Massage Chair Industry Update – June 11, 2014

June 16, 2014
 By Dr. Alan Weidner
June 16, 2014
 By Dr. Alan Weidner

Massage Chair Industry Update – June 11, 2014

Transcript of Video Titled “Massage Chair Industry Update – June 11, 2014”

updateAlan: Hi, this is Dr. Alan Weidner from ‘Massage-Chair-Relief.com’ and today is our biweekly massage chair industry update. Today is Wednesday, June 11th, 2014. I’ll get right in to stock status for you.

[SCREEN TEXT: Stock Status]

Alan: You know, the Inada Sogno in ‘Crème’ color is back-ordered until July 16th, and the only other chairs I’ve been notified of being back-ordered are some of the Osaki chairs. The Osaki OS-4000T in ‘Charcoal’ and ‘Crème’ is out of stock for another two to three weeks. The 7200H, there’s none in stock right now, and there’s no estimated time of arrival of the next shipment, and the 7075R, the ‘Taupe,’ is out of stock, but there’s also no estimated time of arrival for that one either. So, that is the stock situation, as far as I know, everything else is in stock.

[SCREEN TEXT: My Visit to Inada USA]

Alan: You know, a week and a half ago, I went to Inada USA’s main headquarters, their new headquarters, and I went there for the grand opening, which I was told was the weekend of May 29th, 29th through the 31st. Well, I flew down there, and I sent my itinerary, my flight itinerary, to Cliff, who’s the president of Inada USA. I flew in that Thursday night, and arrived at their new showroom, a beautiful showroom, in Boulder, Colorado, and found out that Cliff was not there, and the grand opening had been moved to June 29th through the 30th, or 28th through the 30th, but no one had announced this to me. So, I was expecting to see quite a festive occasion there, with the grand opening beginning that day, maybe balloons, maybe lots of food and treats for me to nibble on, but much to my surprise, I was the only guy showing up there, and they were just getting ready to close. So, it was a bit awkward, but I got to meet everybody there, Alex, you know, the guy that answers the phone when you usually call there, he usually answers the phone. I met Brandon and Anh, who are in the tech support, I met Mio, and Jill, and Brad. I met everybody, it was just wonderful to get to know everybody. They were very, very good to me, and it actually turned out to be a blessing because I got to go and have their undivided attention as I sat on the chairs, as I experienced the new Flex 3S massage chair, which I told you we had experienced while we were there.

[SCREEN TEXT: Flex 3S – New Chair from Inada]

Alan: By the way, I have a video up, on our YouTube channel, of my visit to Inada USA’s headquarters, as well as a brief video kind of, of the Inada, the new Flex 3S chair, which I was kind of talking about while I was filming it, and that’s also on our YouTube channel. There’s also kind of a preliminary review on the blog, when I wrote about my visit to Inada USA a couple weeks ago, I wrote a blog post about the Flex 3S, and some of the things that I learned while I was sitting on it. Mio, who’s one of the sales trainers there at Inada USA, a Japanese gal, a lovely gal, kind of walked me through the whole program, all the programs of the chair, showed me how it works, explained certain features that the chair has, which are new and unique, and different from the Sogno.

