Well, we finally got the Osaki 7000 massage chair up and running today. I sat on it for 20 minutes or so. Here are my initial impressions:

1. Very good, vigorous massage rollers. You will find them to be more vigorous than most other massage chairs. The roller feel was reminiscent of the Human Touch massage chair rollers. Plus you can adjust the intensity of the rollers to make them even more intense.

2. The airbags on the 7000 seem to be more prominent. The other chair with as many airbags, that I am familiar with is the Inada Sogno massage chair. The airbag massage on the Inada Sogno is more discriminating and gently, whereas the airbags on the 7000 really seem to play a big part of the overall massage experience.

3. Contrary to what I had been led to believe before getting the Osaki 7000, there is no music system or music synch. Bring your own iPod!

4. The head airbag massage is very interesting. I’ve never experienced anything like it before in a massage chair. I think you’d get a kick out of it, particularly if you have one of those throbbing headaches.

5. The 31″ roller track is great. It is the first chair that I have seen that has rollers that go all the way up to the back of the head as well as go all the way down to the buttocks and sacral area. Great vertical roller track.

6. I love the “Pelvic Swing” program which inflates shoulder air bags in the front of the shoulders and inflates one side of the seat at the same time. It really induces a rotation to the low back. I actually thought, for a moment during the massage, that my low back would “pop”, just like a chiropractic adjustment. It is an aggressive airbag program that will really move the low back and pelvis unlike anything you’d find on any other chair. The Osaki 7000 massage chair does not have the Dreamwave technology, which I love about the Inada Sogno, but the Pelvic Swing is the next best thing.

7.  The arms are not full arm airbags, like the Sogno, but they inflate quite aggressively. Not as thorough as the Sogno, either, but a decent airbag compression.

8. The foot and calf massage is OK, but nothing to write home about. It is pretty standard. One thing I noticed about the ottoman is that the foot and calf sections are equal in height. Every other massage chair with foot and calf components have a shorter foot massage and a longer calf massage. The height is equal for both on the Osaki 7000. It felt nice but nothing blatantly different in the feel of the foot and calf massager of the Osaki 7000.

9. The zero gravity feature, which Osaki calls the “Weightless” program on the 7000 is very nice. The seat tilts up and the legs are raised above the heart. You will enjoy that feature.

10. The Osaki 7000 massage chair does not have any neck and trapezia airbags, which is something I love about the Inada Sogno. Osaki has tried to mimic that feature in their Osaki 6000 and 5000 models, but they still don’t compare at all to the neck and shoulder airbags of the Inada Sogno.

The long and short of it is the Osaki 7000 is certainly worth the price. Although the massage is not as sophisticated and discriminating as that of the Inada Sogno, which is now the industry baseline, it is certainly a more aggressive and intense massage than that of the Inada Sogno. A very good bang for the buck.

Hope that helps in some way. I’ll give you more information as I become more familiar with the chair.

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