Sitting on and writing a review of the Sumo Omni Chair

When I originally received an email about reviewing the Sumo Omni Chair (Regular price $149, on sale: $129 USD, shipping is free) my first thought was pass. I’m not really a beanbag chair guy, especially higher quality — and thus more expensive — beanbag chairs. I prefer not to write reviews for products/services that aren’t typically in my shopping wheelhouse and furniture isn’t really my department. Still, I liked the look of the chairs shown in the Sumo Omni Chair website.

I asked a friend about the chair and he said not only had he bought one, he liked it (see him chanting SUMO! SUMO!). Still not completely convinced, but no disrespect to my friend, I mentioned the chair to my wife — and she looked over the website and said: I want one. Ok, ok, I’ll try it.

So I emailed Andrew back and said, send one along for review. If you want to stop here because I didn’t pay anything for this chair (and am not required to send it back after the review) that’s cool with me. Before sending the chair I warned Andrew in email that if I didn’t like the chair I’d be writing that, but he didn’t mind taking the chance.

My wife chose charcoal green and it took a couple weeks to arrive in the box shown at the top of this post. Extra points for no assembly required. The chairs come in the following colors: pitch black, charcoal green, platinum, midnight blue, fiery red, tangerine, hot pink (yikes!), pure white, lime green and funky brown.

As the Fonz says, “Sit on it.”
For this review, I’m trying something different: I’m actually sitting in the Sumo Omni Chair while writing every word of this review. But before opening that box, let’s take a look at my existing office chair:

It might be on the worn side, but works and others probably spend on a lot more on office chair than me. Office Depot sale special. Now compare to the charcoal gray Sumo Omni Chair:

Just pull out the Sumo Omni Chair, take off the plastic packaging and mold into the format you want to sit in — and sit. Sorry if you were expecting to fill it with beans first. No zipper, it’s sewn shut (Update 8:18am PST: in the comments below darkmoon points out there is a velcro opening to be able to add more beads, if you want a firmer chair.)

Beanbag chairs have always had a cheap, cheesy feel to sit in to me, but not the Sumo Omni Chair, which feels like some kind of high quality vinyl. The Sumo Lounge website describes the chair as having:

space age rip-proof nylon and come[s] filled with top quality Sumo Beads. Omni is 4.5' x 5.5' and it only weighs 18 lbs!

Doesn’t seem like it weighs even 18 lbs, which makes moving it around and adjusting easy. Nice for transport from room to room.

And now for the bad: it blows an office chair, so don’t use it for that purpose. The word “lounge” suggests it’s a place for pleasure, not for work though. I’m not sure I’d even want to sit in this with my laptop and type away, but that scenario might work for others.

As a gaming chair, watching TV chair, reading a book chair, it’s comfortable and worthy. I’m not sure I could sleep in it though, but some probably do. It also has the same problem as other bean bag chairs: getting out isn’t nearly as easy as getting in. My wife needed my help pulling her out. It’s like being stuck in quicksand. Comfortable quicksand, mind you, but you can sink in too far.

The Sumo Omni Chair is easily the highest quality bean bag chair I’ve ever sat on. Worth $129? If it lasts a lot longer than its competition, then yes, it’s worth it. Since I can’t wait a few years to review the longevity of the chair — but I will try and come back to this review in a future update — I’ll guess that it will last.

The “space age rip-proof nylon” sounds long lasting and they offer a satisfaction guarantee (emphasis mine):

Let’s make this simple. If you’re not happy, we’re not happy. If our product proves not to be the best beanbag you’ve ever sat in, contact us within one week of use with the order number and your problems. If we can’t make it better, we’ll refund you your money - all of it.

With a satisfaction guarantee like that, if you like beanbag chairs and have it in the budget, at least trying one of these chairs is advised. We’re thinking about buying one as a Christmas gift. If you bought other beanbag chairs at say $30-40 each and had to go through a few of them because of the cheap quality, you’re at the price of the Sumo Omni Chair, which bears consideration. Because of the limited use for me, I’m still not a beanbag believer like my friend, and thus no A grade, but there’s no comparison to any other beanbag chair I’ve ever tried. Alright, my wife is telling me to get out of “her” chair. That’s still a darned good endorsement in our home.

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