Ootori Asuka A900 Massage Chair Review 2024

Are you a heavier person who suffers from chronic back, leg, or foot pain? Have you been frustrated in your search thus far to find a decent massage chair that can fit you and provide the pain relief you’re looking for?

If you answered yes to either of those questions, the Ootori Asuka A900 massage chair might be exactly what you’ve been looking for. What you read in this review is bound to put you in your happy place.

About Ootori

Haven’t heard of Ootori? We’d be surprised if you had. The company has only been around a handful of years at this point, but they’ve made quite a name for themselves since they first burst onto the massage chair scene.

While their design team is based in Japan, the company outsources the manufacture of their chairs to China and holds its supplier to the highest production quality standards. While it’s true that Chinese manufacturing isn’t entirely on a par with what you find in the West, the quality gap has been closing in recent years. Ootori’s chairs are surprisingly good. With a few exceptions that we’ll talk about a bit later, their feature implementations are uniformly strong.

Even better, they sell their chairs direct from their manufacturer, which means there’s no middleman markup, and those savings get passed along to you, the consumer. That means that you get more massage chair (and more features) for your money.

If you’re intrigued, read on. We’ll tell you everything this model gets right and be sure to fill you in on the areas where the A900 comes up a little short. Prepare to be impressed!

An Overview of the Asuka A900 Massage Chair

Let’s start with the basics. Ootori’s design team didn’t make any effort to hide the nature and function of this chair. Some manufacturers do. They’ll build hideaway ottomans, which tuck the leg massage ports out of sight when not actively being used, which gives those chairs the outward appearance of being conventional recliners. If that’s the kind of chair you’re looking for, the Ootori Asuka A900 massage chair isn’t the model you want.

In addition to being obviously a massage chair, it’s also a fairly sizeable piece of furniture, measuring 32.28” x 51.18” x 48.81” and weighing in at 208.3 pounds. If the room you plan to put the chair in is on the small side, you may have to get a little creative to find a permanent home for it.

There is a silver lining, though. This model was designed with space-saving technology. When it reclines, it pivots on its base and only needs about 4” of space between the back of the chair and whatever wall you decide to place it near.

Other assorted basic statistics for the chair include:

Manufacturer’s Recommended Height Range: 5’1” to 6’3”
Maximum Supported Weight: 440 pounds
Seat Width: 21.65”
Maximum Angle of Recline: 170 degrees
Massage Track Type: Dual S/L Tracks
Track Length: 59”

We’ll have more to say about the track length in the next section. As for the rest, we love that the chair supports an impressive amount of weight, but the seat width could be problematic. You’ll need to take careful measurements of your body before buying to be sure the seat width is wide enough to fit you well.

We also love that the chair can recline to a nearly flat position. Although the company recommends not sleeping in the chair, it’s easy to imagine a scenario where someone is listening to their favorite music while reclined way back and enjoying a great massage just drifts off for a while.

And now, with the basics out of the way, let’s take a look at the specific mix of features this model brings to the table.

Hybrid L/S-Track Paired With 3D Quad Rollers 

This section of the review actually has a lot of information to unpack, so let’s just take those elements one at a time.

First, this chair offers a dual S/L (Hybrid) tracking system that gives the massage rollers a tremendous amount of range.

Even better, the L-track is an impressive 59” long, which is one of the longest tracks in the industry right now. Coupled with the leg massage ports, the A900 is capable of delivering something quite close to a full body massage.

In addition to the super long track, the A900 features quad rollers that incorporate 3D technology. Quad rollers are the current industry standard and deliver a world-class massage. This is made even better thanks to the presence of 3D technology, which allows the rollers to move slightly away from the track and provide you with a deeper, more intense massage experience.

On the highest intensity setting offered by the chair, the A900 comes quite close to providing a deep tissue massage which has superb therapeutic benefits. If you suffer from chronic back pain, this chair will definitely help alleviate it.

A Slightly Below Average Number of Options

This model comes equipped with the following massage techniques:

As you can see, the A900 has the basics well covered, but it only offers one advanced massage technique. Shiatsu is a very good technique, and it’s the go-to in the industry. But, it’s not at all difficult to find other chairs in this one’s price range that offer more advanced techniques. This leaves us feeling a little underwhelmed on this front.

