Posts Tagged ‘massage chairs’

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New Osaki OS-6000 Massage Chair in Our Showroom!

Thursday, January 5th, 2012

Osaki 6000 Massage Chair On-Board!

We just received our first Osaki massage chair for our showroom! We began carrying the Osaki massage chair line a couple of months

Osaki 6000 Massage Chair

Osaki 6000 Massage Chair

ago, but didn’t have them on our website until our site redesign was completed on December 7, 2011. Well, today we received our first Osaki chair, the Osaki 6000 massage chair, and assembled it for our showroom.

I had my delivery guys unpack it and assemble it for me this morning and I video taped it. I will have the tape edited for brevity and then post it on my site so that those of you who are looking at getting this chair can see how easy it is to assemble. The Osaki 4000 and 3000 set up very similarly.

Here are some “take-aways” from the assembly of this new massage chair:

1. the chair comes in two boxes, one large box with the chair body in it and one significantly smaller box with the arm rests in it. The ottoman is already attached to the chair body. The box with the chair body is very narrow so that it should fit through almost any door, regardless of the age of the house or business into which this chair would be going.

2. it helps to have 2 people when putting on the chair back. It is heavy and one person could hold the chair back forward while the second person attaches the hoses and electrical plugs to the base of the chair at the back.

3. you will need an allen wrench to attach the arm rests to the chair body and a phillips screwdriver to attach the remote control pedestal to the inside of the left arm rest. Both of those tools come with the chair, so you shouldn’t have to use any of your own tools.

4. the chair seat velcros to the body and the back pads velcro to the chair back. Very easy to remove or attach.

5. it should take about 1/2 hour to assemble the chair.

6. once the air hoses and electrical plugs are attached between the chair back and the chair body, you will need to join a hydraulic arm on the chair body to a bracket on the chair back. It will then need a pin to be slipped in the holes to hold the attachment. It is easy to do. Once the attachment is made, simply recline the chair back into position and you will hear a little “click” that will tell you that the chair back is ready to be used.

7. the Osaki 6000 massage chair assembly was very similar, if not exactly the same, as the assembly on the Osaki 4000 massage chair (and thus the Osaki massage 3000, too).

Osaki 6000 Massage Chair Review Coming…

Other than those points regarding installation, I must say that the chair is a nice looking model. I like the lines of it. It is definitely an Inada Sogno look-a-like, but still a very  nice looking chair in it’s own right. I will write a blog post reviewing my first impressions of the chair and then a more in-depth review once I am familiar with the chair in greater detail.

Dr. Alan Weidner
www.massage-chair-relief.com

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Massage Chair News!

Tuesday, December 27th, 2011

Up-to-the-Minute Massage Chair News

I’ve got a few things to go over for my readership, including some new massage chair models and price changes.

1. Osaki is introducing two new models, the Osaki 6000 and 7000. I haven’t seen pics of the 7000 yet, but the 6000 looks like an

Osaki 6000 Massage Chair

Osaki 6000 Massage Chair

upgrade to the very popular Osaki 3000 and 4000 models. They are all reminiscent of the Inada  Sogno, which has become the trendsetter in the massage chair industry. The Osaki 6000 will be available on our website in the next day or two. The 7000 will be available in the first quarter of 2012.

2. We are expecting our first Osaki floor model at our showroom this week. We are going to be putting up the Osaki 6000 for our showroom visitors to test and enjoy. Although I have set up an Osaki 4000 and briefly sat in it, I am really very unfamiliar with these chairs as far as first hand experience goes. They look great on  paper and seem to be very affordable for the feature-set, but I am looking forward to trying this 6000 model out for myself.

Massage Chair Price Increases!

3. The only massage chairs that are going up in price in the immediate future are the Inada massage chairs. Their prices are going up on February 1, 2012. The Inada Sogno will be jumping up $800 to $7799, while the Inada Yume will be going up $500 to $5999. The bottom line is…if you are thinking of getting either of these high-quality massage chairs, do it before February 1, 2012 unless you want to pay even more for them.

