Massage guns don’t have to be crazily expensive to do a good job at rehabilitating your body after a long and strenuous workout. The LifePro Sonic Handheld Percussion Massage Gun proves exactly that. It has a budget nature that still manages to do a comparably good job when put side to side to some of the industry’s giants such as the TimTam Power Massager and the Theragun G3 and G3Pro. In this review, we will take a look at its features and see exactly how good of a value it is for your money!
If you want to check out other budget massage gun models, head over to my full guide on the topic by clicking here…
Table of Contents
Overview & Features
Before we get into all of the nitty-gritty, I want to quickly discuss the price of this gun. Even though prices change a lot these days, this is still a sub-150 dollar massage gun that has a long battery life, different modes, and comes with interchangeable massage heads. It is also quite powerful compared to other guns around this price point. As a whole, in terms of value, this is what I’d put on my shortlist when I am shopping for a new massage gun.
Our Rating:
- Excellent value for your money
- 5 different massage heads
- 5 frequency modes
- Battery life meter on top of the gun
- Long-lasting battery performance
- Lifetime warranty
- Quiet
Design and build quality
The design of the LifePro Sonic massage gun is the typical form-factor that we’ve been seeing for the better part of the last decade now. The gun-like design is slowly going away, though, as the industry has found a few other interesting shapes that are easier to hold and allow you to apply pressure on hard-to-reach areas of your body better. Such designs can be seen with the TimTam gun and the Theragun among others. Despite all that, when budget is in mind, going with what works is a good approach. The construction quality here, however, isn’t stellar, and that is one of the main downsides of this gun. Of course, that is to be expected for this particular price point, but if you’re thinking that cheap massage guns will feel sturdy and durable, you won’t be pleasantly surprised. Despite all that, though, the handle and massage heads are surprisingly comfortable to the touch and are a good touch. The button that controls all the speed adjustments is located right above the handle, making it extremely easy to reach no matter which muscles you’re working on.
At the top of the massage gun, you also have a control panel that has an on/off button and two indicators – one for the frequency of the massage head and another for the percentage of battery left. Apart from that, the gun is fairly similar to all other models in this price class.
Heads & adjustability
There are five heads that come with this massage gun – a regular round head, spinal head, two bullet heads, and a flat head. The round head is useful for larger muscle groups and has a good recovery effect. The spinal head does what its name suggests and has two protrusions that work on the muscles on both sides of your spine. The two bullet heads are specifically designed to target small locations such as joints, trigger points, and muscle knots. Last but not least is the flathead that works on deeper tissues by having a bit more stimulative impact. All of the heads can be changed between each other within seconds and are easy to use once you get used to the whole process.
Percussion
In terms of the heads’ massaging frequencies, there are five different modes:
- Low-pressure (20Hz)
- Moderate pressure (30Hz)
- Strong pressure (35Hz)
- Intense pressure (40Hz)
- Powerful mode (45Hz)
The Hz here signifies the amounts of percussions per minute (PPM). Having five different speeds is actually a great feature to have on a budget massage gun and is not even present on some guns that are twice the price of the one right here.
Ease of use and portability
As with all other traditional massage guns, the Sonic massager is very easy and straightforward to use since it has no rotating heads nor does it have any adjustable angles or handles. You just point the gun towards the point that you want to work on and press the button. Once you are massaging, you can change between the various speeds in order to produce different results. The only downside here is that if you want to massage some of your side or back muscles you will end up holding the gun in awkward positions. Massage guns like the Theragun fix these issues by having a tri-handle design.
Noise
The motor in this massage gun is very efficient at what it does, hence the longer battery life. However, it isn’t very silent, despite the claims from the company. It produces noise levels around 60-75 dB which is slightly louder than normal talk. If you want to use your massage gun in a quiet environment without disturbing the people around you, this isn’t the correct model for the job. Massage guns like the Theragun are much quieter and will get deeper into your soft tissues.
Battery
In terms of the battery, the Sonic percussion massage gun is quite impressive. It has a battery life of 6 hours on a single charge (on its lowest setting). If you’re pushing it too hard on its highest frequency, it will last around two and a half hours at best. Still, the battery recharges fairly quickly and you have your battery levels on the right of the top control panel of the gun to give you an idea of how much you have left before the batteries run out.
Additional features
There aren’t many additional features to this gun. It also doesn’t come with a hard carrying case which is a big downside for people that travel a lot. Something that is quite impressive, however, is the fact that you get a lifetime warranty by LifePro for it, in case there are any build defects or stops working. Their return policies are also quite liberal and their support team is responsive.
If you want to read more about one of the best massage guns out there and see all of its features and advantages over a budget model like the Sonic Massager, head over to my TimTam Power Massager Pro review! Now, let’s summarize the strong and weak sides of this massager…
Advantages & Disadvantages
Pros
- Excellent value for your money
- 5 different massage heads
- 5 frequency modes
- Battery life meter on top of the gun
- Long-lasting battery performance
- Lifetime warranty
- Quiet
Cons
- Not a very ergonomically-oriented design
- Build quality isn’t quite good
- The head struggles if you push it too hard against your body
To learn more about how massage guns work and how to use them properly after a workout, head over to my article on the topic!
Conclusion
Our Rating:
The LifePro Sonic Handheld Percussion Massage Gun is really one of the better massage guns for its money. Even if we put our budget aside for a moment, this is a good well-rounded massage gun that is only lagging behind other top-models by a few years in terms of its technology. Apart from that, it has a solid battery life, many massage heads to choose from, 5 different speed modes, and a lifetime warranty to cover all that. If you ignore the mediocre build quality and outdated massage gun design, this is one of the best deals out there simply considering the value for your money. I rated it with four and a half out of five stars.
