Best High Weight Capacity Recliners Review 2023

Simmons dominates this portion of our roundup review of the best high weight capacity recliners, capturing two of our top five spots, including top honors. What’s remarkable about that fact is that Simmons is one of the few big players in the furniture industry that builds furniture specifically for larger folk.

The company has a long history in the furniture business that stretches back more than 140 years. To say that they know a lot about making world-class furniture is an understatement, and the Osborn Rocker and Recliner is an excellent example of their work.

Chair Specifications

Also, be aware of the fact that the power recliner does not come with a battery backup system, so if the power fails while you’re reclined back, you’re going to have to awkwardly crawl out of the chair. That’s seldom a major issue, but when the lights go out, it may result in a bit of colorful language on your part.

Comfort-wise, there’s a lot to like about the Osborn. It utilizes a combination of standard block foam and poly fiberfill laced atop an array of individually wrapped comfort coil springs, much like what you find in top-end mattresses. That’s a very good thing, especially if you’re buying this chair with an intention of spending extended periods of time in it and using it for napping or even sleeping through the night in it.

The only real negative is the fact that in the absence of a battery backup system, if you ordered the powered version of the chair, you could find yourself in an awkward position if the power fails. The other potential drawback is that if you’re short on space, it’s going to be a real challenge to figure out where to put it. Other than that, though, this is a magnificent chair that you’ll be proud to own. It’s well-deserving of top honors here, and we highly recommend it.

Sunset Trading isn’t an industry giant. They go about their business quietly, and they make stunning, well-designed furniture that has an undeniable artistic flair. The Diamond Power recliner is absolutely beautiful and is one of the best recliners for heavy weight on the market today.

Chair Specifications

Although the seat is 20” off the floor, which is well inside big and tall territory, the recliner only measures 65” when fully reclined, which won’t be long enough for the tallest users. This, combined with the relatively narrow seat, limit the market appeal of the chair, which is the main reason the Diamond Recliner did not win top honors in this part of our review. Assuming those facts don’t make the chair a non-starter for you, you’ll find a lot to like about this chair.

First, as big and tall recliners go, it’s not a huge chair compared to the other models on our list. So, if you’re cramped for space, this one probably moves to the head of the line by default. Second, as is the case with many power recliners, this one offers an infinite number of recline positions.

What is a bit more surprising is the fact that although this chair is clad in a leather/PU hybrid, it’s actually delightfully breathable, thanks to the diamond pattern stitching in the seat and the seatback. They’re more than just decorative (although they are pretty!), there’s a practical purpose for their being part of the chair’s design.

In our view, the upholstery leaves a bit to be desired, though. Sunset Trading makes a glorious accent chair upholstered with specially treated top-grain leather, and we would love to have seen this chair upholstered with the same material.

Unfortunately, doing so would have more than doubled the price of the Diamond recliner, which would have put it out of the reach of many, if not most potential buyers, so we understand the decision to downshift into a lesser upholstery option. Even so, the PU/bonded leather hybrid used here might look nice, but it doesn’t age well and won’t hold up very long under the strain of heavy daily use.

Like the Osborn, it features a combination of individually wrapped coil springs, supporting a layer of block foam.  The seatback is double padded and features a flexible web mesh suspension behind the cushioning that provides spectacular support and comfort.

On top of that, the chair comes with a surprisingly comfortable built-in headrest pillow that makes it ideal for napping, reading, or movie watching.

Minus the underwhelming upholstery, this is a magnificent chair from top to bottom. You’ll love it, and we highly recommend it.

The only exception is the length of the recliner when it’s fully reclined. It’s a bit on the short side, so if you’re taller than about 6’4”, then this model may not be a good fit for you if you’re planning to spend several hours at a stretch sitting in it.

That’s a pity because this is an excellent sleeper recliner…unless you’re taller than 6’4” or so, in which case you’ll find that to be a bit of a challenge.

Bear in mind, too, that this chair is not a wall hugger, and you’ll need at least 20” of space between the back of the chair and whatever wall you place it near if you want to be able to fully recline in the chair. That, combined with the sheer size of the thing, makes it a relatively poor choice if you live in a smaller home or apartment or if you’re just generally cramped for space.

If you want something with a battery backup system to avoid this, your best bet is to spend the extra money and invest in a lift chair, whether you need the lift functionality or not. It’s an expensive way to deal with a problem that will, in practice, only happen rarely, but if it’s important to you, that’s the best way to go.

It should be noted that the Cuddler is not a lay-flat recliner, so unless you’re accustomed to sleeping sitting up slightly, this isn’t a good chair for spending a full night in. Sometimes though, that’s exactly what you’re looking for, especially if you’ve recently had surgery of one sort or another, and sleeping while lying flat on your back is difficult, if not outright impossible. It is a delightfully comfortable chair, though, and a great option for lounging and napping.

