In a Nutshell:
The Real Relax Favor-03 is a budget massage chair built around fixed heads. For its inherent limitations, it delivers surprisingly good results. It is only provisionally recommended. Most folks would be better served by delaying their purchase and saving for a “proper” massage chair.
Overall Massage Quality
Customization options
Ease of Use
Brand Reliability*
Overall Rating
3.3/5
Benefits
Drawbacks
Provisionally recommended. Most folks would be better served by delaying their purchase and saving for a “likproper” massage chair.
Do you suffer from an aching back? Are you tired of making an appointment with your local chiropractor whenever you want relief?
If you answered yes to either of those questions, you might have considered investing in a massage chair to enjoy the benefits of a soothing, relaxing massage from the comfort of your home, any time you like.
Unfortunately, there’s a huge amount of variance in the massage chair ecosystem, and some models are objectively better than others.
The Real Relax brand first appeared in 2014. To produce affordable chairs, the company decided to eliminate the entire concept of the massage track and instead rely on stationary massage nodes strategically placed around the chair.
It’s a novel concept, but unfortunately, the stationary heads cannot compete with massage rollers regarding overall massage quality.
That’s not to say that Real Relax is a terrible brand or its concept is without merit. The company has managed to carve out a good-sized niche at the low end of the market and for a good reason. Real Relax products deliver a surprisingly good massage for very little money, but they have a few limitations you should be aware of before spending your hard-earned money.
In the sections that follow in our Real Relax Favor-03 review, we’ll outline everything this model has going for it, and we won’t pull any punches when describing the chair’s limitations and shortcomings. That way, you’ll have all the necessary information to decide whether this model fits you well.
Key Features of the Real Relax Favor 03 Plus
By all outward appearances, the Real Relax Favor 03 massage chair looks just like a conventional massage chair with proper track and rollers. You can’t tell just by looking at it that it employs stationary heads.
Its appearance is both a good thing and a bad thing. On the one hand, it’s good that the Favor 3 doesn’t represent a major departure from other massage chairs on the market, which means it looks pretty much like you’d expect it to.
On the other hand, massage chairs aren’t exactly known for their gorgeous appearance and stylishness. Favor 03 will stand out in whatever room you place it in.
This one isn’t as gigantic as massage chairs, but it will still fill up whatever room you place it in. It measures 63” L x 30” W x 34” H and weighs a surprisingly modest 176 pounds (most massage chairs on the market today weigh significantly more than this).
Even better, it supports up to 400 pounds of user weight, well above the informal average of 300 pounds. If you decide you want one, you can order yours in brown, beige, or black.
It’s not much of a color selection, but it at least allows you to do some basic color-matching with your existing décor scheme, which is helpful.
Eight Massage Nodes & a Few Basic Options
As mentioned at the start, Favor 3 uses eight stationary massage nodes strategically placed throughout the seatback to render the massage.
Most roller-based massage chairs offer 4 to 6 different massage techniques. This one offers just one: Kneading. It’s not very versatile, but the one technique on offer here is well-implemented and feels good (with a caveat we’ll discuss in a moment).
On the other hand, Favor 3 has four pre-programmed massage routines, giving you a few options that vary on a theme. These pre-programmed options are:
In addition to these four pre-programmed options, the chair allows you to create your customized massage, combining the stationary massage heads with the airbags, which we’ll discuss later.
All massage options default to a 20-minute duration but can be increased or decreased in five-minute increments. The maximum possible duration of a massage on this chair is 30 minutes. The speed and intensity of the rollers can be controlled via three options (mild/moderate/strong), so you have at least a few customization options available.
The final thing to mention before we leave this section is that if you decide to create your custom massage, you cannot save it for later use. If you want the same massage again, you must always create it from scratch.
3D Body Scan
This section will be short because the Favor 03 massage chair lacks body scanning technology.
Given the stationary massage heads, it’s simply not needed. This has implications for the overall quality of the massage this chair can give you. The heads will be placed somewhere close to your body’s pressure points.
If they are, you’ll be fairly impressed with the massage quality. If they’re not, you’ll be underwhelmed. Worse, there’s absolutely nothing you can do about it because you have no means of shifting or changing the position of the massage nodes. Most of the other Real Relax Favor 03 plus reviews we’ve read online don’t make a big deal about this, but in our view, this is a key consideration.
The Air Massage is Very Good, Verging on Great
Needless to say, the Favor 3’s fixed node massage isn’t the chair’s best feature.
You’ll get a decent massage if you get lucky and the nodes align with your pressure points. We find that the node massage is not great but not bad.
The good news is that the Favor 3 has more than just this one trick up its sleeves. It also sports a rather impressive fifty airbags, which can render a surprisingly good full-body airbag massage that you can adjust via three different intensity levels.
While the stationary massage nodes can’t compete with mobile massage rollers, the Favor 3’s airbag massage equals the airbag-based massage you get from much more expensive chairs. B itself, that’s probably not enough to warrant purchasing this model, but it’s a big step in that direction.
Two Heated Regions
This is an important part of our Real Relax massage chair Favor-03 review. We love that this model offers heat in two different body regions.