The good news is that the techniques the A900 does offer are all expertly implemented and deliver a fantastic massage experience. We just wish there were more of them.

In addition to that, though, this model also comes equipped with a total of six pre-programmed massage routines. These are:

Finally, you can modify any massage routine via the remote, selecting from three different roller speeds and three levels of intensity. Note that this model also features spot and partial massage modes, allowing you to focus the rollers on a particularly sore spot or select whole body, shoulder, and waist from the included remote.

3D Body Scan

Ootori has an excellent body scanning routine they employ in most of the chairs they sell. When you sit down, it scans your body and dynamically adjusts the positions of the rollers so that they precisely hit the pressure points on your back.

It works about 95% of the time, but in those rare instances where it doesn’t move the rollers exactly where you want it, the company provides a backup. On the remote, you’ll find controls that allow you to manually tweak the position of the rollers. This means that every time you order a massage, you’ll get the best experience the chair is capable of delivering.

Zero-Gravity Seating

This is a powerful therapeutic feature, and another thing that Ootori implements exceedingly well. Inspired by NASA, it places you in a position such that your knees are elevated slightly above your heart. Not only is Zero-G incredibly comfortable, but it really does give you a feeling of weightlessness.

It’s about more than just comfort, though. If you shift the chair into one of its three Zero-G seating positions prior to beginning your massage, you’ll note that it is even deeper and more intense because your body’s weight is pressing you more firmly against the rollers.

On top of that, Zero-G has been documented to help improve blood flow and lower blood pressure, which makes it great for people who have heart disease or who have recently had surgery of some kind as the improved blood flow helps to facilitate faster healing.

While many companies offer Zero-G seating options, most of the chairs that feature it only offer a single seating position. As we mentioned, Ootori gives you three different Zero-G seating options to choose from, which is outstanding. It may not be your favorite feature, but you’re sure to love it.

An Average Air Massage

Some of the chairs Ootori sells boast an impressive number of airbags and deliver a superb airbag-based massage. Unfortunately, the A900 comes up a bit short in that department. It’s only equipped with 26 airbags. Although they are strategically placed and deliver a good experience, it’s nothing outstanding.

Overall, it’s about on par with what you’d expect from a chair in this price range, but we know that Ootori is capable of delivering an exceptional massage of this type, so we regard this particular feature as being a bit below Ootori’s usual standards. You’ll still like and enjoy it; it’s just not as exceptional as we’ve come to expect from the company.

In any case, just as the rollers can be adjusted via three settings, you can choose three different airbag intensity options to tweak the massage experience you get from them. You can also selectively activate airbags by body region, using the same areas described above in the roller section (whole body, shoulders, or waist).

Of interest, there’s no way to selectively activate just the airbags in the leg massage ports, which we feel is an oversight and would love to see updated in a future model upgrade.

Lumbar Heat Offered

The Asuka A900 offers lumbar heat, too, and we love seeing heat included in any massage chair. Not only does it help promote blood flow and relieve pain, but heat + massage just provides a better overall experience.

Unfortunately, the heat function is something that Ootori struggles with. The heat offered on this model works, but in our opinion, it just doesn’t get hot enough. In addition to that, there’s no way to control the temperature from the remote. We’re glad it’s present, but in our view, this is one of the weakest feature implementations on the chair.

Seat Vibration Too

You don’t see too many chairs that still offer seat vibration. About the only place, it’s relatively common is in the world of older, fixed-frame massage chairs with stationary massage heads. It’s worth experimenting, but you’ll probably either come to love it or just never use it.

Proponents of seat vibration say that it helps to improve circulation in your lower extremities, especially when combined with the chair’s heat function.

Detractors of the feature say it feels like it’s trying to vibrate you right out of the seat. As we said, it’s worth experimenting with to see which camp you fall into, but in our view, it doesn’t add much to the chair.

Body Stretch

Ootori’s Yoga Body Stretch is excellent, and its presence here adds another powerful therapeutic feature that gives you the same basic effect as a chiropractic adjustment does. Not every chair on the market today offers body stretching, but most Ootori models do, and they implement it very well. This is one of the stand-out features of the A900. If you suffer from chronic back pain of any kind, it may wind up being one of your favorites.