Massage Chair Promotions

4. The Human Touch promotions are continuing for the remainder of this week. When you purchase an HT-9500 massage chair you get an iPod Touch (I know how expensive these things are because we got a used one for my son for Christmas…and even that was expensive). When you purchase an HT-7450, Ht-7120, HT-5040, or an HT-3300, you get an extra year on the head to toe warranty, making it a 2 year full coverage warranty. Great deals…but they end this week!!

5. I’ve been getting more and more calls about the new Panasonic MA70 massage chair. I shared a brief review on this blog last week from a customer who purchased it. It is at the same price point as the Inada Sogno, but have not experienced it first hand to be able to give you a true comparison. Any feedback on this chair would be appreciated. It is on our site and I have read the literature, but anyone with actual experience would be welcome to comment.

6. I have been working on a comprehensive massage chair comparison chart over the last few months. It is almost ready. When it is, my webguy, Mike, will be putting it up on our website for your to actually compare chairs feature for feature. I think it will be magnificent for chair shopping.  We hope to have that functionality up on the site ASAP. I’ll let you know when it is up.

Well, that’s about it for this week. Have a super New Year and give the showroom a call for our New Year Sale pricing. Our number is 801-417-8240.

Dr. Alan Weidner
www.massage-chair-relief.com

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Omega Montage Pro Massage Chair – New!

Wednesday, December 21st, 2011

Omega Montage Pro Massage Chair

Omega has come out with a new massage chair and they are calling it the Montage Pro. It is a nice looking chair, apparently patterned

Omega Montage Pro Massage Chair

Omega Montage Pro Massage Chair

after the design of the very popular Inada Sogno Dreamwave massage chair. We have seen Osaki, OSIM, and now Omega come out with Inada Sogno look-a-likes.

I can’t speak to how the Pro feels, since I’ve not sat in it yet, but I can certainly point out a few things about the chair which I feel are noteworthy.

1. Mechanical rollers in the feet. I wrote a blog post some time ago about mechanical foot rollers after a client asked me if I was aware of any massage chairs with mechanical foot rollers, and not just air bag compression massage. He had owned a King Kong chair which apparently had mechanical rollers, but they had gone out of business. Other than the “paddles” which the HT-9500 massage chair has (not rollers but air paddles), every other massage chair I could think of had only air bag compression massage in the feet. The Omega Pro HAS mechanical foot rollers.

2. 30″ Roller  Track. 30″ is a good long roller track. Some chairs have 25″ or less roller track length. If that is the case, the area that is compromised is the low, low back. The longer the track length the further down the low back the rollers will go. If you’ll pardon the pun, the long and short of what I’m trying to say is 30″ is a good long length.

3. It has an intensity control, unlike the other Omega chairs in the Montage family. So, if you want it one intensity and someone else in your home wants it at another intensity, the Pro provides that option.

4. No Stretch program. Stretch programs, regardless of the manufacturer, are usually well liked features of a massage chair. I noticed in the literature that stretch is not an available program on this chair.

5. Heat. Just like the other Montage models, heat is a big feature in the Pro.

Well, that about sums up my initial observations of this new chair from Omega. The price point is $6499. Compared to the Inada Sogno that is a bit pricey for a Chinese-made massage chair. When Inada raises the price of their Sogno to $7799 in February 2012 Omega’s price might seem a little more reasonable, relatively-speaking. Learn more about the chair here: http://www.massage-chair-relief.com/massage-chairs/omega/omega-montage-pro/

Dr. Alan Weidner
www.massage-chair-relief.com

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Differences Between the Osaki 3000 and Osaki 4000 Massage Chairs

Monday, December 19th, 2011

Osaki 4000 Massage Chair vs. Osaki 3000 Massage Chair

Osaki has come onto the scene over the last couple of years with a lower priced line of massage chairs. These are Chinese-made chairs

Osaki 3000 Massage Chair

Osaki 3000 Massage Chair

which have a nice array of features, but are all priced below $3000. This line of chairs is owned by the same folks who brought the Titan massage chair line to market and are based inDallas,Texas. The Osaki line is a great offering for the very budget conscious massage chair consumer.

