Sharper Image Power Percussion Review – Good on the Outside But only So-So In Performance

Diving straight into our Sharper Image massage gun review, we’ve tested the Power Percussion model rigorously, matching its real-world performance against its promised features.

While it presents some strengths, the question looms – does it provide substantial value for its price point?

As we share our personal observations from using the product, we’ll share why, in our experience, there might be stronger contenders in this price bracket.

Let’s dive in!

Sharper Image Power Percussion Review

Sharper Image Massage Gun Specs

First Impressions and Design

Unpacking the gun, we were greeted with a nicely packaged box featuring descriptive images, which immediately gave us a sense of the product’s quality.

When you unwrap the packaging, you find a gray zippered carrying case that we must admit is a nice touch for a sub-$100 massage gun. Either way, even under $50 guns come in a carrying case at this point, so this shouldn’t be surprising. 

As we opened the case to reveal the gun neatly tucked inside, our first impression was undeniably positive, enhancing our anticipation for the product’s performance.

We like the design. It looks sleek and rounded. It comes in a light-gray color with orange accents. The entire body is made of plastic, but we like the quality.

The designers clearly wanted to create a good first impression. It’s a modern look that we like. 

What Else is Included?

Inside the main case, we discovered another tiny case specifically for the attachments. In our previous experiences, we’ve often seen a tiny pouch used, so this change felt fresh and surprisingly convenient.

The instructional manual is helpful if you care to read it. It includes information about which attachment to use on which muscles.

We found a wall charger and spare attachment gaskets within the package. From our experience with similar products, gaskets can wear out over time, so having spares is a welcome addition. We personally found the orange color of the gaskets to be a charming touch.

Attachments

There are 6 attachments included with the gun. The mounting system is push-n-pull, which tends to require a bit of force. We see this with most cheap guns.

Briefly about the attachments:

• Flat Head (with tiny dots) – This one is for massaging larger muscle groups. You can use it when you want an aggressive massage. 
• Smaller ball head – The universal head can massage all muscle groups. It’s made of EVA foam. Please don’t use it on clothes. 
• Larger ball head – It works similarly to the small ball head above but covers a larger area. You can use it on your larger muscles.
• Bullet head – This one works on trigger points, joints, palms, and soles. 
• Fork head – It works on the spine area but can also be used on the Achilles. It can act as a double-headed bullet attachment. 
• Wedge/bar head – This one can be used on the calves, arms, biceps, and to simulate scraping. 

Size and Ergonomics

In our hands, the device felt substantial yet compact, striking a fine balance between weight and portability.

It feels substantial, but it’s not bulky. It probably looks smaller than most full-sized guns out there. It measures 9.84 x 6.9 x 2.5 inches.

It has quite a long handle. This is good because you can easily reach your lower back. On the flip side, it makes the gun look bigger. 

It weighs 2.2 pounds with the flat attachment mounted. We’d say this is the typical weight of a full-sized gun. Even Ekrin B37 weighs the same.

What about ergonomics?

Well, for starters, the handle is straight and not slanted like Ekrin devices (the B37 for example). It’s slightly harder to maneuver this gun than the Ekrin devices. Also, the T-shape handle causes the wrist to strain when you are using the device for longer sessions. 

We noticed the handle was rather thick, which might not suit those with smaller hands. However, the abundant rubber coating offered a firm grip during our test sessions, assuring us of its user-friendly design.

Performance

So, this device looks neat on the outside, but does it have what it takes to do a decent job? We check for performance by looking at amplitude, stall force, and percussions per minute – or power, collectively. 

Amplitude

Amplitude is the distance the head travels as the gun percusses.

Sharper Image does not provide official figures for the stroke length, but based on our hands-on test and subsequent measurements, we found it to be around 9.83mm – fairly close to our initial expectation of 10mm.

This means you are getting a vibrational massage^​2​ with this Sharper Image deep tissue massager. You shouldn’t expect deeper punches like Theragun.

But should it have enough stall force and rapid percussions, then 10mm can be good enough to go deep-tissue. And here’s what we think of its stall force.

Stall Force

Stall force is the gun’s ability to remain functional when pressure is applied to the motor.

After testing the device, we figured the stall force wasn’t so bad. However, it feels like an entry-level gun stall force. We estimate it’s 25-30lbs. at top speed. It could be single digits at lower speeds.

For perspective, it takes very minimal pressure to significantly slow down the percussions (at low speeds). 

It feels slightly robust at higher speeds but slows down significantly when you press it against large muscle groups. Pressing the gun against the body helps to achieve deep tissue penetration and treatment^​3​.

Percussions and Speeds

Often when you see 10mm amplitude or lower, you know there is a chance the gun can also rev rapidly. But this is an attribute of good low amplitude guns. We expect those to rev up to 3000-3300RPM.

But this Sharper Image gun only revs up to 2700RPM according to its specifications. We measured the hits using our digital tachometer and recorded even less, 1200 to slightly over 2600RPM.

Now, 2600RPM isn’t so bad if it’s combined with a decent amplitude. But with 10mm, it feels so-so at best.

It lags behind many competitors that try to balance the stroke length with the percussions. They often combine a higher amplitude and rapid percussions. This allows for a more penetrative and effective massage.

But doesn’t Hypervolt 2 Pro have about the same maximum percussions?

Yes, The Hypervolt 2 Pro has 2700 maximum percussions. However, it also has a 14.5mm amplitude – that’s close to twice Power Percussion’s amplitude! Even the entry-level Hypervolt 2 has a 12mm amplitude (similar color).

