Sumo is a bit ubiquitous in certain circles on the web nowadays. If you spend time on sites like Icrontic, you’ve probably seen the ads with the beautiful girls on the big bean bags. Perhaps you’ve wondered if they’re really that comfortable or useful. Hopefully, after this read, it’ll be a little clearer for you.
We took a look at Sumo’s original Omni bag a couple of years ago. We came to the conclusion that if you were willing to spend the money, the Omni is a fantastic addition to any gaming lounge.
The Omni did have some downsides, however. It’s a bit noisy and the fabric is a little stiff. Like most beanbag chairs, we discovered that after a year and a half of hard use, it tends to “deflate” a bit. Don’t get us wrong, the black Omni that we have here at ICHQ still gets used. It has definitely seen better days, though.
Sumo set out to address these minor quibbles and decided to unleash upon us the ultimate lounge bag in the form of their new Sumo Gamer.
The Sumo Gamer
As you can see, this thing is massive—way bigger than the already large Omni. This is a whole new ballgame.
The smallest Sumo (and I use this term lightly) is 3 feet tall x 4 feet wide. It doesn’t sound like much until you see the thing in a room. It is gigantic. Lugging it around is quite an athletic endeavor. Our model had a lot of fun beating the thing into submission to try to get it into position:
Yeah, I said beating...
We had the Sumo Gamer at ICHQ for the Icrontic LAN. It was a highly contested sleeping spot. You can’t walk by a Sumo Gamer and NOT get the urge to flop down onto/into it. There were actual fights over it.
Nerd fight!
Shorty, the toughest guy at the Expo, won the coveted spot
The material is a faux-suede microfiber. It’s significantly more comfortable than the Omni material (which I had compared to tent or parachute material). It breathes much better and is softer than its counterpart. I’ve slept on the Omni and, while comfortable, it can lead to hot and sweaty nights (not the good kind). The Gamer, however, makes a perfect whole-night sleeper. Many people have come through the ICHQ flophouse and spent a night on the Gamer, only to find themselves leaving here wanting to buy one.
Sitting upright, the Sac still provides good lower back support
The product page for the Gamer lists at $199. We took our big, hard, $800 sofa out of our media/game room at ICHQ and replaced it with the Gamer and three Omnis. The end result: more room, more comfort, and the ability to open up the room and rearrange things on a whim. Is it worth $199? It depends on whether or not you have room for it. If you do, then I say a resounding “YES”, it’s worth it.
This is a hard product to review for this very reason. It’s one of those things that you almost have to try. Once you do, though, it definitely sells itself. There’s no reason not to get a Sumo Gamer other than the room it takes up. It is by far the most comfortable piece of furniture I have ever sat in.
You can sink into it, you can use it as a chair, you can sleep on it, you can probably do lots of naughty things on it… It’s extremely versatile.
They offer four sizes—The Gamer (pictured here), the Couple, the Sultan, and the Gigantor. I cannot imagine the Gigantor in my media room. Seriously, SIX FEET AROUND by four feet high, you’d have to have a pretty damned big room to make this effective. I’d say that it would make a great replacement for a bed, but apparently Sumo is now offering … well, beds, to replace your bed. At four feet high, some people would even have trouble getting into it.
The filling is furniture-grade urethane foam, which Sumo claims will “never decompress”. I can believe it, because when they ship it, they compress the filling into a brick and cram it into a box. When you unpack it and get the microfiber covering zipped around it, it decompresses and almost triples in size. The best way to describe it would be like watching one of those magic sponge animals grow in a glass of water.
Sumo currently offer four colors to complement just about any decor, and offer two covering materials: Suede microfiber (shown here) and soft corduroy.
So, so versatile...
There’s really not much more to say—the Gamer is a versatile, comfortable, attractive piece of lounge furniture. At $199 with free shipping giving it the label of “fantastic value” might be an understatement. In the interest of full disclosure and integrity, I will say that we signed on with Sumo’s affiliate program because we believe in their products and use them ourselves. If you wish to purchase any Sumo product, you can do so directly through Icrontic.
(Alright, I know what you really came for) Moar pics:
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- The Sumo Sac
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- Yeah, I said beating…
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- Nerd fight!
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- Shorty, the toughest guy at the Expo, won the coveted spot
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- Sitting upright, the Sac still provides good lower back support
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- So, so versatile…
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