Lumbar heat was something we more than half expected to see, but heated footwells are a bit of a rarity.
Some chairs cost four or five times what the Favor 3 costs, which don’t offer heat in the footwells, making its presence here nothing short of amazing.
From the remote, you may run without heat, with heat in the lumbar area, in the footwells, or both places at once. There’s no way to adjust the temperature levels, so it’s strictly binary. You either run with the heat on or off, but temperature control is only offered on a handful of models anyway, so it’s not something we were expecting to see.
The bottom line is that heat is a powerful therapeutic addition to the chair, surprisingly well implemented here. It stands as one of Favor 3’s strongest selling points.
A Well-Implemented Calf and Foot Massage
This is the most important component of our Real Relax Favor-03 review, so we recommend buying this model.
If you spend a lot of time on your feet every day and you’re looking for a chair in which you can kick back and relax, enjoying a very good calf and foot massage with heat, this is the chair you want.
The Favor 3 utilizes rollers in the footwells to massage the bottoms of your feet (adjustable via three different intensity settings), and airbags in the calf ports take care of your calves (also adjustable via three different intensity settings).
Add heat to the equation. Where the calf and foot massage is concerned, the Favor 3 punches well above its weight class, delivering a massage experience that is every bit equal to massage chairs that cost many times more.
This feature alone is worth the chair’s modest asking price, provided that you don’t especially care that you’re losing the roller-based back massage entirely and that the stationary nodes may or may not align well with your body’s pressure points. Then again, if your main goal is pain relief for your feet, those things may not matter much.
Nice Finishing Touches, Too!
Most value-priced massage chairs offer little or, most commonly, nothing in terms of finishing touches and flourishes that evoke a sense of quality.
You can imagine our surprise when we found a few such flourishes on this little chair. They’re not major, game-changing features, but the fact that they exist on a chair at this price point is beyond impressive.
They include:
We were almost stunned to see Zero-G offered here. Granted, there’s only one seating position, but its existence is amazing.
Note that since there’s no body scanning feature, if the leg ports are too short, you’ll have to adjust the length manually via the remote.
These are good, high-value additions to the model. We were impressed, and we think you will be too.
Comparing the Real Relax Favor 03 vs. Favor 04
When Real Relax launched its brand, the Favor 01 was its first massage chair. Over the years, Real Relax has updated the original design, and they now sell several different Favor variants.
While the Favor 4 is quite similar to the Favor 3, there are a couple of differences to be mindful of.
First and foremost, Favor 04 has a different aesthetic. Opinions will vary, but in our view, Favor 03 is the better-looking chair.
Also, note that the Favor 04 doesn’t have heat in the footwells, so you lose that, but you gain a vibration plate that sits under the seat. This renders a simple, vibration-style massage to your glutes.
We’re not huge fans of vibration-style massage, but if you are, you’ll probably find it a good addition.
Finally, Favor 4 offers three impressive Zero-G seating positions, whereas Favor 3 only offers one.
Both are decent chairs, but it depends on your preference. If you want heated footwells, Favor 3 is your chair of choice. If you want more Zero-G seating options and a vibration massage in the seat, Favor 4 is the better option.
Pros & Cons of Real Relax Favor 03
This is a surprisingly good little massage chair. It has its share of limitations, but there is a lot to like here.
In our view, here are Favor 3’s best features:
However, the design has some weaknesses. The most significant of these is stationary massage heads rather than rollers. It also offers only one technique (Kneading) and no advanced techniques. Finally, only a handful of customization options exist for the massage heads.
Real Relax Favor-03 Review Conclusion
In our Real Relax Favor-03 review, we readily admit that we don’t love this model, but they did an amazing job given its modest price tag and the constraints that put the design team under. For the money, it delivers fantastic results in several key areas.
While we can’t give it a glowing recommendation, we can give it a provisional one, especially if you’re most interested in an airbag or a quality heated foot massage. You’ll love it in those two specific instances and probably have money left over after purchasing this model, and that’s awesome.
Other Options to Consider
If this chair doesn’t work for you, here are a couple of other options to consider:
Recommended For: Anyone looking for an alternative massage chair from the Real Relax brand.
This is an example of a “proper” massage chair from the same company. It’s more expensive but still incredibly well-priced and capable. This is a great example of their work if you like the brand and want to support it.
Recommended For: Hobbyist/casual users, chronic pain sufferers, and taller users, almost anybody, will love this chair!
If you’re on a budget, you’ll have to delay your purchase, save up, or wait for this entry-level model to go on sale. You’ll love it when you make your purchase.
Kahuna is one of the big names in the massage chair industry, and this model is one of the best values you’ll find anywhere. It’s well-priced and brimming with features you’re sure to love.
References & Resources
- Real Relax Message Chair, Official Brand Website.
- Real Relax Favor-03 User Manual
- 4 Mental Benefits of Massage Therapy, National University of Health Sciences.
- The Role of Massage Therapy for Mental Health, Mayo Clinic Press.
- Massage’s Effect on Injury, Recovery, and Performance: A Review of Techniques and Treatment Parameters, Strength and Conditioning Journal
