One of the most frequent questions we receive is which percussion massager to buy, the Thumper Mini Pro 2 or the Thumper Sport. I take this head-on in the video below, comparing the two units and discussing the pros and cons of each. This video should help you decide which model is best for you. Don’t forget to ask any questions in the comments below!

To learn more about the entire Thumper Massager line, including the Mini Pro 2 and Sport models, click here to check them out on Amazon!

[Transcription Below]

Hey, everyone. I get these muscle knots in my shoulder and you can feel them with the tips of your fingers. It absolutely kills me and it’s usually when I’m under a little bit of stress, somethings going on maybe in my life or whatever and it just absolutely kills me. I love to get a professional massage every time that, that would happen, but usually I don’t have time and usually I don’t want to blow the 150 or so dollars to go and see a professional masseuse and have that worked out of my shoulder. What I use is a … I use personally a Thumper Mini Pro 2 and I keep it behind my desk. I keep it plugged in all the time and I would say on average every other day I’m thumping myself in the back with the Thumper Mini Pro 2, this one actually.

What I wanted to talk to you today about is, you might be considering between the Thumper Mini Pro 2 and the Thumper Sport model and wanted to talk a little bit about the differences between these two. Maybe you have the same kind of issues that I have muscle tension or maybe you’re looking to buy one of these units for somebody who would enjoy them and most people do obviously. It’s the best thing they can get closest to a professional masseuse. A lot of professional masseuses actually use these units, typically the Mini Pro 2.

What we said over the years about these two units––and the Sport has only been out for a few years now––what we said about these two units when customers are trying to decide is well, if you’re professional the Thumper Mini Pro 2 is made for more continuos usage than the Thumper Sport, but they do come with a two year warranty, so they are built for the same warranty. They both operate between 20 and 40 hertz. That’s the cycles per second of the massage nodes. They have massage nodes, which are basically the same, maybe a little bit more pointed on the Mini Pro 2. They both come with support materials. They both come with a DVD from Thumper along with an operator’s manual and some other information about their products they have outside of these two units.

Other than aesthetically wise in terms of the grey or silver case on the Sport versus the black Mini Pro 2 differences would be, this one here the Mini Pro 2 has a hook where you can hang it onto the side of a massage table for the professional masseuse or you can hang it up in your closet or whatever. Both of these units come with 12 foot cords, which are just outstanding, because it seems like everybody’s trying to save a couple pennies nowadays by shortening their cords by just enough to make it inconvenient for the people who are actually buying the stuff. So you get a cord that’s long enough to use around a patient fi you want. You get a cord that … I have this think plugged in across the room over there. It’ll reach where you need it to go. So that is pretty much what they all have in common.

Let’s look at the units here. The handle on the Sport is actually a little bit longer and you would think that you would get a little bit more leverage on that, but you are grabbing the handle actually in approximately in the same place with both of these units. You are getting about the same distance from your hand to where the where the massage is actually happening. They both weigh three pounds. When I tried to determine where the balance point is on the two units, the Mini Pro 2 … and I’m going to try to balance this right outside of the head, you see it just wants to flip right over. Most of the weight is in here, so when you’re applying this to yourself or you’re applying it someone else really, the force from the weight of this head is really pushing straight down into the patient.
Let’s take a look at the Sport doing … try to simulate the same thing. When I do it with the Sport I can … I can just not get that to balance. You are getting a lot of weight out there to force these for lack of a better word, to force or push these nodes into the patient. However, I think with the Mini Pro 2 it’s a little bit more concentrated with the weight being up in the head. The obvious difference is the Mini Pro 2 had a three position switch, low, medium and fast. Let’s … low, medium, fast. So you have three positions with that. The Sport came out with a continuos switch. There is numbers on here from one to five and you can stop anywhere in between. Just turning this on … so this is all the way down on the one or the lowest setting. Two, three, four and five all the way up there.

Subjectively for when you are receiving … devices even if you are doing it to yourself or doing it to another person, subjectively I feel that the Mini Pro 2 is a little bit smoother. Both of these are percussion massagers meaning that, they’re not simply vibrating the skin like a 20 or $30 unit that you would find in a big chain store. They are actually pushing these nodes and giving you a deep tissue massage. I do find the action smoother in the Mini Pro 2. Now my wife says that, when she’s using a Mini Pro 2 versus a Sport, she enjoys the Mini Pro 2 better, because if it hits a boney spot, whether it is your shoulder bone here or your shoulder blade, it doesn’t seem to really deflect as much. It doesn’t seem to like hammer into that and start bouncing on that bone or on that joint that you are one. You are not putting yourself into harm’s way either way when you’re doing that. The Mini Pro 2 does feel a little bit smoother, especially when you’re going over areas that don’t have necessarily the muscle tissue depth of other areas.

I’m being mostly positive here about the Mini Pro 2, but again the Thumper Sport is an excellent unit. Right now it’s going for about $60 less at Betterhealthinnovations.com. The Sport is $129 with free shipping and 189 for the Thumper Mini Pro 2, so you are paying more money for the Thumper Mini Pro 2 than you for the Sport model. If you feel that you are not going to be using it that often, certainly go with the 129 unit with the Thumper Sport. If you’re comparing this to a brand … we have a review on YouTube if you’re comparing the Thumper Sport to the HoMedics brand. If you’re considering this first as a HoMedics brand just spend the extra money and go with the Thumper Sport, it’s going to give you a better massage, more of percussion massage rather than a vibratory massage, which kind of makes your skin all itchy and everything.

I think that’s pretty much all we had on these two units. Again, both excellent units, both real percussion massagers. My preference is the Mini Pro 2 if you don’t mind spending the extra $60; I feel that it’s worth your while. On the flipside the best value in massage nowadays really is the Thumper Sport for a $129 today anyway, so that might change in Betterhealthinnovations.com. Everybody certainly leave any comments or questions that you have below and I hope that you can visit us at Betterhealthinnovations.com. Have a great day everybody.