Hey, we're going to be comparing two massage therapy guns today. This is the NordicTrack
PulseTech percussion massage therapy gun that we've picked up at Sam's Club. And on this
side here we've got the True Relief Impact Therapy device, a percussion massage gun that we picked up
at Costco, we'll be scoring the two devices on six categories today. The first is going to be price.
The second one is going to be the accessories that come with the devices.
The third one is going to be the size slash weight of each device. The fourth category is going to
be the intensity that each device can produce. The fifth category is going to be the battery
charging capabilities of each device. And the last six category is going to be the ease of use
of each device. Now my name is Dr. David Middaugh, and I'm a specialist physical therapist at El
Paso Manual Physical Therapy. And this channel is dedicated to helping people stay healthy, active,
and mobile. while avoiding unnecessary surgeries, injections, and pain medications. Please subscribe
to our channel and make sure you hit the notification bell so that you don't miss out
on any of the helpful videos that we post every single week. Be sure to watch to the end of the
video so that you can hear my specialist advice on which device you might get for your specific
situation. So let's get into it guys. The first category is price. The percussion massage gun
from Sam's Club, we picked it up for $80 it's $79. Now it was on sale. Both devices were
actually on sale we picked it up but we did some more research and this one hovers at around $100
if you don't catch it on sale, so it's a pretty good price. Now comparatively, the true medic
true relief percussion massager from Costco was at $100. We picked it up also on sale from Costco,
but it does typically run 130 to $140 without a sale. So when it comes to price, the Sam's
Club massage gun, we'll take the point here. Let's go on to the next category accessories.
So I'm going to move these boxes aside and let's open up each of our percussion guns here. This
is the NordicTrack the Sam's Club gun, you can see that the cases are different sizes by the
way. And if we talk about the accessories that would be inside of that one looks like
to you the true medic true relief device looks like so when it comes down to the accessories
the device on this side here from Sam's Club comes with four tools that you can attach to
your gun. And the one from Costco comes with five tools now to compare them both.
The most commonly used tools are these little foam balls that come with them. The one that comes
from Costco is significantly bigger. I mean that's like a rat almost like a racquetball size a little
smaller, maybe lacrosse ball size. And this is like a small golf ball it's a little bit smaller
than a golf ball size. Now they're both about the same firmness and softness and the textures
exactly the same. So they're probably the exact same material. This was just smaller than one
that comes from Sam's Club. This one's definitely bigger. Now, I'm just going to compare the similar
tools. Here's the one that comes from the Sam's Club percussion massager and here's one that comes
from the Costco one. And they're almost the same size of one from Costco is just subtly bigger. The
materials are about the same, they feel the same, but you can see there This one's just
a little taller when I stack them up this way. And then you have your let me go in order here.
This is the one this is the pinpoint massager from the Sam's Club one and this is the one from
Costco and it's a little bit longer than Sam's Club one. This one's a little sturdier but
they're about the same circumference I see maybe the Costco one is slightly thicker.
And then here you have your Flathead one that's used for like superficial massage,
and the one from Sam's Club is also just subtly smaller than the one from Costco
and then Costco offers this chisel tip, which I really like I think this one was pretty cool.
So that's the accessory for that when it comes down to accessories. I think the Costco percussion
massage gun takes the point here. Now let's go on to the size and weight of each of these devices.
So here is the percussion massage gun from Sam's Club and here's the one from Costco and as you can
see the Sam's Club one is significantly smaller than the one from Costco. But when it comes to
weight, the custom one is actually lighter than the Sam's one. Even though this one's smaller.
The Costco one is lighter so this one's heavier, but smaller than when I measure
it. I've got my measuring tape here. This device is measuring in front of you here.
comes in at about just under six inches before you put on any attachment and
it's about six and a half inches tall. This device here comes in at almost seven inches long.
And we're looking at about nine inches tall. So this is significantly bigger,
but it's just modestly lighter. They're both almost the same way.
Looking at the specs, this one didn't come with any specs, I can find anything online.
And I don't have a scale with me to get to the exact way. But it's maybe a quarter of a pound,
you know, a few 100 grams heavier than the Costco one, I'd say they're almost the same
way. But this one just is significantly smaller, it just feels lighter in my head,
I just naturally want to grip it like this. It just feels easier to grip than this thing.
