Back in the days before the Pandemic, back when we were (legally) allowed to roll, I was approached by a startup company known as eXoGun. They came to me with one of their new massage guns and asked me if I would like a review copy of one of their products. Being able to train Jiu-Jitsu 4-5 times a week I jumped at the opportunity to give my sore muscles an opportunity for some much-needed pounding.
What is a Percussion Massager?
To start off the review, we need to talk about what a percussion massager is. While it nothing to do with the triangle or drums (apart from your muscles getting beaten), percussion massage was a breakthrough treatment for muscle soreness and soft tissue pain, provided by rapid pulses that are aimed deep into the soft tissues of a person’s body.
Percussion massage has been known to heavily induce blood flow to a massaged area, which helps reduce muscle soreness due to the removal of lactic acid and also promotes muscle growth and repair.
The eXoGun Review
The popularity of percussion massagers grew during 2019 due too their portability ease of use and the fact that they were (in a pinch) able to offer athletes the ability to get some needed respite from their muscle soreness.
eXoGun wanted to change the game by providing a massage gun that was sleeker than the competition and offered more versatility while still remaining at a price point that was affordable.
Construction
The gun itself looks great, it’s made entirely of plastic and after hours of use and travel, including international travel, it still looks as good as it did day one.
The top housing holds the motor while the bottom handle is weighty enough to make sure that this product isn’t too top-heavy. The back of the gun features and LED panel that indicates the level of massage and the battery level. There is one touch button, which is a bit fiddly to use due to the lack of haptic feedback and one of my biggest gripes about this product is that you have to cycle through all of the powers before it turns off. Many times i just kept pressing the button only for it to turn off and then turn back on because I hit the button too many times
The massage gun features a brushless motor that feels strong and stable during use. You can apply 60 pounds of pressure before the motor will stall out and stop working properly. The eXoGun massage gun offers six settings and come at various strengths of PPM, Percussions Per Minute:
| Speed | PPM (Hz) |
|---|---|
| 1 | 1,200 (20) |
| 2 | 1,600 (26.7) |
| 3 | 2,000 (33.3) |
| 4 | 2,400 (40) |
| 5 | 2,800 (46.7) |
| 6 | 3,200 (53.3) |
The eXoGun comes in a lightweight carrying cast while honestly is just okay, you can see where they’ve had to make this product affordable for the general consumer and honestly it could have been better.
![ExoGun Review [year]](https://www.attacktheback.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/DSC05831-1024x684.jpg "ExoGun Review [year]")
Accessories
The eXoGun comes with 4 different attachments, which outdoes a lot of its competitors at a similar price range. In fact a lot of the more higher-end items such as the TimTam and the Theragun do not offer these attachments as part of the original product, so that’s a big thumbs up. But what do these extra attachments do? Let’s dive a bit deeper
Large Ball
A standard and most commonly used attachment, the large ball is designed to work larger muscle groups. Personally this is my least favourite attachment, due to it’s construction out of foam, moving it around the skin and the body is;t as good as other attachments made of plastic
Flat Head
This is my favourite attachment. The flat head of this attachment creates a gentler massage experience than the other attachments and the small nubs at the bottom of the flat head increase blood flow noticably.
The Bullet
This is best for getting into those niggly and though knotted up areas. Providing direct impact of smaller muscle groups and areas that are harder to work out. Ideal for ligaments or internal muscles that are difficult to access
The Two-Pronged Fork
This is my second favourite attachment because it’s designed to be used in areas such as the neck or spine, without hitting the bone. This for me works far more effective than the bullet allowing for a deep massage in a wider area.
Overall while the attachments are great, there is little documentation about how these items worked. I had to take a trip to YouTube to find out what they did.
Battery Life
The battery life of the eXoGun is excellent. I took it oversees to a BJJ camp, where it was used by myself and my housemates every day for a week and it didn’t need recharging the entire time.
The battery life indicator is excellent will adjust to the strength number and the pressure you are adding to your body, and even with that we still found that it was underestimating how much battery it actually had left.
Charging time is incredibly fast, in just a few hours of a charge you will get weeks or possibly months of use out of the eXoGun, this is an excellent part of the product
General Use
Honestly using this product was great, it felt like a much-needed tool after sore training sessions and I also found that with regular use on general muscle injuries that I was able to increase my mobility thanks to the gun breaking up some of the scar tissue in my Rhumboid, an injury that has plagued me since white belt.
Conclusion
For just $149 the eXoGun is ideal for the enthusiast athlete who trains regularly and needs some daily respite from the rigours of regular training. Personally, if I was a professional athlete if I would look into getting something more heavy-duty, but for me the price and the general use of it is excellent.
You can purchase the eXoGun here. Use the code RICHARD10 to get 10% off your purchase!