Last year (2012), Human Touch came out with their new Immersion Seating line of massage chairs. When I first saw them I was impressed with their outward appearance. Human Touch has always been true to the idea of creating chairs that didn’t look like massage chairs, but a piece of furniture that could fit in any room and with any decorum.
ZeroG 4.0
Well, they didn’t deviate from that MO with the new Immersion chairs. They have a contemporary look but not with the overt massage chair features that turn so many people off with traditional massage chairs.
The came out with three models, the lower-priced WholeBody 2.0, the mid-range ZeroG 2.0, and the top of the line ZeroG 4.0. You can check out our massage chair comparison chart to see the specific differences between the chairs, but I will focus a bit of my discussion today on the two ZeroG models.
I flew down to Southern California last month to visit Human Touch, one of my objectives being to try out the ZeroG 4.0 for the first time. I was not disappointed! Here are some of my first impressions:
1. I loved the “Ergonomic Recline-Motion Geometry” which basically is the one fluid motion of the upright chair position to the fully functional zero gravity position. One motion does all! It is very smooth motion and very relaxing right off the bat.
2. The roller track travels lower down the back into the top of the buttocks. YEAH!! That was one of my beefs with some of the other Human Touch chairs…the rollers only went down to the waist-level. I have always felt that their rollers need to go lower down the back. The Immersion chairs do that now. I couldn’t be more thrilled.
3. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but not many Human Touch chairs have foot massage mechanisms. The ZeroG 4.0 does have that included. My experience is that people love having their feet massaged by their chair. By having the foot massagers, I believe Human Touch will sell many more of this model. They are currently on back order on this model…I wonder if that is one of the reasons why it is selling so well.
4. While I’m on the subject of the lower extremities, I love the paddles in the foot and calf massagers that work in a figure 8 motion to enhance circulation of the blood and lymph in the legs back to the heart. Most massage chairs have only airbags; Human Touch uses a firm plastic paddle that has a much better feel than the airbag technology. You will love it!
5. The Body Map PRO is the coolest remote control function I’ve seen in a long time. Most massage chairs have a series of buttons that you must press to manually move the chair rollers to a particular area of your spine. The ZeroG 4.0 has this Body Map PRO feature which is basically a illustrated map of the body on the remote and all you have to do is push the area of the map/body that you want your massage and the chair automatically goes there and focuses it’s massage on that area. Pretty brilliant, user-friendly idea if you ask me. I really liked it.
6. The “Smart 3D Massage Engine” is just a fancy way of saying “massage roller intensity adjustment.” It may surprise you to know that very few massage chairs have an intensity adjustment of the rollers. It’s pretty much “what you see is what you get.” Well, Human Touch has a roller intensity adjustment feature on the ZeroG 4.0 that allows the user to adjust the rollers to a more accommodating pressure. Good stuff.
Speaking of fancy ways of saying things, Human Touch is trying to reposition and reframe massage chairs and their features differently and they are using their terminology to do so. For example, as I’ve already mentioned, “smart 3D massage engine” is the term they use for “intensity adjustment.” Another example is the Immersion Seating term. Rather than say “massage chair” Human Touch is calling the chairs “Immersion Seating.” This applies to other terms that you will see on their remote control. Cool idea…don’t know if the public will get it.
All-in-all I really enjoyed my first experience on the Immersion Seating chairs from Human Touch. I will be getting the ZeroG 4.0 in my showroom soon. Looking forward to study it even more.
Dr. Alan Weidner
www.massage-chair-relief.com
