Does it support Bluetooth and apps? Its ergonomic multi-grip provides a number of ways to comfortably hold the device without strain on hands and arms. A motor pushes a shaped attachment back and forth. You press it to your tired muscles to increase blood flow in that area and speed-up recovery. Yes, it connects to app via Bluetooth to run personalized wellness routines. Know about more features in Theragun Elite 4th generation percussive therapy massager white review.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Improves muscle stiffness and mobility.
- Excellent app
- Long battery life
- Great stroke length
- Ergonomic handle
- Multiple attachments for different areas
- Adequate stall force (to stroke length)
Cons
- Still too loud
- Hard to reach certain areas
- Fingerprint magnet
- So-so time on battery
Specs – Theragun Elite 4th generation percussive therapy massager white
- Percussion range 1750 – 2400 ppm
- Weight 2.2 lbs
- Stall Force 40 lbs
- Stroke Length 16 mm
- Noise (decibel) ~65-68 dB
- Battery Life 2 hours
- Speeds 5
- (unlimited with Therabody app)
- Dimensions 9.5” x 6.7” x 2.8” (24cm x 17cm x 7.4cm)
- Attachments 5 included
- Extra Features: OLED Screen, Force meter, Custom Routines Pre-set & Bluetooth and Therabody app
Price
The Theragun Elite is priced at £375 and comes with a one year warranty and free delivery when purchased directly from Therabody.
There are currently four different Theragun models to choose from, with different price points.
- Mini, small and portable – £175
- Prime, simplified – £275
- Elite, advanced – £375
- Pro, for professionals – £549
Theragun Elite 4th generation percussive therapy massager white review
Build
Theragun Elite comes in a high quality textured case that looks sleek and feels really nice. Theragun Elite comes with a carrying case. The bottom two in line only offer a so-called “soft pouch”. Its handle is made of two types of plastic; the inside is slick smooth plastic while the outside is slightly rubberized plastic.
Design
The Theragun Elite is surprisingly compact, a little smaller than a standard hair dryer, and much less cumbersome than a foam roller. The measurement of Theragun Elite is 9.5” x 6.7” x 2.8” or 24cm x 17cm x 7.4cm. Its triangular grip is practical. The screen on back has an OLED panel.
Control
The screen, once turned on displays the speed gears, battery level, and force being applied.
The controls evolved as well:
- Press and hold the power button to turn it on and off.
- Press + and – to change speeds.
- Press < and > to cycle between custom preset routines saved on the device (we’ll expound on this later in our post).
Press the Theragun Elite 4th Generation’s power button, then use the D-pad style controls around it to select the revolutions per minute, from 1750rpm to 2400rpm.
Heads
Standard Ball Head – This can be used on small and large muscle groups. You can also use it for an overall massage if you know what you’re doing.
Dampener Head – This is made to massage the bony and tender areas of the body. It’s also the perfect choice for an overall massage.
Wedge Head – A different proposition that’s not in the Prime. It’s used on the shoulder blades and IT Bands. It’s great for “scraping” and “flushing” which is a great way to improve circulation and reduce muscle tension.
Cone Head – This is the Theragun pinpoint attachment used for specific areas within the body – mostly the hands and feet.
Thumb Head – Used mostly for trigger points and the lower back.
Attachments
There are five, in shapes common to just about all rivals. You get an all-purpose rounded attachment, a similarly-shaped one with smaller surface area, a cone, a flattened dome and a wedge.
Use a harder attachment on a less fleshy part of your body at the wrong speed and it’s liable to start bouncing off your muscle rather than hammering into it. This is not a pleasant sensation.
They are intended for different parts of the body. Shoulder blades demand different treatment to your quads.
Speed level – Theragun Elite 4th generation percussive therapy massager white
It frees-up power settings. You can set motor to any speed between 1750rpm and 2400rpm, rather than just the five presets available on the gun itself. Most won’t need this level of granular control, but it does let you find a sweet spot.
The Elite has 5 built-in speeds that you can cycle through. We like that the lowest speed starts way back at 1750rpm. With this you can easily get an accurate massage by starting low before you gradually increase the intensity.
The speed calibration is as follows:
- 1750 – lowest
- 1900 – second
- 2100 – third
- 2200 – fourth
- 2400 – fifth/highest
Percussions & Stall force
the Elite is advertised as only putting out 40lbs of force, compared to the 60 lbs of force generated by its big brother Theragun PRO. However, when testing the Elite, you will discover that 40 lbs of torque still provides a considerable amount of force.
It is, and has for a long time been a key selling point for Theragun. The Elite has 16mm amplitude. Actually, apart from the Theragun Mini (12mm) all the other devices have the 16mm Theragun standard amplitude.
Battery life & charging
The Theragun Elite allows you to use a wireless charger for easier and faster charging. As mentioned, it comes with 1 built in battery with a 120 minute battery life. Due to its power, you only need to use it for 5-10 minutes each session, without really needing more, so the battery life won’t be an issue for most users.
Noise
Reduced noise is the most important generational improvement in Therabody’s fourth-gen massagers. The Theragun Elite 4th Generation is not the quiestest massage gun around. But it is, finally, “quiet”. At its lowest 1750rpm setting, it causes around 48dB of noise, or 53dB at 2400rpm. An Oral-B toothbrush, tested alongside, clocks at 47dB. It is not loud.
Theragun Elite how to use?
The Theragun is very simple to use:
1. Turn the Theragun on via the button at the top (do this before pressing it to your body)
2. Glide the Theragun over your muscles, adjusting the pressure and speed as required
If you’re unsure when or how to use your Theragun, we recommend taking a look at the (free) Therabody app. Routines are split up into different categories including Warm-up, Recovery, Wellness (sleep and wake up), and also Ailments which covers things like Carpal Tunnel, Sciatica and Tech Neck.
