Inada Dreamwave Massage Chair Review – Is It Over Hyped?

Inada have positioned themselves as one of the premium brands within the massage chair space, and the Inada Dreamwave massage chair (previously named the Inada Sogno Dreamwave) is no doubt the most famous product, with a reputation that seems to be mostly positive. The question we want to try and answer in this review, is whether or not the Inada is really worth the high end retail, or has it been over hyped with clever marketing?

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At this point, if you're seriously considering the Inada Dreamwave, you have quite likely read a few reviews on the product already. Unfortunately it seems from our research that the information provided by other sites on this product, was pretty incomplete, and didn't provide enough information for us to be able to verify the value of this product.

This page humbly aims to be your total reference resource for the Dreamwave, and to provide all the information required to help you make the best decision for your personal needs. We'll be looking at common questions about the Inada Dreamwave, problems that customers who brought the product may have had, and of course a detailed look into the features provided by the Dreamwave.

An Introduction Into Inada's Dreamwave

As mentioned, Inada's Dreamwave is touted as THE premium product in the massage chair market place, apparently better than any other massage chair that's out there.

Some of the features that this particular model include, which help the manufacturer feel that they can claim it's worthiness as leader of the pack are, for one, it's broad massage surface area with approximately 1200 square inches of massage coverage, which is apparently more than provided by any other massage chair in the world (again, according to the manufacturer).

The large coverage area of this particular chair is said to allow for a “cradling” type feel to the whole massage experience when using the Dreamwave, compared to other brands of massage chair which may feel a little cramped, particularly if you're of a larger sized frame.

Another big selling point, and “claim to fame” for this model and most of Inada's range, is the proprietary figure 8 motion used by the chair's roller system, which is said to closely model the way a massage therepist balances their treatment during a shiatsu massage session.

Another Inada Proprietary feature included in this model is the stretching mechanism, which according to Inada themselves allows for the “most capable and complete” stretching function of all massage chairs, and which uses a gentle rotational stretching mechanism to work the mid back, shoulders and hips of the user.

If you haven't really seen the chair in full detail up close, here's one of the promo videos from the manufacturer's website, which gives you a good idea of the look and setup of the chair (this is video marketing at it's best, but still it gives you a good idea of how the chair will look “in person” if you do decide to go with this model):

The Dreamwave flaunts the ability to choose from 8 pre-programmed different massage options, including morning and nighttime programmes, of which the nighttime session especially, has been said by many users to have greatly benefited their ability to get a good nights sleep.

Apart from that, Inada's “Youth Session” feature provides a great option for younger users (14 years or older) to be able to take advantage of the wonderful relaxing benefits of the Dreamwave.

Cheaper Popular Massage Chair Alternatives

 

Quick Glance Main Features For The Inada Dreamwave

The Dreamwave's Basic Product Specs

Model Pros Vs Cons

A Closer Look At The Dreamwave's Main Features

Inada's “Dreamwave” Technology

This patented technology from Inada, is one of the features that sets the Dreamwave and other models apart from the other available brands. The Dreamwave technology allows for the roller to operate in a wave like motion across the users back, which makes the massage experience much more realistic and therefore relaxing. This technology is supposed to mimic the shiatsu massage technique (which is a form of massage traditional in Japan, and since it's “release” into the West, has become very popular).

When using this feature, the massage chair moves slowly in a figure-8 pattern, whilst at various intervals in the session, the airbags are inflated to work the lower back, also creating compression for the hips and thighs. The airbags will also continue to work the lower legs and feet, at the same time as the Dreamwave technology is working away.

This is said to be a very relaxing programme featured by the Dreamwave, and great even if you don't have any specific lower back pain at all. It's popularity may be the reason that Inada have used this the name “Dreamwave” within the name of the model itself.

1000+ Massage Variation Options To Choose From

Sporting over 1000 different potential massage combinations using the manual options, you certainly won't get an Inada Dreamwave and then feel that you've exhausted all the options that the chair has to offer any time soon. In fact with the amount of massage options this model has, it's far more likely that you'll never even need to try anywhere near half of them.

It's far more often the case that a user will find 1-3 sessions that they really enjoy (often found in the 8 preset healthcare programmes which will discuss shortly), and tend to stick with those. After all, if you've found a few programmes that create DEEP relaxation for you, why bother messing around with trying a whole lot more?

The various options in the manual modes include the massage types: back vibration, human hands, kneading, rolling, tapping and others.

Largest Massage Surface Area Of Any Massage Chair

The Dreamwave is hugely spacey and “roomey” compared to many of it's competing products from other companies. With over 1200 square inches, users report that they feel they have loads of room when sitting in the Dreamwave compared to some other chairs they've tried.

It's size and shape are also very accommodating for those users who are a little taller than average, with it having the capacity to allow for people anywhere between 5 feet tall, and 6 1/2 feet.

