We love this chair! We were looking for a Bonzy Home reclining chair without a huge profile for my elderly grandmother (98 years young next month) who has Parkinson’s and is finding it harder and harder to get up onto her feet. She has a recliner – a big overstuffed one that is great when she is sitting reading her paper so that she can have her feet up, but when it comes to transitioning to standing, those big overstuffed arms are not helpful. The Bonzy Home recliner is not only a comfortable recliner but has a power lift so that she can get up to her feet easily!
Setup is really easy – the Bonzy Home chair comes in one box that fits through a standard sized door and is assembled in minutes. There are only two parts in the box – the back and the base! Ok, I’ll admit that we aren’t big on reading directions, especially when there are only a couple of pieces, and it took us a few minutes to find the place to connect the power cord.
(Pro Tip: connect the power before you set the base down and connect the chair back. Once it's sitting on the base, its harder to find the connection, but still doable. If we had to do it over again though, we would have connected the power to the base before I set it flat on the floor.)
The chair itself isn’t overstuffed, so if you are looking for a big, wide overstuffed armchair, this is not it. However, the fabric is very comfortable – we live in a warmer climate and leather/pleather gets sticky in the heat. The dark brown suede-ish hides stains and marks and lacks the skin sticking factor during the summer months.
The chair is also REALLY comfortable! It doesn’t look like much, but it actually is the favorite seat in the room even when Grandma isn’t in it! Part of that is, of course, the push button recline and power lift capability, so let’s talk about that feature. What is so convenient is that the remote is separate from the chair itself, so no bar or button hidden on the side – instead of a two-button large remote. It can tuck in a pocket on the side, or if you have a more forgetful granny, it can sit on the arm easily.
I’m not going to lie – its large, so if you are looking for something more subtle, this is not the chair for you either. For our purposes, however, it's perfect. There are arrows indicating the direction of the movement – words stating Up and Down OR Lift and Recline would be better, but it’s pretty easy to figure out if you have the remote upside down and push the wrong button!
Let’s talk about that power action too – smooth and slow. We have tried several lift chairs that move pretty quickly or have jerky motion when you depress or release the power button. The Bonzy Home recliner does not have that issue – because of the slow speed, it's easy for her to manage herself and when powerlifting, is slow enough to let her find her balance OR doesn’t jerk up if she is trying to inch it up manually (not necessary at all to control speed, but she’s 98 and has a mind of her own!)
The only thing outside of text on the remote we would change is that due to the nature of the fabric, it makes a soft groaning noise when you recline or put the leg rest down as the fabric rubs together. It freaks the dog out but it is really a minor annoyance for us. And Grandma doesn’t even hear it over her TV.
Overall this was the perfect chair for her! Small footprint, comfortable, smooth, slow power speed, large remote, easy assembly, power lift, and recline AND a fabric that hides stains, looks good and doesn’t get sticky in the summer. The Bonzy Home recliner is a winner in our book!
