Saturday, October 18, 2008

The Sanyo HEC-DR7700K Shiatsu Massage Chair Review & Evaluation

By James Knolan

If you are a potential massage chair buyer, then finding an unbiased review of a given massage chair can be helpful. Here are 5 important categories to evaluate the total massage chair experience. This system gives equal weight to each of the 5 categories with each category having from 0 to 20. A 100 point score means the chair and the company has achieved total excellence. The 5 categories are Warranty & Customer Service, Comfort/Ergonomics, Ease of Use, Features and Massage Therapy. The discipline of a systematic approach provides for balance help those seriously considering a massage chair. The Sanyo HEC-DR7700K is the subject of this review. This luxury shiatsu massage chair is in the $4,000 to $5,000 range.

Warranty & Customer Service: It is important that the manufacturer stand behind its product. A good gage of the company's confidence is its warranty coverage and duration. Sanyo gives a 1 year labor, 1 year parts and 1 year in-home service. It does cover the roller mechanism for 3 years. Sanyo is well below other manufacturers in this category with its parts and labor. Sanyo recently instituted in-home service with the 1 year in-home whereas most are 90 days. Customer service is good. Sanyo has a national hot line with 24/7 service. Turnaround time on service is good. Our Rating in this category is 14.

Comfort & Ergonomics: A massage chair needs to be comfortable and fit the body. Otherwise, you will only use the chair for massage. The chair back of the DR7700K is comfortable and the upholstery is well padded. The head pillow is soft and the thickness is appropriate. The seat is ok and the armrests have sufficient padding. The footrest is comfortable, but cannot be adjusted. If you are 5' 10" or more, then your knees must be bent when the footrest is raised. This is a bit restrictive for a large portion of the population. Our rating in this category is 15.

East of Use: Massage Chair manufacturers are building in more technology and features into their chairs. Users need to be able to quickly, easily and intuitively understand how to use of a product. The HEC-DR7700K comes equipped with advanced features. The main remote control has 4 auto programs and a Zero Gravity button to recline the chair back. Overall, this Sanyo remote is fairly intuitive and simple to use. The sub-remote is a tied to the chair with a cable. But the main remote is simple in design and easy to use. The Sanyo HEC-DR7700K is a 19 in Ease of Use.

Key Features: The most prominent features of the Sanyo HEC-DR7700K are the GK Rollers and Zero Gravity. Zero Gravity is a leaned back position where the pressure from your body evenly distributed across your back and your knees are above your heart. The GK Rollers are jointed massage heads that push outward from the chair back and can grip your shoulders. The most impressive feature is the GK rollers as they bring a third dimension into the robotic massage world. The sensation of the rollers coming over the top of your shoulders is an important advance in massage chair technology. The massaging capabilities of the Sanyo HEC-DR7700K are solid. Our rating in this category is 18.

Massage Therapy: The DR7700K has 4 full body automatic courses, 5 massage speed settings and in a total combination of 83 manual massage courses. The manual massage techniques include the following: Shiatsu, Kneading, Tapping, and Kneading & Tapping. Additionally, because of the GK roller system, Sanyo offers Grip, which is a squeezing sensation. Sanyo incorporates various stretches. The DR7700K massage chair uses 24 airbags with projections that perform a shiatsu massage on the calves and an undulating sole shiatsu massage. There are a wide range of massage capabilities and the GK rollers add a critical third dimension. Our rating in this category is 19.

We just reviewed 5 categories ranging from warranty to features to ergonomics. How does the Sanyo HEC-DR7700K Based on the 5 categories the total score for the Sanyo HEC-DR7700K is a 85/100. The Sanyo HEC-DR7700K provides fairly thorough full body massage therapy. The technology is innovative and reliable. Sanyo has one of the weaker warranties providing less protection for the customer. The Sanyo HEC-DR7700K integrates some interesting features to locate trouble areas and provides good relief to the shoulders and neck. The Sanyo has most of the elements of a great massage chair, but seems to be lacking from its roots. The sensory experience missing seems to be music and with Sanyo's background in stereos just seems odd. This is a luxury class massage chair and has solid technology, but just seems a bit incomplete. The Sanyo HEC-DR7700K is just average for the luxury class of shiatsu massage chairs. - 15438

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