The compact design of this chair is perfect for blending seamlessly into smaller living areas without compromising on quality.
Its SL Track massage technology provides a comprehensive massage for your back, neck, shoulders, and glutes. There are multiple preset cycles to choose from, such as energize, relax, and sleep, which caters to your needs throughout the day.
Heat therapy and quad roller technology add to the soothing effect by easing muscle tension and effectively targeting each muscle group.
Best Massage Chairs Comparison Table
How to Choose the Best Massage Chair?
Now that you have gone through the specifications, pros, cons, and special features of every massage chair recliner, you need to think carefully and decide what could be the best for you among them. Since the market is full of massage chairs ranging within a broad spectrum of the budget, you might easily be overwhelmed while making your choice. That’s why you need to make keep in consideration, the several factors that you might require so that you don’t end up buying the wrong one.
Given that these machines are a long-term investment, and quite a big one, it can really be difficult to zero in on a chair from the given choices. But don’t worry, I am here with a simple guide that has some tips you could follow before making the big purchase.
Consider Your Priorities and Identify Them
The first and foremost thing you must do before getting into anything else is to prioritize the features you would want in your chair and the reasons for the purchase. Is it something you need for relieving the stress and spend some time relaxing after a tiring day? Or is it a part of the therapy you are taking to heal an ailment? Is it just to ease muscle pains and other aches? Or do you simply want it because everyone in your friends' group has already gotten one?
Ask yourself these questions, single out your priorities and needs, and then you can work on focusing on the kind of chair you would want for your home. Answering these simple questions can help you in choosing the right brand, and for that matter, the whole decision-making process.
Figure Out Your Budget
Budget is one of the most important factors you should consider before making any investment that lasts for a long time. So, the most critical question you should be asking is – how much are you willing to spend to get that massage chair? Your answer clears a lot of air and considerably narrows down the bracket of models available in the market. If your budget is on the lower side, then you could choose anything less than $1000, which could get you the essential features.
But if you don’t want to compromise on the quality and features, be prepared to go a little or a lot beyond what you can actually spare. The list above has massage chairs ranging from as low as $500 to something that goes up to $5000. So, have a look at the list, along with their specifications and reviews, and choose what’s best for you.
Pricing of the Chair
Though it’s almost similar to the factor above, this has nothing to do with your budget limit, but the availability of models in the market within a certain price range. Sometimes, even an off-brand chair could offer you features similar to that of the higher-end ones. So, make sure you conduct a thorough check on the features before you make the decision.
Brand of the Chair
Often, this plays a major role in your purchase. A good brand brings credibility. So, whatever you decide, make sure the brand reflects the quality and gives you good customer service.
Where to Purchase the Chair?
Nowadays, many varieties of these chairs are available for sale on different e-commerce sites, and you don’t have to visit each showroom in person to get the right one. Amazon serves as one such marketplace where you can not only check out various models but also compare their features and choose what’s best.
Reviews
Let me tell you this! Reviews are your best friends. So, before you go for the purchase, make sure you go through multiple reviews from people who have hands-on experience with the product. You can read the reviews from the review websites, or simply look for the customer reviews on the Amazon marketplace itself, where a lot of people tend to leave feedback about the product, which includes both pros and cons – however, minute they may be.
Warranty
Another good thing to do is look for the warranty period of the massage chairs. The warranty period may limit from 1 year to even five years and may extend to both parts and labor or just a partial warranty. So, make sure you read the warranty information of different chairs before making your investment so that your massage chair works like a charm for a long time.
Conduct Prior Research
They don’t say ‘Don’t judge a book by its cover’ for no reason. This applies to your choice of massage chair, too. Don’t let the looks fool you, as there is so much more you should be looking for when you need a chair that’s service oriented. These are a few things you could look out for:
- Construction and Design: No one wouldn’t want to lose their massage chair quickly. So make sure to check its sturdiness and durability. You should also look for the height and weight constraints of the chair, the amount of space it uses up in your home, and maybe even the color and design so that it could go well with the décor in your home or office space.
- Coverage Area of the Massage: Different roller designs offer different track lengths of the massage. So, you must check for the length of the area the chair covers during its massage and make the decision accordingly. Because, you might be wanting to relax your buttock muscles or be pressurized on the acupuncture points, but not all the chairs in the market offer those.
- Massaging Programs and Styles: Tapping, Kneading, Knocking, Combinations, Yoga, Shiatsu, etc. are various massage styles that the robotic chairs in the market offer these days. You must be aware of what chair offers what feature so that you can maximize the efficiency of the chair you are opting for.