I am always hesitant to carry a new line of chairs without some sort of track record or positive history. I am seeing more and more of the Osaki massage chair line in the marketplace and have actually delivered and assembled one myself.

The assembly was not easy for me. I am by no means a handyman type of fellow, but a chair assembly should be simple for anyone. I know there are many folks like me out there who are pretty useless with a set of tools, but who still need a massage chair and its accompanying therapy. So, putting the chair together was a bit of a task for me. I did get it done, but it took me some time.

I followed the assembly instructions and they were pretty well laid out, but it was the difficulty in attaching the chair back and then putting in the 4 bolts that was quite a challenge for me. I needed my son to assist me with the install. It would have been very difficult otherwise.

The installation is the same for the 3000 or the 4000 massage chair models by Osaki. The chairs also look the same. But, there are some differences between the two models that justify the price difference.

Osaki Massage Chair Differences:

  1. 32 airbags in the Osaki 4000, 25 airbags in the Osaki 3000

The difference in the airbag number is explained by the upper arms and thigh airbags that the Osaki 4000 has over the Osaki 3000.

  1. Heat

The Osaki 4000 massage chair has a heat element in the low back. The Osaki 3000 does not have a heat function.

  1. Stretch Program

The Osaki 4000 has a stretch program, whereas the Osaki 3000 does not. The stretch program basically entails the chair back and the ottoman going up and down throughout the massage session, thus inducing what I like to call a “milking” of the spinal tissue, including the discs, the muscles, and the ligaments. It is a very comfortable program and most folks love that program in a massage chair.

Osaki Massage Chair Similarities:

Both chairs have arm massage, seat massage, foot and calf massage, shiatsu and vibration, 6 automatic pre-programs, zero gravity positioning, intensity adjustment control, and body scan technology. Pretty much everything you need in a therapeutic massage chair, at a very decent price. The warranty is 1 year parts and labor (onsite), 2 years parts only, and 3 years structure/frame. It is a pretty typical warranty that will take care of you quite nicely for the first couple of years.

Dr. Alan Weidner
www.massage-chair-relief.com

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Brief Review of New Panasonic MA70 Massage Chair!

Tuesday, December 13th, 2011

Panasonic MA70 Massage Chair Review!

I’ve been getting a lot of calls lately about the new Panasonic MA70 massage chair. I have done a couple of  literature reviews of it in the

Panasonic MA70 Massage Chair

Panasonic MA70 Massage Chair

past (http://www.massage-chair-relief.com/blog/tag/panasonic-ma70/) but you never really know how a chair feels until you sit in one or, at the very least, read about another person’s experience with the chair.

Well, I finally got some feedback from a recent customer who purchased the MA70. We delivered the chair to him last Saturday and he was kind enough to give me a preliminary review of his experience with it. Below is that review (unedited, in his own words)…

Install went fine. Chair is really cool and spent some time yesterday working it.

Keep u posted on my findings, I think I made the right choice. Already registered the product and extended my warranty by 2 yrs.

It’s a “mans mans” chair. Looks like a recliner which is also awesome (unlike some of the others that are not aesthetic)

Aside from looks, its super strong in the delivery of the massage, which to me is very important and the rollers are “3d” so they move around well to find that right spot on your neck or traps/shoulder area in manual mode to hit just the spot you may need work done on. The rollers may not feel “exactly” like a hand but its pretty darn close to “grasping” the shoulders if you ask me especially for a machine obviously and it definitely loosened me up.

There are basic stretch feature modes as well that it seems the instructions don’t describe well that seem to be auto modes unto themselves that are relaxing and nice.

Ill tell you more later but the biggest differences I can find between this and the inada involve looks, remote, and the rollers hit you like bricks (in a good way). Inada is more soothing and you can fall asleep in it (just like the ads say)

You wont fall asleep in this puppy.

The heating is nice too…it does not get “too” hot so no worries.

Great feedback and information for all of you checking out the new Panasonic MA70 massage chair. It sounds like it is a very vigorous massage which, to many, is ideal. I suppose that if you are looking for a gently pampering this may not be the massage chair for you.

