Friday, September 12, 2008

Review of the Human Touch HT 7120 Massage Chair Recliner

By James Knolan


This product review is of the HT 7120 massage chair recliner by Human Touch. We will review this massage recliner in 5 separate categories including the following: warranty coverage and customer service, comfort and ergonomics, ease of use, key features and massage therapy. Each category can earn up to 20 points for a total possible rating of 100 points. The HT 7120 is a mid range massage chair in the $2,000 to $3,000 range.

Warranty Coverage and Customer Service: Warranty is at the company level, but nonetheless, warranties vary significantly with massage chairs. You want to make sure you have sufficient long term protection for this key investment. The HT 7120 warranty coverage is as follows: structure is covered 3 years, parts are covered 1 year and labor is covered 90 days. Human Touch also covers shipping expenses for parts for the first 90 days. The warranty coverage is on the low end for the industry and this price level. Customer service is provided by Human Touch and is effective. The HT 7120 earns a 12 in warranty and customer service.

Comfort and Ergonomics: Ergonomics is the science of designing products to fit your body and its associated movements. This is particularly important with massage chairs where you need to relax. The HT 7120 has a good ergonomic design and construction. It fits the body well and the adjustments are well positioned. Interestingly, you can adjust the width of the leg ottoman but it cannot be extended. We give this massage recliner an 18 for comfort and ergonomics.

Ease of Use: The massage chair industry is always adding features into chairs which is outstanding. The counterbalance to many features is ease of use. With so many new features, figuring out how to take advantage of them can be frustrating. The HT 7120 comes with a very well designed remote control. It is slim remote and has controls located on 2 sides of the remote. The remote is descriptive and fairly easy to use. There is no remote stand, so the remote tucks away in a pocket. The only cumbersome operation is flipping the leg ottoman, but other than that we give the HT 7120 a 19 in ease of use.

Key Features: The interesting features in the HT-7120 are the compression massage and the channel width adjustment in the leg ottoman. The compression massage is based on sports massage therapy. It is a combination of stroking massage and a rocking motion. The stroking massage helps to elongate muscles and also applies firm pressure for deep tissue relief. The rocking motion helps to loosen the spinal joints and relieve pressure. The channel width is adjustable in the leg ottoman. This is a nice feature allowing for the pressure to be adjusted to better accommodate your calves and feet. We give this recliner an 18 for key features.

Massage Therapy: There are various massage therapy functions with the HT 7120. It comes with 5 manual massage programs, 3 pre-set programs and 3 level height adjustments for the back. You can select from rolling, kneading, compression, percussion and vibration with the manual programs. You can select from sore muscle relief, energy rejuvenate and auto-demo for the pre-programs. One nice compliment to the massage therapy are the built in heaters for the lower back. You can also activate the full body stretch function. Your feet and calves can obtain soothing relief with the massaging leg ottoman. The HT-7120 earns a 19 for massage therapy.

So how does the HT 7120 rate overall? We give this recliner an 86/100. The main area of concern is the short warranty per the industry average. This is a well designed and constructed massage chair and we don't necessarily understand the short warranty. The massage chair boasts some excellent massage therapies with the compression massage. You get lower lumbar heat controls and a stretching function. If a mid range model is something you are considering, then the Human Touch HT 7120 may be a good massage chair recliner option.

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