In a Nutshell:
The Synca Circ Massage Chair is a hidden gem of a chair! Small enough to fit into even tiny rooms, and yet, surprisingly robust and feature-rich, given its modest price. Recommended For: Casual or hobbyist users, though the chair does offer some therapeutic value as well.
Overall Massage Quality
Customization options
Ease of Use
Value for the Money
Comfort
Brand Reliability*
Overall Rating
3.5/5
Benefits
Drawbacks
Recommended For: Casual or hobbyist users, though the chair does offer some therapeutic value as well.
Are you short on space? Looking for a decent, modestly-priced massage chair that’s attractively designed, relatively compact, and filled with enough features to give you a great massage and even offer a bit in the way of therapeutic value?
If you answered yes to one or both of those questions, then the Synca CirC massage chair might be exactly what you’ve been looking for.
Haven’t heard of Synca? You’re certainly not alone, but the brand is an up and coming one, and they’ve been wowing the buying public with their small but surprisingly impressive product line, which includes this model.
In the sections that follow, we’ll go over everything this great little chair can and can’t do so you’ll have all the information you need to decide if it’s the right model for you. If that sounds good to you, let’s jump right in and see what makes this little chair special.
An Overview of the Synca Wellness CirC Massage Chair
Surprisingly small. That’s the first thing most people think when they initially see the Synca CirC Massage Chair. In fact, many customers assume it was made for children. While it’s certainly true that kids can use and enjoy it, the short answer is no. It wasn’t designed exclusively for kids, although its smallish size may make it a poor fit if you’re a taller person, average sized or shorter adults will fit into it perfectly.
Stylistically, it looks fairly similar to the Apex iCozy but sports a very different set of features. Before we go into details about those, however, let’s take a look at a few basic stats that define the CirC:
- Overall Chair Dimensions: 39” x 21.6” x 37.”
- Chair Weight: 70 pounds
- Maximum User Weight: 250 pounds
- Warranty: 1 year
- Recommended Height Range: 4’9” to 6.’
We’re skeptical about the height range listed for the chair. In our view, it would be a stretch for someone six feet tall to fit comfortably into the chair, but your mileage may vary depending on your body shape.
As you can see, though, given its size and weight, this chair will fit just about anywhere.
So, if you’ve convinced yourself that you couldn’t get a massage chair because you just didn’t have a room big enough to put it in, this model is proof that space doesn’t have to be the defining issue.
Aesthetically, while it does somewhat resemble a gaming chair, it’s a reasonably attractive design and offered in a small selection of fun colors, which makes it easy to blend into most home décor schemes.
Of course, basic stats don’t even begin to tell the whole story, so next, let’s take a look at the massage features the model has to offer.
An L-Track and Dual Rollers
On the face of it, the CirC starts well. The massage track runs down the back of the chair and under the seat, so when you’re sitting in it, you’ll get a massage that runs from your shoulders to your glutes and the backs of your thighs.
Bear in mind that this is a smallish chair, so the massage track is only 34” in length. For comparison, some L-Track chairs have tracks up to fifty inches long.
We’re not knocking the track length, but it is something to be aware of. The rollers, however, are a genuine disappointment. Dual rollers are outdated technology.
The current industry standard is quad rollers, and you can find chairs on the market today that offer a six-roller array.
Clearly, the company opted for dual rollers as a cost-saving measure but be aware that massage quality does suffer for it. We’re not saying here in our Synca CirC review that the CirC delivers a bad massage experience.
It’s actually quite good, and dual rollers were, after all, the former industry standard. It’s just that there are better options available on the market today.
More Options Than You Might Think
Dual rollers aside, you’ll be pleasantly surprised at the number of options on offer here. First up, let’s talk about massage techniques. The CirC offers:
Unfortunately, you won’t find any advanced massage techniques on offer, but it’s got the basics well covered. Although there’s no way to adjust the roller speed, you can adjust their intensity via three different settings, and on top of that, you’ll find five automatic massage programs on offer, giving you one-touch convenience.
Each massage is capped at a fifteen-minute time limit, and there’s no way to adjust it, but of course, if fifteen minutes of massage bliss isn’t enough for you, it’s easy enough to order another one as soon as the first one ends.
If you don’t want what the auto-programs offer, you can, of course, create your own custom massage experience via the simple, well-designed remote, which includes the ability to direct the rollers to focus on specific areas (zone and spot massage modes).