Save 5% On Your Massage Chair Purchase

I hope this assist you in your buying massage chair decision. By the way, if you want to get 5% off the price of this chair, click on this Facebook image Follow Massage-Chair-Relief.com on Facebook which will take you to our Facebook page. When you get there click on the “Like” button. You will then be given a promo code to use on our website shopping cart that will get you an instant 5% off the price of the chair.

Just thought you’d want to know :-)

Dr. Alan Weidner
www.massage-chair-relief.com 

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Massage Chair Heat Function – Helpful or Overrated?

Monday, December 12th, 2011

Massage Chair Heat

A very common question from massage chairshoppers is “Does this or that model have heat?” I am going to discuss the different

Massage Chair Heat

Massage Chair Heat

types of heat that are available in the massage chair market and whether or not it is helpful or an overrated feature.

Surprising to many is that not all massage chairs have heat. I would say it is about half and half for those that do and those that don’t (based on my experience in this industry). I will only speak of the name-brand massage chairs, which are the only ones you can consistently and regularly trust for quality and warranty support.

Most massage chairs that have a heat function have it situated in or close to the low back. For example, the Human Touch HT-7450 massage chair and HT-7120 massage chair have a low back heater in the lower lumbar portion of the spine, which is around the belt line.

The Inada Sogno massage chair has a very interesting heat function, wherein there is a small heating element at the back of the seat, in the area of the sacrum, which is the hard bone in the middle of your spine just at the top of your buttocks. Some folks say that they don’t feel the heater in the Sogno, but it is there. Inada suggests a simple test if you don’t believe them. Put a dishtowel or washcloth over the back part of the seat and then sit in the chair for a session. When you are finished with the session feel the towel and you will feel heat in that one spot where the heating element is located.

A Massage Chair With Heat in the Feet!

Sanyo massage chairs do not have heat in the back, which is intuitively where you think a massage chair heater should be, but in the souls of the feet! Yes, at the very bottom of the chair underneath both feet is located a heating element. I suspect that this is geared towards the whole reflexology aspect of foot massage, which is a pretty popular thing in alternative health systems.

The Omega Montage has heat in the low back, the buttocks, and in the legs and feet. When you sit in that chair you will feel very warm, very fast. There is no doubt of the heat function when you are using the Omega massage chair. It can almost get too hot and you may need to shut off that feature if you want to sit for an extended period of time in that model.

Does Heat In A Massage Chair Really Do Anything?

Now, the big question is…is the heat function all that important? Well, I have a couple of opinions on that. The purpose of heat is to increase blood flow to an area. Cold is used to decrease blood flow to an area. You can tell when there is increased blood flow to an area by how red that area becomes when heat is applied or, as in the example of a soft tissue injury, when you see red swelling around the injured area.

As far as massage chairs are concerned, just the repetitive action of the rollers on your back will increase blood flow to the back muscles and skin. When you are finished a massage chair session and you look at your back in the mirror you will probably see red lines from the rollers going up and down your back.  That is a sign of increased blood flow, which is indicative of increased heat to that region. That will happen with our without a heating mechanism. You will also feel hotter in the massage chair while you are getting your therapy because of that increased blood flow.

So, if you are after heat when you are in your massage chair, you will get it no matter what, so long as the chair is on and the rollers are working. Adding a heating element will, in my opinion, just speed up the effects of heat. It will be introduced to your body as soon as you turn on that function on your chair anyway.

So, when it is all said and done, you will feel heat and benefit from the effects of heat regardless of whether  your chair has a heating element or not. Of course, for every extra feature that you get on a massage chair, you will pay a little bit more too. So, if cost is an issue, reducing features like heat will most likely save you some money in the process.

Dr. Alan Weidner
www.massage-chair-relief.com

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Massage Chairs Christmas Shipping Deadlines!!!

