In a Nutshell:
Packed with features and beautifully designed, the Human Touch Novo massage chair has just about everything you could ever want or ask for in a massage chair. Recommended for all as long as you have space for it!
Overall Massage Quality
Customization options
Ease of Use
Performance
Overall Rating
4.5/5
Benefits
Drawbacks
Recommended For: ALL as long as you have space for it!
Wouldn’t it be awesome if some company made a sleek, powerful massage chair that was so good that sitting in it felt like you were sitting on a cloud that also happened to be a world-class masseuse?
Would you believe that there’s already a company making exactly that?
It’s true! In our Human Touch Novo massage chair review that follows, we’ll outline all the features of the company’s new flagship offering, and we think you’ll agree. While there are a lot of chairs to choose from on the market today, this one’s something special.
Human Touch Novo Chair Key Features
While a chair’s “look” isn’t a feature per se, we have to mention it first in a comprehensive review of any Human Touch massage chair.
For years now, every time the company introduces a new massage chair, they win ADEX awards for their stunning, comfortable designs. In 2016 alone, continuing its six-year winning streak, Human Touch won four ADEX Awards for Design Excellence, and the trend doesn’t look like it will be changing anytime soon.
Human Touch puts so much time and effort into creating award-winning designs because people don’t want their living rooms to resemble a chiropractor’s office. They want a chair that blends seamlessly with the décor they already have. Unfortunately, only a few massage chairs can do that.
The Human Touch Novo chair won’t fit into any living room. That’s true of every chair since people’s tastes and preferences differ.
In this case, though, if your style runs in the direction of sleek and futuristic, you’ll most likely love the look of the Novo. At first glance, it appears to be the fusion of a big, comfy, overstuffed egg and the Captain’s chair on a luxury star-liner. All that to say, design matters, and the Novo carries on the trend by winning awards for its artistic design and comfort.
A massage chair can’t be judged solely by its looks, however. It has to be feature-rich and functional to win high marks in this Human Touch Novo review and with the public in general. To that end, let’s examine those features.
Chair Specifications
Color Options
Track Design
Any Human Touch Novo massage chair review should begin with this: The feature set and design style mesh perfectly because Human Touch has chosen to use bleeding-edge technology to good effect.
The chair is built around a hybrid L/S Track, giving you the best of both worlds. It follows the natural curvature of your spine, ensuring a world-class massage, just like a standard S-Track. But where the former stops, the Novo’s track keeps going, wrapping under the seat so the quad rollers can massage your glutes and the backs of your thighs.
Given that most chairs designed around S-Tracks stop at the lower back, and with the sheer size of the Novo, the chair not only provides a massage further down, but the dimensions of the chair make it possible for the rollers to reach 60% more of your back than conventional massage chairs. That’s huge.
The result? A better, deeper, whole-body massage than you can ever imagine.
Pivoting Base
Considering the enormity of this chair, you may be worried that it won’t fit into the room you want to put it in.
That need not be cause for alarm, however. When upright, the Human Touch Massage Chair Novo only requires 9” of clearance between the back of the chair and the wall. It does need 32” of clearance in front of the chair to reach full extension, but thanks to its pivoting base, you can set the chair quite close to your wall without worry.
Zero-Gravity
Human Touch is the company that introduced the zero-gravity feature into the mainstream massage chair industry, so it’s no surprise that it is featured in its flagship model.
The two zero-G seating positions help take the overall massage experience to the next level by using your body weight to work with the rollers and press more firmly against the body, resulting in a deeper, more therapeutic experience.
Cloud Touch Massage Mode
Cloud Touch is Human Touch’s take on other massage chairs’ standard Air Massage Mode.
Using an integrated system of 36 airbags that compress and release, the massage you get from Cloud Touch is unlike most air massages—just pure relaxation and bliss. If we had to pick a single feature and call it the “best” feature of the Novo, this would probably be it. Mind-blowingly, Human Touch has perfected the art of air massage.
Full Body Stretch
This feature is part of Cloud Touch massage technology. It provides most of the therapeutic benefits of chiropractic adjustment but from the comfort of your home.
If you suffer from chronic back or joint pain, this feature will leave you smiling and coming back for more and make you feel better as it relieves the pressure on compressed discs and joints.
Lumbar Heat
While lumbar heat is somewhat common in massage chairs today, Human Touch takes it to the next level.
