Table of Contents
I’m impressed to see how many new massage chairs came out in 2019! Brands like Osaki, Titan, Human Touch showed no signs of slowing down, as they continued to release some fantastic models all throughout the year.
We’ll get into the nitty gritty technical stuff later on in this post, but for now here’s how this bad boy looks!
It comes in 4 different color schemes: black and cappuccino, black and gray, black, and brown. My favorite is the black and cappuccino show above; it has this timeless look to it which makes it a perfect fit for any living room!
Don’t fret as we will answer each of these questions as we go through the review!
2-dimensional rollers are those in which the rollers are able to move up/down along the length of the back and side to side along the width of the back. The image below depicts the range of motion you would typically see in 2D massage chairs.
When it comes to massage chair rollers, it goes like this: 2D are the most basic and oldest of all roller technology, 3D rollers have been around for a couple years and can be considered an intermediate, 4D rollers are fairly new and are the most advanced.
And that’s testament as to why manufacturers like Osaki continue to use them even on their new models!
We’ve talked about 2D rollers are and how they function, but now let’s look at an important characteristic of the rollers: the roller track!
Roller track is essentially the shape and distance a set of rollers traverse. It might be a little hard to understand now, but I promise it’ll make complete sense in a bit!
In terms of distance, 49” is pretty good. The most I’ve seen is 53”, so 49” isn’t all that far off. In terms of shape, there are 3 kinds you’ll typically find on a massage chair:
If I had you guess which shape is the best, what would you pick? If you picked “SL”, you’re absolutely correct!
While the OS Aster may have relatively old roller technology, it’s been designed to have impressive roller tracking! All in all 2 thumbs up from me in this department!
Now I know most of you are thinking…..”18 airbags? Isn’t that too little?” The answer is it depends.
In an attempt to reduce overall strain and power consumption, Osaki have opted for a more streamlined approach when designing the airbag system. Instead of going with more airbags, they’ve instead reduced the airbag count, while at the same time increasing the airbag surface area coverage. As a result you have 18 airbags that give a compression massage as good as any chair would!
Auto modes are the bread and butter of user experience when talking massage chairs. The more auto modes, the more choices users have, and quite likely the better the overall experience!
If you’re like most people, you wanna sink into the chair, maybe hit a few buttons at most on the remote control, and poof away you go into the land of relaxation and bliss! That’s why auto modes are in my opinion so important to consider when buying a massage chair.
All that being said, the OS Aster comes with a total of 6 auto modes to choose from. These are:
In addition to the 6 auto modes discussed above, you can also operate the chair in manual mode. Of course manual mode is more involved in that it requires you to take control of a few different settings. Having this ability to manually control a massage chair is definitely important!
So what all can you do in manual mode anyways? Below are a few of the settings you can tweak:
If there’s one thing I totally despise it’s assembly and install! I’m all about technical details and specs, but when it comes to assembly and install…..I usually pass the buck!
As far as assembly is concerned, all you need to do is connect the footrest to the rest of the chair. This has been detailed in the user manual which you can find by clicking here. Once you’re done connecting the footrest, all you gotta do is plug to a power outlet and you’re golden!
The maximum operating period for the OS Aster is 20 minutes. That is, 20 minutes is the longest duration you can get a massage for. Of course you can always reset or redo a mode again once the 20 minutes are over.
Like 95% of all massage chairs, the OS Aster was fully made and assembled in China. Although it’s made in China, the unit still ships out of the USA.
Yes it does. The OS Aster comes with both overheating and power surge safety protection. Peace of mind when you know this right!
Yes absolutely it does. You can select zero gravity recline directly from the remote control. Massage in zero gravity is even more effective!
Pretty darn easy! Take a look at the remote control and see for yourself. Most of it is all routine and cookie cutter once you’ve read the user manual and used the chair a few times.
The only way to properly answer this question is to see how the OS Aster compares to chairs with similar technology in the market. That is how does the Aster stack up against other chairs with 2D SL-Track rollers?
To answer this question I will do a side by side comparison of the Aster against 2 very well known 2D massage chairs: Osaki’s Pro Maxim & Ogawa’s Active L.
To make it as clear as possible, let’s go through some of the key differences in detail!
Of course the biggest deciding factor when buying a massage chair is price! All of us are only comfortable spending a certain amount and not any more than that. For some people this may be $2K, for others it might be $4K. Fact is everyone has a cap on what they’re willing to spend!
Pro Maxim is the cheapest from all 3, and therefore the winner in terms of price!
All 3 chairs employ 2D SL-Track rollers so the only difference to look at here is how far the rollers on each chair can traverse.
OS Aster is the winner here with a 49” SL-Track, although the Pro Maxim isn’t far behind with its 47” SL-Track!
This one’s pretty simple!
And the winner is….Pro Maxim with a whopping 12 auto modes!
All 3 chairs have a fairly decent weight rating (maximum weight a chair can accommodate), so that’s not going to be our focus here. Our focus will be specifically on the height range or the flexibility in user height that each chair offers.
Ogawa Active L has the best height flexibility, but the Pro Maxim is pretty much about the same as well. OS Aster is the only one that’s slightly lacking in this department.
Space saving is about how well a massage chair is able to fit in a limited space. Specifically it looks at the required wall clearance from back of head rest. Obviously the lower the clearance in inches, the better!
This one ends in a draw between both the Pro Maxim and Active L! Both require about 5 inches of wall clearance from the wall. OS Aster requires 10 inches. If you’ll recall, this was a shortcoming I discussed in the cons section earlier.
Not the biggest thing to scrutinize as it has zero impact towards functionality, but it’s worth mentioning here anyways.
Both the Pro Maxim and Active L come with built in Bluetooth speakers, so you can enjoy some tunes while getting a massage. OS Aster doesn’t come with any built in Bluetooth speakers.
My final recommendation for what it’s worth is:
And hopefully that’s clear to you from the comparison table and key differences we went through above. If you wish to read more about the Pro Maxim, you can do so by checking the chair out on massage chair deals using the link below.
If you decide to purchase the chair from massage chair deals using the link above, you can earn an extra 5% off by entering the code “MAM5” during checkout.
I also want to mention that should you decide to purchase any of the chairs on this post using my links, I will receive a commission at no extra cost to you. I use these commissions to offset any costs required to run and maintain this site, so if this review post was informative and helpful, and if you’ve decided to buy, then feel free to use my links if you please.
Lastly, if there’s anything else you would like answered about this chair or any other for that matter, please do not hesitate to get in touch. You can either drop me a comment below or email me at support@massagersandmore.com. Until next time folks!
Osaki OS Aster massage chair images were used with permission from Massage Chair Deals & Osaki Massage Chair
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