So when it comes to size and weights, I think the point goes to the Sam's Club tool here.
Or let's talk about intensity. Now how powerful are these devices. Now the Sam's Club
percussion massager caps out at 2400 RPMs. I'm just going to catch the ball here. So you can
see what that looks like to touch the ball on this one as well. The attachments going really easy.
So I'm going to move them both to the highest settings and we'll talk about the settings
here in a moment, I just want to show you the intensity first. What's the lowest setting there.
There's a low sitting there. And you could I could feel it all over you could see it the frames of
frames per second. The video here might not catch everything. But this one is definitely
moving a little more powerfully than the Sam's one. I'm going to
take it up to the highest speed here. So it's the highest speed on this one.
And the Costco one is definitely vibrating more intensely than the Sam's Club one. This one just
feels a lot weaker than the one from Costco. This is more powerful. And of course I'm sure
that's attributed to the size of the device, but this is definitely at its highest speed.
more intense, you have more RPMs and when it comes to force who's put this on my thighs here, you can
feel a massive difference is just vibrating a lot more intensely than the Sam's Club.
So when it comes to the intensity of between each device, that Costco percussion massage gun
takes the point here, let's go on to the fifth category battery life and charging
over here with the Sam's Club percussion massage gun charging is interesting. This is the charging
cable that comes with it. It's a normal USB cable that has a USB-C cable and it attaches
right here on the base of this little protrusion here on the end and it plugs into any USB block
that you have for like a phone charger or other similar device. So I thought that this was
you know a little skimpy on their part I would have liked a block to have come with this
or some attachment that I can just directly plug into the wall a block would have been ideal
because I feel like I have to go buy a block for this thing I mean I have plenty around the house
but they're already dedicated to other devices that I have to charge in use. So I feel like
I'd be miss you know I have to displace one of the devices or I'd be throwing off my family's
charging scheduled routine. But overall I think you know there's some ups and downs to this.
The blocks are pretty ubiquitous, you know, they're everywhere. Everybody has a smartphone
these days and it's not too hard to find a charger block so that might work well for you. And then
the other advantage to this is the USB-C port is becoming more and more common. So you might find
it easier to charge this device in case you lose your charger cable that comes with it.
Now the battery life on this is 3.5 hours that's actually a good while for such a device like this.
And that probably explains why this is heavier despite it being smaller than the Costco version.
Because batteries are typically what weigh quite a bit. Let's talk about Sam's percussion massage gun
and its battery life its battery life is expected to be about three hours long.
And when you have to charge it comes with this charger cable. I prefer this personally over the
you know having to go find my own block because I don't need a block for this. But you have this
kind of adapter on the end and it fits right down in here. And I feel like if I lose this thing,
I'm screwed I got to go order another one. Some devices out there might be adaptable to this one
but they're just not as common as USB charging devices. So I like the USB charging devices.
Even a USB-C is I have more of those these days than I have these older mature older chargers. I
think I have a handheld vacuum that has this kind of attachment maybe a humidifier too, though that
works with this thing as well. But I don't have many devices compared to the USB chargers. Another
big feature that's talked about on the box of this device I haven't verified with the company and
how this exactly works. But it comes with Oh, you can see this on the box for the museum and a bit,
a lifetime guarantee of the battery that is awesome. So now even though the battery life
of this device is only three hours, if you're using this quite a bit and you end up running
the battery down, you can technically ask them to replace the battery replace the device, however,
the company works to do this, and the battery has a lifetime guarantee you can use this thing
forever, as long as the rest of the components are okay, that does come with a warranty registration
card right here. The Sam's Club one did not come with that. So I know this one costs a bit more,
but I think they do that to cover all the costs of replacing the device in case you need it,
making sure that you can get a lifetime guarantee and the battery so when it comes to battery and
charging, I will give the point over to the Costco percussion massage gun. It's just a little more
superior compared to the Sam's Club point. Now let's talk about the final category ease of use.
