Product Review For The SA 5000 KU Massage Chair By Sanyo

By Charles Presco

This review covers the SA 5000 massage chair by Sanyo. We will evaluate the features, options and warranty of this mid range chair. There are many chairs on the market and many from small factories in China at very low prices. It is important to find good brands with strong warranties so you can have many years of peaceful and relaxing massage therapy. Let us take a look at this Sanyo massage chair.

Sanyo has made some changes to its warranty for the benefit of the consumer. Sanyo covers the roller mechanism for 3 years, provides 1 year on the other parts and 1 year labor. They have started in home technician service and will cover the first year. This is a great step forward, because before you needed to take your chair to a service center. This was not much fun for anyone who had to do it. Also, Sanyo has a national call center which is open 24/7. This has allowed them to centralize control over parts logistics and improve service levels.

The SA 5000 comes with a full remote control and also comes with wired sub remote. The main remote control has 4 automatic programs. You can turn the chair on and then select the automatic program. Additionally, you can select a particular area of focus for your back. For example, lower back and then the massage therapy will be confined to just this area. It also operates the rest of the chair regardless of the area of focus on your back. Manual massages involve a few more steps that take some getting used to until it is more intuitive. The remote is pretty intuitive to use, but again some investment of time is required to manage the manual massages effectively.

One of the features rolled down from the higher end Sanyo is the perspiration and pulse sensor. This sensor is built into the wired sub remote. It detects areas of stress in the body. The sensor then feeds this information to the computer and the software will adjust the massage to target areas based on these readings. In order for this to function, the user must grip the sensor throughout the massage. Also, the sub remote allows you to change the position of the chair back and the leg rest. It also has a repeat function. The repeat function will command the chair to repeat the massage just given in the place it was given. This is convenient when it hits one of the key places and you need it to stay there a little longer.

There are 4 effective massage therapies built into the SA-5000. They are Stiffness, Recovery, Relax and Fine. Each has specific target areas and results. All of them deliver full body massage therapy. Stiffness is based on Shiatsu massage and is for the back and legs. Recovery helps to loosen stiff and tired muscles. Relax is for achieving total body relaxation and tranquility of the mind. Fine helps to increase blood and lymph flow. The SA 5000 also has 3 stretching functions for the lower body. You can activate a stretch function and it will seamlessly plug into the massage treatment already activated.

The SA 5000 has some innovative and unique manual massages. In particular the Grip massage. The grip massage is possible through the GK roller system unique to Sanyo. These rollers are designed to reach out from the chair. The grip massage is effective for the shoulder and neck areas. Additionally, the manual massages are Shiatsu, Kneading, Tapping, and Combination. Shiatsu uses a combination of the chopping and kneading actions. The kneading massage is a pinching action particularly effective in loosening tight back muscles and shoulders. Tapping is a rapidly delivered soft blows at a rate of up to 200 per minute. The Combination runs the kneading and tapping at the same time.

The Sanyo SA-5000 also has an effective lower body massage. The lower body massage is an air compression system which utilizes airbags to give a compression massage. The airbags are located to target the thighs, calves and feet. There are specially designed shiatsu pressure point nodes in some of the airbags to hit your trigger points. These trigger points are based on acupressure massage and help induce full body relaxation. The air bags provide an effective squeeze to loosen and invigorate tight muscles of the thighs, calves and feet. Sanyo has also included a heater element in the foot wells to warm the soles of your feet.

The Sanyo SA 5000 is overall an impressive massage recliner. The massage therapy is well designed and effective. We especially like the Grip massage which is particularly effective for the neck and shoulder areas. This is unique to Sanyo and a positive step forward for massage chair technology. The look of the chair is a little industrial and plain. Sanyo needs to step up in the design arena to match their technology. The warranty coverage is great with the 1 year in home service, but is a bit substandard in other regards. You should consider an extended warranty to match the best manufacturers. Overall, this is definitely a model you want to consider if you are looking for a mid range massage chair recliner. - 29954

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