In a Nutshell:
A tremendously good design, filled with therapeutic features. The Infinity IT 9800 massage chair is recommended for people who suffer from chronic pain, as long as you’re not taller than 6’2”.
Overall Massage Quality
Customization options
Ease of Use
Overall Rating
4.3/5
Benefits
Drawbacks
Recommended For: People who suffer from chronic pain, as long as you’re not taller than 6’2”.
Do you suffer from chronic pain?
If so, you’re going to love this review. Infinity makes good products, and a lot of the models they offer are heavy on features that provide a lot of therapeutic benefits.The Infinity IT 9800 Massage Chair is no exception.
In many ways, it’s a strange design.Where most chairs priced at the mid-range offer an air massage mode, this one scraps that feature entirely, and loads up on more features that focus on pain relief.
It’s not for everyone. Hobbyist users will find it too narrowly focused for their liking, but for people who have to live with pain day in and day out, this chair is a godsend.
We’ll go over all the features that drive the model in the sections below, and we think you’ll agree – it’s one of the best therapeutic models on the market.
An Overview of the Infinity IT 9800 Massage Chair
Before we get into the features, we have to draw your attention to one thing that makes the 9800 unique.
Where most of the massage chairs made and sold today are made with imitation leather, the 9800 is covered with real leather. Besides being just a functional machine, it can also serve as a high-quality piece of living room furniture.
Granted, there’s no denying the fact that it’s a massage chair. (The leg massage ports are a dead giveaway.) Nonetheless, it’s comfortable and supple, and you’ll enjoy sitting in it.
Infinity IT 9800 Massage Chair Color Variants
Infinity IT 9800 Massage Chair Features
S-Track Design & Quad Rollers
The Infinity 9800 massage chair has good bones. Being built around an industry standard S-Track, its quad rollers travel along the natural curve of the body’s spine, resulting in an excellent massage experience.
As you’ll see, the chair features other technologies which further enhance the core experience.
3D Body Scan
Quad rollers closely mimic the feel of human hands. But, by itself, that’s not enough to deliver a truly great massage experience. To do that, the rollers need to hit the sore spots on your back. That’s where the body scanning technology comes in.
Before your massage begins, the chair scans your body and makes subtle adjustments to the massage rollers.
Sometimes, technology fails, though. The scan may not position the rollers exactly where you need them. Should that happen to you, the 9800 also features buttons on the remote that allow for manual roller positioning and adjustments to the width of the massage field. This guarantees a world-class massage experience with every use.
Zero-Gravity Seating
This is another feature that improves the overall quality of the massage the chair can deliver. Inspired by NASA, Zero-G seating really does make you feel weightless, so it’s incredibly comfortable.
More than that, though, by reclining you to a position such that your knees are elevated slightly above your heart, most of your body’s weight is pressing down against the rollers, resulting in a deeper, more penetrating massage.
We regard this as an average, but not an exceptional feature implementation. This is because the 9800 only offers a single seating position. While most massage chairs in this price range offer two, and sometimes even three different seating options.
One’s fine. That’s all you technically need, of course. But more options are always better.
More Options Than First Meet The Eye
The Infinity it 9800 inversion therapy massage chair offers more options and massage combinations than first meets the eye. That’s fairly common among chairs made by Infinity. A lot of other online reviews don’t say much about it, but honestly, we feel that it’s one of their defining features.
In this case, the massage techniques on offer are:
Two things to note here. First, the presence of two advanced techniques (both Swedish and Shiatsu) is a big win. Many chairs at this price range only offer a single advanced style.
Second, the “Dual Action” feature is Infinity’s secret weapon where massage combinations are concerned. While not a technique in its own right, it allows you to select any two to use in tandem, greatly expanding the number of options available.
In addition to this, there are a pair of pre-programmed massages:
And three regional massage modes, covering:
You can customize your massage experience via the remote through five different roller speeds. Unfortunately, this feature implementation has one weakness we haven’t seen discussed in other Infinity IT-9800 reviews: you can’t adjust the massage intensity.
That weakens the implementation. But as you can see, there are still a generous number of options available.
Seat Vibration Massage
In addition to all of the above, the 9800 also offers a seat vibration massage. A minor feature that people tend to either love or hate.
Those who like it say that it provides therapeutic value by improving blood flow and circulation in the hips and thighs. Those who don’t care for it say that it feels as though the chair is trying to shake you out of it.
It’s one of those things you’ll have to experiment with to see how you like it. When you do, bear in mind that you can adjust the vibration speed through four levels via the remote.