- Customization: Many chairs on the higher end of the price range use sophisticated technologies so that the massaging could be done in sync with your body postures and sizes. The surprising thing is that a few off-brand cheap ones could give you the same effect as well. All you need to do is check for the right stuff.
With these factors in hand, I don’t think it can be difficult to decide on the massage chair that best works with your needs and preferences. In addition to following these small tips, you must also make sure to be objective to all the possibilities so that you can make the best choice without being blinded by the possibilities.
The Benefits of Getting a Massage Chair
The reviews of the chairs mentioned above might have already mentioned the numerous ways how a massage chair could benefit you. Also, you would be having a fair idea of them yourself in case you are a massaging enthusiast.
The first and foremost thing I must mention about why it’s better to opt for the robotic chairs instead is that the professionals are costly and you could shell out a significant amount of money over a period. But if you go with a massage chair instead, you could save a lot, by just making this one investment.
Massage chairs are often considered a piece of luxury in most households, given the pricing and purpose it serves. But over the years, people have been really welcoming about the thought of getting massages more often, as it has many health benefits, in addition to the usual relaxation.
These are a few benefits you could get in case you use a massage chair instead:
Relaxes Sore Muscles
Athletics and sports training, or a long day of physical work tend to make your muscles sore. It aches so much sometimes that you won’t even be able to move anything. In such cases, a high-intensity robotic massage could take your pains away, with just a few minutes of high-intensity massage on the target area.
These chairs also help you relieve sprains, strains, and soft pains in the tissue.
Improves the Flow of Blood
We all know how important the role of blood is, in our bodies. They carry the necessary nutrients to all the parts of the body. Getting massages from these mechanic chairs could help increase blood flow, especially in those with impaired circulation in the system. In a way, they ensure the proper flow of blood and even help increase the volume of red blood cells in the body.
This, in turn, is beneficial in so many ways, like relieving one’s hypertension, reducing the risk of strokes and other cardiovascular strokes, and last but not least, flushing deadly toxins out of the body.
Gives Relief from Stress and Tension
This is the most famous reason why a lot of people get massages. It’s no secret that massages help you relax after a long, tiring day and help you feel better ultimately. This is probably one of the reasons why a lot of office spaces are also installing massage chairs in their lounge areas.
Helps Improve Body Posture
With a bad posture of the body, you could be prone to breathing difficulties and your bloodstream may be affected as well. Massage chairs help you in working on your posture by relaxing your muscles and helping with flexibility. This ultimately helps you restore the perfect posture that is required for your body to be healthy.
Pain Relief
Another thing about massage chairs is that they can work really well on your joints, and muscles and help relieve pain in various areas like the back, neck, shoulders, calves, and feet. The massage is usually done using technics like tapping, kneading, knocking, and other related combinations.
Anxiety Reduction
Well, this theory is simple. Massaging relaxes muscles and releases endorphins. Endorphins make you happy by reducing your anxiety levels. In the end, all these aid in your personal and psychological well-being.
Over the years, the miracles of modern technology have been able to create a massaging method that almost simulates the experience of a massage received from a professional therapist. This enabled the user to get massages more frequently, that too, from the convenience of their own homes, in their own privacy.
What a lot of people aren’t aware of is that the best massage chairs are beneficial to pregnant women as well. But before using the chair, it is better for them to seek advice from the healthcare provider if their body is suitable for massages during the prenatal stage.
The Working Mechanism of Massage Chairs
I have written so much about massage chairs until now, but have you ever wondered how these robotic chairs work? And how could they almost replicate the effect of a massage from a human hand, and can help you relax after a tiring day? Before I tell you about those, let’s talk about what the main idea behind a massage chair is!
The massage chairs basically come with a simple idea and goal – to provide comfort and relaxation to the person who is seated on them. To achieve this, they place different devices that enable a chair to have more functions, suitable for both basic and intense/customized massages.
These are a few technics/devices that are installed within a massage chair to provide relief and other benefits to its users.
Vibrations
Many basic massage chairs use vibration-based surfaces to enable the massaging system. These are placed in different parts of the chair to ensure that the user stays relaxed. These vibrations are released by small devices with a gear/wheel, which rotates at a great speed, ultimately causing vibrations. You can notice the same phenomena on a much smaller scale on your cell phones.
Air Bags
These are mostly found in massage chairs at a higher price range. The chairs come with multiple airbags which squeeze the muscle of the user at various intensity levels, thus relieving of stress and pain. The bags are usually deflated, and are attached to a compressor; they are then inflated on the basis of the massage requirements.
Rollers
This is a sophisticated technology of massaging that has been developed over the recent years. These rollers move horizontally, vertically, or even in a circular motion, stimulating a real human-like massaging experience.
What Are Massage Chair Recliners?