[SCREEN TEXT: Flex 3S = Sogno + Doctor’s Choice]
Alan: Now, it kind of looks like the Sogno, this Flex 3S, it has the same body styling as the Sogno, very similar. It has a remote control, and shoulder airbags that are very reminiscent – and seat airbags that are very reminiscent of the, now discontinued Doctor’s Choice 3A massage chair from Inada – and it looks like they kind of integrated that with the look of the Sogno. It’s got, the chair, the Flex 3S chair, is really quite unique in that, it focuses a lot on the stretching, and on the posture correction. So, you’ve got – one thing that’s kind of cool about it is in the stretch program – most chairs, when you do the stretch program, it’ll recline you back, so the ottoman and your chair back will all go down, and then it’ll come back up again, and go down, so it kind of milks the low back. Well, there’s a few chairs that now bring you all the way up in to flexion, so it brings you up in to a seated position, and with your knees coming closer to your chest. Well, the Inada Flex 3S is the first chair I’ve ever seen, where it brings you up, has the airbags pin your shoulders back while you’re up in this flexed position, and has rollers pushing on your mid back, forward, to work on your posture while you’re being stretched in the flexed position, and so that’s kind of unique. It was a very nice, a very nice stretch, and then, the chair – when you listen to the folks over at Inada USA, the approach with the chair is to hit – you know, people that’re quite in to fitness, and taking care of their bodies, and stretching, and whatnot, it’s kind of ideal for that demographic. Well, I think it’s a great massage, I really enjoyed it, it’s very different from the Sogno, it’s not a more of a delicate, kind of refined massage of the Sogno, you know, a more gentle massage, this is a more vigorous massage, and it kind of focuses on different things, like the stretch, like the posture correction. It has 3D rollers, it has seat airbags, but not Dreamwave Technology, like the Sogno, where it moves from side to side, and up and down, but it has airbags that inflate on one side, then the other, working to kind of twist your hips, relative to your low back, or your lumbar spine. The neck massage, I was a little worried about the neck massage, in the auto programs, it didn’t do a lot on the neck, it focused mostly on the shoulders, the scapula, and the hips, and mid back, and so I was worried a little bit about the neck massage. Well, then Mio, I expressed my concern to her, and she put it in the manual mode, and did a neck program, and it was fantastic. So, the neck massage is very good on it. It’s just, their main programs – there’s four main programs on the remote, and then they’ve got some, you know, additional programs, like ‘Warm Up’ and ‘Cool Down’ programs, and whatnot – but the four main programs are geared mostly toward stretching and posture correction, so the neck is not involved a lot in those, but when you go manual, and customize your massage, the neck massage is very good. This chair also has heaters in the palms of the hands, and the soles of the feet, and while I was sitting on the chair, with my arms and hands in the arm airbags, I noticed my hand was getting really warm, and I said ‘Is there a heater in here?’ They go ‘Yep, the heater on this chair is in the palms of the hands, and the soles of the feet, not on the back.’ It’s kind of soothing, the idea of that is to kind of mimic the hot stone massage that you can get from a licensed massage therapist, where they use stones on your hands, and on your feet, for a more targeted heat feature.

[SCREEN TEXT: Inada Flex 3S Now in Our Showroom, Videos to Follow!]

Alan: So, that’s that new Inada Flex S, the 3S, and we just got it in our showroom yesterday, and my son unpacked it last night. I went in to the showroom today, and I just saw it there, but I haven’t sat in it again. I will be doing some videos on this thing, and you’ll get to see those soon enough, and of course, I’ll be writing another review on it, a little bit, you know, once I’ve had a chance to really, you know, sit in it, and experience it on my own, and take notes. Even though it looks like the Sogno, it’s quite a bit smaller than the Sogno, but it’s a great chair, very good. It’s not for people up to 6′ 4″ or 6′ 5″ like the Sogno is, it’s designed for people from 5′ up to about 6′ 2″. So, it’s maybe, you know, for a more, a smaller, not smaller, because 6′ 2″ is tall, but it doesn’t have the wide spectrum of heights like the Sogno has, or some of the other chairs have, like the IT-8500, or the Iyashi, or whatnot, but it’s a good chair, I really enjoyed it, I’m 5′ 9″, 5′ 10″, it fit me just fine, I really liked it. The people at Inada USA were great, they just were really kind to me, they kind of have a thing there, where once a month, one of the staff members is responsible for creating a lunch for the rest of the staff on a Friday afternoon, and I happened to be there that Friday, and Anh, who’s in the technical support, a Vietnamese fellow, made some Vietnamese food, and it was unbelievable, it was delicious, outstanding, a great, great time eating, and commiserating with the folks at Inada USA. They’re a top quality organization, I really enjoy working with them, they’re good people. OK, so that was my visit to Inada, so if you want to see the visit, if you want kind of see, you know, the video of it, go to our YouTube channel, or go to my blog, or article library, and you’ll see the chitchat there.

