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Welcome to Massage Gun Advice. Today we’ll tell you how we test devices before we can talk about them in our posts. If you have been reading many of our posts you know how we love massage guns and how we literally can’t stop talking about them.

Well, we don’t just talk about them, we have a process that we take our devices through before we can tell you anything about them. We may not be experts in making massage guns, but we care about the value we get from these devices, and to make sure we don’t miss out on anything, we test them thoroughly – at least according to us.

Doubt it? You can judge after you have read the process.

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Why Should You Trust Us?

We are both amateur athletes and a target audience for massage guns – we use massage guns a lot. We both graduated from tech universities and we have always been passionate about hardware tech.

To top it up, Luke has an MSc in biomedical engineering. Even though we wouldn’t strictly refer to massage guns as medical devices, Luke always gives his one or two cents worth whenever we talk about health-related aspects. 

But we are not physical therapists or doctors. To ensure that our content is accurate and medically sound, we teamed up with a team of licensed professionals – a Chiropractor, a Doctor of Physical Therapy, and a NASM-certified Performance Enhancement Specialist.

We let these experts review most of our articles for accuracy – we have indicated this in each reviewed post. We also consult regularly with these experts to stay up to date and get new content ideas.

As we have already said, brands don’t vet our massage gun reviews; we work independently and don’t get paid to sponsor any brands.

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How do We Decide What to Review?

There are hundreds, if not thousands, of different massage guns being sold out there. We realize we can’t test everything.

But a big chunk of these devices are similar. The only difference is that they are sold by different brands. We try to filter out the clones and focus on devices that bring real value to users.

We have criteria that we use to choose which products to review:

1. We go for products that try to innovate: We look for anything unique; a special attachment, improved ergonomics, or anything that isn’t generic and common.
2. We look for products that people buy and search for online: If there’s an existing demand on the market, people look for information related to specific devices. They want us to review the latest devices from well-known brands. We happily cover those – after all that’s why massagegunadvice.com is here.
3. We check out promising brands/devices: Whenever we see something fresh – often on Kickstarter or Indiegogo – we take a close look to see whether it’s something that captures people’s attention and whether it’s worth covering.
4. We look for innovative products beyond massage guns: When we see something that excites us, it doesn’t have to be a massage gun, just as long as it falls into the sports recovery/sports performance category, we love to try it out and share our thoughts. Achedaway Cupper is a good example. In short, even though we are massage gun lovers, we look for other exciting sports recovery gadgets.

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Where do We Get Devices From?

We buy most of the devices we test.

We use the money we get from our affiliate and/or advertising revenue to purchase these gadgets.

When readers buy a device using our affiliate links, we sometimes earn a commission. Even though these commissions are small, they eventually add up to a figure good enough to purchase a device or two that we can use and later review. 

Unlike most websites or YouTube channels (especially YouTube channels), we don’t do free samples unless we have to (special cases). We prefer to stay neutral and unbiased.

Apart from reviewing devices, we are consumers, and just like other consumers, we like to get the best product with our hard-earned money.

It’s much like the Michelin reviewers, who are always low-key when they visit restaurants. They pretend to be regular customers so that they can eat and review the actual food and also evaluate the quality of service.

In our case, it’s massage guns. By staying incognito, we can interact with a massage gun and also get to evaluate a brand’s customer service, support and shipping times.

Sometimes we will accept a free sample from a new and ambitious brand (devices that are not yet on the market) or a trusted brand that we’re confident about. Sometimes this is the only way to test a device before it hits the shelves – we love to be the first to cover new products.

Even when this happens and we have to receive a free sample, we don’t allow manufacturers to vet our reviews and we don’t accept money to test a device.

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What do We Test in Massage Guns?

We vet each product thoroughly to make sure they deliver what the manufacturer promised. We have occasionally seen some brands overstate (or understate) the actual product specs.

Fortunately for our readers who are always keen on specs, we ensure every device has what is claimed by the manufacturer. We do this by comparing different devices to verify what the manufacturer says.

So here are the key things that we look to verify everytime we receive a new device:

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How do We Test Massage Guns?

The Testing Environment

We ensure that all devices are tested under the same conditions to get accurate results for every device.

We do all the tests in one designated room. We mount the devices on a dedicated holder that is attached to a heavy-duty table. This ensures that devices remain stable even when the vibration is high (higher speeds).

This is especially needed when we are trying to measure the percussions per minute using a laser device. It also helps when we are measuring the noise levels.

We use acoustic wall panels to reduce external noise and ensure the best repeatability.

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The Testing Process

Before we test a device we prepare it first. The preparation involves making sure the device has no defects. We ensure the batteries are fully charged as well.

We use the ball or flat attachments when checking for stall force, noise levels, and percussions per minute. We take multiple measurements of each parameter to eliminate potential random errors. 

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Collecting Feedback from Professionals

We may do all the tests but we don’t just rely on our own opinion. Instead, we share the devices with our experts regularly. We then collect their feedback after a few weeks of testing.

Without such priceless insights from practicing professionals, we wouldn’t be able to create trustworthy buying advice posts like Chiropractor Massage Gun or Physical Therapist Massage Gun. 

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How we Rate Devices

You may have noticed that we award review stars at the end of each massage gun review.

Here’s how we do it:

• Quality: We look at how the device is put together, the quality of materials used, and how durable it is over time. This may be subjective but we have seen so many massage guns that we can tell what’s high quality and what’s not.
• Effectiveness: We check how good the massage gun is as a massage device. We look at how powerful it is and how well it does the job.
• Usability: Here we check and reward a few things. If a device has good ergonomics, is light and easy to maneuver, and also how quiet it is. If we are satisfied that a device scores well in all these parameters, then we give it a better score.
• Accessories: We check for what’s included in the box and the quality of what’s in there. Accessories that we check for include, the attachments, chargers, carrying case, and the instructional manual. All these contribute to the score.
• Price/Value: Is this a good device for the money? Can a similar amount buy you a better device, or one that is better equipped? What kind of warranty is offered? Can the brand be trusted? We check all these before we give a score here.
• Summary/final score: It’s the average score of all the above. It gives the final rating of the product.

Note that as devices evolve and market dynamics change over time, so do our scores for the devices we review. We may update articles when the price or warranty changes. We also change the scores to reflect these changes.

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What Different Scores Mean

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We’re Manufacturer-Friendly

We understand that this is still a relatively young industry and some brands are still trying to get on their feet. They have to try different things. Some of it may work, but some of it may not. In that case we try to be supportive.

We ourselves have been in the product marketing business before and we know how influential reviews can be. It can be difficult to put your product out there and try to build a brand. We know how unjustified criticism can harm a brand that is just starting with a new product.

We have also seen situations where a brand or product gets into trouble because the product explodes in popularity without proper systems in place to manage the explosion in demand.

But…

We are also aware of many brands (so-called) deciding to take the easy route of capitalizing on what established brands have already come up with. We have seen so many clones with zero innovation. 

Therefore, while we may be open to giving brands a chance to feature their product(s) on our site, we may pass on brands that are unwilling to make their products unique – even the tiniest of tweaks can make a difference. In the same stride, we point out any attempts to mislead customers with false information. This is especially prevalent with product specifications.

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Understanding Our Buyer Advice

We publish 3 kinds of posts where we give buyers advice.

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