I am finally at the point of purchasing seating for my home theater. I have decided on Berklines with either model 088, 090, or 45004. Regardless of what model I choose, I will have to decide whether to get them in a manual or motorized version. This what I have gleaned from this forum so far:

Manual
Advantages - cheaper, quicker to get to desired recline position than motorized
Disadvantages - do not have fine control over how far to recline

Motorized
Advantages - fine control over how far to recline
Disadvantages - more expensive, takes longer to get to reclined position than manual

Any thoughts?

another disadvantage of mortorized is that if the power goes out or it breaks you are stuck in the chair. also be careful the wiring does not get moved about. I have two powered recliners in my house, I can't operate a manual one, and on one the wire over time worked up the side and one day I am sitting ther go to unrecline and flash or light, big puff of smoke and I am stuck in the chair because the mechanism cut the wire in half. Lucky the seat didn't catch fire.

Edit: to clarify something, I am disabled and I Have power recliners in two of my houses because I cannot manually recline and need assitance getting out of the regular ones. So for me having the seat stuck in recline is a fairly big deal.
It was posted as a thought for anyone with an elderly or less than fit family member or friend and also as a safety consideration, the cutting the wire part. :)

When we were looking at HT chairs my wife could not see how $150+ per seat extra for power-recline was worth it. Until she test drove manual vs. power and it was a no-brainer.

With manual it is either fully upright or reclined......nothing in between (what I recollect). We never use our power recliners 'fully' reclined.

Cheers,
Mark

Pop for power at a minimum for the power users. Of my 6 six powered chairs only two chairs are used 95% of the time. As for the time, I really don't think an extra 10 seconds is a big deal.

Be sure to buy from one of the guys who are mentioned here often. You will save a lot compared to the brick and mortar stores.

You should test drive the manuals to see if you can lock in your favorite positions. I like the powered because I like to vary the position throughout the show.

I have the powered version of the 45004, based mainly on comments from this forum, and can't image not having the flexibility to fine tune the recline position.

As to the time it takes, I had not even thought about it until you mentioned it, and it isn't an issue for us at all. If nothing else, it gives you something to do while the intro is playing. :)

In my last house, I had manual Berklines with Aura shakers. In the new house, I went with electric Berklines with built-in Buttkickers. In every possible way, I don't regret the upgrades to the chairs. I would absolutely go with this combination again if I had to do it all over again. I love the infinite variability of the seating positions. I've never had the need to do anything so urgently that I couldn't wait for the chair to get to the desired position.

jj

I had both in my last HT. I got power for the front row where I knew I would be and manual for the back row ("cheap seats"). I did not like the manual at all, but was still fine with it for the back row where only my guests would be. I will be doing the same as I build my second HT.

-Jason

We have 3 Berkline 099 powered and 3 non-powered. It's definably worth going with the powered ones. Like the poster above, we use the powered ones 99% of the time.

I recommend Roman on these forums, as his service is great and pricing is excellent.

I am 5'7" tall, and I do not find the preset reclining positions of the manual recliners comfortable. That was my main justification for the additional expense. As far as the speed goes, I can't imagine the need to shave another 10 seconds to run out of the theater.

I ordered 8 chairs with power recline.

Itai

Go with power !!! During the course of a movie we find ourselves adjusting the recline several times. We have 4 power berklines and 3 manual. The preset manual stops, in our opinion, don't compare to the power seats. Additionally, the manual seats tend to move when adjusting your position while the power seats stay put.

another disadvantage of mortorized is that if the power goes out or it breaks you are stuck in the chair.

So, is that like getting stuck on the escalator?


FWIW ...
I'm not close to buying yet, but whenever I see theater chairs in a store I try them. The last time I tested chairs the wife was with me. So far, our favorite is the Berk 090, and even she thinks we should get the power recline.

...100% WAF on the power recline seats...PRICELESS!

Tom

Recently installed the 090's. In my opinion (seems like most everyone elses as well) motorized is definetly the way to go.

Stu

"Losing power and getting stuck in the chair" posted by McCall

"So, is that like getting stuck on the escalator?"


Not quite, I edited my post above to reflect that I am disabled and that is why is was a problem for me.
But then you weren't to know that. ;)

Power seats no question.

Ditto 100%!

I am going to be the black sheep and say get manual. :-)

You are not supposed to recline during a movie because you might fall asleep. :-)

Just kidding - get power if you planned for it and you won't have cords running over the walking path. Last thing you want is for someone to face plant themselves in the middle of your theater tripping over a berkline power cord in the dark...or maybe that would just add to the entertainment experience?

McCall has been most gracious. I took one line out of context and tried to make a joke. I meant no offence and I apologize.

Tom

McCall. I think this brings up a really good issue for individuals with mobility issues. I suspect there is a whole market for Integrated UPS units in chairs/beds. I checked my Berkline 099s and there is plenty of room to stuff the same UPS I have on my Projector up one of the arms.

If I was going to be home alone a lot and in an area with frequent outages, maybe it would make some sense. Then again a whole house UPS/Generator makes sense too.

Just thinking, someone could make a few bucks on this I'm sure.

You definitely want power in the chairs that you and your wife will use. As for the rest of them, you want power if you can afford it, but if money is tight then skip the power in everything but the main two chairs.

To the Chair salesmen on here, what is the life expectancy of the motorized parts of these theater recliners? Berkline particularly but all of them. For that matter what is the life expectancy of the entire chair?

I don't use them in my theater, I have real theater seats that were actaully in a theater nine years and look brand new in my theater, but I DO have two Berkline electric recliners in my two homes because I can't recline myself manually so I wondered about the longevity of them.

Anyone know where to demo motorized 45004's in Las Vegas?

Do you have a Big Screen sore near you? They usually carry arange or recliners

Unfortunately not.

Just learned from the regional distributor that Phoenix is my only option.

Thanks anyway.

I went with the powered seats for my front row and the manual recline for my rear row. I was thinking that if people needed to get up and get out they would have to wait for the other chairs to recline.

In hindsight I would have gotten them all powered. So much better control of where the seat is and it takes so little time to bring it back its irrelevant.

Go Power!