Spending $16,000 to $20,000 on a massage chair sounds crazy to a lot of people.
So what exactly are you getting for that kind of money?
Higher end massage chairs usually come with all the bells and whistles. You might get a premium sound system like Bang & Olufsen, a health scanner, a tablet for watching YouTube, or even a bioelectrical impedance reader that can measure things like body fat, muscle mass and bone mass.
But here is the real question.
Are those things important to you?
If not, that is one thing you can immediately check off your list.
Where I think higher end massage chairs really start to separate themselves is customization.
1. Much better intensity control
The intensity range is usually much more delicate. You can tone the massage down to something extremely soft or turn it up when you want something much firmer.
This can be especially useful when multiple people in the house share the same massage chair. One person might want a very gentle massage while someone else wants the chair to practically beat them up.
2. Better accommodation for different body sizes
Higher end massage chairs generally do a better job accommodating different body sizes.
Short, medium or tall, there is usually more adjustment available.
The downside? Most luxury massage chairs do sit on the bigger side, so make sure you measure your space and doorways before you buy.
3. More individual control over different areas
This is something I think people sometimes overlook.
On less expensive chairs, certain settings can be tied together. You change one thing and another area changes with it.
Higher end chairs tend to give you much more individual control.
Your feet and calves can be adjusted separately. Your shoulders and arms can have their own settings. You can fine tune different areas instead of being stuck with one setting for everything.
4. Better body scanning and positioning
Higher end massage chairs generally do a better job scanning your body and adjusting the massage to your body shape.
That can mean less stopping and readjusting after the scan and a more personalized massage experience.
But of course, there is one thing that matters more than all of this.
Does the massage actually feel good?
Because let's be honest. You can put a $20,000 price tag on a chair, give it a fancy sound system, a tablet, a health scanner and every other bell and whistle imaginable, but if the massage itself is not good, that top dollar is not really justified.
After all, these are MASSAGE chairs, not entertainment chairs.
Do the high end models actually feel good?
Absolutely.
I am not going to get repetitive here since I have written about this countless times in my other posts, but this is where 4D and true 5D really start to shine on many of the higher end models.
And yes, I said many.
Dare I say... not all.
That is also why I always recommend actually trying a massage chair before making a major purchase. Specs on a website can tell you what a chair has. They do not tell you whether you are actually going to love the massage.
Now, the mid range massage chairs can still be very good chairs. They just tend to have fewer adjustments, less customization and fewer entertainment features.
So here is where I am going to say something that might be a little controversial.
If most of these features do not mean much to you, there is absolutely no reason for you to spend more than $16,000 on a massage chair.
Seriously. If you fall within the small range of the preferred intensity and how whole thing feels and don't care for all the bells and whistles, why pay all that extra money?
More expensive does not automatically mean better for you.
A $20,000 massage chair is not necessarily going to give you a massage that is twice as good as a $10,000 chair.
You are often paying for more customization, more technology, more adjustability, premium materials and additional features.
If you do not care about those things, save your money.
And this is actually how I price massage chairs at my store in Orlando.
I ask myself one simple question:
"Would I, ME, personally, pay this much for this chair?"
If my answer is no, why would I expect you to?
I am a small local massage chair business with much less overhead than a large national retailer. That allows me to look at the chair, look at what it offers, look at the quality and then ask myself what I believe is a fair price.
I am not interested in putting a crazy price tag on a massage chair just because it has a lot of technology inside it.
At the end of the day, I want you to sit in the chair and think:
"Yep. This is worth what I am paying."
That is what makes sense to me.
