In a Nutshell:
The Relaxzen Deluxe Leisure Recliner Chair is a very limited massage recliner, capable of only the basics but still of value to some segments of the market. Recommended for Casual users on a budget.
Overall Massage Quality
Customization options
Ease of Use
Value for the Money
Comfort
Brand Reliability*
Overall Rating
3.5/5
Benefits
Drawbacks
Are you on a tight budget? Has that limitation frustrated your quest to find a decent massage chair?
If so, keep reading. The Relaxzen Deluxe Leisure Recliner Chair might be just what you’ve been looking for.
We’ll be quick to admit; this is not a perfect chair. Its massage functionality is pretty bare bones, but it gets the job done and even manages to offer up a surprise or two, which is no small feat for a chair sold in the value segment of the market.
The big thing to understand about buying a massage chair on a budget is that you’ve got to be ruthless when it comes to features. You’ve got to decide what’s most important to you and be willing to let just about everything go.
Massage chairs under 500 dollars tend to be put together one of two ways: Either they offer a broad range of decent features but build the chair out of substandard materials that won’t last very long, or they tend to do one thing pretty well and skimp on just about everything else.
We regard the Relaxzen Deluxe as falling into that second category, and in the sections below, we’ll tell you what the designers of the model got right and where this chair comes up short. Armed with that information, you’ll be in a position to decide for yourself if this model is right for you.
If that sounds good to you, let’s get right to it!
An Overview of the Relaxzen Deluxe Leisure Recliner Chair and Massager
The big thing to talk about where the Relaxzen Deluxe Leisure Recliner Chair is concerned is its aesthetic. Its design is inspired by popular Nordic chairs, and the Relaxzen team did a great job emulating that look. This is a gorgeous, modern-looking chair that will fit beautifully into just about any room of your home, regardless of your décor scheme.
What makes that all the more remarkable is the fact that massage chairs aren’t generally known for their looks. True, some companies like Human Touch have made a name for themselves by designing great-looking massage chairs, but in general, they look out of place in most home environments.
The Relaxzen Deluxe looks just like a modern Nordic recliner. You’d never know it had any other capabilities at all, at least not until you sat down in it. We like that very much.
Before we peer below its pretty surface, let’s take a look at some basic stats:
A couple of things to draw your attention to right off the bat. First, this is not a big chair, and it’s not heavy. Even if you have a smaller home or apartment, you won’t have any special difficulty finding a place to put the Relaxzen.
Second, its seat dimensions and seat height make it a good fit for most of the market, but especially those of average height and shorter stature. If you’re taller than, say, 6’3”, this chair will probably be a bit too small for you.
To be sure, take careful measurements of yourself and a chair you already own that you fit into so you’ll have a good sense of what you’ll be getting. Since an off-brand offers this model, you’re unlikely to find one in a furniture showroom, so you won’t be able to try one out before you buy.
In addition to being a good-looking chair, it’s also surprisingly comfortable, offering 3” of conventional block foam in the seat, a lumbar support pillow for your head, and padded armrests. The chair reclines to a maximum of 135 degrees and swivels but does not rock.
One final point to mention here is the fact that the Relaxzen 60-078011 Deluxe Leisure Recliner is upholstered with incredibly soft and comfortable microsuede rather than bonded leather.
Not only is this a much more breathable option, but it also tends to stand up better to heavy usage, and it blends beautifully with the light-colored wood veneer used on the base of the chair and Ottoman.
As good as all that is, a massage chair has to do more than look nice and provide a comfortable seating experience, so let’s take a closer look at the massage functionality itself.
No Massage Track
Modern massage chairs use rollers (usually quad rollers) placed on a massage track. Shorter tracks tend to start at about shoulder height and run to your tailbone. These are referred to as S-Tracks because they follow the natural S-curve of your spine.
Chairs with longer tracks see the rollers extend under the seat of the chair and also massage your glutes and the backs of your thighs. These types are known as “L-Tracks.”
The Relaxzen Deluxe Leisure Recliner is neither. It uses an older, fixed frame approach, and instead of having rollers, it uses a series of eight strategically placed but sadly immobile vibrating massage heads. This has serious implications for the quality of the massage the chair is capable of rendering.
