My new Fusion - Lagoon chairs from Roman - Page 2

Originally Posted by mikesnapp

I received the Fusion Escape a few days ago. I'll give a quick review.

Roman received my payment on Tuesday, and on Friday had this in my driveway. Now that's fast shipping. The shipping company called the day before to schedule the delivery and informed me they would call 1 hr. prior to arrival. They didn't call so it was a bit of a surprise when I got home.

Originally Posted by Iusteve

I will take 5 if you deliver to northern Indiana (2 1/2 hours east of chi town)and for the right price......lol

Originally Posted by Mopar_Mudder


Wait for me I'll be right there

Don't think the wife would be impressed if we got new chairs after only one year

Originally Posted by ndskurfer

I received 4 Fusion Lagoons from Roman almost a week ago. I was replacing a sectional couch that had limited support. I was looking for leather theater seating with great comfort and good support.

A couple of months ago I was visiting Minneapolis for work and was able to audition a few Pallisers (Rhumba, Slade/Blade, Mellow) and a couple Berklines (Reno, Trilogy).

Thoughts on those that I compared:
Rhumba - Great comfort/support/soft, but not crazy about the look nor the price
Slade - Great comfort/support. Was not quite as soft, which was ok, but I preferred the Rhumba's comfort solely on the contour of the seat
Mellow - Ok comfort, I just didn't like the look with the plastic/electric cupholders
Reno - Too big/bulky. Was soft, but was nervous about lack of support over time
Trilogy - similar to the Reno

My subjective rankings -
Ranking of Comfort (best first): Rhumba, Slade, Mellow, Trilogy, Reno
Ranking of Looks (best first): Slade, Trilogy, Reno, Mellow, Rhumba
Ranking of Support (best first): Rhumba, Slade, Mellow, Trilogy, Reno
Price (Berklines on clearance): Trilogy, Reno, Slade, Mellow, Rhumba

Going into the store I was hoping to find the Palliser Pacifico. I never did, but tried to make most note of the Slade, although not a fair comparison. It is "firmer" than all of the others, and I preferred the head support of the Slade all but the Rhumba.


After this visit I narrowed down my choices to the Pacifico (Atomic w/ Trays) and the Fusion Lagoon. I posted my thread on this site earlier looking for other's feedback on the differences. I was able to get some feedback which helped me make my decision (although not sitting in either of these two). It came down to Price, other's feedback here on comfort/support, and of course appearance.

My thoughts on the Lagoons:
These are on par with the the Rhumba's for comfort. The Lagoon is in first place for me as it relates to price, support, looks, and appearance. The only thing this chair lacks is the tray's that the Rhumba, Reno, and Atomic all have. In hindsight, I really don't care after setting this chair up in my family room... I chose brown leather/match, power recline, curved config.










The only flaw that these chairs had were that one of the cupholder was not sitting flush with the armrest. With a quick email to Roman and a quick response back, he provided a quick fix. The cupholders basically are stainless steal inserts that fit into a plastic cup. The plastic cup was loose, so I took that part out, added width by running clear packing tape a couple times, and reinserted. This provided a tighter hold and looks much better. The pictures below are the pictures I forwarded to Roman when I emailed him about the issue. They are now all flush:

Originally Posted by Larry M

Awesome reply! I am heading to Roman's tomorrow to check out the seats and the espresso leather. Glad to hear you are happy!

I looking from my phone but the leather looks pretty dark. I was hoping a little lighter but that would work too. Are they dark?

Originally Posted by rsh

Scott,

I do not believe that Palliser Rhumba has a tray...

Originally Posted by Larry M

I went to see Roman's Fusion chairs last week on Black Friday. This was a perfect opportunity as I got to combine the long trip with a visit to Bridgewater mall where the Mrs. and I did a great job of getting Christmas gifts for the family at discounted prices.

Well onto the more important part of the trip. As I mentioned a few posts above, I went to Roman's shop a few years ago to check out the Berkline imports. As I said I was pretty disappointed and wrote off the Berkline imports and started looking at the domestic Berklines which from some experience I found to be made far superior to the imports. Roman had a decent amount of Berkline Imports leftover as well as a few on display but I did not sit in any of them so the rest of the post will based on my memory.

Regarding both the Lagoon and Escape, I found the seats to be more comfortable than the Berkline Imports with a solid firm support. I hate seats that you absolutely fall into, these had the right amount of firmness and any give over time would still be a big win. I didn't get a good look at the frame construction, but I did feel as if the seats were well constructed and would hold up over time, something I thought the exact opposite for the Berkline Imports.

There were 2 Lagoon seats on display and 1 Escape. I sat in both Lagoon seats and oddly enough found one to be softer than the other. I'm not sure if this is a QC issue, typical manufacturing variance, or if one of the seats had been there longer and sat in more times than the other. Another idea that I thought maybe the case is one of the seats was in the bonded leather and the other real leather. The bonded was the softer seat which I did not prefer but was still certainly comfortable and if that is what a used seat felt like, it worked for me.

