The 6 Best Massage Guns of 2024 | Reviews by Wirecutter

Oct 14, 2024

By Ingrid Skjong and Seth Berkman

We tested the Theragun Relief, Theragun Sense, and Theragun Pro Plus. None could compete with our picks.

If the ability to give yourself a muscle-pummeling massage sounds appealing, a massage gun might be for you.

These devices are meant to soothe your body by melting away knots, increasing circulation, decreasing muscle pain and soreness, and reducing inflammation, among other claims. Definitive scientific evidence of their efficacy is scarce, and they can be noisy and expensive. But many people find a massage gun to be useful for post-workout recovery or after a long day on the job.

We compared 24 massage guns side by side. Rather than choose a singular best pick, we decided on six models that are likely to deliver a satisfying experience for people with different priorities.

We assessed how satisfying a massage from each device was, using its specs—and how we felt during and after—as a guide.

We evaluated the shape and orientation of the handle, how comfortable it is to hold, and if it allows for more than one grip position.

We looked for a variety of attachments, which helps you access a diversity of muscles more easily and comfortably.

We used each massage gun in daily settings to assess its noise level.

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A massage gun is a handheld device that delivers percussive massage: quick, repeated strikes to the body patterned after a Swedish massage technique called tapotement (video). You’ll notice three terms typically mentioned within massage gun specs:

Most massage guns come with a variety of attachments that allow you to target specific muscles or deliver a particular kind of massage. For instance, smaller, narrower attachments work well on areas like feet, hands, and calves; rounder, wider shapes work well on larger muscle groups such as quads, glutes, and hamstrings. Nearly all massage guns are relatively noisy and, depending on your level of sensitivity, fairly intense.

They work by quickly and repeatedly punching the body, triggering blood vessels to dilate. This action assists in hydrating muscle tissue with blood and can help release knots, explained Ericka Clinton, dean of the massage therapy program at the Swedish Institute College of Health Sciences and a New York–licensed massage therapist.

A massage gun cannot flush lactic acid. It can’t eradicate cellulite. It can increase circulation—but so can taking a walk.

Evidence shows that manual massage (using the hands only) helps decrease pain and improve function, at least in the short term. When it comes to the benefits of massage guns specifically, there isn’t a lot of hard data. “The benefits that come from [these tools] are going to be small at best,” said Christie Aschwanden, science journalist and author of Good to Go: What the Athlete in All of Us Can Learn from the Strange Science of Recovery.

What we do know is that a massage gun cannot flush lactic acid from your muscles (that’s not how muscle soreness works). It can’t eradicate cellulite. It can increase circulation—but so can taking a walk, as Aschwanden pointed out. It can also help work out a tight spot in your shoulder at the end of a workday, contribute to an energizing pre-workout warm-up, or soothe your legs as part of a post-run recovery.

Using one can feel great—and that’s meaningful. “The very most basic level of recovery is just rest and rejuvenation, and anything that facilitates that is good,” said Aschwanden.

A massage gun might appeal to you if you feel the effects of hunching over a phone or computer regularly or any other work-related aches and pains; if you face chronic tight spots, sore muscles, or other soft-tissue complaints; or if you simply enjoy the sensation of a percussive massage.

Massage guns have grown especially popular among athletes (and weekend warriors) of all levels. In professional settings, massage guns can enhance what a massage therapist, physical therapist, or athletic trainer can offer—with less wear and tear on the practitioner’s hands, wrists, and elbows. “It gets you a lot in a very short span of time,” said Ericka Clinton of the Swedish Institute College of Health Sciences.

Unfortunately, massage guns are not the most accessible devices (video) for people with difficulty grasping objects.

If you’d like to try a massage gun but are unsure if it’s a good option for you, talk to your doctor or a medical professional. Certain scenarios could preclude their use, including bleeding or skin disorders, as well as pregnancy (particularly high-risk pregnancies), a recent surgery, nervous-system disorders like epilepsy or multiple sclerosis, or cancer. In a 2021 case study, researchers in China advocated for additional research on the safety of massage guns. If you find massage in general to be uncomfortable, or if you bruise easily, a massage gun might not be for you; a foam roller is another option, though using one can also come with a degree of discomfort.