Wednesday, December 7th, 2011

Christmas Massage Chairs Shipping Deadlines

The holiday season is upon us and it is crunch-time for getting  massage chairs before December 25th. Christmas falls on a Sunday this

Massage Chair Shipping

Massage Chair Shipping

year, so you are wanting to get your chair delivered by Friday, December 23rd. Each manufacturer and shipper has their own shipping deadlines to get you a massage chair by that date. Here is the schedule:

Osaki Massage Chairs:

  • December 16, 2011

Inada, Human Touch, Panasonic, Sanyo, and Omega Massage Chairs:

For standard delivery, plan on…

  • 5-6 days for the east coast
  • 4 days to Chicago to the states that boarder the east coast states
  • 3 days to the Midwest and Idaho.
  • 2-3 days to most western states
  • 2 days to Phoenix and northwest
  • Next day to California and Nevada

(Inada even has a shipping chart with more specific regions and dates. You can check it out here…
http://www.inadausa.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Holiday-Shipping.pdf )

For White Glove Delivery…

  • Inada: 3 business days prior to the dates on the above-mentioned link.
  • Human Touch: December 14, 2011
  • Panasonic, Sanyo, Omega: December 14, 2011
  • Osaki: December 9, 2011

Here are a couple of things you need to also consider regarding the Christmas shipping deadlines:

1. Dates are never guaranteed because of inclement weather. It is snow season and these massage chairs do ship from California and Texas. They may have to go through a state where winter storms are a norm. Just be aware of that. In other words, order as early as possible to make sure you are not pushing your luck!

2. Since we are in Utah, we do the white glove delivery ourselves. That means that it will not take any longer time to get white glove delivery than standard delivery.

3. I have my own shipping guy in Southern California. He can deliver on Saturdays. So, if you order a massage chair during the last week before the 25th, we can most likely get you your chair by the 24th.

4. For confirmed, guaranteed delivery on a particular date, you will have to pay extra!

Well, that should do it. Get your orders in ASAP to avoid any hassle whatsoever with these deadlines and Christmas delivery.

Dr. Alan Weidner
www.massage-chair-relief.com

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Inada: Sogno and Yume Massage Chair Innovator

Monday, November 28th, 2011

Inada Sogno and Inada Yume – Massage Chair Innovation!

Inada introduced a new massage chair model earlier this year and it is called the Yume (pronounced “You Me”). I’ll talk a bit about this

Inada Sogno Massage Chair

Inada Sogno Massage Chair

chair later. You may or may not know this, but Inada is the oldest massage chair company in the world. Mr. Inada actually invented the first massage chair in 1962. The rest, as they say, is history.

Inada has been the innovator in this industry for years. Many of the features we enjoy on every massage chair model today, from every manufacturer, was pioneered and innovated by Inada.

Inada  Sogno Massage Chair:

The Inada Sogno Dreamwave massage chair, which has been a blockbuster seller since it was first introduced to theUSmarket at the Consumer Electronic Show (CES) inLas Vegasin February 2008, showed us just how creative the engineers at Inada truly are.

The Inada Sogno bursts onto the scene with a cervical traction device, that has airbag massage in the neck and on top of the trapezia muscles of the shoulders, as well as the patented Dreamwave technology, which introduces passive motion to the hips and low back by using airbags to gently move the pelvis/seat from side to side and up and down. Now, being a chiropractor and looking at this chair through the eyes of a therapist, these features are revolutionary.

Being able to passively move the pelvis, especially for acute low back pain sufferers, is phenomenal. Have you ever had terrible low back pain and been unable to move even an inch because of the pain caused by your spastic muscles? The Dreamwave technology actually addresses that issue.

Finally having a way to massage the top of the shoulders is so innovative that now people who sit at a desk all day and are constantly grabbing their opposite shoulder to massage themselves, will have an “at-home” therapist to do that each and every day for those aching trapezia muscles.

Of course, the Inada Sogno innovates with full arm massage, thigh airbags to address the tight iliotibial bands that virtually all people exhibit (whether they know it or not), very contemporary design, heating mechanism in the seat, and the lowest vertical roll of any chair I’ve ever seen (it actually rolls down into the buttocks).