Shiatsu Massage Point Locator

The Dreamwave includes an automatic scanner that will scan your particular body shape, and determine the correct position for the shiatsu points on your body. This helps you get a more comfortable and effective massage from the chair, and makes your sessions much more productive.

Full Upper Body Massage

This is one feature that may be slightly deceptive in its titling. The Inada Dreamwave does not do the front part of the body, but more the full back, shoulders, arms, etc.

It's important to understand this point, especially for those potential buyers who are specifically looking for something to help them with say post swimming training soreness, and would like something that can work their pectoral muscles, etc, and generally more of the muscles found towards the front of the body.

Infrared Back and Seat Heat

There is a heater on the Inada Dreamwave, which is positioned under the seat, and provides heat to the glutes and back for added comfort. The feedback from users on this particular feature is that the heat provided is not overly intense. Therefore if you're expecting the chair to provide you intense heat which would be enough to keep you warm on a cold day for example, then you might need additional heating supplied by something like a heat mat.

Calf, Foot and Sole Massager

The Dreamwave provides a well designed option for giving deep massage treatment to the calf, foot and soles of the user, and includes rollers in the foot massager unlike many of the cheaper chairs on the market which only offer airbag/airpressure massage to this area.

As you can see from the image here, your legs and feet are very well supported by the Dreamwave, and this provides a more thorough treatment to this area, helping your whole body to relax more deeply.

Deep Relaxation Setting

It's a little hard to find much information on exactly WHAT the deep relaxation setting on the Dreamwave does, but it seems that it's a feature which allows you to multiply and “stack” various sessions on top of each other. Here's a quick video from the manufacturer showing what this looks like when selecting it via the controller:

“Youth” Session Option

Another proprietary feature from Inada that's featured among the list for the Dreamwave is it's “Youth Session”. This is basically just a less intense session which can be used by teenagers above the age of 14, potentially allowing your children or other young relatives to be able to try out the wonderful healing benefits of this massage chair.

Hand Held Remote

The hand held remote for the Inada dreamwave is well made, compact, and allows the user to control the chairs vast array of options without including too many buttons which would only confuse the user. Here's what the controller looks like:

Smart Phone Pocket/Integration

The smart phone pocket/integration is honestly just a gimmicky name for a useful pocket on the chair's interior left hand side as you can see from the below image. This is an example of clever marketing. Not saying the Dreamwave isn't a massage chair that's at the top of it's class, but these kind of gimmicky marketing techniques honestly just make products look less high end.

 

8 Pre-Programmed “Healthcare Sessions”

Most massage chairs, especially the higher range chairs, will include some degree of preset or pre-programmed modes, and the Dreamwave is no exception. The Inada Dreamwave's programmes are well varied, and again similarly to the options with the manual modes, you are spoiled for choice.

Included you will find four “wellbeing programmes” and eight “healthcare programmes”. All of these programmes are shiatsu massage based.

The programmes include the options of “Morning”, “Night-time”, “Stretch” and “Dreamwave” which is their programme said to be designed to reach deep levels of general relaxation. This particular option could be very well suited to someone who's looking to find something to help soothe and relax them after a hard day at work, or who maybe suffers from nighttime anxiety and possibly an associated degree of insomnia (as the two often go side by side).

The “Youth”session is also found here, and this is obviously a mode designed for the needs of younger users (above fourteen years old).

Shoulder And “Full Arm” Massage Capability

Said to be the very first massage chair that provides users with a “full arm” massage, the Dreamwave again offers unique features, which is the reason it's so highly priced.

Using 20 airbags, the arm massage area works to give the user a thorough kneading action all the way from the shoulder joints down to the fingertips. This movable unit area built into the Dreamwave, adjusts laterally to your size, and will allow you to relax deeply and easily as you experience a gentle kneading massage, that focuses fully on your arms and shoulders.

Body Scanner With 106 Body Profiles

When you first begin your massage session, the body scanner on the Inada Dreamwave will finely tune itself to your unique body profile, using the patented shiatsu body scan. As the chair tunes itself, you'll be notified by a series of gentle chimes (as in video), and then once done, you'll start your session.

The video from Inada illustrates this more clearly:

Feedback From Customers Who Bought The Sogno Dreamwave and Dreamwave

The customer feedback from people who have bought either the Inada Sogno Dreamwave (the “Sogno” part of the name was discontinued in 2014), or the newer version simply called the Inada Dreamwave, is very positive generally, largely receiving 4-5 star ratings.

Many of the reviews sound almost over the top in their description of just how amazing this chair is, to the point where it almost sounds like marketing hype. But these are from verified purchase reviews, and after looking at the reviewer sources on Amazon myself to verify that they seemed like real people, it seems all good. You can click on the name of the reviewer to see what other reviews they've written.