Since the massage heads don’t move, they either hit where you want them to or don’t. There’s no adjustment possible, aside from wiggling around in the chair to try and get them to hit the areas of your back that need attention.
Needless to say, this is less than optimal. If the chair fits you well, it’ll render a decent but not exceptional massage. If not, then you’ll basically have a recliner that shakes and vibrates you while you sit in it, which is probably more annoying than comfortable.
Bear with us before you write this one off, though. It’s better than you might first think.
In addition to sporting four fixed-point massage heads in the seat back, there are two more in the seat itself and two more in the included Ottoman, so despite not having a track, it is capable of rendering a massage that extends from your upper shoulders all the way down to your calves, and that’s a pleasant surprise.
More Options Than We Expected
In addition to providing a basic, vibration-style massage to much of your body, we were pleasantly surprised to find many options available via the chair’s simple, wired remote.
You can customize your massage experience via five different levels of intensity. Even better, you can selectively activate only certain massage heads, choosing from:
This is the kind of fine-grained control you typically only find in much more expensive chairs, and it genuinely impressed us!
It gets even better, though. You’ll also find nine different massage presets. These are pre-programmed massage routines that give you a great massage with one-touch convenience.
Granted, all of these are simple vibration massages, so they’re essentially variations on the theme, and you’ll have to cycle through the programs via repeated pressing of the “Mode” button, which is a little inelegant but still a nice feature.
If that wasn’t enough, the Relaxzen Deluxe offers two other features that we had not imagined possible on such a modestly priced chair.
First, you get heat! While a simple vibration-style massage isn’t great, the presence of heat in the lumbar region of the chair makes it a whole lot better, and heat is a genuine therapeutic benefit.
On top of that, this chair allows you to customize the duration of your massage via the “Timer button.” There are a lot of chairs costing a thousand dollars or more that don’t allow you to customize the duration of your massage, so in our book, this is the real standout feature in terms of the massage itself. Great job, Relaxzen!
A Simple, Intuitive Remote
The wired remote is not even as complex as the remote you use to channel surf, so even if you’re not tech-savvy, you’ll have no problem mastering its use. The only problem we have with its design is the fact that there’s no good way to access the various pre-programmed massage options. You’ve basically just got to keep pressing the “Mode” button until you get to the routine you want and remember how many presses it takes to get there.
Pros & Cons of the Relaxzen 60-078011 Deluxe Leisure Recliner
At this point in our review, we think you’ll agree with our initial assessment. The Relaxzen design team chose to focus on a couple of features and implemented them very well, and then skimped on everything else.
In this case, the two areas where the chair really shines are:
On the flip side, there’s no getting around the fact that stationary massage heads just don’t render a massage of the same quality as rollers moving along a track, which is the chair’s single biggest weakness.
Relaxzen Deluxe Leisure Recliner Review Conclusion
For the money, we were blown away by what this little chair could do. The Relaxzen Deluxe Leisure Recliner Chair looks good. It’s comfortable, and it delivers a basic massage with heat and a lot of ways to customize the experience. While the massage itself falls well short of being world-class, the presence of heat and the fact that it delivers a massage to most of your body goes a long way toward making up for that.
If you are interested in buying a massage chair to meet a specific therapeutic need, we can’t in good conscience recommend this chair, even with the heat function. On the other hand, if you’re a casual user looking for a cost-effective way to relax and unwind at the end of a busy day, this one belongs on your shortlist, and we do recommend it for users in that group.
Recommended Reading
Magic Union Wall Hugger Power Lift Massage Recliner Review
We’ve evaluated the Magic Union wall hugger, a highly capable massage recliner offering great value.
Windaze Massage Recliner Chair Review
We’ve analyzed the Windaze Massage Recliner, a chair ideal for casual users seeking basic massage functionality.
References & Resources:
- Relaxzen Deluxe Leisure Recliner User Manual.
- How to Keep a Recliner from Moving, Hunker.
- What’s So Trendy About Recliners That Everyone Went Crazy Over It?, EzineArticles.
