Customer Reviews

Homedics SBM-300 Therapist Select Shiatsu Massaging Cushion

5 star:		(128)
4 star:		(62)
3 star:		(16)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(36)

 

 

Just got mine yesterday, and it still works! It has a two-year warranty, and I think the previous poster had a demo model or just a fluke or lemon.

This is a huge improvement over the older model, the SBM-200, which I tried in a store. Besides the fact that it adds "rolling" massage which can be adjusted by width, the SBM-300 adds an essential feature the older model did not have: using "spot" mode, you can STOP the rolling balls at any spot on your back and work on that area for a while. You can then move it up or down to another perfect spot.

This model also adds a vibrating seat which is a good addition.
The elastic strapping system will work with almost any type of chair.

My only complaint is that the older model had a thicker, better external cover to soften the massage if needed, but you can easily add a towel or some other material for this purpose. Also, one wishes it would go down a little lower and up a little higher, but if you adjust your position in the chair it will reach those portions of the back.

To summarize -- this massage cushion rocks! (and rolls).

EDIT: It is now two years later. The original cushion died after one year. It was under warranty, so I sent it back. A month later, I received a brand-new unit. It was dead on arrival, would not power up. I sent that one back. This time it took three months to get another (new) unit. This worked one time, then died.

I have serious doubts about the quality of this product, and am getting pretty tired of continually sending in these units. Has Homedics ever heard of quality control?

My rating has gone down from five to two stars.

I ordered the SBM-200 and was happy with the item until my wife expressed displeasure over not being able to stop the up-down mechanism for "spot-massaging." In looking over the next two higher models, I noticed that some internet stores were pricing the SBM-300 above the gaudy, illuminated, top-of-the-line QRM-400. It would definitely appear, then, that the SBM-300, currently going on Amazon for a mere 20 bucks more than the SBM-200, would be the no-brainer choice and a bargain to boot. I now have both the 200 and 300 on "trial," and I'm afraid the choice is not as conclusive as I had hoped.

Advantages of the 300:

1. You can stop the mechanism (in the shiatsu mode only) over a specific area of your back.
2. In addition to the shiatsu action, it offers "roller action" (the wheels simply travel up and down your spine without the pushing, in and out movement, for a gentler massage).
3. You can adjust the width of the rollers, possibly taking some pressure off of the spine itself.
4. It comes with a vibrating seat cushion.

Advantages of the 200.

1. It's still twenty bucks cheaper.
2. It's a trifle less bulky and definitely less "conspicuous." Rather than a shiny, silver surface, it provides a sleek, black leatherette look that practically blends in with my chair.
3. By omitting the "rolling action," it limits gratuitous choices, making life that much simpler (who wants a "gentler" massage, anyway?).
4. It doesn't come with a vibrating seat cushion.

HoMedics has finally come out with an affordable, transportable product that's capable of some rough and ready action. What possessed them to think that a harmless, ineffective bottom buzzer would enhance its usefulness or credibility? The opposite is true. (Did someone from Ronco help design the 300? Or are there applications, gender-specific or otherwise, that some of us are not meant to understand? At least it has its own on and off switch.)

Really really nice massager. Definately better than a lot of the other chair pads out there for sure. Lightyears better than the SBM-200 and slightly more powerful than the QBM-400, which is $30 more and has a really tacky (IMO) blue light.

I do have a few gripes though.

1) The only securing straps are on the back, there are none on the bottom. The seat pad tends to slip around.

2) It is surprisingly deep. It takes up a good 4" of your seatroom, and on my full size office chair, it hangs off by about an inch. I'll probably move it to a bigger chair, but then I'm worried the straps won't be big enough).

3) It's loud. I didn't expect this. It's not super annoying, but you can hear it "changing gears" every once in a while, especially in the upper part of the back. I can see this driving some people absolutely crazy.

4) The leg vibration is very weak. Kinda silly really. Doesn't do a whole lot.

