High-Tech Pool Chaises
Chase Away Your Stress

June 03, 2004 -- When Danielle Laramee needs a neck massage after a long day hunched over her desk, she doesn't rely on her husband anymore. She goes out to her backyard and heads for her large, strong, tan ... pool float.

Ms. Laramee's new outdoor accessory, which looks like an orange life raft, has a waterproof, battery-operated neck-massaging pillow and four built-in cup holders. And at $160, it costs as much as furniture you'd expect to see sitting on the deck, not bobbing in chlorine. "It's like sitting in a recliner," says the Carmel, Ind., entrepreneur.

So much for exercising and avoiding direct sunlight. This summer, the $20 billion pool industry wants you to drift aimlessly under the rays. Across the country, retailers are pushing giant, pricey, elaborate pool floats that have everything from adjustable back supports to storage for an MP3 player -- and of course, cup holders. Prices are hitting a high-water mark: Many of these new floats cost as much as $400.

Longer and Wider

SportsStuff, the Omaha, Neb., maker of Ms. Laramee's float, specializes in inflatable devices for water sports like river tubing and this year moved into accessories for the home pool -- with eight kinds of floats with neck massagers. Other retailers diving into the market include Frontgate, based in West Chester, Ohio, which has added the $395 "Ultimate Pool Chaise" for this summer. The float, which looks like a deck chair, updates a version that came out in 1999 and is priced $100 less. The new model is longer and wider, includes an adjustable recliner, and the company says it has a "more natural bend at the knee." Brookstone, of Nashua, N.H., for the first time this year is selling five kinds of massive floats. All have oversized pillows and some have neck massagers or adjustable recliners.

Sitting Pretty: A pool chaise sold by Frontgate has an adjustable back.

Companies tout the comfort of these high-end, high-tech models, in some cases claiming the floats are "ergonomic." But with prices and marketing like that come customers who expect a comfort level that goes beyond the old blow-up raft. Susan Jones, a 55-year-old from Lake Panasoffkee, Fla., recently bought a $160 "ergonomic" oval float by Kelsyus of Virginia Beach, Va., but after a few days, she shipped it back. The mesh liner didn't allow her to sit upright to read, and getting in and out was cumbersome. "I like to be able to control things," she says.

Kelsyus says it hasn't received any complaints about the float, which it claims is ergonomic because the liner "conforms to the shape of your body," says brand manager Barbara Schlegel.

Pool floats have been getting fancier since the mid-'90s, when loungers with armrests and single cup holders first made waves. Many were constructed from one-inch thick flexible foam and came with a molded mound for a pillow, and tended to upend when a person tried to climb on.

The new ones are sturdier and more padded, with makers using everything from foam pillows to puncture-proof nylon tubes to steel frames. Some need to be blown up with a foot pump (which usually isn't included). None have exposed metal parts that can rust, and they don't require special cleaning. But "chlorine will hurt any product that's left out in it," says Brookstone spokesman Robert Padgett. "Common sense dictates that you wash it off in water and store it in the shade." He says the floats should last "at least a season or two -- longer if you take care of them."

A lounger offered by Hammacher Schlemmer has a neck massager.

Mary Vismor, a retiree from Roswell, Ga., picked an extra long, $395 steel-framed float by Frontgate because its two-inch-thick foam covering and adjustable knobs for reclining made it comfortable not only for her 5'6" frame, but also for her 5'11" friend -- "a frou frou lady who doesn't like to get her hair wet." Another design feature the 71-year-old likes is the rippled surface that helps keep her body anchored firmly on the float. "Usually, I keep slipping and sliding into the water," she says.

That's not a problem for Atlanta college student Will Kline. He received a SportStuff pool lounger as a gift a few months ago, and has used the four-foot-wide inflatable as both a couch and guest bed (he estimates more than 20 friends have slept in it). He says his friends love the "awesome" neck massaging pillow and the pouch for an MP3 player. "Is it comfy? Heck yes," says the 21-year-old. "In fact, I like it so well, some day I'd like to try it out in a pool."

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