In a Nutshell:
The Ootori RL-810L Massage Chair is a full-featured, versatile design with a little something for everyone, but heavier on therapeutic features than convenience features. Recommended for anyone from 5’1” to about 6’3,” weighing 330 pounds or less, who’s in the market for a versatile massage chair with a powerful collection of therapeutic features.
Overall Massage Quality
Customization options
Ease of Use
Value for the Money
Quality
Brand Reliability*
Overall Rating
4.5/5
Benefits
Drawbacks
Recommended For: Anyone from 5’1” to about 6’3,” weighing 330 pounds or less, who’s in the market for a versatile massage chair with a powerful collection of therapeutic features.
Do you suffer from chronic back, leg, or foot pain? Are you tired of always having to schedule visits to your local chiropractor for relief?
Or perhaps you’re just interested in owning a great, full-featured chair so you can enjoy a massage from the comfort of home any time you want one?
If you answered yes to any of those questions but you’ve been struggling to find the right chair for you, we think you’re going to love our review of the Ootori RL-810L massage chair.
Haven’t heard of Ootori? We’d be surprised if you had. They haven’t been in the business nearly as long as some other mainstream brands, and they’re a factory-direct seller, so you’re not going to see these chairs in any showroom, anywhere.
The good news about that is the fact that there’s no middleman markup, and Ootori passes the savings onto you. This only means that you get more massage chair for your money. The only potential downside is the fact that you’ll need to take careful measurements before you buy so you can make sure the chair you’re interested in is a good fit.
Also note that since Ootori has been in the business, they’ve made quite a name for themselves by offering high-quality products and taking good care of their customers. The RL-810L is an excellent example of the company’s work, and we think you’ll be impressed as you read through this review.
In the sections that follow, we’ll tell you everything this model gets right, and we won’t pull any punches when it comes to pointing out its shortcomings. That way, you’ll have all the information you need to decide if this is the model you’ve been looking for. If that sounds good to you, read on, and let’s take a closer look, starting now.
Overview of the RL-810L Massage Chair
The first thing you’ll notice about the Ootori RL-810L massage chair is that the design team made no effort to disguise the function or purpose. Some companies design their chairs with hideaway ottomans that see their leg massage ports tucked out of sight when they’re not being used. This gives them the outward appearance of a conventional recliner. If that’s what you’re looking for, this chair definitely isn’t for you. There’s no mistaking what it is.
In addition to that, it’s also a fairly sizeable piece of furniture, measuring 32.28” x 53.93” x 51.18” and weighing in at a hefty 213.85 pounds. If you’re cramped for space, then it may be challenging to find a permanent home for the 810L.
There is one silver lining, though; this model is designed with space-saving technology built-in, and it only needs 3” of clearance between the back of the chair and whatever wall you decide to place it near.
Chair Specifications
Here are some of the other stats that define the model:
A few things to note about these numbers. First, this chair has the same seat width as other Ootori massage chairs. It’s decent, but you will want to take careful measurements to be sure it’s a good fit for you.
Also, take note of the weight limit. Three hundred thirty pounds makes the chair useful to the vast bulk of the market, but if you’re bigger or taller, this isn’t the chair you want. The good news is that Ootori makes a few chairs that support 400 pounds of user weight, or slightly more, so there are other good options available if this one won’t properly support you.
We’ll have more to say about the track length and the number of airbags later on. For now, it’s enough to simply call your attention to them and point out that the track length is good, but falls short of greatness and that given the price of the chair, the number of airbags offered is well above average.
Hybrid L/S-Track & Quad Rollers
The RL-810L massage chair features a dual track that allows the rollers to travel from the tops of your shoulders all the way under the seat to give your buttocks and the backs of your thighs a soothing massage.
Note, however, that the total track length is just 51.18”. That’s respectable, but it’s certainly not best in class. In fact, Ootori makes a massage chair with a 59” track. Depending on how tall you are, those extra eight inches could make all the difference in the world. So again, careful measurements should be taken before committing to a purchase.