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This massage gun offers powerful percussion in a compact package and uses a triangular, multi-grip handle.

Best for: Try this device if you’re willing to pay top dollar for a powerful, well-designed massage gun with an upscale feel. It’s also Bluetooth enabled, which allows you to pair it with your phone and follow guided programs via the companion app.

Why we like it: The compact Therabody Theragun Prime has a triangular handle, which allows for multiple grip options meant to ease ergonomic strain. We found it nice to occasionally switch our grip, and doing so provided added leverage when we wanted to apply more pressure. It has five speeds (from 1,750 ppm to 2,400 ppm) and a 16 mm amplitude—the highest of all our picks.

LED lights on the display show the speed and the battery level. The control button is conveniently located on the handle and accessible with a thumb. We like the ability to cycle up and down through all five speeds, a feature that none of our other picks have. (If you want an advanced version of the Prime, the more-expensive Theragun Elite has an extra attachment and an OLED display.)

Through the Therabody app, you can explore a bunch of guided programs. The Theragun Prime promises two hours of battery life, and in our tests it went the distance. Therabody covers it with a one-year limited warranty.

The Theragun Prime sounds like a small power tool when it turns on and remains relatively noisy; we had a hard time simultaneously watching TV and tending to our hamstrings. It also does not come with a carrying case but does have a dust bag.

This powerful massager has a reach-friendly angled handle. It also comes with a lifetime warranty—the best coverage we’ve encountered.

Best for: We recommend this model for people who want a massage gun with an ergonomic bend, an exceptionally long battery life (eight hours), and a notably strong warranty (lifetime).

Why we like it: With a slightly angled handle and a decent dose of power, the Ekrin Athletics B37 delivers on comfort and force. Its grippy handle—angled at about 15 degrees—made reaching for our upper back or calves a little easier. It features five speeds (from 1,400 ppm to 3,200 ppm) and a 12 mm amplitude.

The B37 turns off automatically after 10 minutes of use, a measure that a customer service rep told us protects the motor from burnout in case the B37 is accidentally left running unattended. (You can start it back up immediately.) Considering the kinetic nature of massage guns, that scenario seems unlikely. But to check the integrity of the motor, we ran the device unattended for 15 minutes straight at various speeds and noticed just a bit of warmth.

It promises eight hours of battery life, tied for the longest of our picks. We didn’t need to charge it once during our three-plus weeks of testing. Its lifetime warranty—the strongest by far of our picks—covers defects in materials or workmanship, including the battery, attachments, and motor. The massage gun comes with a sturdy-enough carrying case.

The power button, which also adjusts the speed, sits on top of the Ekrin B37; as a result, it isn’t quite as conveniently located. The massage gun is comfortable to hold, though it felt a tad top-heavy. It is quiet at its slowest speed, but we had trouble hearing a TV show while using it on its highest setting.

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This is one of the quietest massage guns we tried, and it comes with seven attachments (the most out of our picks) and has a touchscreen display. It delivers less of a punch, though.

Best for: You might like this model if you want a quieter massage gun, are willing to trade some intensity for that quality, and also want a wide range of attachments.

Why we like it: We enjoyed using the quiet Mebak 3 Massage Gun, which has a touchscreen display. Despite its five speeds (640 ppm to 3,200 ppm) and 12 mm amplitude, the Mebak 3 felt less powerful than comparably labeled models, but that wasn’t necessarily a drawback. It’s a solid choice for someone seeking a lower-key massage gun.

The Mebak 3 has a main on-off switch at the base of its handle. You adjust the speed via the touchscreen display, which requires a lighter touch than physical buttons. It responded nicely for us. You cannot cycle both up and down through the five speeds (in contrast to the Therabody Theragun Prime’s interface, which allows for that); instead, each touch of the screen’s fingerprint icon advances the speed up. A pressure sensor uses green, yellow, and red lights to indicate increasing amounts of pressure being applied during use, but they’re tough to see when you’re using the device on yourself. (The Mebak 3’s specs do not list a stall force.)