Lumbar Heat
This is the first of several high-value therapeutic features. As anyone who suffers from back pain knows, heat plus massage provides soothing relief. If you suffer from chronic lower back pain, you’d probably find yourself using this feat on an almost daily basis.
Where implementation is concerned, most massage chairs in this price range offers binary heat. You can either turn it on or leave it off. While the 9800 does not offer precise temperature control, it does go above and beyond. It allows you to select from three different levels of heat. A very strong implementation, and a great job by Infinity!
Body Stretch
It’s relatively rare for a massage chair to offer a stretch feature. The only other chairs we’ve found with more than one stretch are models offered by Kahuna, and those tend to be somewhat more expensive.
The 9800 offers what they call a “Victory” stretch, which is a robust, full-body feature, and a more tightly targeted lumbar stretch.
Both provide the same essential benefit as a chiropractic adjustment and result in almost instant pain relief by taking pressure off compressed discs in your spine, which is the leading cause of chronic back pain. While the heat is fantastic, if you’re a chronic pain sufferer, this will probably be your favorite feature.
Twist Function
You may find it surprising that the 9800 offers both a body stretch and a twist. But once you use the chair, you’ll understand the rationale. The body stretch is quite strong and is too intense for some people.
If you’re one of them, then the Twist feature will serve as an excellent alternative. It’s significantly gentler than the stretch, but provides the same benefit, taking pressure off of compressed discs in your spine.
Spot Massage
Our Infinity IT-9800 massage chair review would not be complete without drawing attention to this small but important feature.
When the rollers of the chair hit a particularly sore spot on you back, you can hit the “Spot” button, which will keep them in an area six inches in diameter from that location until you press it again.
This is another feature that’s tremendously useful and provides great therapeutic value for chronic pain sufferers and one you’ll likely find yourself making regular use of.
Foot & Calf Massage
As we mentioned at the start, the 9800 has no airbags. Its calf and foot massage is rendered by rollers, and it is excellent. Easily comparable to the airbag calf massage offered by competing chairs in its price range.
(Somewhat) Adjustable Timer
Most massage chairs on the market today do not offer any sort of timer adjustment. The massage programs have a preset duration that cannot be changed. In the case of the 9800, all massage times default to twenty minutes but may be adjusted to either 5, 10, or 30 minutes.
This isn’t quite as good as giving the user the ability to precisely set the timer, but it’s better than offering no options at all, so we have to give credit where credit is due.
Rocking Feature
This is something only found in a small handful of chairs on the market today. The chair can be put into “rocking mode” while a massage program is running. While this doesn’t have any therapeutic value, it does help users relax, when enhances the experience overall. A minor feature, but a nice finishing touch that gives the model polish.
A Remote That’s Surprisingly Easy To Use
Despite the fact that the IT 9800 offers a broad range of features and options, the remote is quite well designed and laid out. All the buttons are where you’d expect them to be, and you won’t have any difficulty navigating your way to the options you want and need.
We can’t say that there’s no learning curve at all, but you will be able to start enjoying your first massage in a matter of minutes and will be able to master the chair not long after that.
Pros & Cons of the Infinity IT 9800 Massage Chair
As you can see, the Infinity IT 9800 has a lot to offer, but it’s not for everyone. This is not a hobbyist chair or one designed for casual use. On the other hand, if you suffer from chronic pain, you’ll find a lot to like here.
The only real problem we had with the design was the lack of airbags and the absence of an extension module on the ottoman.
While neither of these are essential from a therapeutic standpoint, the airbags are such a common feature these days that they may as well be an industry standard. Plus, the extension module would make the chair appeal to a broader swath of the market.
You could also make a strong case for the inclusion of MP3 support. Then again, that would distract from the therapeutic focus of the design. It’d be nice to see, but we understand why it was left out.
Infinity IT 9800 Massage Chair Conclusion
If you’re under 6’3” and suffering from chronic pain, we recommend the Infinity IT 9800 without reservation. But, if you’re a hobbyist user, we strongly believe some other model would likely suit your needs better. Still, this chair is an excellent model — it may not just be a good fit for casual users.
References & Resources
- Infinity Massage Chair, Official Brand Website.
- Whole Body Vibration Therapy, Back In Motion.
- Relaxation/Swedish Massage, LaVida Massage.
- Healing With Shiatsu Massage, SheKnows.
- Massage Can Help Treat Lower Back Pain, Time.