This is a technic where the chair adjusts itself according to the body shape and contours, to give the user an ultimate massaging experience. Some massaging chairs use a technology called zero gravity position, which lets the user relax completely for a much more intense experience. These recliners shift their positions with the help of remote control, whereas in the basic ones, you need to push back the chairs manually.
Massage Styles
A lot of chairs come with preset massaging styles, some of which include:
- Tapping: Where rollers keep pushing and pulling rapidly around the backrest area, like that of a Karate chop.
- Kneading: Where the rollers keep going around in a circular position, or maybe even up and down. This kind of massage style focuses on the pressure points.
- Rolling: Where the rollers move along the spine to help reduce the pressure along the discs.
- Shiatsu: A famous Japanese style, reflecting the acupuncture style, where you relieve stress through vigorous movement of fingertips.
- Swedish: Where the chairs replicate the long strokes used in the palm-based massages. This helps you relax your muscles and increase the flow of blood in the system.
If you now look at the market, you can find plenty of massage chairs offered by different brands. To lessen the burden on you, I am mentioning the most famous competitors in the massage chair market these days.
Panasonic
Panasonic is, without any doubt, one of the leading contenders in the market. It has been manufacturing chairs right from the 60s. They try and work on bringing out the models that stimulate human-like massage experiences to the fullest. They usually borrow various massage technics and styles for their chairs and are known for non-compromising quality production.
MA-70 and EP-30007 are the most famous models designed by the company.
Inada
Alongside Panasonic, this is known to be one of the pioneers of massage chair manufacturing. Designed in Japan, these chairs are known for their high quality and state-of-the-art massaging techniques, which are designed after extensive research.
Sogno Dreamwave, with its alluring design and sophisticated airbag system, is a hit among users.
Omega
Omega is known for its chairs which are high-end but are easy to use. They also boast a smooth user experience with their realistic technics. Their products are usually user-centric.
With its sleek design and sturdy build, Montage Pro is the most popular among the models by Omega.
Osaki
One of the newer entrants in the market, it didn’t take Osaki long to secure a place amongst the top massage chair brands. They proved to be one of the best with their incredible designs and high-end chair massage products.
OS-4000 is the best-known massage chair by Osaki. It has 48 airbags, a complicated zero gravity technology, and a myriad of preset auto programs for massaging.
Cozzia
Cozzia’s massage chairs are popular for giving a great therapeutic massage experience. The chairs are often affordable and easy to use.
10627 model is said to be the most popular of the chairs designed by Cozzia.
Infinity
Infinity came into the market in 2009 and became popular in a very short time. They are known for massage chairs targeted towards therapy and massage products for spas. They use various kinds of technics in their massage chairs, which you can see in their reputed models IT-8100, IT-8500, and Iyashi.
Luraco
Based out of Arlington Texas, Luraco manufactures products of massage and spa technology. iRobotics6 is the most famous model that was designed by the brand.
Human Touch
Human Touch is an award-winning massage chair manufacturing company. They focus on the well-being of the users and develop devices that give a human-like experience. Headquartered in Southern California, there are responsible for popular series of products like HT and iJoy
Osim
The massage chairs by Osim are known for their sturdy build, modern designs, and sophisticated high-end technology. They even came up with a mobile application technic to control the massage chairs. iDivine and uAstro 2 are among the popular models manufactured by the brand.
iComfort
Based out of Canada, iComfort is a company that manufactures health-based and spa products along with massage chairs. Though not highly popular, they have their own share of good chairs that are popular with consumers.
Fujita
Fujita’s designs stress things like health improvement and comfort. They make use of acupuncture, natural healing, and other physical therapies to design their products. SMK9100 is the most popular model by Fujita which features Thai stretching, an inbuilt music system, and adjustable arm widths.
Inner Balance
Last but not least, Inner Balance is a famed massage chair manufacturer that uses an approach to wellness first. They use a combination of therapy and relaxation for a better massaging experience. ZG550 and ZG571 are two of Inner Balance’s most popular massage chairs.
Massage Chairs FAQs
Massage chairs are a great way to relax at the comfort of your home. In fact, they are the perfect alternative to regular spa visits and professional therapies, which could cost you a bomb. A lot of people are already aware of the benefits that massage chairs offer. But when it comes to choosing the right one, they can often become clueless.
And since they are an investment, you’ve got to be careful about finding the brand that provides you with all the features you’re looking for. To help you with that, we bring you answers to the most frequently asked questions by the consumers. Read on this massage chairs faq to find out.
When you’re buying a massage chair, it is advised to look for features that enhance the overall massaging experience. The specifics might be different to different people, but airbags, heat therapy, air compression, reflexology and in-built massage settings (both automated and manual) are some of the key features you should be looking for.