We’d rate this model’s track length as very good, but if you’re at or near the upper end of the chair’s recommended height range, you may be better served by a slightly longer track.
Note that this model comes equipped with 3D rollers, which means that in addition to being able to move up, down, left and right along your back and the backs of your thighs, they can also move away from the track slightly which allows them to press more firmly into your back.
In addition to that, you can customize your massage by varying both the roller speed and the roller intensity. The remote has five-speed and five intensity settings on offer. On the highest setting, this chair is capable of delivering a true Deep Tissue massage, which has tremendous therapeutic benefits and is of great value to anyone who suffers from chronic back pain.
Massage Options
The 810L also comes equipped with the following massage techniques:
Ootori implements all of these exceptionally well, but we have to admit that we’re somewhat underwhelmed by the number of techniques on offer. We’d love to see the company add at least one additional advanced massage technique on some future model upgrade.
Finally, the chair offers a modest number of pre-programmed massage routines. These are:
Again, all of these are exceptional routines, and they feel amazing. But it’s not difficult at all to find comparably priced massage chairs that offer a dozen or more pre-programmed routines. So, if you’re looking for more in the way of techniques and options, then this chair is probably going to leave you wanting.
On the other hand, there are enough techniques and pre-programmed options available to satisfy the vast bulk of the market, so ultimately, it depends on what your specific wants, needs, and preferences are.
3D Body Scan
Ootori has an excellent body scanning routine, and they use it in most of the chairs they sell. When you take a seat, it will scan your body and dynamically adjust the position of the rollers to ensure that they hit your body’s pressure points.
In practice, the automated routine works about 95% of the time. In those odd cases where it doesn’t place the rollers exactly where you want them, you’ll find buttons on the remote that will allow you to tweak them to taste.
Zero-Gravity Seating
We already mentioned one therapeutic feature in the form of the 810L’s Deep Tissue massage. This is a second, and it’s something that Ootori does very well.
Zero-G seating was inspired by NASA and is amazingly comfortable. It works by placing you in a position such that your knees are elevated slightly above your heart. Not only does this genuinely give you a feeling of weightlessness, but it has also been documented to lower blood pressure and improve circulation, which makes it especially valuable to people who have recently had surgery as it facilitates faster healing.
While many companies offer massage chairs with Zero-G seating options, most of the companies that do so only provide a single Zero-G seating position. Ootori really takes things to the next level in this regard, offering a staggering three different seating positions, which is beyond impressive. Kudos to Ootori for their excellence on this front!
An Excellent Air Massage
Earlier, we called attention to the fact that the 810L comes equipped with sixty airbags strategically located throughout the chair. This is significantly above average compared to other massage chairs in the 810L’s price range with equally impressive results.
In addition to boasting a generous number of airbags, you can also selectively activate them by body region, which gives you even more flexibility where your massage is concerned. The body regions available from the remote are:
Finally, the 810L offers three different intensity levels, which further magnifies the number of customization options available.
Lumbar Heat Offered
We’re always thrilled to see heat offered on a massage chair. It’s another powerful therapeutic feature that improves the overall experience.
Unfortunately, heat is something that Ootori generally struggles with. Our chief complaint is that the heating elements just don’t get hot enough, and worse, there’s no way to adjust the temperature to taste.
On the other hand, the heat offered on the 810L is more extensive than first meets the eye, extending to the midback and hips. We love that, but we do wish the elements got hotter. Overall, this is still a useful feature, but its implementation is somewhat weaker than most of the others offered by this chair.
Yoga Body Stretch Offered
Depending on who you ask, Yoga stretching is either the best or second-best type of body stretch offered in the world of massage chairs, frequently trading top honors with the more aggressive Thai stretching.