A Good Calf & Foot Massage, But…

Another thing that Ootori is incredibly good at is the implementation of their calf and foot massage. Many of the models the company sells use a combination of airbags paired with an intricate system of rollers and scrapers that deliver a simply out of this world experience.

Here, the company uses airbags only, and the results suffer a bit. It’s still quite good, but it’s not on par with what we’ve seen from them in other models.

If you have a job that sees you on your feet for several hours of each day and you’re looking for something with a super-strong calf and foot massage to coax the tension out of your legs and feet, we’d recommend the company’s flagship model, the N900.

For most folks, the calf and foot massage offered here gets the job done, and you certainly won’t be disappointed, but again, ultimately, it comes down to exactly why you’re thinking about buying a massage chair in the first place.

A Massage Timer, Too!

Most of Ootori’s chairs feature massage timers, but they’ve gravitated to using a few different types, depending on the chair. The one featured in the A900 allows you to customize the duration of your massage from 15 to 30-minutes in five-minute increments. Some of the company’s other models use a timer that allows you to program in very short massages with as little as a 5-minute duration. 

In our experience, though, most users would rather have more massage, not less, so we’re perfectly fine with the timer used here, and we feel that most potential buyers would agree. In any case, it’s a nice convenience feature that gives you another layer of control.

Bluetooth Speakers

Another great convenience feature is the fact that the Ootori Asuka A900 Massage Chair comes with Bluetooth speakers built into the chair on either side of your head. Just have a seat, connect your smartphone to the speakers, and you can listen to your favorite music while enjoying the massage of your choice.

Note, however, that almost every company that offers Bluetooth speakers also builds a USB charging port into the chair to help keep your favorite device fully charged. For whatever reason, Ootori bucks this trend, and none of the chairs they currently sell has a USB charging port.

It’s a small thing, but we do find it a bit of an annoyance, and it would be such a simple thing to address. It’s certainly not a deal-breaker, but something to bear in mind.

Not A Difficult Chair to Master

While we were a little underwhelmed about the number of features on offer in some aspects of the chair’s design, overall, there’s a lot here. You might think that with so many different ways to tweak and customize your massage experience, plus heat, plus body stretching and the like, that the chair might come with an imposing learning curve.

Thankfully, this is not the case. The remote is well-designed and intuitive, and you should have the chair’s operation pretty well mastered after about a half hour’s worth of experimentation.

Even better, you don’t have to invest any time at all to get started. Not only does the chair arrive at your doorstep fully assembled and ready to use, but it also has those pre-programmed massage routines built-in and easily accessed from the control system.

Just decide where you want the A900 to go, plug it in, sit down, push a button, and start enjoying your first massage. It’s as simple as that.

A Better Than Average Warranty

We briefly mentioned the quality of Ootori’s products and their reputation for customer service and support, but we wanted to give another nod to that here, in its own section.

The company offers a rock-solid 3-year warranty on every chair they sell. While that’s not the industry’s best warranty, it is a cut above average, and it speaks volumes about the overall quality of their products. These are good chairs, and Ootori takes excellent care of its customers.

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Pros & Cons of Asuka A900 Massage Chair

Here are the things we think you’ll like best about the A900:

On the other hand, there are some issues with some of the features we just described:

None of these are deal-breaking flaws, and the chair offers solid value for the money. These are mostly things we’d love to see addressed in some future model upgrade.

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Ootori Asuka A900 Massage Chair Review Conclusion

We view the Ootori Asuka A900 massage chair as an excellent chair that falls just about a half-step from greatness. With a few more features on offer, a more robust foot massage, and stronger heat, this could be one of the best chairs on the market today. As it stands, it’s still a very good chair that will serve most potential buyers very well. We recommend it.

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Official Manufacturer Support

References & Resources

• Ootori, Official Brand Website.
• Ootori Asuka A900 Massage Chair User Manual.
• Top 6 Benefits of Zero-G Massage Chair, Vents Magazine.
• Top Benefits of Using a Massage Chair, Alcentre News Group.