Where most chairs provide what amounts to a pair of heating pads in the lumbar region, the Novo utilizes two hollow columns that, when heat mode is activated, are filled with a current of heated air, providing deeper and more effective heat therapy.
Auto Adjusting Ottoman
This is no surprise, given how important aesthetics and convenience are to Human Touch designs. When you sit on the chair with your legs resting in the massage ports, the chair automatically adjusts the ottoman’s length to accommodate a specific leg length. This allows the chair to be used by people up to 6’4” in height.
This matters very much because when the chair is in Cloud Touch Mode, without proper ottoman adjustment, the calves don’t get the maximum benefit from the air massage.
Dual Foot Rollers
Another great feature that offers tremendous therapeutic benefits for people who spend much time on their feet is the dual foot rollers for additional reflexology massage. There’s nothing better than a soothing massage to the soles of the feet after a long day’s work!
Loaded with Options
Most of the Human Touch Novo massage chair reviews you find online use the same wording you see on the company’s website, “More than thirty automatic programs!” but they never tell you what those programs are. So, we dug a little deeper to find out.
While it’s true that there are more than thirty automatic programs (32, to be precise), many of them are just subtle variations on a few different themes. Here’s the scoop. The chair offers the following massage techniques:
It also provides various pre-programmed routines you can select to work using any of the above styles. These are:
Four different techniques and seven programs initially give you twenty-eight options. However, on the remote, some of the massage selections offer additional options that you can choose from on the menu as you set the parameters of your massage. That’s what rounds out the final figure to 34.
When you combine them with the three different roller intensity settings and the five different air massage intensity settings, you have many options available!
One more thing to note: you can also independently control every zone in the chair, such as shoulders, back, legs, and feet, giving you even more customization options!
LCD Remote
Given the plethora of customization options the chair provides, it’s probably no surprise that the remote can initially be a little overwhelming. Although the remote is not difficult to use, much information and functionality are packed into a minuscule space, so there’s a bit of a learning curve.
Even so, with some practice, you won’t have any difficulty programming the perfect massage.
Bluetooth Speakers
This makes it a snap to sync your smartphone to the chair and enjoy your favorite music while you lie back and enjoy your massage. It’s a fairly standard feature, so it’s not surprising to see it here, but it’s a lovely touch.
Pros & Cons of the Human Touch Novo Chair
As you can see, the Human Touch Novo massage chair gets a lot right. It offers lots of great options that anyone wanting a massage chair is sure to love, plenty of therapeutic benefits on offer, and a striking design aesthetic that sets it apart from every other chair out there.
Having said that, no Human Touch Novo chair review would be complete without discussing the few things the chair does wrong or lacks.
The first thing is simply that the chair design, while undeniably beautiful, just isn’t going to appeal to everyone. This chair will stand out like a sore thumb unless your home is decorated in a sleek, futuristic style. A very pretty sore thumb, sure, but if you’re looking for something that will blend in easily with your existing décor, and your home isn’t all that futuristic looking, this probably isn’t the chair for you.
The other thing that must be pointed out is that in a chair with so many bells and whistles, it is completely mystifying why heating elements for the calves weren’t included. Adding this feature seems like a natural fit, given that the designers go to great lengths to provide therapeutic benefits to people who suffer from chronic lower back and leg pain.
Otherwise, the Human Touch Novo Chair is perfect just the way it is. The only thing missing is you!
Human Touch Novo Chair Review Conclusion
To wrap up our Human Touch Novo review, we must say that its remarkable, one-of-a-kind design is part of the reason it didn’t get a perfect five-star rating.
It’s just got such a different look that it’s not going to appeal to everyone. Combine that with the fact that the chair has so many options that the remote has a bit of a learning curve, and we reluctantly deducted half a point from its final rating.
All in all, though, the Human Touch Novo massage chair is a splendid option worth every penny.
Recommended Reading
Relaxzen Deluxe Leisure Recliner Chair Review
Our assessment of the Relaxzen Deluxe Leisure Recliner Chair detailed why it’s great for casual users.
Human Touch Perfect Chair PC 610 Power Recliner Review
Check out our detailed review of the Human Touch Perfect Chair 610, a luxurious comfort option for lower back pain relief.
References & Resources
- Human Touch Massage Chairs, Official Brand Website.
- Thai Massage Effective in Relieving Chronic Pain, Massage Today.
- Massage, Chiropractic Top Medical Alternatives, WebMD.
- Human Touch Novo Massage Chair, ADEX Awards.
- When to Worry About Low Back Pain, Pain Science.
