Massage Chair Industry Update – August 1, 2017 (Video)

August 2, 2017
 By Allison Bricker
August 2, 2017
 By Allison Bricker

Massage Chair Industry Update – August 1, 2017 (Video)

[SCREEN TEXT: SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube Channel and be Notified of Each New Massage Chair Video!]

Alan: Hi, I’m Dr. Alan Weidner from ‘Massage-Chair-Relief.com’ and today is our biweekly massage chair industry update for Tuesday, August 1st, 2017. Lots of good stuff to cover this week, and let me go on and let me just get right down to business.

[SCREEN TEXT: Stock Status]

Alan: As far as stock status goes, we’re back-ordered on the ‘Brown’ MA73s, and I do not have – this is the Panasonic, ‘Brown’ Panasonic MA73s – and I don’t have an estimated delivery time or arrival time of that. Also, the Human Touch WholeBody 7.1 in the ‘Bone’ color is back-ordered until September.

[SCREEN TEXT: Discontinued Models – Osaki 4D, Infinity Iyashi, Ogawa Refresh]

Alan: Now, we’ve had some models that have been discontinued recently, as a matter of fact, three this last couple of weeks. First of all, the Osaki 4D, and that’s one of the Japanese-made chairs from Osaki. That chair has been discontinued, and its being replaced on our website with the Osaki Japan Premium 4.0. It’s kind of an upgraded, little fancier-looking, newer-looking version of the 4D. The 4S, we still have, as well. Our disillusionment with that chair was that it was not very good for a taller body. It would fit a taller body, but the neck massage, you’d not get a neck massage if you were taller. So, that chair is ideal for someone, you know, well under 6′.

[SCREEN TEXT: Osaki Japan Premium 4.0 – New Model]

Alan: The 4.0, I’m not sure yet, I’ve asked for the specs, we’re still waiting for those, so we can get all the information updated on the website. But because it’s a Japanese-made chair, primarily for the Japanese market – and as you know, it’s made by Fuji Medical, which is one of the oldest massage chair manufacturers – the chair may be ideal for shorter bodies. The 4D was good for people up to about 6′, 6′ 1″, as far as getting their neck massaged, but we’ll see about the 4.0. Also, the Ogawa Refresh has been discontinued. They’re going to be having a new chair come out soon. I don’t know much about it, I don’t know if it’s going to be an L-track, or a standard S-track chair, I do not know, but the Ogawa Refresh has been discontinued. And the Infinity Iyashi has been discontinued, that chair is the granddaddy of L-track, brand-name L-track chairs. That chair came out about four years ago, and we’ve had one in each of our showrooms since each showroom has – well, since the California showroom started, we had one – and we’ve already sold the floor model, and we had the white one with the red interior, we’ve had for about three years at our Utah showroom. So, that model has been discontinued.

[SCREEN TEXT: Positive Posture Brio – Coming to our Showrooms Soon!]

Alan: Now, we’re going to be bringing in the Infinity Altera in to our showroom. We’re also going to be bringing in the – because we had a 4D in the California showroom, we sold that one – and we’re going to be getting the Positive Posture Brio, which I’ve talked about it in a previous update, which is a chair distributed by Positive Posture, under the umbrella of Furniture for Life, which is the same company that distributes Inada and Panasonic now in the US. So, it’s the same great customer support, same great people that run it, and anyway, so, I’m kind of rambling on now about what we’re going to be getting in our showrooms. But we’ll get the Positive Posture Brio, we’ll get the Infinity Altera, we’re going to be getting the uKnead Lohas in our California store, and I’ve got the Casada Alphasonic in our Utah store. And I haven’t had a chance to really get through that chair, and write a review for you, but I will be writing a review.

[SCREEN TEXT: Inada Nest Review Coming Soon]

Alan: I’m going to be going to California on the 8th to have an in-depth look at the Inada Nest, so I can write a review about that. That’s the new chair from Inada, and I tried it out at the CES, if you remember from my video of that event, and I really liked that chair. It was a much stronger chair than what we’re used to from Inada, and I’m excited to get on it, and just kind of have my own time with it.

