The use of massage guns has increased over the past few years, thanks to their convenience and effectiveness in deeply penetrating muscle tissues.
These devices are designed to promote proper circulation, accelerate recovery and warmup as well as relieve sore, tight muscles.
One such device is the Hypervolt massage gun by Hyperice, which boasts such features as having been designed by rocket engineers as well as other several unique attributes.
The Hypervolt is considered one of the best of its kind, comparable to Theragun, one of the leading brands in percussion massagers.
If you’re interested in buying a Hypervolt, but you’re not sure if it’s worth your money, we’ll share all the details needed to help make up your mind.
We’ll also put the Hypervolt to the test and give you my answer to the most important question: Is the Hypervolt worth the money and should you buy it or not?
What is the Hypervolt?
The Hypervolt is the predecessor to the Hypervolt Plus (we’ll take a brief look at this a little later on).
This ergonomically designed massager promises to relax fascia and tense muscles, improve blood circulation and shorten the recovery time of muscles by delivering deep and powerful vibration stimulation.
It is easy-to-use for self-myofascial release and has 3-speed settings —delivering up to 3,200 pulses per minute at its highest level.
It was specifically created to accelerate warmup and recovery, and works for athletes and non-athletes alike, guaranteeing a deep tissue massage for sore and stiff muscles.
Its small size and lightweight feature make for easy travel, so you can massage or alleviate pain on-the-go.
The Package: What’s Included with the Hypervolt?
Inside the contents of the Hypervolt package, you’ll get:
- The Hypervolt unit
- Five interchangeable head attachments
- AC/DC wall charger
- Hypervolt battery
As for the Hypervolt Plus, it includes all the features of the Hypervolt, including the precision design, intelligent responsiveness, and Quiet Glide technology.
The plus version, however, delivers 30% more power, thanks to the 90W high-torque motor.
Interestingly, the battery life of the plus does not live up to that of the Hypervolt, offering 2.5 hours, while the Hypervolt offers 3.
While still considered lightweight, the plus is a little heavier than its predecessor at 3 pounds while the regular Hypervolt weighs in at 2.5 pounds.
Out of the Box: First Impressions of the Hypervolt
Now that we’ve got all the specs out the way, let’s dive into the product review of the Hypervolt.
But before I start it’s important to point out that the review will be from a ‘personal use perspective.
I do not have clients, nor am I a physical therapist or a personal trainer.
I am testing the Hypervolt on myself to see its effectiveness in releasing trigger points, tension and improving mobility.
I’ve tested quite a few massage guns before and I was looking forward to getting my hands on the Hypervolt as it is one of the main brand names when it comes to percussive massage devices.
On opening the box there isn’t too much to get excited about.
The Hypervolt unit and all its attachments and chargers are placed inside the plastic cutouts in the box.
It certainly lacks the presentation and packaging standards that the Theragun PRO offers.
On inspection of the main unit, I was surprised at how big it was. It was a little bigger than I expected but it’s still of a reasonable size.
It did feel a little on the heavy side but I do favour the extra weight as it means you have to use less of your own force when massaging yourself.
It’s also a sign that the quality of the unit is good.
The Hypervolt comes with five attachments all made with the same plastic material, with the round attachment being made of a foam-like material.
There was nothing to get excited about the quality of the attachments, they are just like that of any other massage gun you’ll find on the market.
At the end of opening up the Hypervolt I was a little underwhelmed especially regarding the hype it gets but was hoping that the quality of the massage and the unit would make up for all this.
Using the Hypervolt and the Massage Experience
The Hypervolt gets top marks for simplicity of use.
There’s a switch at the bottom that is either set to off or on.
Once it is on, you control the speeds by pushing the button on the back of the unit.
Push once for the first speed, twice for the second speed and then a third time for the final speed.
All of this information is signalled to you via the fancy lights on the Hypervolt.
There are also three white lights which are the new pressure sensors to indicate how much pressure is being applied as you push down on the Hypervolt.
The harder you push the more lights that show.
Switching attachment heads on the Hypervolt is just as easy as starting it. All you have to do is pull the heads off and push on the head of your choice.
All the heads fit snuggly onto the Hypervolt so there is little risk of them popping off during a massage.
All in all, the Hypervolt is easy to use and anyone can pick it up and understand how to use it right away.
The other important factor is that it is indeed quiet.