A number representing a percentage on the screen shows the battery level. As a safety precaution, the Mebak 3 shuts off automatically after 10 minutes of use; you can restart it immediately. When we ran the massage gun unattended for 15 minutes straight at various speeds, it did not overheat.

The Mebak 3 comes with some attachments we don’t always see: a shovel (a blade-like silhouette that can work the length of a muscle) and cushion (which provides a softer, more-muted massage). It’s quiet, too, as we were able to hear a TV show while we massaged, even at the tool’s highest speed.

The Mebak 3 promises two to three hours of battery life, and in our tests it lived up to that billing. It has a one-year warranty.

During our first few uses, we noticed lubricant leaking out of the attachment point (we experienced this with only one other device, the cheapest model in our test pool). We wiped the substance away, it dissipated completely soon after, and it wasn’t a problem again. The massage gun also comes with a slightly flimsy carrying case. Some testers with reduced hand strength preferred the tactile feedback of pressable buttons on other massage guns over this model’s touch screen.

It’s effective, but one of the bulkiest massagers we’ve encountered.

Best for: This model is for people who are willing to sacrifice something easy to handle for more power or who want a quieter option from the Opove M3 Pro series.

Why we like it: The Opove M3 Pro Massage Gun is an updated version of the Opove M3 Pro Max, a previous pick that we liked, but, like the newer M3 Pro, found to be big and bulky. The Opove M3 Pro is built with more amplitude and stall force, but at 2.5 pounds, it’s the heaviest of our massage gun picks. However, it performs well in fulfilling multiple needs.

The M3 Pro has five speeds and six attachments, so it’s good for light recovery or for pressurized, targeted muscle relief. Despite its size, one tester who has small hands was able to maintain a good grip and found that it handled smoothly, even at the highest of speeds. It also doesn’t vibrate down to the handle, although targeting hard-to-reach crevices on the body proved a bit difficult.

The M3 Pro has an on-off switch at the base of its handle. The manual setting allows you to move freely through its speeds with the press of a button; the left side of a screen on the back of the massager has five bars, which light up depending on what speed you choose. Similarly, the battery level is shown on the right of the screen by a blue vertical line, which decreases as the battery is used up.

The device’s noise level is supposed to be lower than the M3 Pro Max, listed at under 55 decibels with a brushless motor to reduce sound, and we found that it was surprisingly quiet and did not interfere while watching TV or listening to a podcast.

A tester with sensitive calf muscles worried about the power of the M3 Pro—its 70 pounds of stall force is the most of our picks—but the variety of attachments allowed them to mix and match until they found a comfortable fit (the ball or fork felt the best on the lowest speed).

The Opove M3 Pro has a one-year warranty and comes with a sturdy carrying case.

The power screen can sometimes be hard to see; as opposed to other devices that show power level or battery life digitally, the blue bars on the left and right side are thin and not that visible in settings with limited light.

The overall bulkiness of the M3 Pro can make it hard to reach certain muscle groups, and we had to tilt our hands in uncomfortable positions to reach, say, the hamstrings. A few testers noted the handle of the M3 pro is more slippery than those on other devices we tested. Some customer reviewers criticized the battery life, and after a full charge we estimated that it would need a recharge after about six hours—still good, but short of the advertised limit of eight hours (higher power levels drain the battery faster). One tester noted the M3 Pro gave off the slightest smell of burning motor, which seems to be par for the course for massage guns of this size.

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Don’t let the size fool you—this massager packs a powerful punch. But it comes with fewer attachments than most models.

Best for: Those looking for a compact massager that tackles the basics and is good for travel will like this pick.

Why we like it: Some massage guns with a long handle feel like you have to guide them along the muscles, but the Therabody Theragun Mini 2nd Generation needs no such push—it’s as easy as dragging a paint brush. Its triangular, lightweight shape is easy to hold, and at just over five inches tall, it’s better at reaching harder-to-reach surface areas on the body, such as the undersides of the legs.