App
You can also hook up to the Therabody app, over Bluetooth. This offers a bunch of rudimentary recovery plans, and is a clear attempt to add value to a piece of tech that can only be so refined. But it does have two useful elements. The app also displays a graphic showing how much pressure you apply, and whether it is enough.
The app tells you what to do and how to do it. It even recommends what grip is best for the part you are massaging. You’ll notice that your device behaves differently with each part of the body you massage. For instance, you’ll notice the intensity increasing or decreasing as you hit different muscle groups.
You can also easily customize the intensity within the app. There’s a slider that you can slide either to the left or to the right to reduce or increase the intensity respectively.
Theragun Elite 4th generation percussive therapy massager white Performance erview
The Therabody website presents the Theragun Elite as a device that’s “felt, not heard,” and for the most part, it makes good on that promise. Despite a powerful motor that produces up to 2400 percussions per minute, the Elite never clocked more than 70 decibels while I was using it, and mainly stayed in the 60-63 decibel range. That’s quieter than competitors like the LifePro Fusion FX Heated Percussion Massager and the LifePro Sonic Handheld Percussion Massager, which can get as loud as 75 decibels. There are quieter models on the market, like the 25 decibel TimTam Power Massager, but inevitably you’ll trade sound levels for other factors like battery life.
Speaking of battery life, it’s pretty decent on the Theragun Elite — one full charge of the battery can get you up to two hours of operation. It’s not the longest you’ll find (like the six-hour life of the Sportneer Deep Tissue Muscle Massager), but it’s enough to get you through plenty of use before needing to be recharged.
Theragun Elite 4th generation percussive therapy massager white customer review
Powerful and effective with great battery life
The Theragun Elite makes effective massages quick and easy. If you know what you’re doing, you can pick it up and start using it. It’s simple to use with basically a start and stop button and speed controls. It comes with a travel case that holds everything, including the charger and all 5 attachments. Make sure you check the “Shortcuts” listed on one of the included cards. They’re are just a few and they were helpful to me. A key reason I like the Elite is that it was very effective at massaging stiff and sore muscles after moving!Design
There are a number of things I like about the design of the Theragun Elite. It feels solid and looks cool! The triangular design makes it easy to hold at different angles in order to massage hard to get places like below the shoulder blades and the middle of the back. The bright and clear OLED display makes it easy to see which program you’re selecting, how much battery life there is, how much time there is in a routine, and if you’re apply enough pressure. In spite of the powerful massage action it’s also not very loud. It’s easy to have a conversation while it’s being used.The Therabody App
The Therabody App is a great value add for the Elite! For one thing, the massager actually gets updates through the app. When I connected it there was an update waiting which I installed. I will say it took a number of tries for the update to complete correctly but it did. I just had to keep trying, which was easy but took some time. I recommend you close other open apps and don’t touch for phone while it’s updating. Besides that you can choose three different routines from the app, and there are many, to store in the massager. Once on the massager you can just press left or right to select the stored routine. This lets you do a routine without using your phone. The app lets you look up routines (Explore) by Activity, Body area, or Ailment. Then it tells you where to massage, how long, and with which attachment. Again, this is a feature that’s a great value add for me as there are ways to massage that you may not guess for a specific pain or issue – for instance better sleep or jet lag!Five Attachments
The attachments vary in size, shape, and/or firmness. The default attachment, the dampener, is a softer but larger attachment. While it’s soft it still gives a great massage and it great for areas around bones. The other four attachments are more firm and include a smaller round ball, a smaller ball or “thumb”, a cone, and a wedge.Battery Life
By hotice at Best Buy
The battery life is excellent! They say 2 hours and that sounds about right. I’ve used it a lot so far and only charged it a few times. Most of the routines only take 1-6 minutes each. Of course you can just massage without a routine too. The battery indicator goes down in maybe 25% increments but goes up 1% at a time when you’re charging it. It’s easy to see where it’s at on the clear OLED display.
Theragun Elite 4th generation percussive therapy massager white alternative
LifePro Fusion FX Heated Percussion Massage
SPECIFICATIONS
- PPM: Up to 3,200
- Noise level: 60 to 75 decibels
- Battery life: Up to 4 hours
- Weight: 2.16 pounds
REASONS TO BUY
+Lifetime warranty
+5 Heads
+Heating component can help with relief
REASONS TO AVOID
-Head heating problems
-Noisier
Heat and massage work together to help soothe sore muscles so it only seems natural that a massage gun designed to alleviate muscle pain relief would have a heating component. The Fusion FX heads heat up in about 20 to 30 seconds which helps to increase blood flow. This handheld massage gun has five heads and five speeds so you can experience a variety of massage pressure on different points on the body. Advertisement
The Fusion FX also has a lifetime warranty from LifePro Fitness so if you’re not happy, you can return it or get a replacement part. Some customers wished the heads would stay heated for longer, noticing they only got about 5 to 7 minutes of heat while using the device. A few negative reviews were about the heads not heating up properly or at all but in most cases it seemed that customer service was helpful and offered a replacement part. With an amplitude of 10mm it’s a lower intensity massage gun on this list.
Editor’s recommendations
- Compare Lifepro Sonic vs Sonic Pro review & best price
- Sonic massage gun vs Theragun massage gun difference & price
- Sonic handheld percussion massage gun – deep tissue massager review
- RENPHO massage gun vs Theragun massage gun -how to use?
- RENPHO C3 vs R3 massage gun difference – which has more run time?
