Theragun vs Hypervolt - Which Is Better? 2022 Review

Last Edited: January 3rd, 2022

Written by Cole

What is the best massage gun?

The two most well-known massage guns in the percussive therapy space are Hypervolt 2 Pro and Theragun PRO. That is why in this article we decided to provide an unbiased review of Theragun vs Hypervolt to help you make your decision on which of these two massage guns is best for you.

We’ll cover everything about each massage gun, including battery life, attachment heads, safety, clinicical research on percussive therapy, pricing, which athletes should be using massage guns, our own verdict, and even a community compiled verdict.

If you’re in a rush and not interested in learning more about the products and simply want a “hey, we believe this one is better”, you can click here to be scrolled down to the bottom to read our final verdict on Hypervolt vs Theragun.

And lastly, before we begin, I want to acknowledge that both companies (Therabody and Hyperice) have multiple products, we’re simply comparing each respective flagship option from these brands.

Price Check On Amazon

Compare these two industry-leading massage guns with up-to-date pricing on Amazon, alongside thousands of customer reviews.

What is percussive therapy?

Also known as vibration therapy, percussive therapy, simply explained, is utilizing recovery tools (in this case massage guns) to rapidly apply pressure on specific muscles to get a deep tissue massage. The goal is generally to reduce soreness in muscles, but it’s also commonly used to alleviate pain.

Do massage guns work?

We actually have a full article on this topic where we deep dive into the research on massage guns and pool together expert opinions.

However, to simplify this for the sake of this article, yes, massage guns are quite effective in reducing post-exercise lactic acid buildup as well as pain. In fact, multiple studies have compared percussive therapy to a traditional deep tissue massage and in many ways they are each other’s equal.

This is one of the reasons we’ve seen massage therapists begin to leverage massage guns alongside their hands…with interchangeable attachments and easy to adjust speeds, even a masseuse can benefit from using a massage gun.

Who should use massage guns?

The simplest answer is; athletes. But the answer actually goes beyond that since massage guns are so effective and easy to use.

Anybody who is dealing with regular muscle pain, discomfort, tightness, etc. can benefit from using a massage gun on just about every muscle group.

For those of you that have a specific sport you love and are wondering where on your body a massage gun will have the most impact in improving recovery, continue reading…

Cyclists, runners, and even triathletes should try using a flat head or bullet attachment with their massage gun and applying moderate pressure to their quads, hamstrings, calves, and glutes.

Power lifters, or even avid gym-goers should try using a flat head or ball attachment with their massage gun and applying light pressure to their pecs, shoulders, biceps, triceps, traps, and even lats.

Mixed material artist practitioners should apply their massage gun…well, everywhere it hurts. We know you’re likely to have bruises everywhere, so be careful on those contusions!

In all seriousness, listen to your body and find out which muscles are the tightest and in need of a massage, but be sure to play around with the PPM (percussions per minute), and attachments on your massage gun to get the best result. It’s not uncommon to switch out your attachment and adjust the speed for each muscle. Do what feels best and gives you the most relief without causing any further pain.

Every person is unique, so, if you’re at all uncertain about the safety of a massage gun on a specific muscle or injury, please consult a trained physician before use. We recommend talking directly with a physical therapist.

Do massage guns compare to foam rollers?

In reality, most foam rollers don’t provide a deep tissue massage…they simply can’t target individual muscles without you working yourself into awkward, uncomfortable positions, and even then, most are too large to hit the right spot.

For example, if you’re targeting muscle soreness in your upper back, you’ll find it very difficult with a foam roller since they can’t fit between your shoulder blades to apply the right amount of pressure required for relief. In this specific case, if not a massage gun, we recommend the Chirp Wheel, which fits seamlessly between your shoulder blades helping you to apply enough pressure with ease.

So to answer the question – in almost every way, a massage gun is better (more effective) than a foam roller because they are comfortable to use, and are able to reach far more muscles than a traditional foam roller.

Can massage guns cause damage?

You are working with a piece of technology that vibrates hundreds of times per second, so, yes, it is possible to get hurt using a massage gun. With that being said, it is highly unlikely. So unlikely that I have never met, or even heard of someone getting injured by using a massage gun.

If you are concerned that you might extend or worsen an injury, please consult your physician prior to using a massage gun. You could even bring the massage gun to your doctor visit with the attachments you plan to use and get their final approval on exactly how you’d like to use the massage gun. It is always better to be safe than sorry!

