push a bike or ride a lot of black trails and that's what you normally ride, you will want the v8.
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