The comfort system isn’t quite as advanced as that found on the Osborn, but it does feature a combination of supporting springs and generous amounts of block foam, and the comfortable fabric upholstery serves to enhance the comfort of the chair further.

Overall, this is a superb American-made recliner that will serve broad swaths of the big and tall market very well, though, as we said earlier, it’s a better fit for bigger folk than exceptionally tall people. We recommend it.

There are two potential drawbacks here, the first of which centers on the seat width. While it should be fine for the vast majority of people, if you’re near the top end of this model’s maximum supported weight, it may not be sufficient. Just to make sure, you’ll want to take careful measurements to ensure that you’ll fit comfortably in the chair.

The second potential issue is the sheer size of the chair. While it’s not the biggest model on our list of finalists, it’s a sizeable piece of furniture, and its length at full recline has to be taken into account too. If you live in a smaller home or apartment or the room you want to put the Stallion in already plays home to a lot of other furniture, it may be a challenge to find a suitable place to put it.

Comfort-wise, the Stallion utilizes spring-supported block foam, which is pretty standard fare as recliner cushioning goes. It’s not gloriously comfortable, but it does offer a very comfortable seating experience, and the pillowed design of the seatback helps make the chair more breathable. That’s a good thing given the Stallion’s upholstery, which we regard as a genuine point of weakness.

At the end of the day, this is a basic, no-frills design. If that’s what you’re looking for, then it will get your attention immediately. It’s also a bit of a niche product, though. If you weigh 400 pounds or less, you’ll probably find that one of our other finalists of best rated heavy duty recliners will serve you better, so this chair’s real target market is exceptionally tall people who weigh between 400-500 pounds.

That’s a fairly specific, relatively tiny slice of the market, and unless you happen to be a part of it, some other model will probably wind up being more attractive to you. On that basis, we provisionally recommend it.

Disappointingly though, the Hercules only supports 400 pounds of user weight, compared to the Stallion’s 500, which means that the Stallion serves a slightly larger segment of the market.

The seat dimensions and seat height are both excellent fits for the portion of the market this chair is targeting, and even if you’re near the top end of the supported weight limit, you shouldn’t have any trouble fitting comfortably into this chair.

As with most of the other models we’ve talked about in this section, with the notable exception of the Diamond Recliner, finding a permanent home for this chair may be a bit of a challenge if you’re cramped for space.

Like the Stallion, it’s designed along conventional lines, but where the Stallion features a pillowed seatback that improves the chair’s breathability, this one is just a solid wall of disappointingly low-quality upholstery, which means this chair isn’t nearly as breathable as the model it’s designed to compete head to head against.

Even worse, the addition of those two features makes this chair far and away the most expensive model on our list of finalists, which is an unfortunate combination of factors.

Given the steep price, we would have expected to see high-end upholstery on the chair, but sadly, the Hercules comes up a bit short here too, offering a hybrid upholstery that’s a blend of polyester and PU. Both are non-breathable, low-end material options, and blending them together doesn’t really improve the equation.

You can expect that after a year to a year and a half of moderate to heavy daily use, the upholstery will start peeling and cracking as the material begins to show its age. If there’s a silver lining here, it lies in the fact that the frame of the chair is exceptionally well-constructed and will last several years longer than the upholstery itself.

The Hercules compares favorably to the Stallion in terms of recline capabilities, however. Where the Stallion is a manual, three-position recliner, the Hercules is a powered chair with an infinite number of recline possibilities. That, combined with its modularity makes it an attractive option, but also a super pricey one.

Overall, we just didn’t feel that the bright spots this model brings to the table were enough to warrant the massive difference in price. It’s an interesting chair, and it’s got good bones, so if none of the other recliners we’ve talked about to this point are what you’re looking for, it’s a good option to consider. We do, however, regard it as a relatively weaker option than the rest. On that basis, we can only provisionally recommend it.

The seat height is well within the standard big and tall range, which typically starts at 18” and goes up from there. This, in turn, is a good fit with the length of the chair at full recline, which marks the chair as being an excellent choice even for very tall users who are on the heavy side.

As is usually the case with furniture designed for big and tall folk, this is a sizeable chair, but surprisingly, it’s not one of the largest chairs in this roundup review (excepting for the total recline length, which is impressive).

Unfortunately, this chair is not a wall hugger, which is a definite limitation here. You’ll need at least 19” of space between the seatback and whatever wall you decide to place it near in order to fully recline, which might complicate things when it comes to trying to find a permanent home for the chair. This is especially true if you’re planning to put it in a smaller room, or a room already crowded with other furniture.