Specification Comparison (Theragun PRO vs Hypervolt 2 Pro)

Now it’s time to get into the specifications and really compare Theragun vs Hypervolt side by side. If you’re curious which handheld massager is quieter, more powerful, has more speed settings, more attachments, etc., continue reading to figure it out.

Battery Life

Theragun PRO has a 5-hour battery life and a 75-minute charge time, whereas the Hypervolt 2 Pro has a 3-hour battery life and a 120-minute charge time.

One thing to keep in mind is the battery life is only an estimation. If you are applying more pressure and/or using the maximum speed setting, you might experience a lower battery life.

Features	Theragun PRO	Hypervolt 2 Pro
Weight	2.9 lbs (1315g)	2.6 lbs (1179g)
Dimensions	10 x 7.1 x 3 in	10.4 x 8 x 2.5 in
Max Speed (PPM)	2,400	2,700
Sound Output	75 dB	66 dB
Bluetooth Enabled	Yes	Yes
Attachments	(6) + Pouch	(5) + Pouch
Warranty	2 Years	1 Year
Amplitude	16 mm	14 mm
Battery Life; Charge Time	5 hours; 75 minutes	3 hours; 2 hours
Battery Type	2x 16V	1x 24V

Guarantee

All Hyperice products seem to come with a 30-day money-back guarantee making it identical to the Therabody 30-day money-back guarantee.

I will note that when reading through the policies from both these brands, it’s quite clear that Hyperice is a bit more strict on their return policy, and you might have a few more questions asked than from Therabody.

Warranty

Therabody wins this round easily with a 2-year product warranty against Hyperice’s 1-year product warranty.

While warranty is something you really only care about once you need it, it’s very much worth considering pre-purchase. It’s very common for products to break right after the warranty expires. It’s not a made up time, companies often discover the lifetime of a product and establish a warranty just shy of that point.

Sound

While previous versions by Therabody such as the G3PRO were significantly louder clocking in over 100 decibels, the up-to-date Theragun PRO hits about 75 decibels (dB) while Hyperices’ Hypervolt 2 Pro hits 65 decibels.

In order to give you a point of reference, an average “inside volume” conversation between two people hits about 63 decibels, your vacuum cleaner will clock about 70 decibels and blender as high as 88 dB.

Due to the fact that both of these products are top of the line, ultra powerful pieces of technology, it makes sense that they aren’t completely silent. With that being said, Hyperice takes the cake this round and is the clear winner being a whole 10 dB quieter.

Weight

Both of these products are quite light with Theragun PRO being 2.9 lbs and the Hypervolt 2 Pro being only 2.6 lbs. In my opinion, this isn’t a big enough difference to consider, as they’ll feel nearly the same in your hand.

Amplitude

Often the most overlooked metric, the amplitude of your massage gun is debatably the most important point.. It is the measure of how far your massage gun head travels back and forth, thus telling you how deep of a massage you can get without applying a ton of manual (and likely painful) pressure yourself.

The Hypervolt 2 Pro boasts a whopping 14 mm amplitude against the 12 mm Theragun Pro. I’ll add that both of these are significant and will provide a deep tissue percussive massage. In many cheaper massage guns, you’ll see as low as 6 mm amplitude, which is basically more of a vibration than a massage.

Travel-Friendliness

As far as being travel-friendly, they aren’t the lightest handheld massagers on the market. If that’s what you’re looking for, I recommend checking out Theragun Mini or Hypervolt GO. Both of these products are designed to be taken on-the-go and would provide great options in this case.

If you do want to travel with your Theragun PRO or Hypervolt 2 Pro, here are the details…

Theragun PRO doesn’t strictly state whether or not it is carry-on approved and mentions that it is up to the discretion of the TSA officer. You should be fine as long as the batteries are carried with you, and not checked in. However, I can’t imagine how painful it would be to decide between throwing away a massage gun or not boarding your flight…so if you do plan to travel and go with Theragun PRO, that’s a bit of a risk.

Hypervolt 2 Pro is a TSA-approved carry-on so you’ll be able to travel without any sweat, other than it being on the heavier end (compared to its GO counterpart) and a bit larger.