Inada Yume Massage Chair:

Well, along comes the Inada Yume massage chair with some innovations of its own. I will mention the two things that it features that we

Inada Yume Massage Chair

Inada Yume Massage Chair

have never before seen in the massage chair industry:

  1. Rotary Rocking. Yes, the first massage chair to actually rock it’s users. When we got this chair into our showroom, the first comment we had from many users was how calm the rocking made them feel. One fellow even mentioned that the rocking motion reminded him of his grandmother rocking him as a child. Pretty cool stuff!
  2. Thera-Elliptical-Kneading (TEK) of the calves. Every other massage chair has airbags in the calves, which the Inada Yume also has, but all of them merely have airbags that compress the calves (and feet in most chairs). The Inada Yume is the first chair of its kind to actually knead the calf muscles with an elliptical motion of each side of each calf while, at the same time, compressing the calf muscles with it’s airbags. Fascinating! And it feels phenomenal…it actually feels like a therapist is massaging your calves with the kneading motion.

The Inada Yume also comes with LED lighting in the ottoman, airbags in the seat, and neck traction/stretching airbags.

Inada continues to innovate. Each chair they introduce into the market has something different and new. They don’t just rehash an old model with an extra feature that we see on every other manufacturer’s models…they actually come out with something we’ve never seen before.

Dr. Alan Weidner
www.massage-chair-relief.com

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Massage Chair Relief News!

Thursday, November 24th, 2011

Lots Happening in our Massage Chair World!

It is an exciting time of the year for us as massage chair retailers! Black Friday and Cyber Monday kick off the holiday shopping and it starts to get a little crazy for us…and I absolutely love the energy associated with this time of year. I love getting your calls and inquiries about massage chairs. It is so fun interacting with all of you.

I get lots of calls about whether we have Black  Friday promotions going on at Massage Chair Relief. Well, yes we do! Call our showroom at 801-417-8240 and we’ll tell you what we have going on for Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

Here are some massage chair things you need to know:

1. The Inada i1 is replacing the i2A massage chair. The chairs are basically the same except that the i1 does not have arm vibration nor does it have the wood accent on the sides of the chair. Otherwise, it is the same chair. It is also a little cheaper at $3749.

2. Massage Chair Relief website redesign! Man, I am excited about this. We are completely revamping our website and it should be done this weekend. If you check in and find something lacking or anything that doesn’t work right, please let me know. It will be very easy to shop at www.Massage-Chair-Relief.com with the new design. We’ve been working on it for quite some time.

3. With the new site design, we will be adding a new  line of massage chairs to our repertoire. The Osaki line of massage chairs is a

Osaki 3000 Massage Chair

Osaki 3000 Massage Chair

chinese-made line of massage chairs put out by the same company that introduced Titan chairs to the market. This line will provide a good line up of full-featured massage chair models in the under-$3000 price range. The models are the Osaki, 1000, 2000, 3000, 4000, and 5000. You can’t see them just yet…not until our site redesign is complete (see #2 above).

4. Omega massage chairsare introducing a new offering to the massage chair market. It is the Omega Montage Pro. I don’t know the

Montage Pro Massage Chair

Montage Pro Massage Chair

pricing yet, but I do know that it will be available after December 1. It appears to be, like the Osaki 3000 & 4000 models and OSIM uAstro, a lookalike model of the famous and extremely popular Inada Sogno massage chair. This is a chinese-manufactured chair with some nice features. Based on the other massage chairs already in the Omega Montage series, I suspect this chair will be priced in the $4000 range.

5. Inada has discontinued the Cube chair. A cute chair but it didn’t quite take off as they had hoped. It is still up on our website, as you can still buy inventory, but if you call me at 801-651-2026, I can get you a screaming deal on one! The Cube will not be on our site redesign. Inada massage chairs still include the Sogno, the Yume, and the i1.

Well, that’s about it. Have a fun shopping season. Please call with any and all massage chair questions. I’m always around. I told a customer last night in the showroom that my cell phone is like a body part to me…it goes with me everywhere I go and I use it at all times of the day and night.

Dr. Alan Weidner
www.massage-chair-relief.com

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Review of the HT-7120 Massage Chair by Human Touch

Tuesday, November 22nd, 2011

HT-7120 Massage Chair Review

This offering from Human Touch is quite popular, on doubt because of its price point as a good, name-brand massage chair. It is the

HT-7120 Massage Chair

HT-7120 Massage Chair

modern day equivalent of the HT-125, HT-135, and HT-136 models, which were quite popular up to 4-5 years ago.

