Bob and Brad D5 Pro Massage Gun review

REVIEW – There are some very cool foot massagers out there and I have always wondered, what if there was a handheld massager that could deliver the quality of a foot massage to other parts of one’s body. Well, the Bob and Brad D5 Pro Massage Gun may just be that handheld massager. Read on to find out.

What is it?

The Bob and Brad D5 Pro Massage Gun is a battery powered, multi-mode, multi-speed, multi-massage-head, massage gun.

What’s included?

• D5 Pro Massage Gun
• Attachment Pouch
• 5 Massage Heads
• 2 Spare Massage Head Gasket Replacements
• Power Adapter
• Type-C Charging Cable
• Power Adapter
• Storage Case
• User Manual

Tech specs

Design and features

Before I get started about the specifics about the Bob and Brad D5 Pro Massage Gun, I want to talk about Bob and Brad. Both Bob and Brad are physical therapists. With that being the case, Bob and Brad are fundamental in the design of the various Bob and Brad branded product offerings. In addition, they have several resources on their website to help one with their various physical therapy questions and needs. Now onto the review.

Right off the bat, I think one of the best features is the unique design of the Bob and Brad D5 Pro Massage Gun. Most of these percussion massage “guns” are shaped more like an actual gun. As you can see in the images of the Bob and Brad D5 Pro Massage Gun, the design is what I will call a squished rectangle, aka a parallelogram. Bob and Brad refer to the design as D-Shaped. Whichever term one uses the obvious benefit is that it provides more than one surface to hold and apply pressure with the massager to the various parts of you or your partner’s body.

The user interface of the Bob and Brad D5 Pro Massage Gun is simple in that it includes a small multi-function OLED display and two buttons, all located on the back of the unit. The top-button is how one turns on and off the unit, as well as selecting the desired mode and finally providing the method of incrementing the head speed when in the manual mode. The bottom button is used to cycle through the different modes as well as provide the method of decrementing the head speed when in the manual mode. In both cases button behaviors are distinguished by either a short or long press of the respective button. This is not hard, but something that one just gets used to with increased time spent with the massager.

Next, it is common for these types of massage guns to have several specialized massage heads which are included in their product offerings and the Bob and Brad D5 Pro Massage Gun is no exception providing 5 different massage heads to choose from. Using the names that Bob and Brad have chosen, the massage gun ships with the following 5 heads: Air Cushion, Large Ball, Standard Ball, Spade, and Bullet. Each of the provided heads are mentioned in the manual and are accompanied by a short description of how they should be used with respect to where to use on the body, and a recommended head speed if one can call it that.

Like a lot of these massage guns, the Bob and Brad D5 Pro Massage Gun has both differing head speeds and differing modes of operation. I will start with the modes first, of which there are four, designated M1 – M4. The differing head speeds are selected in the four modes based on the specific mode. As mentioned above, the massager is started up by long pressing the top-button. Upon startup, the massager always starts in the manual mode, indicated by M1 on the display, along with the initial head speed of 1500 rpm, also visible on the display. From there, one can increase the head speed to any of the four other preset speeds of 1750, 2000, 2250, and finally 2500 by short pressing the up-arrow (top-button) which was used to turn on the massager. Upon selection of any of the head speeds mentioned before, the display is updated to correspond to the head speed that was selected. The down-arrow (bottom button), located just below the top button, will decrease the head speeds down through the list of possible speeds until reaching the default head speed of 1500 rpm. There is no wrap-around here from the fastest head speed to the lowest, or the lowest head speed to the fastest.

Bob and Brad D5 Pro Massage Gun modes M2 – M4 are what are labeled auto modes in the manual. The different modes are again selectable by long-pressing the bottom button and then short-pressing the bottom button until one lands on the desired mode. Selection of the mode is done by a short press on the top-button, upon which the massage gun will begin operating in the selected mode. Note that unlike in mode M1, where the top button only increments the head speeds and the bottom button only decrements the head speeds, continued short presses of the bottom button will cycle the modes from M2 – M4, back to M1, and so on. Again, once the desired mode is displayed, short pressing the top button will start the massager in the selected mode. Another thing of note is that the strike-force is presented by a growing tree-like indicator in the display.  I found it pretty hard to get this to show up, and when it did, I am not sure how useful it is.

