Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Review for the Human Touch HT 1650 Massage Chair Recliner

By James Knolan

Human Touch is known for its innovative designs and effective massage therapies in its product line. This is a review of perhaps one of the most unique massage chairs on the market today, the HT-1650 massage recliner. This is a massage chair disguised as a leather recliner. We will make an evaluation of five relevant areas of a massage lounger and assign a rating in points. Let us take a look at the unique HT 1650 massage recliner.

Warranty & Customer Service: Your long term product protection is a function of the length and breadth of the warranty on the product you buy. Big ticket items like a massage chair need to have adequate coverage to offset the money you are paying. The HT 1650 comes with the following warranty coverage: you get 5 years on the structure; you 3 years of parts; you get 1 years of labor (factory service) and in field service is covered for 90 days. The warranty coverage provided by Human Touch for this luxury massage recliner is fairly good. Customer service is through a national call center and they are pretty responsive. We give the HT1650 a 17 in warranty coverage and customer service.

Comfort & Ergonomics: Comfort is extremely important in the case of the 1650. This leather recliner is disguised as a massage chair. So if it is not comfortable to sit in, then it is a marketing disaster. Luckily, Human Touch has done its home work and has made this chair very comfortable. The material selection is fine grain leather that is nice to the touch. It has sufficient padding and the leg rest does not have any hint of a massage chair. Also, a pocket is used to store the remote and no remote holder is visible. Human Touch has done a great job with the 1650 and we give it a 19.

Ease of Use: I don't know about you, but I have always struggled trying to program my VCR. Thank goodness Tivo has finally saved me. We are critically concerned with the ease of use with massage chairs. These chairs increase in features and functionalities every year. The challenge is to keep it simple. We are happy to announce that the HT1650 has managed this. It has a remote that uses two different faces for buttons. This keeps it small and easy to hide in the side pocket. We give the 1650 19 of the 20 for ease of use.

Key Features: One of the unique features and a patented one at that is the hidden calf and foot massager. When not in use, you cannot see the calf and foot massage. When you want to use it, you simply flip it over and it exposes the calf wells. This is a great feature in that the massage chair looks like a regular leather upholstery recliner. The other interesting feature is the acupoint detection system. This can be used prior to using a manual massage function. When activated, it will scan your back and determine the almost 100 trigger points. It records their location and then prioritizes them when the massage begins. This acupoint detection enables the chair to zero in on these points to provide you full body relaxation. We give the key features of the HT-1650 an 18.

Massage Therapy: The true test of this leather recliner is whether or not it delivers on the massage therapy side. Who wants a secret massage chair if it ends up being just a leather recliner! Rest assured, the HT 1650 is packed with massage treatments for your total wellness and relaxation. Try one of the 8 automatic programs with a variety of treatments to suit all sorts of situations. You can also select from 4 manual massage techniques. The calves and feet can be soothed with the hidden ottoman. Overall, we rate the massage therapy a 17 for this recliner.

The HT-1650 is definitely a one of a kind massage chair or should we say leather recliner? Overall it gets a 90/100 points. This recliner comes with a solid warranty giving you long term protection. It has the unique flipping ottoman which enables you to put the chair in most rooms. The massage therapy is effective and comes with an excellent selection of treatments to choose from. If you do not want the traditional massage chair look, then you can have the traditional leather recliner look and have the best of both worlds. - 16004

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