5) Gets hot really quickly. And this concerns me a bit because this is not supposed to be a heating pad....I xuppose I could relax and enjoy it but it's hard to destress with a massage pad when you're worried your toy is going to set on fire and burn your house down.

6) It's REALLY powerful. If you have a knot, it can be painful to knead it out. Of course this means it's effective. But those balls definately work your back thoroughly, sometimes slightly uncomfortable.

7) This is a massager tip in general, not specific to this device. If you use it within an hour of eating a big meal, you will feel very queasy. It's shaking up your innards as they're trying to digest.

8) It's very uncomfortable to sit on when it's off because of where the balls are located "at rest". I thought I could fix this by moving the balls up to the top before turning it off but it always goes back to that same position before powering down. It could be worse but it's a tad uncomfortable.

The pros outweigh the cons, but this is a realistic view of this device. Far from perfect, but a nice massage tool nevertheless.

However, the pros definately outweigh the cons. It's a really nice

NOTICE!!!
Before you use this cushion you MUST first 'unlock' the rollers which are held in place by a screw which MUST be removed or the unit will self destruct. The manufacturer provides a hex wrench to remove the shipping screw and a large label on the back of the device states that if the screw is not removed then the item will be damaged when you turn it on.
The large tag says "For the shiatsu mechanism to function, you MUST remove and discard screw BEFORE using this cushion. Failure to do so WILL CAUSE PERMANENT DAMAGE TO THE PRODUCT". The manual does not mention this screw. There is a two year warranty and a $[...] (ten dollar) handling fee for warranty repairs. I suppose that the warranty is void if you do not remove the screw, however, it seems that only by luck would one normally find this shipping screw (and tag) that holds the rolling mechanism in place during shipping.

There is nothing better available anywhere in this price range. It is a supreme bargain when it works the way that it is supposed to. It gives an excellent massage, it is adjustable (width of massaging mechanism), you can 'focus' the massage location, you can choose which portion of your back to massage or do a 'full' rolling or 'full' shiatsu massage (within inches of both sides of your spine).

Cons: It could be a bit longer (6 inches) to reach the base of the neck (I am 5' 11"). You can adjust it to massage (also) higher but you have to fold back (under) the seat portion and jack-up the massager to reach higher. Also there are two vibrating (only) goobers that are in the seat cushion (under your thighs) and these are without any significant therapeutic value.

Never-the-less, this item provides significant value for the money. I have tried out $[...] massage chairs that are not as good (therapeutic) as this item.

My item works perfectly, however, from reading the reviews it seems that there is a bit of a 'crap shoot' in getting one that works. I suspect that some vendors are re-selling the broken returns (non-screw removal) rather than sending them back to the manufacturer.

This item was awarded a Best Buy citation by Consumers Digest and I certainly agree with their assessment. If you need some 'work' on your back or just want a frequent relaxing back massage then this item will fill-the-bill and exceed your expectations! Anything else in this price range (aside from the HoMedics SBM-200, which is similar but has fewer features @ $[...] plus shipping from an Amazon vender) will not compare.

I bought this massager as it was the best I could get and I was not willing to shell out 500 - 1000 bucks on the full massage chair. Because I work at a desk all day long, and sometimes need to go for long drives, I get frequent backaches and shoulder knots. This massage pad helps when I need some quick-n-easy relief.

So, here are the pro's:

- Works just like it's supposed to. Have never had problems getting it to work. The power supply unit, the remote, etc are designed rugged and intuitive.
- The full shiatsu massage is like a charm ..!! Helps a lot .. especially in the lower back.
- You can adjust it to work on the points, which is great.

And the cons:
- The back length is a little bit less than I would have liked. It does not reach my shoulders, so I have to slide over a bit to get my shoulders worked on. I am about 6', so it would be great for people not as tall ..
- The cushion on the back is thin .. so the rolling ball hurts unless I put a towel or something on top of the cushion.

basically, I would say you get good value for money with this thing. If you buy anything cheaper, you most probably will not use it after a little while. If you want something better than this, be ready to shell out for the massage chairs.

