Inada YuMe Massage Chair Review

Are you looking for something a little “off the beaten path?”

Are you interested in a massage chair that can deliver a solid massage experience, but also offers features you just can’t get anywhere else?

If you answered yes to either of those questions, then you’re going to love our Inada YuMe massage chair review. It’s an unusual massage chair, and because of that, it may not be right for everyone, but for the right user, this model has a lot to offer.

In the sections below, we’ll cover everything that makes this chair unique to help you decide if it’s the right one for you.

3D Body Scan

Working hand-in-hand with the S-Track and quad rollers, the 3D Body Scanning technology helps improve the massage rendered by the chair.

It accomplishes this by taking a scan of your body before the massage begins, and making subtle adjustments to the position of the rollers to ensure that they hit all of your pressure points.

Let’s face it, if the rollers aren’t hitting the sore spots on your back, your massage is going to be less than optimal, and the body scan feature helps ensure that happens.

Sometimes though, the technology just gets it wrong. In those instances, Inada has included controls on the remote that allow you to manually adjust not only the roller positions, but also the overall width of the massage field.

This two-step approach to roller positioning guarantees a perfect massage, every time.

Zero-Gravity Seating

The YuMe Robo massage chair offers one Zero-G seating position. This is an attractive feature as it further enhances the massage experience. We’d love to have seen one, or even two additional Zero-Gravity options in this model, but the fact that it is present at all is a big win.

The reason Zero-G chairs deliver a superior experience is that by reclining the user in such a way that their knees are elevated slightly above their heart, it allows the body’s weight to work with the rollers, pressing down more firmly against them, resulting in a more satisfying massage.

Rotary Rocking Feature

It wouldn’t be fair to describe this as the YuMe’s stand-out feature, because it is relatively minor, but it is what makes the chair so unique -- the YuMe massage chair rocks.

No, you can’t just sit on it and rock when you're not getting a massage, but it has a gentle rocking motion that can be activated with any of the offered massage programs, which supposedly enhances the experience.

We’re not convinced that it adds any therapeutic value, but it is incredibly relaxing, and can easily put you to sleep, which is a nice perk.

By itself, that’s not a reason to recommend the chair, but if you’re looking for a model that can do things other chairs can’t do, and deliver a different kind of massage experience, you’ll be particularly interested in this feature.

A Generous Number of Options

The heart and soul of any massage chair is, of course, the number of options it offers, and the Inada YuMe Robo is no different in this regard.

So, all the basics are covered, including Shiatsu (which what Inada is especially known for and does very well), and their patented “Human Hands” technique.

Note, however, that where the Human Hands massage is concerned, this is available only for neck and shoulder massage. That’s a limitation yes, but only a minor one in our view.

All massage options, whether pre-programmed or manual, can be adjusted via the remote through three levels of speed and intensity, allowing you to customize your experience.

Air Massage Mode

Inada does air massage better than almost anyone, which is why this chair is such a surprise, and a significant departure for the company.

The Yume massage chair has an air massage, and it’s a fairly good one, but by the standards the company has previously set for themselves, and indeed, compared with the air massage offered by competing chairs in a similar price range, it comes up a bit short.

For starters, the YuMe massage chair only has twelve airbags. Granted, these are Second Generation airbags, and as such, they provide a good air massage. Then again, many of the chair's direct competitors have double, or even triple the number of Second Gen airbags.

Having said that, the Yume Robo makes good use of the airbags it has available. You can get an acceptable full body massage, or you can break the massage down by body region, accordingly:

As with the roller-based massage, you have the option to adjust the massage intensity via the remote, through three different levels.

You can also adjust the intensity setting for each body region independently, which is an interesting, though not compelling feature.

Body Stretch Function

While the Inada Yume Robo massage chair does not have a large number of airbags, it does have a sufficient number to render a good body stretch. Given that this is a rare feature in massage chairs in general, its presence is a big win for the model.

Unfortunately, its implementation is not as solid in this model as it is in many other Inada product offerings. Rather than being an independent, highly customizable standalone feature, it is built into one of the pre-programmed massage routines.

That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it does mean that you get less flexibility where conducting the stretch is concerned. Nonetheless, if you suffer from chronic back pain, this will probably wind up being your favorite feature of the chair.

The reason body stretching is such a highly sought after feature is that the action takes pressure off of the discs in your spine, and compressed discs are the leading cause of chronic back pain. Thus, even an imperfect implementation of the feature is most welcome.

Adjustable Timer (Sort of)

There is some confusion about the duration of the massage programs offered by this model, with some sources claiming a default thirty-minute duration, and others claiming a fifteen-minute default.

As it turns out, the reason for the confusion is the fact that there is no across the board default time limit. Most of the massage functions default to fifteen minutes, but some of the pre-programmed massages extend beyond this, approaching thirty minutes.

While it is impossible to directly adjust the duration of any massage, a common workaround is that you can select a new massage option from the remote (or re-select the one you’re currently enjoying), which will reset the timer, thus extending the duration.

This is a clumsy implementation that is not at all in keeping with Inada’s meticulous design philosophy. Our hope is that during the next model update, they’ll make some changes on this front.

Calf & Foot Massage

Again, there’s some confusion with regards to this feature, with some sources claiming no foot massage, while others make mention of it.

The definitive answer is that there is a foot massage, but there are no massage rollers. The entire calf and foot massage is rendered via airbags in the leg ports of the chair.

This is serviceable, but does not offer an optimal experience. That’s a pity, because the Yume Robo massage chair has a true innovation where the calf massage is concerned.

Utilizing a patented technique they call TEK (Thera-Elliptical-Kneading), the airbags not only inflate and squeeze the calves and feet, but also move in a slow elliptical pattern, rendering an exquisite calf massage that is unlike anything you’ll find in competing chairs.

This is fantastic for people who suffer from poor circulation in their lower extremities. Had they augmented it with foot massage rollers, this would be the stand-out feature of the model. As it stands, it’s a solid feature, but the foot portion is somewhat lacking.

A Well-Written Manual

This is something we feel compelled to mention any time we review an Inada massage chair, because if you’ve spent any time at all reading product manuals, you know they can often be cryptic and unhelpful.

That’s not at all the case here. You can tell that a lot of time and effort went into writing a manual that was comprehensive and easy to read. It’s a small feature, but a nice touch.

Pros & Cons of the Inada YuMe Robo Massage Chair

While the Inada YuMe Robo massage chair has some compelling features, there’s a reason it did not rank as well as many of Inada’s other models.

Even features that Inada is known for (air massage in particular), are not well-implemented in the YuMe massage chair.

Additionally, there are some areas where the chair is simply lacking. For us, the most significant of these are:

Inada YuMe Review Conclusion

The Inada Yume massage chair is a good, but not a great massage chair. For the right user it could be a great fit, but you’d have to really want a chair with the rocking feature and be willing to overlook many of its built-in limitations.

Unfortunately, that just doesn’t describe the greater bulk of the massage chair market, which is why it got a less than stellar rating from us. It delivers a competent, but uninspiring massage and offers a few intriguing features that are not likely to impress most users sufficiently that they will pick this chair over its many competitors.

That brings us to the issue of the Inada Yume Robo price. It’s a mid-range chair, but exists in a segment of the market that lies in the top end of the mid-range. That makes it somewhat expensive, and for the money, you can find a number of models that offer a more robust set of capabilities and provide greater therapeutic benefits.

In the end, it comes down to what exactly you’re looking for in a massage chair. We offer a provisional recommendation, but note that you can find better value for your money in a fair number of other models.