There are two types of recliners, Wall-huggers and Conventional. A Wall Hugger works by sliding the mechanism forward to keep the back in the same basic position whereas a conventional recliner brings the footrest up and tilts the back without changing the balance points. Why does this matter? Physics....

The Wall Hugger works by releasing a trip lever, and the piece goes into the recline position with little or no effort because the spring tension is there to push it forward. The problems come when you go to close them, because you have to overcome the spring action with your lower legs pressing on the footrest to overcome the spring action and return the chair to an upright position. On 90% of all manual wall-huggers I sell, I get complaints about difficulty of use from (mostly) women who have a hard time operating them. Men generally don't have as many issues but there's a reason for that. As a general rule, women's legs are shorted than men's from the knee down, and they also don't generally have the leg strength of men. I'm not being sexist - its just the way it is for most people. So what happens is when folks with shorter lower legs an less muscle power try to close a wall hugger by kicking down on the footrest, they use their thigh muscles which are resting on the front edge of the seat cushion. Now, when you do that the thigh muscles push down that front cushion edge at the same time the footrest is going down and you get what we call a "Recliner Trap" where the front cushion binds in the footrest mechanism. People don't realize this is what is happening, and call in to complain their Wall hugger is defective or not made correctly. The truth is that its all in the closing technique. If you have a manual Wall Hugger, consciously lift your thighs off the cushion and you'll see how much smoother it goes down. No more recliner trap.

However, simply motorizing the Wall Hugger solves the issue, because no muscle pressure is required. Many customers object to motorized because:

1) They think that motorized features are only for 'old' people

2) They have concerns about motor replacement as the piece ages.

To address the first, I think recliners are all about comfort - and part of that comfort is easy of use. If you have to struggle to close up the chair, how relaxing is that? Also, with a motorized function you can stop the chair recline anywhere within the motion range whereas manuals go only to the detents. On the second, in 25 years of selling recliners I have only replace (2) motors, both on recliners less than 2 weeks old. And those were covered under warranty. To motorize, its about $ 175 to $ 200 over the cost of a manual, and to go rechargeable battery pack (no cord laying on the floor) its about $ 300 to $ 350 over the manual. The Battery powered ones are said to be good for 400 recliner cycles per charge and 200 re-charges per battery pack before you need to buy a new battery (about $ 100).

So if you come into my store, I will always be recommending motorized on all wall huggers. On conventional recliners not to the same degree as they are better spring balanced, and there its just a matter of personal preference.