[SCREEN TEXT: Inada Duet Update]

Alan: Oh, one other thing, when I was there, they had the Duet there, this Inada Duet, that so many people are asking me about, and wondering why Inada USA is not importing it yet, or importing it at all. I’ve talked to Cliff about this a few times, and the rest of the staff there, we had a kind of a conversation about it. I didn’t get to sit in the Duet, because what they’ve done for display, is they’ve taken the cover off of the rollers, off the seat rollers, the calf rollers, and the back rollers. So, they’ve basically removed the upholstery that touches the body, and so it’s open exposure to the rollers in the back, the rollers in the butt, and in the calves, in the thighs, and the calves, and they cover it with a Plexiglas case, so you can’t touch it, but you can look at it. So, I looked at it, it was pretty cool, but I asked them, you know, ‘Why aren’t you importing this?’ because I get a lot of questions about it. Well, there’s a few things that they’re concerned about, and number one – and I wrote about this, by the way, earlier this week on the blog, if you want to read my comments – but, one of the things that they’re kind of concerned about is that the ottoman sticks out so far, that for people that are older, which is typically the demographic, and age group, of people that buy massage chairs, you know, 45 to 65, males, well, and females, but that’s the age group, you know, it’s kind of the baby boomer, senior group, well, it’s a little hard for some of them to get in and out of the chair. I know, I understand that, in my showroom, I’ve had a lot of people come in that could not get in and out of the chairs without some assistance, and so I understand that viewpoint. I didn’t think about that when I first saw the chair, but now, when I saw the chair, live, and in person, and had them explain it to me, yes, I could see how it would be hard to back up, and you’ve got this ottoman sticking out – because the ottoman doesn’t go all the way down, it kind of sticks out at like a 45-degree angle – it would be hard for someone that may be a little imbalanced or, and I don’t mean imbalanced emotionally, you know what I’m talking about, that have trouble with balance, to back up on to this thing, and then, fall back in to the seat, it’s a bit of a challenge. The other thing is, is that the rollers, in the butt, and in the calves, are not rollers like on the back, but these are like, it’s like a big flywheel, and it doesn’t turn a whole lot, it just kind of goes up and down the calves and the butt. It doesn’t spin a whole lot, like I thought it was a spinning wheel, it’s not so much. It kind of does some rolling, and some turning, but they noticed that when they sat in it – for people with a larger calf, which a lot of Americans have, trust me, a lot of Americans have, now in Japan, where the chair’s made, there may not be a lot of large-calved people, it’s typically a shorter body frame, and a slighter body, and the American, you know, body type is probably, as a whole taller and bigger – well, these rollers created some discomfort for some of the Western users, when they tried to put their calves in the Duet, it kind of didn’t work right. It kind of either, like the wheels are not flexible, where you can open them up a little bit, so the calves can fall in, and close it a bit, so it tightens up, it’s one set, and if your calves are too big, it won’t go in there, and you really won’t get much of the benefit of the calf massage. So, I can understand what they were saying about it, plus the chair is new, and Inada typically doesn’t like to import a chair unless, Inada USA doesn’t like to import a chair unless it’s been tested for, you know, a couple years. So, for those of you that’re kind of hoping for the Inada Duet, don’t hold your breath, it’s probably not something that’s going to be coming in the immediate future, it might be a couple years, if it comes at all, so just FYI.