Personally, we prefer the gentler yoga stretching offered by the 810L, and once again, Ootori implements the feature very well. We still think Kahuna chairs do it slightly better, but Ootori is nipping at their heels. If you suffer from chronic back pain, this is likely to be your favorite feature of the chair as it gives you the functional equivalent of a chiropractic adjustment, but from the comfort of home, anytime you want it. How cool is that?
An Out of This World Calf & Foot Massage
This is another thing Ootori does exceptionally well. In fact, the calf and foot massage on the company’s flagship model is one of the industry’s best, and the calf and foot massage offered on this model is only half a step down from that.
It’s rendered via a combination of airbags and multiple sets of rollers and scrapers, which create a simply unbelievable experience. If you have a job that sees you on your feet for the better part of every day and you are looking for a massage chair that will provide much-needed relief, the 810L belongs on your shortlist of options to consider.
It’s Also Got a Massage Timer
Ootori uses a couple of different massage timers on their chairs, and some of the ones they implement allow you to program in very short-duration massages as little as five minutes long. The timer utilized here isn’t quite that flexible, allowing you to select a massage duration of either 10, 20, or 30 minutes, at your preference. While that’s not super flexible, it’s certainly enough to please the vast majority of the potential market for the chair.
Bluetooth Speakers Are Notably Absent
Other than the massage timer, the 810L doesn’t pay a lot of attention to convenience features. Among the most notable things that are absent are the Bluetooth speakers so commonly found in massage chairs these days.
That’s not a deal-breaker, of course, since most people have a decent set of earbuds, which makes it easy to enjoy your favorite music. But if you’re specifically looking for a chair with a built-in sound system, this one is bound to disappoint. In our view, the company made a good decision here, sacrificing the speakers to pack in more therapeutic features, but we readily admit that not everyone will agree with that assessment.
A Fairly Modest Learning Curve
All told, this chair has an impressive number of features on offer, but the remote is well-designed and intuitive, which makes mastering the basic functions a simple matter. Expect to spend about thirty minutes fiddling with the controls to master the chair’s operation.
The good news is, you don’t have to invest that amount of time on the front end because the chair comes fully assembled and ready to use, and has a small number of pre-programmed massage routines. When your 810L arrives, just decide where you want it, plug it in, have a seat, and pick your pre-programmed massage option. You can figure the rest out later, and that’s pretty awesome.
A Better Than Average Warranty
Ootori offers a 3-year warranty on every chair they sell. While that’s not the best warranty in the industry, it is a cut above average and is a clear sign of the quality of the chairs Ootori sells. That, combined with the fact that the company has an outstanding reputation where customer service is concerned, makes it easy to buy one of their chairs with confidence. If there’s a problem, help is always just a phone call away.
Pros & Cons of RL-810L Massage Chair
We like the 810L, but we don’t quite love it. It’s a robust design by any reckoning, and it’s packed with therapeutic features like:
All of those are good things, but to pack so many features like this into the chair, the company had to make a few sacrifices. There are a couple of instances where Ootori’s feature implementation wasn’t as good as we had hoped. These include:
Honestly, we love the convenience features, but we’re fine without them. The only genuine point of weakness we see in this chair is the fact that the heating elements don’t get quite hot enough for our liking. Even given that, though, this is a very good massage chair that will serve you well.
Ootori RL-810L Massage Chair Review Conclusion
This is a good massage chair. It’s a very good massage chair for people who suffer from chronic pain and are looking for a model that packs in a ton of therapeutic features. If that describes you, then the Ootori RL-810L massage chair belongs to your shortlist. If you consider yourself more of a hobbyist, then the lack of flourishes, finishing touches, and convenience features will leave you wanting. On that basis, we provisionally recommend it.
REFERENCES & RESOURCES
- Ootori RL-810L Massage Chair User Manual.
- Health Benefits of Massage Chairs, EzineArticles.
- Why Massage Chairs Are Beneficial For Your Health, HealthWorksCollective.
- How Massage Chair Helps in Improving Your Health?, Business Partner Magazine.