Vybe Percussion Massage Gun Review

Though this massage gun looks a lot less industrial than the Darkiron, it’s the real deal: uncompromising performance with little thought given to anything else.

Loud and capable, this deep-tissue massager is all about getting the job done. For sheer power, it’s tied with the Theragun G3 Pro, providing up to 60 lbs of pressure at 2,400 cycles per minute, with a long 16 mm stroke length for better, deeper penetration.

This comes at a cost, unfortunately: the powerful motor quickly drains the battery and, at its highest setting, it’s about as loud as a city sidewalk during rush hour. The Theragun also makes a lot of noise, but wins by a nose in that regard. While its battery life is also slightly worse, this Vybe has one major advantage: it’s much, much cheaper than the very similar Theragun.

Not Your Grandma’s Massage Gun

In keeping with the gun theme, it’s operated by a trigger instead of a button, though this latches and you don’t need to hold it down while using the massager. You can select between 6 speed settings using a wheel on the side.

Although there are six intensity settings to choose from and the lowest produces only 500 pulses per minute, the long strokes make even this feel like a real hammer action, not just a tickle at skin level. As such, this isn’t a good massage gun for most therapeutic purposes.

Another distinction between that and this Vybe is that the range of massage attachments: the Vybe comes with only a large and small ball for general muscle stimulation and a cone to reach trigger points deep under the skin. These are made of resilient foam to prevent injuries even with such a powerful massager, but they’re still relatively hard; you will need to take care when operating at full power on sensitive areas like the neck or near the spine.

Some Nice Features, but Also Some Limitations

Depending on how heavily you use it, you can expect the battery to run out in under an hour. Fortunately, a spare is included, as is a carrying case that offers padded spaces for all the accessories. Still, the need for near-constant charging makes this product unsuitable for masseuses and sports therapists who travel with or to their clients. The charger is, at least, dual voltage, so taking it along on international trips shouldn’t be a problem.

Given that most people will use it on themselves, it’s certainly nice that the massage arm rotates through 90 degrees, giving you access to more muscle groups without doing yourself a further injury trying to reach them. You can also use either the upper or lower part of the grip as a handle, improving its ease of use.

Unusually for a massage gun, the Vybe doesn’t use a brushless motor. This helps keep the cost down, but also has a couple of disadvantages. Most notably, brushed motors are a lot more inefficient and therefore noisier.

In Summary

This noise happens to be exactly the kind that’s likely to get on innocent bystanders’ nerves. This factor will not matter too much in an environment such as a gym, where cacophonous techno music and the groans of the damned are likely to drown out the racket it makes (at its most powerful setting, it’s about as loud as a garbage disposal).

If you share a bedroom with someone, though, or plan to use this while watching TV, something else will serve you better.

Even so, apart from the noise this is a good-value buy if you need something that really pops for high-intensity training purposes.