Although I had sold quite a few of the Osaki OS-4000T chairs over the last few years, I didn’t get one in my showroom until this month! Well, yesterday I had a chance to sit down with the original flagship model of the Osaki line and get to know it a little bit better.

It is a good-sized chair and, in my honest opinion, a great bang for the buck at $2695 (at the time of this writing). It’s feature set is replete with features that we’d normally find in a more expensive chair, including mechanical foot rollers, zero gravity, plenty of auto programs, 46 airbags, low back heat, and much, much more. You can check out the entire feature set on the Osaki OS-4000T product page on our website.

A list of features is one thing, but observations of how the chair feels and works in a functional way is quite helpful in knowing more about a chair. That is what I will go into now:

1. The remote control is very simple and quite intuitive to use. It has a large display and the buttons are large and easy to see. The remote has a built in mini wireless remote that you can take off the main remote and use when you are in a full recline. When you first get this chair you may think that there are redundant buttons on the remote because it is not immediately obvious that the mini remote is there.

The remote control display image was large enough for me to make out the active feature display, without my reading glasses on. So, for those of you concerned about readability and ease-of-use, you should not have any problem reading the display.

2. The chair comes with 2 zero gravity settings. As I’ve said in previous articles, there is really only one true zero gravity position, and that is a 30 degree seat tilt with a 120 degree articulation between the seat and the chair back. Well, some chairs, like the Osaki OS-4000T, come with a second “zero gravity position”, which is basically a deeper recline and seat tilt. Not true zero gravity but a deeper recline for anyone that wants to go back further while using the chair.

3. I like the DEMO auto program. A lot of chairs have this feature as part of their auto programs. It is typically a shorter program that gives the user a taste of all the different programs the chair offers. I like that the OS-4000T has one.

4. The ottoman has an electronic extension mechanism that lengthens and shortens the ottoman automatically. The user just has to push his/hers toes forward against the built-in sensor when the length is right for their legs and the extension will stop. I think that the manual, accordion-like ottoman extender is easier and less time consuming to use than the electronic extender, but this feature works well, nonetheless.

5. Width between shoulder airbags and hip airbags is something that needs to be considered in chair with these features because many massage chair shoppers have body weight and width concerns. For example, a man with a 52″ chest may have trouble fitting his upper body between the two shoulder airbag housings. Another person, who may be quite heavy can carries their weight in their lower body, may have trouble fitting between the hip airbags. This is a very valid concern and I get calls about it all the time. The width between the shoulder and hip airbags is 21″ and 18″, respectively. Compared to other models, this could be a little restrictive for some larger folks.

6. If Goldilocks was reviewing the mechanical foot rollers of this model, she would say that they are “just right.” They seem to be more vigorous than those of the Osaki OS-3D Pro Cyber and Pro Dreamer models, but less intense than the more aggressive foot rollers of the IT-8500 and Iyashi models from Infinity.

7. I heard a constant humming sound coming from the back of the chair. I assumed it was the sound of the compressor. Though not too loud, it did make for a chair that functioned a little louder than most other chairs. I got used to it pretty quickly, but it was noticeable right off the bat.

8. One thing that frustrated me a bit was the way that the shoulder airbag housings seemed to keep me from being able to put my the upper part of my forearms into the armrest airbags. I just couldn’t physically do it because of the barrier that the bottom of the housings created. When the chair reclined during an auto program it created some space between the shoulder airbag housings and the arm airbags so I could slip the upper part of my forearm into the airbags.

The other frustration with the shoulder/forearm articulation was that when the shoulder airbags inflated against the outer aspect of my shoulders, it actually pushed the upper half of my forearms out of the arm airbags. All in all, the shoulder airbags and housing didn’t work well in concert with the arm airbag housing.

Having said this, I must say that the lower part of my forearms and hands fit nicely into the arm airbags and received some nice compression massage.

9. The chair does NOT come with 3D roller technology. What you feel is what you get! And, I must say that the overall intensity of the rollers is more gentle than most Chinese-made chairs. If you are concerned about a chair’s rollers being too intense, the OS-4000T will be a great chair for you. If you want maximum intensity, you might be left wanting with this model. But, I will admit, through my years of experience in our showroom, it is usually harder to find a chair that is mild enough for folks who are sensitive to roller intensity than it is to find a chair that can really offer a deep, intense roller massage. So, the OS-4000T is a great option for the more sensitive and tender folks.

10. I really like how the seat airbags inflate on one side and then the other, thus inducing a rotation motion of the pelvis. Rotation of the low back is something that is hard to do, but these clever massage chair companies have come up with ways to use airbags to get these subtle movements out of areas of the spine that typically don’t get much motion during a regular work day.

11. This chair comes with 4 primary auto programs and 3 regional auto programs….in other words, there are lots of options to choose from if you just want to press a button and sit back and enjoy a massage. The THAI program was interesting to me because the only other time I’d heard of a THAI program was a stretching program in the Osaki OS-7075R, which was very intense. The THAI program in this chair provides a type of stretch that includes flexion (bringing the legs and chair back into a more upright position – regular stretching programs, including the “STRETCHING” program of this chair, usually involve dropping the ottoman and chair back down) and some leg extension (using the ottoman and calf and foot airbags to pull the legs out, away from the chair). During the THAI program, the rollers are also working the low, mid, and upper backs.

12. I found that the neck region got a better massage using the manual settings. When I was in an auto program, it felt like the rollers wanted to get up to the neck but kinda stalled around the base of the neck. When I went into the manual, custom settings, I could raise rollers all the way up and I got a great neck massage that way.

13. This chair comes with something that I wish all massage chairs had…a PAUSE button. You don’t realize the benefit of it until you are sitting in a massage chair and want to pause the program for a moment to answer a phone, go to the restroom, or write something down. In any chair that doesn’t have a pause button you have to stop the chair entirely. The chair then auto restores to an upright position and the rollers “park.” With a pause button you can do what you need to do, come back and start up right where you left off, without having to restart the program all over again and go through the scanning process again.

Well, that’s about it for my review of the Osaki OS-4000T. If you have your own insights or experiences with this model or have any questions about what I’ve written or about what I’ve forgotten to write about, go ahead and leave a comment below. I’d love to hear from you.

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