REVIEW – The car market has been a wild ride over the past few years, with shortages inflating car values and interest rates launching payments into the stratosphere. If you’re like me this means you’re hanging onto your older car, but maybe feeling like you’re missing out on some of the great tech coming standard in the current model year offerings. Laxon is here to offer a literal lap of luxury with their Air Massage Vehicle Seat, and we’re here to see if it’s worth the splurge.
What is it?
The Laxon Air Massage Vehicle Seat is a drop-in car accessory with air cell massage and heat features at the forefront of its offerings. With a unique feature set wrapped up and cushioned in leatherette, Laxon has a premium, differentiated product. The Air Massage Vehicle Seat is offered in Black, Chocolate (as reviewed), Brown, and Ivory.
Laxon is a sister brand to Dr. Well, which has several therapeutic air compression devices.
What’s included?
- Laxon Air Massage Seat
- 12V Car Outlet Adaptor
- AC Adaptor
- Fastening Hook (x2)
Tech specs
Click to expand
| Power | 12v Car Plug and AC Adapter |
| Weight | 7.7 Pounds |
| Dimensions | 52.72″L x 20.08″W x 1.10″D |
| Fabric Type | PU Leather |
| Heat Options | 100.4°F (38°C) and 109.4°F (43°C) |
| Massage Type | Pressure via air cell, 11 cells total |
Design and features
The Laxon Air Massage Vehicle Seat stands out with several design elements. Visually, it looks quite nice and would blend well with any vehicle upholstery. I would have opted for black to match my seats, but it wasn’t available when the review unit was offered, so I went with some contrast in the chocolate colorway. The Laxon logo is embroidered tastefully.
Using air cells that inflate and deflate to put pressure on muscles has a great utility benefit in this application. Seats that use roller heads have the problem where those roller heads are always there and can be felt at all times. Air cells just deflate and go away, leaving you with a ‘normal’ seat when not in use.
The brain of the Air Massage Vehicle Seat is a wired controller offering sparse options for customizing the massage experience. You need to manually set things up each time you start your car. I’d really like to see a Bluetooth option with a lightweight companion app so that you could have some automation around this. The wired controller also feels like an unnecessary single point of failure that would render the whole unit unusable should it break.
Summary of features:
- 3D Air Massage for Back and Thighs
- Air Cushion Support for the Back
- Hourly Auto-Start Feature
- Easy-to-Use Controller
- Three Driving Massage Modes
- Lighter massage force
- Two Dynamic Massage Modes
- More intense massage force
- Premium Surface Material
- Anti-Slip Silicone Dot Grids
- Compatible with All Vehicle Models
Assembly, Installation, Setup
Installation of the Laxon Air Massage Vehicle Seat is quick and straightforward. Plastic anchor pieces slide between your seat base and seat back to secure the bottom, and two straps wrap around the upper back of the seat to secure the top.
Perhaps the most challenging part of this will be hiding the 12v power cable, which will depend a lot on how your vehicle is set up. With the port in the center of the console for my 2017 Subaru Legacy, I was able to run the cable along some of the plastic trim to keep it mostly out of sight. Fortunately the seat draws no power when it’s off, so no worries about it sitting for a few days in the car without driving.
Having the quick disconnect barrel plug is nice here, in the event you wish to bring the seat into your home or office for use there as well – no need to undo everything in the car!
Performance
I am back to working in the office more often than I’m working from home, and my commute each way is about thirty minutes. I’ve been enjoying the Air Massage Vehicle seat over the past month, though it’s not without its quirks. Laxon has a really well-executed product here, and their experience in this space under the Dr. Well line shows.
The workflow to get the Air Massage Vehicle Seat going isn’t bad, but it is a detractor. There’s no onboard memory or power, so each time you start your ignition, you need to manually power on the seat and dial in a program with the wired controller. The controller is definitely a low point of the experience and has a cheap feel in both UX and materials.
Perhaps the most appreciated aspect of this product is its ability to be inconspicuous when not in use. Not only in the visual sense, but sitting on this feels like a normal car seat. The air cell technology really shines here, as you’re not constantly bumping into a massage roller. While the seat width is just over an inch, you will notice it. I had to adjust my seat and steering wheel before the first ride.
The massage programs are all preset, and you get generalized control of what you want it to target (legs, back, or both). You’ll get an effective amount of pressure, even in the lowest setting, and you’ll definitely feel it in the higher settings. While the massager is on you will hear the motor running, though it’s pretty muted. You could comfortably take calls while it’s running, and the combination of road noise + music/podcast tends to reduce it to just a drone in the background.
Heating is equally effective, with two settings offering a warm and warmer option. The seat generally takes 5-8 minutes to reach temp.
Here’s a look at what the air cells look like in practice (sped up 2x):
What I like about Laxon Air Massage Vehicle Seat
- One of a kind product in terms of features and tech.
- Design means no lumps and bumps from massage rollers when not in use.
- Aesthetics are excellent.
What needs to be improved?
- 12v car adapter needs to have a pass-through to plug in other things.
- Bluetooth with some basic app controls for hands-free use and redundancy for wired remote.
Final thoughts
I am really conflicted about the Laxon Air Massage Vehicle Seat. On one hand, this is a generally great, unique product that performs quite well. On the other hand, at this price point, it needs to be absolutely flawless – which it’s not. The price could be justified by comparison to the general expense of air compression massagers (the Dr. Well line is actually cheap when compared to the Nomatec line by Hyperice), but this also isn’t a full compression massage application.
I need to preface my recommendation as it relates to value proposition. If you’re in the car all day, every day – this could be worth the expense. For a commuter, this may be better picked up on a sale.
Price: $399.00
Where to buy: Laxon and Amazon
Source: The sample of this product was provided for free by Laxon. Laxon did not have a final say on the review and did not preview the review before it was published.