My very first massage chair was an HT-125 and I used it in my clinic everyday to assist in the treatment of patients. It was delightfully durable, but I would periodically get complaints about its intensity. The rollers seemed to be too intense for some, the airbags in the calves was too intense for others.

I couldn’t do much to change the calf intensity since they were set by the manufacturer, but we could turn the ottoman over so that the legs of the patient were not massaged at all. For the roller intensity, the only thing we could do was put in a damper pillow, which came with the chair, to lessen the intensity.

Well, along came the HT-7120 massage chair, the “grown-up” version of the HT-125. About 3-4 years ago, Human Touch came out with the HT-7120, which provided all the things that were apparently lacking in the old 125/135/136 series, plus a little extra.

HT-7120 Massage Chair Features:

  1. Intensity adjustment of the rollers. The HT-7120 has an intensity adjustment button on the side of the remote which moves the rollers forward and backward to accommodate a more or less intense massage. The chair still comes with a damper pillow, just in case the lowest intensity is still too intense. You can actually unzip the chair back and slide the damper pillow inside the chair back so that it is hidden. The old HT-125 did not have that discrete feature.

Human Touch massage chairs are well known for their intense rollers. I would have to say that the rollers in the Human Touch chairs are among the most vigorous in the industry. If you are looking for a  gentle massage that barely does anything to your muscles, you might want to try out something like the Panasonic 1285, but if you are looking for a good, vigorous massage any Human Touch chair will provide that for you, including the HT-7120.

  1. Intensity adjustment of the calf airbags. This is an important one. Many, many patients could not handle the default airbag intensity in the old ottoman. Now, a calf width adjustment is available wherein the amount of air pumped into the calf airbags can be regulated to allow for more or less inflation and, thus, intensity.

The ottoman can still be rotated under so that the calf massage wells are not visible at all. If you can’t stand your calves massaged, no matter the intensity, you can always rotate the ottoman under and use it as a normal leg rest.

  1. Low back heat. The old models did not have any heat element whatsoever. Now, the HT-7120 boasts low back heat. I think that the heat function in most chairs is overrated because your back will get heated up by the rollers going over your muscles repeatedly anyway. But, if you are fixated on having heat, the HT-7120 massage chair has a very nice heat function. Especially helpful if you have chronic muscle scar tissue.
  1. Elegant style and design. I am not a sophisticated shopper, but I will say that I noticed the design on the old models was very, very plain. The new HT-7120 has a very nice, stylish, almost executive chair feel to it. It is still the same bonded leather upholstery but it seems so much more plush and elegant than the old models.
  1. The old HT-125 had a button on the remote control to electronically move the ottoman up and down. The HT-7120 does not but has a lever at the side of the chair seat that you must pull up to lift the ottoman. I don’t like this as much as the old button on the remote, but you get used to it awfully fast.

Other notable features of  the HT-7120 massage chair include:

  1. A base that offers a 60 degree swivel of the chair. This is one of the few massage chairs that has a swivel base feature.
  2. 3 automatic programs. Not as sophisticated as more expensive massage chairs, but very basic full body, upper back, and lower back programs that provide a great massage for everyone.
  3. 1 year comprehensive on-site warranty.
  4. A “Stretch” program that most users of the chair absolutely love. The chair reclines, the calf airbags grab your calves, and the rollers go up and down your back while the chair back and ottoman go up and down. Great program that works your back out something fierce!
  5. No body scan technology. Human Touch has a scanning technology they call “Acupoint Detection System” which allows the chair to get a reading of the spine and back of each user before beginning the massage. It uses the reading to determine how the massage will be carried out for your spine by the chair. The HT-7450 and HT-9500 massage chairs have this feature, but not the HT-7120.

So, the long and short of it is that the HT-7120 massage chair is a great bargain for the money. It is under $3000, it is made by a very big and well-known US massage chair company, it is manufactured in China, and Human Touch has a fabulous customer service department should you ever have a problem with your chair. You can’t go wrong with this chair and you’ll get a very good and vigorous massage.

Dr. Alan Weidner
www.massage-chair-relief.com

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