If you’re someone who’s taller, then make sure you search for a chair that caters to your height. Always remember, an ideal massage chair is the one that provides you with the best of features at an optimal pricing range.
Lately, zero gravity has been one of the indispensable features in most of the massage chairs. It is quite an important feature as it enables the user to relax completely, by submerging him/her in an ideal position that gives them an ultimate massaging experience.
It works on the zero gravity concept which is commonly used by the astronauts for their massages. A massage chair with a zero gravity feature is more comfortable and easier to use when compared to the other massage chairs.
Most of the massage chairs usually have rollers that move up and down to give the massage. But if a massage chair has a 3D feature, it means that the rollers move towards and away from a person (in and out manner). This makes the massage a lot more efficient and helps the user relax.
The feature usually comes with a real-time adjustment of the intensity levels so you can get the massage you actually want.
Extended warranty allows you to receive covers for any defects and repairs of the chair without having to shell out any money while paying a little price for the extension (if any). So, it is better to go for an extended warranty if the brand offers it.
Massage chairs can take up to quite some space in your home. If you have compact rooms, then setting up massage chairs in the studio or living room can be difficult. But these days, a lot of manufacturers are opting for a space-saving technology enabling them to occupy as less space as possible.
So, it’s better that you do some research and opt for a compact chair which can be placed easily in your home. And if you happen to have a large home or a dedicated gym room or any extra space, then larger massage chairs shouldn’t really be an issue.
Most of the massage chairs usually take up around 150-300 watts of power. This depends on the brand and model of the chair. On the whole, this is definitely lesser than the amount of power consumed by a basic refrigerator and is almost equal to the power consumed by a computer.
A branded massage chair can cost you anywhere between $1,200 and $30,000. This depends on the features, warranty period and whether it is made for use at home or spa purposes. There are also cheaper massage chairs that you could avail for around $700, but you need to be careful while assessing the features of the recliners.
On the whole, you can say that the pricing varies upon the brand and the innovation of the models of the recliners. However, when you don’t want to compromise on the quality or warranty while picking massage chair for residential purposes, you might want to spend around $8,000 on an average.
Most massage chair brands offer a money back guarantee in case they don’t work satisfactorily. If the chair doesn’t fulfill the promises made by the brand or if the expectations aren’t met, then the company usually refunds the amount to the user.
Almost every massage chair in the market comes with a specific warranty period. This can be extended to the whole chair, certain parts of the recliner, or to the labor. Don’t even think of going for a chair that doesn’t offer warranty period. It’s not worth it. Also, make sure how long a particular brand offers the warranty to its models before making a purchase.
You don’t really have to worry about the shipping of massage chairs to your homes or spas because the companies usually take the responsibility of the delivery. All you have to do is choose the delivery option at the time of purchase, and wait for a few weeks so that the manufacturer ships out the chair right to your doorstep.
Most of the massage chairs available in the market possess a user-friendly interface. They can easily be operated through buttons available on the chair. And some of them even come with easy-to-use remote controls.
Many high-end massage chair brands ensure durability for all their models. They make use of sturdy materials for the seat and other body parts to make sure that the chairs withstand the test of time.
Shopping platforms are essential to make sure your purchases are legit, and that the retailer caters to your needs. Though there are stores where you can buy a massage chair from, e-commerce stores have taken the monopoly over the sales of massage chairs. You can purchase massage chairs from sites like Amazon, eBay and even the dedicated online stores of specific brands.
Conclusion
After thorough research and assessment of various massage chairs in the market, it is evident that finding the perfect one is based on individual needs, preferences, and budget. Factors such as massage features, adjustability, design, and additional benefits contribute significantly to making an informed decision.
From the above 5 best massage chairs, here are the top three expert recommendations:
For a chair that combines state-of-the-art features with excellent full-body shiatsu massage, the Real Relax Massage Chair – Favor 03 is an ideal option. This chair's arm linkage system and heating system stand out among the rest and cater to users up to 6'1" in height.
If a chair that focuses on ergonomics and customizability is your priority, the RELAXONCHAIR MK-V Plus Full Body Zero Gravity Shiatsu Massage Chair is a good option. This chair offers high levels of adjustability for taller users and caters to various massage needs with its preset and customizable functions.
Lastly, for those seeking a medically approved chair that provides a soothing and therapeutic massage experience, the RELAXONCHAIR MK-II PLUS Shiatsu Massage Chair is the right choice. It is well-received by users for its Shiatsu feature and zero gravity treatment.
Regardless of which chair you choose, investing in a massage chair is truly a decision that prioritizes self-care and relaxation in the comfort of your own home.
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