It does give off a little noise, but not so much that you wouldn’t be able to watch TV or talk to someone while using it, unlike many of the other massage guns.
This is one of the main benefits of the Hypervolt.
But what about the massage experience?
The Hypervolt offers what I consider a very smooth and consistent massage.
The motor runs well and it should be powerful enough for beginners to percussive massagers.
The attachment heads do their job and you can get enough of a mix of different massages using the 5 different attachments.
In general, the Hypervolt is a well-built device that can provide a solid massage experience and loosen up muscles in the process.
However, in my opinion, the Hypervolt proves to be an extremely underwhelming massage gun given how much it costs and the hype it gets.
In the past, I have used a lot of different electric massagers, myofascial release tools as well as massage guns in a bid to loosen up tightness, knots and painful spots, so I would say I am fairly ‘massaged out.’
This means that I need a little more percussive power to feel any real benefits. The Hypervolt simply didn’t provide the type of power I need.
However, I do understand that how much benefit you get from a percussive device is usually dependent on how tight your muscles are or how much you have massaged in recent times.
Roll back two years ago and the Hypervolt would have been very effective and be the type of massage gun I needed.
In this respect, the Hypervolt is a good massage gun that will benefit many, particularly those who do not need anything too powerful.
My biggest issue though is not necessarily over its effectiveness or the power, it’s the price of the unit and the overhyping of its features.
This is more apparent given the recent surge of competitor massage guns in the marketplace.
One of the big selling points Hyperice makes about the Hypervolt is that it is designed by ‘Rocket Engineers.’
I agree it’s a nice unit, but it doesn’t have anything unique about its design over cheaper competitor units.
Another feature is the Quiet Glide™ technology it comes with which supposedly enables the Hypervolt to be able to reach high power without making too much noise.
Again I agree it is quiet, but I have used other cheaper massage guns which have just as much power and give off the same amount of noise as the Hypervolt.
In addition, the Hypervolt has been revamped with a new ‘pressure sensor’ which lets you know how much pressure you are applying by indicating it to you via light signals.
For Hypervolt owners who are going to be using it on themselves, this feature is pretty pointless.
I don’t know why this feature is needed as I can tell how much pressure I am putting on myself because I can feel it for myself.
It has been said it has been designed with the professional massage therapist or physio in mind so I can’t really judge the sensors in their usefulness in that respect.
I doubt it’s that useful as I am sure you can tell how much pressure you are putting on a client based upon how hard you are pressing down.
In addition, the quality of the attachments are no different to what you would get with any other mid-priced massage gun.
They are all made of standard plastic.
A Quick Illustration and Comparison
The Hypervolt costs between $100-$200 more (this varies according to time of year) than the PlayMakar MVP Percussion Massager despite the fact that there is not much difference between them.
The Hypervolt comes with five attachment heads and the PlayMakar MVP Percussion Massager comes with 6. There is also little difference in the quality of the attachments.
In terms of maximum power, there is not much difference either.
In fact, the PlayMakar MVP Percussion Massager comes with six adjustable levels and the Hypervolt has three levels, and they both give off the same level of noise.
Furthermore, the Hypervolt has a 1-year guarantee, whereas the PlayMakar MVP Percussion Massager has a 2-year guarantee.
I am not saying that cheaper model massage guns are equal to, or better than the Hypervolt, I am simply trying to make the point that the Hypervolt should not be priced so high relative to the competition.
The Important Question: Should You Buy the Hypervolt?
When compared to other massage guns on the market, this is not the most impressive.
Hyperice boasts that the Hypervolt is designed by rocket engineers but in my opinion, they could have saved the money on the rocket engineers and used whoever designed the cheaper massage guns now on the market, as there is nothing special about the design.
In addition, there are other devices that have more features, attachments and similar power output for half the price of this one.
For what it offers this massage gun is overpriced and given that Hypervolt is not powerful enough for persons who have experience using massage guns, there are better and cheaper alternatives to invest in.
The Hypervolt is a good massager and most people who aren’t looking for anything too powerful or noisy will be more than happy with it.
The only issue is that the Hypervolt isn’t overly special that it should cost significantly more than the average massage gun.
This is not to say that the Hypervolt is a bad massage gun.
In fact, I think it is better than most of the other massage guns, the only issue is the price (assuming its current price is $399).
If you can get it in a sale or if Hyperice ever does decide to drop the price permanently, then may be a good option.
But until then it’s overpriced and there are better-valued massage guns available.