[SCREEN TEXT: Inada Sogno = Inada Dreamwave]

Alan: Another thing that Inada’s doing, they’re moving away from the name Sogno, and moving toward the name Dreamwave, I just thought I’d mention that. So, you might see ads online about the Dreamwave chair. Well, that’s the Sogno, but so many people have trouble pronouncing it – Sog-no, Sig-no, San-yo, Song-o – I mean, I get all kinds of names, very few people get the name right, and I think Inada’s just trying to make that easier, by calling it the Dreamwave, because right now it’s called the Inada Sogno Dreamwave massage chair. Well, they’re moving away from the word Sogno, and using the term Dreamwave, so you’ll see more of that in the future, in marketing pieces, on ads on the Internet, and et cetera, et cetera.

[SCREEN TEXT: WholeBody 5.1 NOT ZeroG 5.1!!]

Alan: OK, I made a mistake last week. I made a mistake last week, or two weeks ago, on my last update, I called the new WholeBody 5.1 massage chair from Human Touch, the ZeroG 5.1, I messed up. It’s called the WholeBody 5.1, and it’s replacing the WholeBody 2.0. I haven’t seen the 5.1, I haven’t even really got it on my website yet, I haven’t put a lot of energy in to it – the Flex, the Inada Flex 3S is up on the website already, and we’ll get the WholeBody up this week – but it’s a WholeBody chair, not a ZeroG chair, even though both of those are from the same Immersion Seating family of chairs that Human Touch introduced.

[SCREEN TEXT: Make-A-Wish Foundation Update]

Alan: Make-A-Wish Foundation, you know, we are, our goal for the year, from November of 2013 to November of 2014, our goal was $7500. Well, we’re at like $6500 already, $6700, that’s how much we’ve already donated from proceeds from the chair sales. So, every time you buy a massage chair from us, a portion of that will go toward the Make-A-Wish Foundation. We’ve already raised almost – well, I think it’s $66, $6700 already, toward – and we’ve already satisfied the wish, or granted the wish, of one child, Samantha. We’re waiting for a new wish child, so we can work toward that new child’s wish, but you know what, this is pretty cool, and I love it. We’re raising money for the Make-A-Wish Foundation, that’s actually money that’s going toward granting the wish of a child with a terminal illness, or a life-threatening illness, or condition, and it’s awesome.

[SCREEN TEXT: http://www.Massage-Chair-Relief.com/Make-A-Wish.html]
Alan: So, you can take a look at – I’ll put the link up here – but you can take a look at our Make-A-Wish page. You do not have to be a buyer of a massage chair, from us, to donate to our Make-A-Wish page. Go ahead and donate, please, $10, $20, $30, $40, $100, whatever you want toward granting the wish for this child, we would appreciate it, anything would be very much appreciated.

[SCREEN TEXT: Used/Open Box Chairs for Sale]

Alan: OK, let’s see, what else can I tell you, oh, I’ve got some used chairs for sale. Once in a while, we get returns. Once in a while, we have a floor model that’s available. Right now, I’ve got about three chairs that I’ve got available. I had an HT-7450, but we sold that one today, actually. I’ve got an IT-8500, it’s only about a month old, it’s a return chair, someone bought it, sight unseen, the wife didn’t like it, or somebody didn’t like it, they sent it back. This 8500’s our top selling chair, it’s a ‘Black’ IT-8500, that chair sells for $3995, I believe we’ll be selling this one for $3295.

[SCREEN TEXT: 888-259-5380]

Alan: So, if you want it, call me right away at 888-259-5380, 888-259-5380, and we’ll get you that thing sent out. It’s already packed up, it’s in pristine condition, hardly used, and the warranty transfers, and it’s ready to be shipped. So, give me a call, and you can get a brand new, virtually a brand new 8500, with a transferred warranty. I also am selling my floor model IT-8100, which retails for $2895, I’m selling it for $1895. So, the IT-8100 is like the, is a little bit lesser version of the 8500, not as sophisticated a rolling system, but it’s got airbags in the arms, and the legs, and the seat, and it’s got foot rollers, it’s a nice chair, a very nice chair. My wife had all of her friends over last week to sit in the chair, they all have a little get together of women, I think it’s a book club or something like that, and they all get together and sit on the chairs, and most of them really like that 8100. As a matter of fact, three of the women talked about that being their favorite chair, and of course, I told my wife to tell them that I’m selling the floor model, but the IT-8100, we’re going to be selling that.