I don't really care too much for the seat massager .. I don't use it.

... and you have burned so very, very brightly, SBM-300."

Sadly, I agree with all three of the previous reviewers. This massager is the best I've tried, but mine stopped powering up after three uses. Five stars for the massage + One star for the 40 minute lifetime = Don't lose that receipt!

I bought my SBM300 Shiatsu Massaging Cushion having had before the nçmodel SBM200 version of the same type of cushion.
Both of them had the same defect and broke in the same place after three or four months of normal use. There is a plastic vertical piece that serves as a guide of the moving mechanism which is made of a thin and cheap plastic which broke in the same place with both cushions. I disassembled the cushion to try to fix it as I live in Argentina, South America and it is impossible to send it by any means and I found this very cheap, thin plastic guide that cannot possible hold the back of a normal person. I weigh 154lbs and I am 5'7'and I dont understand how can I possibly break a piece of plastic by leaning gently as I always did, knowing about the weakness of this plastic in my previous cushion.
I imagine this defect repeats itself in almost 100% of the failures of this cushion and should have been analized and replaced by a stronger plastic.Does Homedics have any type of quality control and engineering design? I simply dont understand this lack of capacity to fix such evident and reported defects.
The cushion is all right and brings good service and action, but until it breaks. In my case my failure rate was 100% in both cushions that I bought through Amazon.

I purchased both the SBM-300 and the QRM-400 and compared them side by side. After a trial of each, I have decided that I prefer the SBM-300. Firstly, both these models are better than the SBM-200 for the very important feature of "spot massage", which allows you to pinpoint exactly what area you want massaged. The SBM-200 goes up and down the spine, but won't stay in a particular location.

The SBM-300 is better than the QRM-300 for the following reasons: it offered me a deeper massage, it's cheaper, and it has a "vibrate" feature in the seat cushion, which the more expensive QRM-300 lacks. Admittedly, the vibrate is a minor feature, but it's actually kinda nice and relaxing. The QRM-300 uses a "new technology" that is more like massage chairs- the massaging mechanism looks like the wheel of a roller blade. The SBM-300 uses the "older" technology of a rotating pair of metal balls. Old technology or not, it gave me a deeper, more satisfying massage. The QRM massage was wimpy by comparison.

Finally, the QRM takes up more room (it's thicker, in order to accomodate the new mechanism) which means less rom on the chair. The rollers have these blue lights that do NOT turn off when the power is off-- the only way to turn off the lights is to unplug the entire thing from the wall socket. Not only is this dumb, it seems environmentally irresponsible as well.

I tried out the demo for the sbm 200 at a mall and really liked it so when I saw there was an improved sbm 300 I just had to have it. The day I received it I had it strapped to a chair and enjoyed my first deep massage thoroughly...it was wonderful! After 15 minutes the auto stop came on and it quit...great! this works too. A couple hours later I go to use it again and it won't power up! I tried everything but to no avail. I get the owners manual and find an email address in it for service so I contact them about this problem and so far....no reply from them. I guess I have to package it up again and mail it back... really bums me out! They need to fix this defect and fix it fast.

This product is the equal to chairs that cost 10X as much. The Shiatsu unit is really strong and adjustible as to width that THE HEADS Are PLACED thus making it fit your needs. Another good feature is auto shut off that keeps it from overheating as well as making an auto shutoff at 15-20 minutes. So if you fall asleep you won't have to worry about over massageing your back. The bottom (where your butt goes) isn't very impressive but the back Massage is. Well worth the price. A bargan compared to buying a chair. I like to use it with a high back desk chair that inclines some that will give the unit the right support and you the right pressure. Good for low and upper back (right between the shoulders)