Rooftree R20 Review: Massage Gun With Reduced Itchiness

Reprint:https://crazyfit.tech/rooftree-r20-review/

Massage guns are great. They are like the magic wand that vanishes your muscle soreness away in a matter of minutes.

But here is the problem. If you have used a massage gun in the past, you probably have experienced this yourself. It makes your skin itchy. Sometimes, this itchiness is so sharp that you would end up scratching your skin like a mad person.

The Rooftree R20 we are talking about tried to solve this problem in a subtle way without cutting down anything in the performance.

In today’s review, we will talk about the good and the bad of this product, while also enlightening you about their approach to reducing skin irritation from using a massage gun.

1. Design

Rooftree R20 is a handheld massage gun that uses mellow electric percussions to relieve muscle soreness. Technically, it tries to improve blood circulation for a faster breakdown of lactic acid.

Design-wise, it looks like a glue gun but just a little bit bigger. You can attach different heads to it and the device, in general, is very lightweight (roughly around 2lb). It is meant for easy one-hand operation.

The handle features an anti-slip texture in order to make sure that it does not slip even when you have a sweaty hand. In addition that I was hoping that it would have an adjustable handle but it doesn’t. It is some sort of a let-down for me because I often need to adjust the handle to reach difficult muscle groups.

However, interestingly enough, this device features aluminum-alloy based massage heads instead of those traditional plastic heads. You might be a little skeptical at first but this does reduce the itchiness that you feel after using a percussion gun.

The I/O construction is pretty simple. On the back, you have one and the only button that functions as power/speed. The LED dots on the left of the button indicate battery level and dots on the right indicate speed.

Although it is a small feature, you can turn the device on/off by long-pressing the power button, unlike those products with one button where you have to cycle through all the functions before you reach power.

2. Features

What really caught our attention is the metal head on this device. It comes with three aluminum-alloy attachments in ball, flat, and bullet shapes. Securing them on the massage gun is pretty simple. It uses a twist and lock mechanism for a nicer fit.

The ball attachment is the default attachment that can be used generally anywhere. The flat attachment is good for tender areas such as your thigh or forearm. And lastly, the bullet attachment is for pinpoint percussion to smaller muscle groups. One good use of that would be your bicep or calf after a workout.

The advantage of having metal attachment is that it reduces the friction between your skin and the machine. As a result, your skin will scratch less and the itchiness after the use would be minimum.

The percussion speed on this device can go up to 3,400 per minute. It has four different levels that you can select (1930/2280/2800/3400).

At the back, LED dots on the right side represents the speed level. Once the device is turned on (long pressing the power button), a normal press on the button will change the speed.

There are several advantages of having a brushless motor. It is usually much quieter than brushed motors and offers significantly improved efficiency.

The Rooftree R20 uses a high-torque brushless motor combined with a noise cancellation technology. The noise produced by a fresh device is around 55dB at max speed. Of course, this number will change once your device ages.

Battery life is usually very limited on massage guns. Where a typical massage gun lasts around 60-90 minutes, this one offers a whopping 8 hours of battery life.

The battery capacity is 2600 mAh, which is small for a device of this size but the interesting use of a brushless motor and automatic heat dissipation resulted in better battery life.

It takes about 2.5 hours to get it fully charged with the given charger. With one full charge, it can easily last several sessions. The battery indicator on the back of the device will inform you in time before you run out of battery.

Portability is really important for these kind of tools since most people would take this with him to the gym or outdoor spaces.

There isn’t much to talk about the carrying case it comes with. It is a standard size case with a handle on top. The device itself is relatively lightweight so it wouldn’t feel heavy to carry.

3. Performance

I have seen and used several massage guns in the past. Rooftree R20 definitely stands out in terms of performance. Let me share with you why.

One thing that really annoys me about percussion guns is that you feel itchy after using the device. It is even worse for those people who have allergies. The problem is the use of plastic material. The Rooftree R20 uniquely uses aluminum attachments which are more suitable for skin contact. It doesn’t completely remove the itchiness but it is much less than the other products.

Another thing I really liked about this product is that it uses a high-frequency low-stroke-depth approach. In my opinion, it is more relaxing because this machine percusses gently without going deep into the bones.

However, there are a few things that could have been better. Firstly, the handle of the massage gun is not adjustable. That means it is always fixed and might be a problem sometimes to reach certain muscle groups.

And secondly, this device is not usable when charging. So if you run out of batteries all of a sudden, you will not be able to charge and use it simultaneously. But props to them that the battery life is good and you might not have to face this situation very often.

4. Value for Money

Massage guns are very different in prices. It can be as low as 25 dollars and it can also go up to 600 dollars. The Rooftree R20 sits on the lower side of this price range and makes a good stand.

The price-performance ratio is great and if you are looking for a good quality product, Rooftree R20 is a clear recommendation. But we never wrap our blog posts without comparing and suggesting other similar products. So here we go.

The TimTam Power Massager is a popular alternative that is priced similarly and has a 90-degree rotating arm. However, it just has one ball-shaped attachment and that is too made of plastic, unlike the Rooftree R20.

If portability has always been an issue, you would like the Theragun Mini. As you can tell from the name, it is almost half in size compared to a regular size massage gun. But to cut down in size, they also had to remove some features. For example, it has one attachment only, and the max force was brought down to 20 lbs.

Or perhaps you want to go all-in for the most feature-rich product. If the price does not bother you, Theragun PRO is what you are looking for. It has a powerful motor with QuiteForce Noise Technology that can create a force up to 60 lbs. Including an OLED display, smartphone app integration, rotating arm, interchangeable batteries, this product will cost you 3x to Rooftree R20.