[SCREEN TEXT: Differences Between Human Touch Novo & Novo XT]

Alan: By the way, the Novo XT, I’ve got a couple of things I want to go over with you. First of all, the Novo, and the Novo XT, the Novo XT is a chair that we carry. There is a less extensive model known as the Novo, and I talked about this also in previous editions of this Update, as well as on my blog. But the Novo XT, these are the differences between the Novo and the Novo XT, the Novo XT has 3D rollers, which the Novo does not. The Novo XT has three additional deep-tissue programs, which the Novo does not. The Novo XT has the space-saver feature, where you can back up the chair to about two inches away from the wall, and the Novo requires at least nine inches, and so the Novo XT is a space saver, the Novo is not, but the Novo, in lieu of not having the space-saving feature, it has a rocking feature, which the Novo XT does not have. And of course, I talked about the 3D, the Novo has a blue and gray color, while the Novo XT has a full gray, which is the color that we have in our showrooms, it’s a nice color, a popular color, the Novo gray is. Anyway, and that’s a nice chair. They just upgraded our motherboard on both of our chairs in our showrooms to make sure that the 3D was working right, because there were some concerns about the 3D working right, or not working right, or kind of being in too much, it wasn’t completely stable. In other words, you’d select a depth one through five, and then you’d go back, and it would’ve changed. So, this new motherboard, or this new – I don’t know if it’s a motherboard, yeah, I think it’s a motherboard – it addresses that. So, now when you change your depth to a three out of five, it stays a three out of five, it doesn’t vary throughout the program, whereas before it did. And there was some explanation as to why it did that, but they changed it, so now it’s just steady, your selection is steady throughout the entire program.

[SCREEN TEXT: Luraco Legend Coming – Differences Between iRobotics 7 and Legend]

Alan: Now, I was on the phone to my friends at Luraco last week, and I was asking about the Luraco Legend, which is a chair that I – if you remember, I talked about it in the January CES visit – that’s an L-track coming from Luraco, and this’ll be the first non-Chinese L-track. And if it’s coming from Luraco, you know it’s going to be a good, well-researched, well-tested chair, and there are some things about it that I really want to talk about. And so, anyway, Robin sent me a list of the differences between the iRobotics 7, which is their flagship chair, and this Luraco Legend, which is an L-track chair. And people ask me ‘Well, what’s the difference, because the price difference is significant, it’s a couple thousand dollar difference in price, is the difference in the chair that significant?’ And so, Robin was kind enough to send me some of the feature comparisons of those two models, and I’m going to go over those with you right now. The Luraco iRobotics 7, well, I think it is our top-selling massage chair, especially in our showrooms. It’s a chair that is a very well-built American-made chair, with Taiwanese-imported components. I believe the Legend will be the same, it’ll be, it’s US-made, with Taiwanese-imported components. But the Legend is something that a lot of people are excited about, because it’s the first non-Chinese L-track chair, and some people don’t want to buy Chinese chairs, or Chinese products at all. So, the idea of an American-made coming out is good. I have not heard of a Japanese L-track chair coming out at all, from anybody, from Panasonic, from Inada, or from the Osaki Japanese Japan line. And now, I did hear that the, in Canada, there’s a Panasonic MA73 with foot rollers, which kind of surprised me, because none of the Japanese chairs have foot rollers. And I haven’t seen it, and the guy that told me about it said that it wasn’t available. They were advertising it in Canada, but it wasn’t available, but I don’t know much more about that, but as far as L-tracks go, and foot rollers, and zero gravity, there’s not a Japanese chair that has those things. So, we’re kind of excited about the Legend coming out, and that chair is supposed to be coming out at the end of this quarter, or the beginning of next quarter. And if it’s anything like the iRobotics 7, I would go with the beginning of next quarter, because sometimes these launch dates do not really work out all that well, and that’s not just with Luraco, but with any chair. We always hear about ‘Yeah, that chair will be here next month, or next week, or two weeks,’ next thing you know, we’ve waited three more months, and the thing finally shows up. So, don’t hold your breath on it. Hopefully, it’ll be here before Christmas, so you can get it in for the Christmas holidays. But anyway, OK, so, oh, so, here are some of the comparisons between the Luraco Legend and the iRobotics 7.

[SCREEN TEXT: 888-259-5380]