For anyone on the fence about bonded leather, I will provide my personal opinion. If you like leather that is dimpled, then it is a no brainer to go with the bonded leather. This bonded leather in my opinion is vastly different that the old Berkline bonded leather. The old Berkline bonded leather you could feel was not leather, ironically I loved it and if I did the imports I would have gone with it because I really liked the softness. The Fusion bonded leather really feels like real leather as well as looks like real dimpled leather. I personally do not like dimpled leather, but plenty do.

In regards to the real leather option, I thought it was very nice and appeared to be durable. It was a tight fit that I could see stretching a little over time but still maintain a good look. The espresso brown is a wonderful color; it gives off the appearance of a dark mahogany stain. With the lights off, I think it would appear black. The leather had a nice sheen to it where the bonded leather had no sheen.

My only issue with the chairs is very minimal and not something most people will notice or care about. I noticed (which is common with imported furniture) is that the seams did not line up with the body. While it was close you could still notice when observing that the seam line wasn't lined up with the contour of the chair. Again very minor and not something I believe is very noticeable. One thing that I thought was nice is that I didn't notice variations in the leather. Another common issue with imported furniture is sometimes they throw any leather they have on the same chair (i.e. front of the seat may be more red than the back of the seat)

On to my opinion of each chair.

I am 6' 3 and 220lbs I sat in the Lagoon which is the chair I was interested in. I thought the comfort was nice and the width was perfect. The arms were comfortable as well but could use additional padding. The headrest was a hair low but I am also pretty tall so that is expected. My biggest gripe in the seat is that when fully reclined your head is also laying flat which makes it difficult to see the screen. This can be fixed with a small pillow and you're set. As pictured above by another forum member, the display model had the cup holding sticking out, but since there appears to be a simple fix, it is of no concern. The reclining mechanism was good also, no sound and smooth operation. The controls are also very simple with an easy forward and reverse button that can't be messed up. The chairs also have a nice appearance, a bit on the small side but I fit in it so no problem there.

Next I sat in the Escape.WOW is all I can say. Comfort was outstanding. While the Lagoon was comfortable, this was on another level. I guess the placement of the cushions played a big role in that. Same as the Lagoon the recline mechanism was perfect. The spot where the Escape REALLY shines is that ridiculously awesome power headrest, this is up with sliced bread. The powered headrest solved the problem I mentioned earlier with the Lagoon and using a pillow except with numerous possible positions to perfectly support your head. My wife was me, she is 5' 3 tiny little thing and she was in love with the chair's comfort and powered headrest. I could tell which chair she liked better. I didn't try out the cooling cup holder so I can't comment on that. The buttons on the Escape were a bit small and since there are so many features on this chair it has quite a few buttons. I think I would drop the cooling feature just to eliminate a button and make it easier to use. The power recline buttons are pretty tiny as well as the power headrest button, I can see these being easily confused. I particularly don't like storage space in the arm rests, but if it is your thing the Escape has ample space for magazines and remotes. I don't particularly like tray options either, but again if this is your thing the Escape has it. The tray that is supplied is pretty flimsy as mentioned above. I would definitely make something custom to use and throw away the supplied one. As for the design, it is nicer than it appears online, but not quite my cup of tea which may be because I have the notion a chair should like the Lagoon or the very similar Berkline 45034. The Escape is also priced quite a bit more than the Lagoon but rightfully so with the powered headrestit really is that great!

In the end I think both of these chairs are great choices. I am leaning toward the Lagoon since I have liked that style for a while now and while the comfort wasn't as incredible as the Escape, it was perfectly fine by me. I also don't like trays, storage space, and spending more money so it makes sense for me J

I apologize for the really long post, but I figure I am one of the few who gets an opportunity to try out both seats, so I might as well take note of as much as possible and report back to the people who have helped me so much over the yearsIn other news, I should finally begin to utilize the knowledge I gained here and begin building my theater in the next few weeks!

Originally Posted by calee4444

Thanks for the review Larry. At 6'3", how far over the edge did your feet dangle when fully reclined? I like the Escape, but am concerned that the support for my legs will end somewhere mid-calf and be uncomfortable for a 2 hour sit.

Originally Posted by ndskurfer

I'm sitting in one of my Lagoons righ now with legs fully extended and chair back still up.

Originally Posted by Larry M

Really? Interesting

When I was testing them out, when the legs were extended the back was down the entire way...but maybe I didn't play with the movements enough

If that is true, GREAT!

Originally Posted by scl23enn4m3

For those who tested out the chairs, which model would you say has the best lumbar support?

Originally Posted by falcon999



loving the seats.. had one small issue roman helped me out and all of them work great!

Originally Posted by falcon999

my house was a foreclosure that someone was building forever, so i'm finishing it out. and it's starting to look pretty good. I'm adding draperies with retractable velvet curtains in the front shortly. and the projector is now mounted and working well. sony vpl 95es

Originally Posted by MysticalJet

Nice Theater. I was debating on the Escape but ultimately decided on the lagoon. How is the comfort of the escape?

Mine are coming in tomorrow.