The Omni: Stuntpad, beanbag, luuurve seat!

29th November 2006

So, I got me one of those amazing Omni beanbags from Sumo Lounge the other week, and I’ve been trying it out on those rare occasions of rest and recuperation.

I’d been intrigued by the reviews from my good friends Cameron, Oxton and Arber, and when I was asked if I could accommodate one of these monster seating devices in my modest house, I jumped at the chance. So, having spent a couple of weeks “experimenting” with it, what’s my verdict?

Well, it is bloody amazing! The Omni is quite simply enormous. At over 5 feet square, you’ll need a decent-sized hole to fill, and I’ve had to put mine in the bedroom. The good thing about that is I now enjoy jumping off the bed and crash-landing on my Omni. It is this season’s number one indoor sport, and I heartily recommend it! If anything, my amatuer stuntman skills have improved dramatically.

I also received an accompanying Otto, which is what we Brits call a “poof” (rhyming with “roof”, not “woof”) - basically a soft stool (he-he!) that doubles as a feet-putter-upper. I can finally dispense with the services of my slave boy who has had the misfortune of being my footstool for the last few years.

Anyway, these two radical items of furniture have transformed my rather large bedroom into a bit of a playzone, and I find myself taking a run-up down the hallway before diving head-first onto the Omni from ten feet away. This is not good for the cat’s bowel problem, as she’ll often be sat on the Omni pre-dive.

The Omni also comes downstairs with me when we have film nights, and it can accommodate two people comfortably during a mammoth Star Wars trilogy viewing. It would appear that beer and popcorn wipes clean off too.

They’re shipped within a couple of days, and are pretty easy to fill with standard bean bag filler. My pal Olly and I had much fun filling the Omni with millions of tiny poly-beans (which I ordered from Ambient Lounge here in the UK). I strongly advise against filling your bags on old wooden flooring. I now have hundreds of tiny white beans wedged into the gaps. Bah! Also, be sure not to overfill your bag otherwise it’ll be too hard and inflexible. If your bag is too full, be sure to empty it and relieve a little of the pressure - it’ll make relaxing a lot more pleasurable.

It would be crude to go into all the benefits of the Omni, and there may be children reading, but Sumo Lounge themselves admit that it makes a fine “love seat”, and I’d agree. Ahem.

All in all, I do recommend that you get hold of one if you have the room. Cat-proof, tear-proof - and may yet be Colly-proof.