With a solid battery life, simple functionality, and not-too-loud sound—we could still hear a TV at normal volume while using it (unlike the bigger Therabody Theragun Prime)—this is a great entry option for someone looking to purchase a massage gun for the first time or for something to take on the go (it weighs 1 pound). Like the Theragun Prime, the Theragun Mini is Bluetooth enabled and connects to the Therabody app, with access to guided programs.

Although the Theragun Mini only comes with three attachments, others are available for purchase.

It has a one-year limited warranty.

The Theragun Mini has only three speeds (1,750, 2,100, and 2,400 ppm) and three attachments (our other picks have four or more). Because of its size, some might gravitate towards using it for travel, but the two-hour battery life would necessitate also packing a charger. Another quirk of its design is in the way you might grip the massager—be sure not to place fingers too close to the narrow end with the moving attachment, as they can get pinched. Some testers also noticed it was harder to reach areas of their back without a long handle to grip. One tester with limited dexterity in her hands suggested the Mini should come with a wrist strap for security. The 20 pounds of stall force is the lowest of any of our picks, so people looking for more power and a deeper massage might look for a different massager.

This model delivers a less intense deep-tissue massage but is light and comfortable in the hand.

May be out of stock

Best for: This is a good option if you’d like to try a bigger massage gun without spending over a hundred dollars—or you would prefer a simpler, less-intense option.

Why we like it: Light and comfortable to hold, the HoMedics Therapist Select Percussion Massager offers three speeds, the fewest of our picks (tied with the Therabody Theragun Mini 2nd Generation), topping out at 3,000 ppm. Its 7 mm amplitude is the lowest of our picks, too. In our tests, its overall effect was slightly more vibratory in comparison with that of our other picks, and it delivered a less-powerful massage than other devices we tried. But the experience was pleasant, and this massage gun does the job for significantly less than a tool like the Therabody Theragun Prime.

A thumb-oriented power button controls the speed adjustment, and three LED lights indicate the speed. (The device has no battery-life indicator.) The button is a bit stiff and makes an audible click when pressed. The handle—one of the slimmest among the models in our test group—is rounded at the bottom, a design that we found comfortable to grip. This massage gun’s specs do not list a stall force, but the device does have a pressure sensor (represented by a display of five LED lights). We noticed that when we applied increasing pressure, the motor surged a bit.

This HoMedics massage gun is solidly built and relatively quiet—we could hear a TV show while massaging. It has an automatic shutoff (after 15 minutes of use) and can be turned back on right away. We ran the device unattended until the auto shutoff kicked in, and we felt no indications of overheating.

The HoMedics Therapist Select Percussion Massager promises a battery life of two and a half hours; one charge lasted through our three-week testing period. It has a two-year warranty and comes with a carrying case.

This model is less powerful and less versatile than most of our other picks, with just three speeds and four attachments—though not everyone will miss those extra options. The thinner handle meant some of our testers with reduced grip strength needed to use both hands when operating the massager.

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Supervising editor Ingrid Skjong is a certified personal trainer (The National Academy of Sports Medicine) and previously covered fitness at Wirecutter. She’s used foam rollers regularly for years and tested many for our guide to foam rollers. An avid runner and a fan of other self-myofascial release tools like lacrosse balls, which have helped through a variety of knotty situations, Ingrid has also had her share of physical therapy over the years.

Seth Berkman is a staff writer covering fitness for Wirecutter and has utilized various forms of massage therapy for recovery for over 15 years. Seth is an author of Wirecutter’s guides to adjustable dumbbells and treadmills.

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To get the lay of the land, we read reviews and roundups, took note of models that we saw repeatedly and that garnered generally positive owner reviews, and ultimately chose 20 massage guns to test. Then we worked our way through the testing group over the course of about three weeks—after workouts, before runs, in pursuit of knot relief—focusing on the following criteria:

Overall massage experience: We noted the three main specs often associated with massage guns—amplitude, percussions per minute, and stall force—and assessed how they combined to produce a satisfying massage. We preferred a variety of discernable speeds. We also ran each device for 15 minutes straight at various speeds to check for overheating.

