A massage chair industry first this last week…the first US-made massage chair is now on the market (at least it is the first US-made chair that I am aware of!). Luraco Technologies, known more prominently as a military contractor, has made a foray into the massage chair world with it’s iRobotics 6 (iR6).
They started a while back making massage chairs for spas and nail salons…chairs that massaged you but did not give you the full feature-set, i.e. calves and legs, that a typical mainstream massage chair provides. They have had great success with the nail salon industry and are now providing an upgraded model for home and office settings with the iR6.
Luraco sent me a test model of this chair a number of weeks back and have it in my showroom. I must say that it is a very, very nice chair. Here are a few things that I noticed about the chair right off the bat:
1. The look of the chair is very sleek and stylish. It seems patterned after the body design that Inada made so famous with their Sogno, but the lines on the iR6 seem a little smoother.
2. The price is $4990, which is much less than the higher-priced Japanese models, but a bit more than the Chinese comparables.
3. The chair is made in Dallas, Texas. I will be visiting them in April, after they move to their new and much larger facility. I will bring back a thorough report of the whole process.
4. It has a zero gravity function, which is pretty typical nowadays in most massage chairs.
5. It is the only other chair, besides the Inada Sogno, that has some upper arm/bicep massage feature. This chair has an airbag on each side that compresses down on the bicep muscle.
6. Music system in the form of an SD card and earbuds for personal listening.
7. It comes in black and brown/tan colors.
8. The warranty is 2 years parts and labor, in-home with a 3rd year of parts only and 4th and 5th years of chasis/structure coverage. Their warranty department is at their main facility in Dallas and I am told that they will take care of you right away, which may include speaking to one of the actual engineers. They tell me that their customer support is where they will really shine. The chair apparently has a very low failure rate, which is always welcome by my customers, but should anything go wrong, they have an excellent support team to take care of any issues.
9. Roller intensity and airbag intensity is managed by one button. I suggested that they have separate buttons for each, as I know from first hand experience that some folks love a very intense roller massage on their back but do not care much for too much airbag squeezing of their feet. So, having separate, exclusive buttons for airbag intensity and roller intensity is something I hope they will integrate. Having said that, it is wonderful to have a 3D roller system where the intensity can be adjusted. Not enough chairs have this feature.
10. I love the head and shoulder massage mechanism. Similar idea to Inada Sogno’s cervical traction device, this massager has airbags that push down onto the trapezia muscles and airbags that massage the neck and scalp. It also holds the head comfortably in place during the massage.
11. The longest roller track on any chair that we carry is 31″. The roller track on the iR6 is 30″, so you are assured of a good low back and upper neck massage, which is exactly what it gives you. I was quite happy in the chair with the massage I received in those two areas.
12. This chair has 104 airbags throughout the chair. Arms, legs, feet, seat, back, neck, shoulders, waist…they are everywhere.
13. It comes with a Quick Reference Guide which makes learning the chair a breeze. I really enjoyed learning from it as I didn’t have to go through a large owner’s manual to get a hang of the chair. Nice idea.
14. Assembly was a bit of a pain. It comes in two boxes. Some of the bolt guides didn’t fit quite right but my guys worked around it. I passed that info along to Luraco and hopefully that will be remedied. We video taped the assembly and will have that edited and ready for viewing hopefully in the next couple of weeks.
All in all it is a fantastic chair that has American made pride and quality behind it. I think it will be a big seller for Luraco. As they get a bit of a track record and as customers see that the chair has a low failure rate and fantastic customer support, this will be a popular chair in the industry, IMHO.
Here is a video from Luraco demonstrating the chair (I will be recording some videos next week for this chair and will post them on our YouTube channel asap):
Dr. Alan Weidner
www.massage-chair-relief.com