[SCREEN TEXT: 888-259-5380]

Alan: Then, I’ve got an Osaki 7200H that’s supposed to be coming in tomorrow, this one’s about three months old, I’ll be selling this for a very good price, I can’t remember what we’re asking for it, maybe $2695, I think it’s regularly $3795, or something like that, but it’s a little older, I think it’s three or four months, but we will sell this one. It’s a – oh, what color is it, I think it’s ‘Crème’ colored one, a very handsome ‘Crème’ color that Osaki has – but any of those chairs you’re interested in, give me a call. I already gave you the number, 888-259-5380, and I’ll get you hooked up, and we’ll ship it out right away to you.

[SCREEN TEXT: The Amazing Bed – Massage Bed]

Alan: I think that is just about it for this week, stay tuned for – oh, you know what – we’re going to be carrying the first massage bed. It’s called The Amazing Bed, and I was approached a number of months ago by the company out of Kansas City, Missouri, and we went out to their little factory. They build everything here in the US, it’s a US-made bed, with a massage track, just like the chairs do. Before I went there, I couldn’t imagine how do you do a roller track, on a bed, like in a chair, you’ve got this hole, where the track goes up and down, and there’s no support, how do they do this on a bed? Well, it’s a memory foam bed, and it was very cool, how it worked. They did not use typical rollers, because of course, that would eat up material, and foam, and you know, memory foam, and the fabric of the upholstery. It’s four metal balls, and they’re not even balls, they’re just domed, metal, fixed balls, that roll up and down your back, and it works up your neck, comes out your back, works down in to the buttock, and the back of the legs, and you can lie on your side, and it can work the side of you. When my wife and I went there, we actually stayed at a hotel that had the bed there, and we slept in it, and it was pretty darn comfortable. The memory foam pillow, memory foam mattress, duh, those are comfortable anyway, and those are quite common, you know, with Tempur-Pedic, and other mattresses that you’ll find at any kind of furniture store. Well, they’ve integrated that with this roller track, it’s pretty cool, and we’ve got one. We just got one in the showroom, in the back, for people to try, and you know, I’m going to be putting this up on our website over the next little while, hopefully in the next week or two, and then we’ll be learning more about it. I understand they’ve got some videos, lots of pictures, and whatnot, and I’ll show you what I have as well, and put it up on the website, but you know, stay tuned for a massage bed. It’s a cool feature, it makes sense, hello, you know, people want to sleep in a massage chair all the time. The feature set’s not nearly as elaborate as a massage chair, but it’s a bed that you’re going to use eight hours, you know, six to eight hours, plus it has massage in it. So, there’s good things here, and you know, they’ve got so many different beds nowadays, all kinds of different beds with gels, and mattresses, and reclining, and inclining, I mean, it only makes sense to have a massage bed. It’s a proprietary technology that they have here in the US, and the guys over there are great guys, I met them, they’re wonderful people, I really get along well with them, and enjoy them, and they’re very sincere, and they seem to be pretty decent chaps, I really enjoyed my visit there. Anyway, more of that will be coming out in the next little while, if you have any questions, give me a call, or email me, or whatnot, I’d be happy to chitchat about it with you, as far as I, you know, whatever I know about it. Well, that should just about do it, that’s it for the massage chair industry update. I’m Dr. Alan Weidner at ‘Massage-Chair-Relief.com,’ thanks for watching. Please feel free to share this video on you know, on YouTube or Facebook or Twitter or Google Plus, ‘Like’ us, ‘Thumbs up’ us, ‘+1’ us, whatever it is that you got to do to spread the word about massage chairs, we would truly appreciate that. We will see again in two more weeks, have a great day. Bye bye.

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