Controls: We looked for intuitively placed control buttons that we could access easily during a session (ideally with one hand). We noted if the buttons were too sensitive or overly difficult to press.

Weight and feel: We weighed each massage gun ourselves. We noted how each one felt in our hands, including how the length, diameter, shape, and material of the handle contributed to ergonomic comfort.

Attachments: We looked for a variety of attachments, which helps you access a diversity of muscles more easily and comfortably. We also noted the attachments’ material (plastic, closed-cell foam, lighter foam) and stability (a few attachments popped out mid-massage).

Noise: We switched between listening to a podcast (without headphones) and watching a TV show while using the devices and noted if we had a hard time hearing.

Battery: We paid attention to the overall battery life, noting if a massage gun seemed to lose its charge earlier than promised, which usually is about two to three hours of cumulative use. We also looked for a relatively obvious battery-level indicator on the device itself.

Portability: You might want to tote a massage gun to the gym, from room to room in your home, or on a trip. A carrying case can help with that, as well as with storage when you aren’t using the tool.

Warranty: We’ve stumbled across more than a few “worked fine until it didn’t” sentiments within customer reviews of massage guns: Batteries stop charging, motors peter out, attachments refuse to hold. Most of the models we tried have a one-year warranty (though one of our picks is covered for a lifetime).

Massage guns are fairly intuitive to use. Begin by choosing an attachment that will complement the muscle group you’re treating. All of our picks come with a basic owner manual that at least recommends which attachments to use on which areas of the body. (This video gives a beginner-geared overview.) Next, turn the massage gun on before it makes contact with your body and choose a speed; the general recommendation is to start at the lowest setting and work up. Float the attachment over the area you’re targeting and adjust the pressure as you go. To warm up for a workout or activity, concentrate on a specific area for about 30 seconds. For post-activity recovery, relaxation, or targeted attention on a tight spot, spend one to two minutes per area, holding the massage gun gently but steadily on knots or tender areas as tolerated.

Experts agree: Don’t overdo it. The process should not be painful. Avoid using a massage gun on bony areas, directly over joints or tendons, or on an open wound or acute injury. How often you use a massage gun—a few times a day, once a day, once in a blue moon—depends on your specific goals, needs, and tolerance. Overdoing it can result in bruising.

In general, don’t force it, said Christopher Hicks, MD, sports medicine specialist at Northwestern Medicine. For example, if you want to ease shoulder tightness but have limited range of motion in that area, contorting yourself for a massage gun might not be a good idea.

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Along with Therabody, Hyperice is one of the most recognizable names in massage guns. The Hyperice Hypervolt 2 costs about the same as Therabody’s Theragun Prime (the original Hypervolt introduced in 2018 is discontinued). It’s a good massage gun, but it falls short of the Theragun Prime in a few ways.

Compared with the Theragun Prime, the Hypervolt 2 has a lower amplitude (12 mm versus 16 mm) and fewer speeds (three versus five), though it does have a slightly higher maximum speed (2,700 ppm versus 2,400 ppm). It has a traditional shape—unlike the triangular shape of the Theragun Prime, which allows for a few different ways to hold the device—and is slimmer and more petite. It has a comfortable oval handle with a nice grippy surface and the second-narrowest diameter among our picks. People with smaller hands might appreciate the size. But overall, due to the shape and orientation of its handle, it doesn’t offer quite the flexibility that the Theragun Prime does. One tester said the handle was so wide that it hurt their hand while gripping it.

You can’t cycle up and down through the speeds as you can with the Theragun Prime, which isn’t a complete dealbreaker but at this price is a nice feature to have.