A quick note on judging reviews – If you are ever looking to buy a product, and notice a large majority of positive reviews but very few “verified purchasers”, or that upon clicking to look at the reviewers profile they either have zero other reviews, or all of their reviews are positive with 5 star ratings, then this should raise a big red flag for you. This was not the case with the Inada Dreamwave massage chair listing however.

Regarding the relatively large investment of the Dreamwave, there are several reviewers who stated that they initially felt that they'd been a little “wreckless” with such a large purchase price for a massage chair, but then due to how much value and relaxation they got from it, felt that it was a worthy purchase, and they were glad that they had spent an extra $2-3K to get the best of the best in terms of quality.

Apart from that, generally speaking from most of the reviewers there are some minor gripes of course, it would be weird to see nothing negative at all, so it's a good sign I think. Some people were a little displeased that the Dreamwave doesn't include a more focused head massage feature built in, and a few other people were unhappy with the intensity of the built in heater for this model.

Ultimately the feedback for the Dreamwave is extremely positive, whilst, not perfect of course. There are always going to be people who are unhappy with something, so you have to factor that into things when assessing the importance of the feedback from other customers. If however any of the specific issues that other reviewers have had with the chair specifically match your desires for a massage chair, then you might want to look at that more closely.

If the slight imperfections aren't a problem for you, then based on all the overwhelmingly positive feedback on the chair in regards to it's wonderful diversity of massage programs, high quality build, and just the sheer relaxation that is able to be achieved by using the Dreamwave, then this could be a great choice for you.

Click Here To See The Reviews From Others Who Bought The Dreamwave On Amazon

 

Are There Any Problems With Inada's Dreamwave Model?

Of course, like with any model massage chair, no matter that it's supposed to be the premium model from Inada, the Dreamwave has been criticized for a few things, and no review would be complete without acknowledging the potential weaknesses as well as the obvious strengths of this product.

Probably one of the most pronounced issues with the Inada Dreamwave massage chair is it's sheer weight. It weighs in at approximately 265 pounds, or 120 Kilograms. Even for a professional top end massage chair such as this, this is heavy. Although this is a bit of an issue, it's likely that for most users they are not going to be moving their chair around that much, once it's setup. It's something to be aware of nonetheless.

Some features that some people felt were missing from the Dreamwave, and that could have been included, were localized head massage support for one, which other brands of massage chairs do offer, so it's not that it doesn't exist. For some reason Inada didn't feel the need to include it, despite the Dreamwave being the price it is.

Another feature that some people feel was a bit of a problem was the heater, which quite a few customers put as one of the minuses in an otherwise very positive purchase. Maybe this is a feature that Inada will take into account more closely on their next release of the model.

So yes there are a few issues with this chair, it's not perfect by any means.  That being said, it's still one of the highest quality massage chairs available on the market, and you'd be hard pressed to find a chair that offers such versatility along with features that enable it to provide you with an extremely deep level of relaxation.

The Best Places To Purchase The Inada's Dreamwave Online

As with most online purchases, you have quite a few options when it comes to buying an Inada Dreamwave online. It depends if you want to go with a smaller provider, or a larger recognized vendor such as Amazon.com.

If going with Amazon.com, with this particular model massage chair in most cases you will be buying it through the Amazon system, but from a reseller anyway. So this is a good strategy if you want the security of online purchase that only bigger providers like Amazon, Ebay, etc can offer. This is the the risk with going through smaller, less renowned websites, they generally have less secure payment portals, though of course this is a generalization.

Click Here To See The Current Price For The Dreamwave On Amazon

 

Common Questions About This Model

Conclusion – Is The Inada Dreamwave Really Worth The Price?

So based on the reputation of the Dreamave, it's versatility of high quality features, and most importantly the feedback from many other customers who've actually made the investment into this premium massage chair, it seems that the “hype” may indeed be around for a reason.

Inada have held their positive reputation for years in this space, and the Dreamwave is their premium product, which truly does deliver a very high quality massage with an array of features and options to make your relaxing experience even more pleasurable. Ultimately your decision on whether or not to get this massage chair over another will come down to whether or not you want to take the plunge, and get the best of the best for a bit more of an investment.

Click Here To See The Current Price For The Dreamwave On Amazon

One thing is clear though from the feedback, users who've experienced both the Dreamwave, and other brands/models of massage chair that are a little cheaper, like the Osaki OS-4000 for example, place the Dreamwave in a whole different category, and feel that when they purchased a cheaper chair, the experience in comparison to the Dreamwave was simply not worth the difference in investment. Meaning, they felt that if they'd already outlaid several thousand dollars for a massage chair, and not gotten the best quality possible, then that was really a waste of money.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Useful Related Links

• Inada's Official Dreamwave Page
• Consumer Discussion On The Merits Of Massage Chairs For Relaxation
• Forum Discussion On the Dreamwave (Sogno and non Sogno)
• Massage Chairs On Wikipedia