On the whole, the Synca Wellness CirC offers more than we expected. However, it should be noted that if you’re willing to spend even a little more money, you can get a chair that offers much more in the way of basic massage functionality. Of course, the issue then might be that the chair in question wouldn’t fit into whatever space you have available, so it’s a tradeoff, to be sure.
Airbags Too!
The CirC also offers a modest number of airbags, ten in all, and can deliver an airbag-based massage to your hips, glutes, and thighs.
Unfortunately, there’s no way to adjust the intensity of the air massage you get, but the default setting is quite good and will serve the vast majority of the market well. Like the roller-based massage, the air massage is hard-capped at fifteen minutes.
Bear in mind that these ten are “first-generation” airbags, which continues Synca’s theme of utilizing slightly out-of-date technology, but they use them to good effect, and you’ll be quite pleased with the massage you get from them.
One Powerful Therapeutic Feature on Offer
The Synca Wellness Massage Chair even offers a feature with therapeutic value in the form of heat! Massage, of course, has some therapeutic value on its own, but massage plus heat is even better.
Granted, there are limitations. The heat is confined to the lumbar region of the chair only, and there’s no way to adjust its temperature, but heat in any form is always a welcome addition, and we were thrilled to see it put in an appearance here.
A Small Extra as Well
In addition to the above, the CirC includes a pair of LEDs that emit a soft amber glow when the chair is in use.
We’re not sure this qualifies as chromotherapy in the accepted sense of the word, but it’s a nice addition that does enhance the overall experience for some people.
What About Body Scanning Technology?
Most massage chairs come with some means of adjusting the position of the rollers. This can either be accomplished via a scan that the chair performs when someone sits in it – automatically adjusting the rollers on the fly – or the company will offer buttons on the remote that allow the user to shift the rollers to their liking. An increasing percentage of models for sale these days offer both.
Sadly, the CirC offers neither. The rollers do what they do. If they hit the pressure points, also known as trigger points, on your back, they do. If not, you’re out of luck unless you shift your position, which could lead to some awkward seating positions.
We can overlook the fact that a chair offered in this price range (under $1000) lacks tons of control options or advanced massage techniques, but in our view, this is a piece of basic functionality that just should have been included in some way. We did deduct from the model’s final score for its absence. We hope that the company will continue to refine this model and that the next iteration will have some means of adjusting the rollers.
Easy to Use and Master
Despite offering a surprising number of features for such a modest price, the remote of the CirC is well-designed and intuitive. It’s certainly no more complicated than your TV remote, and thanks to the auto programs, you’ll be able to sit down and start enjoying your first massage mere minutes after you decide which room you want to put the chair in. Well done, Synca!
Pros and Cons of Synca Circ Massage Chair
Honestly, we were impressed by Synca’s offering. The CirC falls short of greatness, but its features are well implemented, even though it utilizes dated tech to deliver its massage experience. In our view, the best features this chair brings to the table are:
There are limitations, of course, and in our view, these are the most significant:
Of these, our biggest gripe with the chair is the lack of roller adjustment, and if we could ask for one additional feature to be added to the design, roller adjustment would be our pick.
Everyone’s body shape is different, and if the rollers in the chair don’t happen to hit the right spots on your back, your only option is to wiggle around awkwardly in the chair to try and make it work. That’s obviously a less-than-optimal solution, but it’s what you’re faced with if you buy this chair.
Synca CirC Massage Chair Review Conclusion
While the CirC does have its limitations, most of them are a function of the design decisions made by the team that put it together. They were interested in two things: Deliver a decent massage experience and do it at a modest price.
In our view, they succeeded where both goals are concerned, and anything we would recommend adding to the design would also increase its cost, thus taking it out of the value segment of the market. On the whole, then, we recommend the Synca Circ Massage Chair, but given the lack of body scanning technology, we would urge potential buyers to try it out firsthand before committing to a purchase.
Recommended Reading
Apex iCozy Massage Chair Review
Our evaluation highlights the Apex iCozy, a remarkably affordable recliner that offers a satisfying massage experience.
BestMassage EC 06C Massage Chair Review
We’ve examined the BestMassage EC 06C, a massage chair that offers just the right features for hobbyists and casual users.
References & Resources:
- Synca, Official Brand Website.
- 10 Signs Why It’s Time to Invest in a Massage Chair Today, Pool Advisors.
- Massage Chairs Can Definitely Benefit Your Mental Health, Positive Living.