A light at the bottom of the Hypervolt 2’s handle broadcasts the battery life in green, yellow, or red, which is a nice touch (the Theragun Prime relies on LED lights). It comes with five attachments (one more than the Theragun Prime): four made of plastic (ball, bullet, flat, fork) and one made of a soft rubbery material (cushion). They are comfortable and versatile, but not as much as the closed-cell foam attachments of the Theragun Prime.

The Hypervolt 2 is Bluetooth enabled and connects to the straightforward Hyperice app, which, like the Theragun app, allows you to follow along with guided programs tailored to a specific sport, activity, or body part. Also like the Theragun Prime, the Hypervolt 2 proved to be rather loud in our tests. A small pouch is included for storage.

If you want a gentler massage and the option of using a handle with a longer-than-average reach: Lyric’s The Therapeutic Massager might appeal to you. Less a massage gun and more a handheld massager, it purports to use vibration frequencies packaged into various combinations of rhythms geared toward relaxation, energy, and calm. The Lyric massager has a sleek look (it’s available in two colors) and weighs 1 pound (about half the weight of most of the massage guns we tested and noticeably lighter). It comes with a handle extender, which in our tests proved helpful for reaching hard-to-access areas like the upper back and (from certain positions) the lower extremities. Its four interchangeable attachments are soft, and its massage style focuses more on those rhythms and less on intensity. The Lyric massager requires a Wi-Fi connection, which allows it to update its built-in features and supplemental content (videos, for instance). It has a dock-style charging station.

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The Theragun Relief is the least-expensive massager in Therabody’s line, and is lighter than other models at just over 1.3 pounds. It has three speeds—adjustable by an easy-to-maneuver button on the back of the device—and has three attachments: dampener, standard ball, and thumb. We found that its battery drained quickly. Listed as lasting two hours on a full charge, the massager regularly came in well under that time. “It feels like half the time we go to use it, the battery’s dead,” one tester remarked.

The Therabody Theragun Elite is a souped-up, more-expensive version of one of our picks, the Therabody Theragun Prime. Compared with the Prime, it has five attachments instead of four, a higher stall force (40 pounds versus 30 pounds), and an OLED display (instead of LED lights). Those upgrades might be valuable to some people, but we found the overall experience of the Elite and the Prime to be similar, and we concluded that most people would be satisfied with the Prime.

If you seek a massage gun experience built around relaxation just as much as pummeling away at your muscles, the Theragun Sense may be for you. The Sense has visually-guided routines and breathing exercises that are supposed to add a layer of calm to a massage (instructions appear on a small monitor on the back of the gun, with additional feedback available when connected to the Therabody app). A finger sensor located on the inside handle also provides a heart rate reading. Our testers enjoyed the guided routines, as they made recovery sessions feel more thorough with clear directions rather than haphazardly massaging away at various body parts. But for a massage gun so targeted at being a calming device, though, we found the sound a big detractor. When oiled, the Sense is fairly quiet and you can still hear a TV while using it. But we found it gets louder and rattles quickly; we had to oil it more frequently than the company suggests. We also found the battery life to be shorter than the listed two hours: we rarely reached an hour when using the device for guided sessions. The Sense has four attachments (dampener, standard ball, thumb, micro-point) and five speeds.

The Theragun Pro Plus incorporates infrared LED light therapy, and special attachments for vibration therapy and heat therapy (the company claims heating can reach 131 degrees). These features are controlled on an LED screen on the handle of the device, and you can use five other attachments (dampener, standard ball, thumb, micro-point, and wedge). While the wave of heat felt nice during a massage (you can adjust the temperature or turn this feature off by cycling through the LED screen), we don’t think heat or infrared therapy justify the additional cost (nearly double), when compared to the Theragun Prime we recommend. We’ve also seen customer reviewers claiming their Pro Plus battery didn’t hold a charge.

We liked aspects of using the Addaday BioZoom Edge Percussion Massager (currently unavailable). It offers two ways to adjust its speeds (two buttons on the inside of the handle near where your thumb rests and a touchscreen on top) and allows you to cycle up and down through the speeds. But we didn’t like the attachments: Though cheerful (one is a round, yellow smiley face), they felt cheap and a little silly, and we had a few issues with specific ones popping out during use.