Alan: As you know, the iRobotics 7 is an S-track, the Luraco Legend will be an S- and L-track, and if you have any questions about what the difference between S- and L- is, you can call me at any time, and I’d be happy to answer you. By the way, our number is 888-259-5380, you can call any time. Also, there’s a seat swing on the Luraco iRobotics 7, where the seat goes from side to side, you will not get that on the Legend. There is leather touchpoints on the Luraco iRobotics 7, all the places where your skin touches, the pillow, the arms, the hands, the feet, the legs, that’s all, and the hips, where it could touch skin, is all real leather, the rest of it is synthetic leather. Well, the whole chair, on the Luraco Legend, is synthetic. The back roller on the iRobotics 7 is a dual roller, on the Legend, it’s a quad roller. They all have the stretch program, they all have the body-scan technology, they all have 3D-roller technology, and we only have one other 3D L-track, and that is the Human Touch Novo XT. So, it’ll be nice to have another 3D L-track. I believe the Positive Posture Brio also has a 3D L-track, and we should be getting those chairs in our showroom in the next week or so, and I’ll know more about that as well. Also, they both have nine auto-programs, similar programs. Number of airbags: 105 on the Luraco iRobotics 7, and on the Legend, only 80, and when I say only 80, I say loosely, because 80 is still a ton of airbags. Most chairs have, you know, 30 to 40 airbags. There is an MP3 player on the Luraco iRobotics 7, but not on the Luraco Legend, and that’s not saying a whole lot, because I got to honest, the speaker system on the iRobotics 7 is nothing to write home about, but there is a little SD-card insertion place, or insertion slot, on the remote, that you can put your SD card with downloaded music in to, to play it over the speakers. There is a human-voice-response system on the iRobotics 7, so you can have the chair talk to you in English, or Vietnamese, or Chinese, or Japanese, or Spanish, you do not have that on the Legend. Now, interestingly enough, the blood pressure and heart-rate analysis option on the iRobotics 7 is going to be available on the Legend as well. They’re both going to have a three-year parts-and-labor warranty, with two year additional parts, and a six-month commercial warranty for both, and of course, the extended warranty is available. So, that is the business on the Legend versus the iRobotics 7 chair from Luraco, good stuff, good information. Hopefully, that gives you a little bit better – oh, and the seat width, I forgot to tell you about the seat width – the seat width on the iRobotics 7 is 22 inches, on the Legend, is 20 inches, so it’s a little bit narrower seat. And I also forgot to mention that, as you probably know already, the iRobotics 7 track length is 32 inches, on the Legend, it’s going to be 58 inches. So, it’s going to hit most – from what I remember – it hits the belly of the hamstring. That is the longest L-track of any chair that we carry, so I forgot to mention that, that’s pretty cool, and they both have seat – well, they both have heat features, adjustable heat, and just a minute, I thought that one had – both of them have the user settings, which I forgot to mention also. So, anyway, both zero gravity, and all the other stuff you’d expect in a modern-day massage chair.

[SCREEN TEXT: Luraco Theater Massage Chair]

Alan: OK, you know what, I think that is just about – oh, one last thing – Luraco does have a theater chair. I alluded to this briefly when I was at CES. I wasn’t really interested in that chair, but they have a theater chair that they’re coming out with that I don’t know what the price point is, I don’t know what the features are, but that chair can be, you know, it’s like designed for a home theater, but it can also be converted in to a cash-generating chair. So, it has the cash, or credit card, or coin, or credit card receptacle, so that you can convert that chair in to a revenue-generating chair, and that, of course, does not interest me, but it may interest some of you. I do get calls, and inquiries once in a while, about where they could find chairs that have coin-operated function. And I know that Infinity has one, I can’t remember if Osaki has one, and now Luraco going to have this one, but if I learn more about that theater chair, I will let you know about it, but it’s nothing that really captures my imagination at this point, so I’m not going to talk too much about it right now.

[SCREEN TEXT: 888-259-5380]

Alan: Well, I think that is just about it for our massage chair industry update. If you have any questions, again, feel free to give me a call at 888-259-5380. You can feel free to email me, you can contact me through our Facebook page, through our YouTube channel, whatnot. It’s very easy to get a hold of me, and when you call the toll-free number, if it’s before and after our showroom hours, I’ll answer it, unless it’s the middle of the night, then forget it. I’m out – well, I may not be out cold – but I am out, and then during the store hours, it’ll go to our California store, and Michael, or Dominick will handle the call if it goes through there. But feel free to contact me at any time, I’m always available, somebody is always available.

[SCREEN TEXT: Please “Thumbs Up” Like This Video!!]

Alan: And also, if you found this video helpful, please feel free to thumbs up ‘Like’ us on the YouTube channel, and of course, share it in your, you know, Twitter, or Facebook, or LinkedIn, or Google Plus, whatever. Share these videos with other people so that you can help us spread the word about massage chairs. Well, I’m Dr. Alan Weidner from ‘Massage-Chair-Relief.com,’ and I will see you again on the next video in two weeks. Bye bye.

Click on the following link to watch this Massage Chair Industry Update on our YouTube channel.


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