Noise

It’s a quiet device that remains hushed throughout the operation. Even at higher speeds, it rarely buzzes. We measured the noise levels and recorded just about 60dB on our dB meter. See pictures of our measurements below.

But this is what we’ve come to expect of low amplitude devices. 

But we did notice it gets louder after a few dozen sessions. We observed rattles, vibrations, and some creaking noise. This often means that the device might have reliability issues in the future.

We know such (cheap) devices tend to get louder a few weeks into using them. It’s a characteristic we’ve noted with many budget massage guns.

The attachment mounting system may shoulder the blame for the rattling. We don’t know how long this gun will stay functional, but it’s nothing we haven’t experienced with similar guns. 

Battery

Expect a 2500mAh battery. This is a standard massage gun battery capacity.

According to the brand, you should get about 4.5 hours of operation time according to Sharper Image. However, this sounds like an exaggeration, unless you don’t move past speed 1. In our test, under normal usage, with some pressure applied and when used higher speeds, a single charge lasted for 1.5 – 2 hours.

This is still good enough and could translate to about a week of use under normal usage. 

The main display has a battery indicator (0-99 percent). The LED ring on the handle is reminiscent of Hypervolt. We are not so sure the battery will go the distance.

Again, from our experience, budget devices tend to save on batteries. In fact, we also spotted a number of negative reviews from buyers who complained that the device suddenly stopped working. For instance, here and here. Obviously, we’ll have to wait and see. 

Warranty, Price, and, is it Worth it?

We didn’t see any warranty information inside the case. We are assuming it’s a 1-year warranty and nothing more. Many cheap massage guns tend to have a 1-year cover. We prefer brands like Ekrin and Lifepro that provide a life cover for all their devices. 

You can order this device online, at Costco, Walmart or even at Amazon. It’s not an expensive gun.

We bought our unit for about $65. We understand it was slightly higher than this before. But is it worth its weight in gold?

We know it can handle basic percussive therapy, but we know competitors with better value-for-money devices. We list 2 alternatives below. 

Sharper Image Power Percussion Alternatives

Urikar Pro 2 – Same Price, Better Features

Urikar Pro 2 is a budget massage gun too. It has some features that you may find interesting.

For starters, it weighs about the same as the Sharper Image percussion massager. However, we think it has much better ergonomics. Instead of the same boring straight handle, it has an adjustable handle that is generally better to hold. 

But its killer feature we discovered in this gun was the heated massage option. It comes with a special heated ceramic attachment.

Heated percussion therapy is effective in relieving pain and aids healing during rehabilitation. 

In our testing, we found it percussing a little slower than the other competitor guns. However, it comes with a 12mm amplitude to make up for the slow percussions. This is 20% longer stroke than the Sharper Image product, and it’s real 12mm (we measured it).

In fact, it’s probably the only under $100 percussion massager we have seen with a confirmed 12mm amplitude. We prefer this setup to Sharper Image’s – the same maximum percussions per minute but a higher amplitude. 

Another feature we appreciated when testing this gun was the different dynamic massage modes. The modes allow the device to self-regulate the speeds.

It comes with 6 attachments, including a squishy one you can use on tender areas (Sharper Image only has hard attachments)

The battery is also slightly larger – 2600mAh compared to 2500mAh.

With the code URIKAR02, you can get it for just $62.90. It’s a cool discount that cuts the base price by more than half.

Learn More Our full Urikar Pro 2 review.

Taotronics TT-PCA004 – Even Cheaper, but Better

This is an even better alternative if you can live without the heated massage feature on the Urikar Pro 2.

Along with its twin brother TT-PCA003, they made our best budget massage guns list as the only massage gun that cost $50. 

In our tests, the TT-PCA004 performed even better than any option we have mentioned here thus far.

Even though they advertise a 12mm amplitude, we measured 9mm stroke. This is just like the Sharper Image’s amplitude, but because this Taotronics has more stall force, it feels stronger and somewhat better balanced in terms of power.

We measured the percussion range to be 1000-3000RPM. So this is a wide range that allows for both slow and fast treatment – 350 percussions more than the Sharper Image gun. With this setup, you can get a deep tissue massage. 

We found it a tad lighter than the Sharper Image Power massager even though it has a higher capacity battery – 2600mAh compared to 2500mAh.

It comes with a soft head that you can use to massage bony and tender areas.

It only costs $53.99 if used with the TT10 promo code (10% OFF at checkout) – cheaper than both Urikar and Sharper Image. You can get it right here.

While it may be cheap, it offers better value for money than Sharper Image. Only Urikar Pro betters it because of the heated massage option, and a tad better ergonomics.

Learn More in our in-depth Taotronics TT-PCA004 review.

Sharper Image Massage Gun Review Summary

Before we conclude our hands-on experience with the Sharper Image Power Percussion, there are a few things we personally noticed that are worth sharing.

Firstly, we appreciated the well-thought-out design and visually appealing aesthetics of this massage gun when we first unboxed it. However, in our experience, it fell short of expectations when we put it to the test for performance.

Based on our trials, we believe it could be suitable for beginners, as we did find it helpful in relaxing tense muscles and relieving soreness in smaller muscle groups. We also found it useful for warming up our muscles before our workout sessions.

However, when we sought a deeper, more penetrative massage, we felt this device couldn’t quite deliver the intensity we desired. Our advice is to find one with a higher amplitude – in our opinion, this one didn’t stand up as a viable alternative to the Theragun.

We recommend checking out the two alternatives we listed above. We have testem them both and ound them superior to the Sharper Image gun in many ways. One of them has better features and better performance (Urikar Pro 2), the other performs really well and costs less (Taotronics TT-PCA004).