Percussions Per Minute

Otherwise known as strokes per minute, this tells you exactly how fast your massage gun head attachments will be vibrating. It’s an important bit of information because if you’re trying to get a thorough, deep tissue massage, a faster PPM will undoubtedly help you.

The Hypervolt 2 Pro is the winner here with a maximum speed of 2,700 against Theragun PRO’s 2400 percussions per minute maximum.

Beyond the actual max PPM, it is interesting to look at the speed levels the massage devices offer. While other Hypervolt models only offer 3 speed levels, the 2nd generation Hypervolt 2 is equal to Theragun PRO, offering 5 speed levels to choose from.

Thus, these two Pro devices are very similar in this regard, with the Hypervolt 2 Pro being slightly ahead of Theragun PRO.

Stall Force / Pounds Of Force

This indication (alongside PPM of course) is another representation of how powerful your massage gun is. Stall force tells you specifically how much force can be applied before the device will stall and stop working. As mentioned above in the battery section, if you apply a significant amount of force, it will hurt your battery life as it puts a bigger strain on the device.

Both of these devices have quite exceptional stall force numbers. For contrast, the pocket sized massage gun Theragun Mini clocks in at about 20 lbs of stall force. Whereas Theragun PRO as well as the Hyperice 2 Pro can withstand up to 60 pounds of force.

With both of these devices, you’ll be hard pressed to ever stall your device, in fact, it might cause you a lot of pain if you even tried. The vast majority of the time you’re likely to be only applying about 10 lbs of force to your muscle and from there, the vibrations will get the job done.

Head Attachments

Theragun PRO comes with six interchangeable head attachments for varying degrees and angles of pressure, whereas the Hypervolt 2 Pro comes with five. You can see each of the default attachments below, however, if you want more than what you get with a stock purchase, there are other options, namely this (very affordable) package from Amazon.

What's included with Theragun PRO?

Theragun PRO comes with 6 heads…

Supersoft
Dampener
Standard Ball
Wedge
Thumb
Cone

Additionally, you’ll get a protective carrying case for the massager, a travel pouch for your attachments, 2 rechargeable Lithium-ion batteries, and a Lithium-ion battery charger.

Supersoft

Dampener

Standard Ball

Wedge

Thumb

Cone

What's included with the Hypervolt 2 Pro?

Hyperice brings 5 heads to the table with the Hypervolt 2 Pro…

Fork
Round
Cushion
Flat
Bullet

You’ll also get a 24V charger with your battery, and a soft pouch for organizing your attachments. It does not come with a protective case for the massager itself. Replacement batteries are available for purchase from Hyperice directly.

Bullet

Fork

Round

Cushion

Flat

Theragun PRO Pros

High quality material
Comfortable grip
Rotating arm

Theragun PRO Cons

A bit noisier than you'd expect
Not budget-friendly (premium price)

Hypervolt 2 Pro Pros

Fast vibrations (2,700 max)
Super quiet even at high speeds
Comfortable grip
Affordably priced

Hypervolt 2 Pro Cons

Charge time is quite long
Does not come with a protective case

Conclusion

In every PhytoMethod review we give our best attempt to provide unbiased breakdowns on each product…part of this process includes gathering insights from various professionals in our network including professional athletes, gym owners, personal trainers, and even a community accumulated verdict from public reviews.

Community Verdict

After digging through hundreds of public reviews we have compiled a few common points (both positive and negative) we saw come up frequently, which are listed below.

Theragun PRO

Hypervolt 2 Pro

Theragun PRO Community Rating

 4.7/5

The reviews for Theragun PRO are mostly ravingly positive, though users acknowledge the premium price and there are some complaints about dysfunctional parts and slow customer support. Overall, however, Therabody produces very satisfactory and top-of-the-line products, and the PRO is no different from that norm.

Hypervolt 2 Pro Community Rating

 4.8/5

The Hypervolt 2 Pro is Hyperice’s latest massage gun innovation, and follows in its predecessors’ footsteps. Owners of the 2 Pro compliment its slick design, excellent quality, high value for money, and effectiveness in helping alleviate muscle soreness and pains.

 4.75/5

We are thoroughly impressed with the Hypervolt 2 Pro massage device in all respects. It is quieter, more powerful, lighter, and more travel friendly than Theragun Pro, and considerably more afforable.

Our main points of critique: the fact that it doesn’t come with a protective case, and that the battery doesn’t last quite as long.