This is the personal website of John Watson: father, software developer, artist, guitar player. Follow me on Mastodon or Twitter or Twitch or itch.io or GitHub.

Sumo means ginormous

I was recently contacted by a representative of sumolounge.com and asked if I’d like to review one of their bean bags. I’m not exactly in the market for bean bag furniture but our boy has a bean bag and I thought the kids might like another one so… why not?

They shipped me a free sample of an Omni bean bag. The conditions of the review were “we’ll send you a bean bag in exchange for a review.” So, I’m doing my best to be objective but keep in mind that I may be biased.

Giant bean bag/small yellow feet

We’ve had the bag for a couple of weeks now. Our first impression: it’s ginormous. Second impression. Good gravy, where are we going to put it?

For a week or so it sat at the foot of our primary couch and the kids enjoyed sitting on it occasionally while we watched television. Mostly, though, it was used as a core structural element in almost daily pillow fort construction. It was usually used for the primary defensive wall. The Omni is far too heavy to be used for roofs.

The bag can be shaped and did a fairly good job of remaining rigid once put into any particular configuration. On top of that, it’s much more substantial than ordinary pillows and couch cushions, weighing in at about 18 pounds. In short, pillow fort structural failures were usually not caused by the bean bag. So, high marks there.

Once invaded and the fort walls have collapsed, the Omni performs admirably as a landing pad for jumping off of furniture. The bag makes a satisfying crunch as bodies crash into it and landings are appropriately softened. Dozens of jumps later, it’s still good as new.

Would I actually buy one? Not likely. Aesthetically, bean bags are a matter of taste and we don’t have what you might call “bean bag friendly” decor. But I could definitely see this being popular with college and high school kids. For now, the Girl has claimed it and it covers a large swath of her floor. It’s sometimes inconvenient to walk around but, because of its size, it keeps so many toys off the floor that I don’t mind at all.

You can buy a Sumo Omni bean bag online in 10 different colors for $129 at sumolounge.com.

Comments

  1. Phil on 2007-11-09 19:51:07 wrote: This is funny, because I was just looking at their website YESTERDAY. I need something for my office that is comfy but can also be stored in the closet. I noticed the Sumolounge ad in the back of Wired Magazine. Now if they’d only send me one of those for a review!

  2. elaine on 2007-11-09 20:11:07 wrote: Is that shot spontaneous or staged? I might buy one based on the picture alone!

  3. Taste Like Crazy on 2007-11-09 20:12:16 wrote: Me thinks my one year old needs a beenbag chair. I will gladly review how their Sumo stands up against a 20 lb toddler and two 75 pound pit bulls. Feel free to forward my contact info. ;)

  4. John on 2007-11-10 17:36:27 wrote: @elaine, a little of both. :-)

  5. s’mee on 2007-11-10 19:37:12 wrote: This reminds me of the inflatable couch my eldest daughter insisted she needed for her bedroom during high school. Money was earned, saved, and eventually a GYNORMO inflatable plastic couch was purchased. We spent the better part of three weeks just blowing the thing up and then finally the day came when we could sit on/it it. It literally, with no exaggeration took up 2/3 of our living room. It would even fit in her bedroom, this thing dwarfed Lou Ferrigno.

  6. Amy on 2007-11-12 19:35:41 wrote: Do you want to send me this in the mail? It would fit my new reading room I set up for Izzy :) Heehee