The Sam's Club percussion massager fits super nice to my hand, I mean the handle is it just fits
really nicely. I have bigger hands and probably the average person, but it just feels very
comfortable. My children were holding this device and they didn't have any trouble doing it. They're
97 years old. So this one felt very comfortable in their hands compared to this one, they looked
a little more clumsy. The holding this one. Although just a recommendation. Don't let your
kids play with these unsupervised, make sure that you watch them. That's what I was doing. So this
device is just a little easier to handle. Because it's not as long it's easier to get leverage bind
yourself whenever you're reaching out your body, especially your back. For instance material on
here puts in the middle setting. If I'm reaching right here and I want to put a lot of pressure
through there to dig into a knot. I don't have to reach as far because the device is smaller.
When I grabbed this device about halfway
it's just a little bit bigger so it's a little harder to handle than the other one. Now if you're
a bigger person, this probably won't be a big deal for you. Honestly this doesn't feel bad in
my hand I like I said I have pretty big hands but if you're a smaller person you have smaller hands
or you tend to drop things you're not the best the most coordinated and holding something especially
when it vibrates like this, you might look at the smaller device for your ease of use.
The other part to factor into ease of use is the portability of the tool. If you're somebody
who likes to travel with something like this and pack it away in a suitcase was you can see here
the case is a lot bigger for the Costco percussion massage gun versus the Sam's Club massage gun. So
if you like to tuck this away into your suitcase or a backpack and take it with you on the road or
anywhere you're traveling. You can see here the cases are significantly different in length by put
this one in front they're almost the same height, but this one's got an extra few inches sticking
out this way. And then a weight wise this case is just a lot heavier than this one even though the
gun itself is lighter from Sam's this case is just a lot heavier. So if you're worried about
not loading up your suitcase, especially with travel restrictions and all that stuff with them
with weight restrictions on your suitcase, this might be a better option for you if you're going
to travel with the device. So let's get to the end here. Overall it is a tie there's different
variables for each gun that make it better in some cases and in some better for other cases.
Now my personal opinion is a specialist physical therapist when you would consider getting the
NordicTrack percussion massage gun from Sam's Club is if you've got smaller hands if you plan
on traveling with this device and if you don't feel like you need that much power. I mean this
still has some good power you can still massage yourself pretty good but if you're just generally
a smaller person like say, you know 56-55 as far as height and under, then this gun
should probably provide all the power that you need to massage your whole body ever you are
unless you've got really dense muscles like your athletic bills, you got really thick muscles,
I would go with getting this one. Now if you are a bigger person you're closer to six feet tall.
You think you need more power you more the athletic type. And the hand size thing doesn't
bother you too much. Then I would definitely go with the cost cover in this thing just
packs more power. I think that you'll get more bang for your buck, especially with the battery
life of this and then the lifetime warranty on the battery. This device is just a lot better.
That's something that I didn't factor in because I don't think many worry about it much these days
with these devices being relatively similar, his noise levels, I'm just going to turn these
on for you one at a time so that you can compare the noise levels. And they're almost the same.
But the Costco one is just a bit louder, and I'll talk as it's on so that you can compare
that I don't want to have to yell to overpower the loudness of this one, it's not that loud.
Let's put this on its highest setting. There it is. It just hums quietly,
I have a baby at home that's eight months old. And she'll sleep do that no problem. I think even
adults, and everybody can speak to that little problem, it is not loud. And even when we attach
any of the attachments here, it doesn't really change the noise that much.
It might just change a bit if you put it on your body. But you're not going to be talking
with us generally, unless you're around people, if you're by yourself and trying to keep quiet.
It's not that loud. So let's compare that to the Costco one. A little bonus comparison here.
That's a lot of setting right there. I mean, maybe it's a little louder, and
you take off the attachment and see if that's any different. But the same
way you put it on your body is much more powerful.
That's the noise you get from it. And I think if you're biasing more towards power,
sales probably going to be less of a factor for you. And for an extra 20 to $40 the power might
be worth it for you. The portability though, that's where you suffer a bit. So you just got
to weigh all these factors and figure out what is best for you. And then also consider where your
memberships that you have a Sam’s club membership or a Costco membership that might influence things
a bit more find links in the description below to purchase your device, Sam's Club and Costco
they tend to run out of their inventory. So we've linked some similar products that are comparable
to these devices as far as size weighed and all that and all the features that we talked about
today. And if you have any questions, please drop them in the comments below. We'd love to help you
out. Don't forget to give us a thumbs up and hit subscribe. Thanks, guys. See you next time. Bye