The Aduro Percussion Massage Gun is the cheapest of the massage guns we tried, and in our tests it showed. The body felt plasticky. The four, hard-plastic attachments felt cheap—the flat version had a small but sharp irregularity—and its overall iffy quality knocked it out of contention.

The Compex Fixx 2.0 Massager has a multi-grip handle reminiscent of the Therabody Theragun Prime’s. Weighing about 3 pounds (the heaviest of the bunch), it felt unbalanced to us. Instead of buttons, it has an adjustment dial, which we had a hard time controlling. It has a decent two-year warranty, and the neck can move into three different positions. But overall it felt plasticky, and our struggles with the adjustment dial threw us off.

We nearly made the Flyby F1Pro Deep Tissue Massage Gun one of our picks—its price (typically under $100) is right, and it delivered a solid massage in our tests despite having a lower-quality feel than our recommendations. But though its attachments stayed secure during use, our unit rattled, a result of the attachment connection point shifting ever so slightly from side to side within the device.

The Renpho R4 Pro Massage Gun was one of the cheapest models we tried, and it felt that way. This massage gun has a curved neck that can adjust into five positions, but it was hard to move—we had to either use two hands or brace the device against the body and adjust from there. A couple of times, its large foam ball attachment began to pop out at the machine’s highest speed.

The Sharper Image Power Percussion Deep Tissue Massager (currently unavailable) is a relatively inexpensive model with six speeds, six attachments, and an easy-to-read digital display on the back of the device that indicates speed level and battery life. However, it advertises a Whisper-Quiet Motor that is only really evident on the lowest setting—it gets pretty loud once you go up in speed. Also, it seemed to skip when pressed against our hamstrings, creating a less than satisfying massage experience. One tester noted that the massager began to “feel heavy” after a while; it weighs 2.19 pounds, and is one of the heaviest models we've tested.

We didn’t mind using the Sportneer Elite D9 Percussive Massage Gun (currently unavailable)—its handle was comfortable to grip, and it delivered a satisfying massage. But its attachments felt cheap to us.

The TimTam All-New Power Massager was so loud and so intense, it felt like something out of a horror movie. The massage gun comes with just one attachment (a hard ball), and it has the lowest continuous battery life (40 minutes) among our test group. It no doubt has its fans, but one of our notes sums it up: “This thing is nuts.”

The Vybe Premium Muscle Massage Gun is nearly identical to the Ekrin Athletics B37, one of our picks, save for a few key features: It has a lower stall force (30 pounds versus 56 pounds), a shorter amplitude (10 mm versus 12 mm), and a less-generous warranty (90 days versus lifetime). Still, it was comfortable to use.

This article was edited by Ellen Lee, Tracy Vence, and Kalee Thompson.

Ericka Clinton, dean of the massage therapy program at the Swedish Institute College of Health Sciences and New York–licensed massage therapist, phone interview, February 10, 2021

Christie Aschwanden, science journalist and author of Good to Go: What the Athlete in All of Us Can Learn from the Strange Science of Recovery, phone interview, March 15, 2021

Jim Huether, CEO of Hyperice, phone interview, March 18, 2021

Christopher Hicks, MD, sports medicine specialist at Northwestern Medicine, phone interview, January 18, 2022

Ingrid Skjong

Ingrid Skjong is a supervising editor on the appliance team, focusing on the likes of ranges, refrigerators, dryers, and dishwashers. She previously covered fitness for Wirecutter and has been an editor and writer at various lifestyle magazines. She is an avid runner and lives in New York City.

Seth Berkman

Seth Berkman is a staff writer at Wirecutter, covering fitness. He previously covered sports and health for several years as a freelancer for The New York Times. He is passionate about making fitness reporting accessible to people of all levels, whether they’re serious marathoners or first-time gym-goers. He is the author of A Team of Their Own: How an International Sisterhood Made Olympic History.

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