Here are the feature descriptions for the remaining 3 auto-modes.

Mode M2 is an auto incremented mode, mirroring the 5 head speeds mentioned above in mode M1, with 5 seconds being spent on each head speed, starting at 1500 rpm, and ending up at 2500 rpm, and then returning directly to 1500 rpm. In addition, a progress bar is displayed so one can track the progress of each full pass of the mode. The manual states that this mode is best suited for muscle relaxation and recovery after a workout.

Mode M3 is very close to M2 except that it is an auto decremented mode, again mirroring the 5 head speeds mentioned above in mode M1, with again 5 seconds being spent on each head speed, this time starting at 2500 rpm, and ending up at 1500 rpm, and then returning directly to 2500 rpm. There is again a progress bar as in mode M2. For mode M3, the manual states that this mode is best suited for muscle activation before a workout.

Mode M4 is a more unique mode. The manual specifies it as a triangle wave and starts at 1750 rpm, then goes to 1850, 1950, 2050 2150, topping off at a head speed of 2250 rpm, and then stepping back down to 1750 rpm using the same step sequence in reverse, and instead of stopping for 5 seconds at each head speed, it instead only spends 2 seconds at each head speed level. As in the previous two modes, there is a progress bar, and this mode can be used for all your message needs according to the manual.

In all four modes M1 – M4, the Bob and Brad D5 Pro Massage Gun will shut off after 10 minutes of use and remain on standby for 1 minute should one want to continue with their current massage. In standby, the massager remains in the last mode selected, so one can pick up right where they left off.

Since the Bob and Brad D5 Pro Massage Gun is a cordless massager, this means that it is battery-powered and thus will need to be charged from time to time. The manual states that a full recharge time is a quick 2.5 hours. Thankfully the charging is provided by the growing standard USB-C connector, however it seems like not all USB-C power levels are supported by the device with information in the manual calling out what I am guessing are low power USB-C sources possibly having issues. Thankfully the Bob and Brad D5 Pro Massage Gun not only ships with a two sided USB-C charging cable, but also a USB-C charging brick. Examining the charging brick, it seems like it is one of those international friendly 110 & 240 V, supporting both 50 & 60 hz. I can’t tell you how hard it was for these 60+ year old eyes to read the info on the brick. I am not sure who they print that stuff for. Anyway, this AC input power information makes this unit international travel friendly.

Lastly, there is a large, but nice case which houses everything neatly with cutouts for each separate piece of the Bob and Brad D5 Pro Massage Gun kit including a cutout for a pouch to hold the five different massage heads. Note the massage gun will not fit in the case with one of the massage heads attached. It is worth also noting that you do not have to be a packing expert to get everything back in the case. I felt the massage head pouch is a superior solution than having a special cutout for each of the five different massage heads.

This is a really good video that talks about features that are not mentioned in the manual or website, as well as showing some good footage of the massager in action.

Setup

There is almost no setup for the Bob and Brad D5 Pro Massage Gun outside of charging, picking out one of the 5 provided massage heads and then picking one of the four modes for the massager to operate in for the type of massage that meets your needs.

Performance

At the end of the day, the operation of any massage gun is simple, and the Bob and Brad D5 Pro Massage Gun is no exception. Given that fact, the Bob and Brad D5 Pro Massage Gun performs as expected. While some massage guns have more differing heads, I honestly can’t see how much functionality that it adds to have those extra heads. I mean there are hard ones, and soft ones and this offering from Bod and Brad provides both. To me, one of the biggest advantages to the Bob and Brad D5 Pro Massage Gun is its unique parallelogram design, allowing the users to leverage that design to increase the chance of applying the gun’s pressure to some of those hard-to-reach spots by supporting the holding of the massage from almost any angle.  I also really liked the feel of the body of the device.  While it is a solid unit, it somehow has a soft feeling to it. The main surface is smaller, while the bottom one is larger and might feel better for those users with large hands.

What I like about Bob and Brad D5 Pro Massage Gun

• Physical Design
• USB C Charging
• Nice Case

What needs to be improved?

• Not able to charge with any USB-C power source.
• Reduce the size of the case.

Final thoughts

I really could not find anything that I did not like about the Bob and Brad D5 Pro Massage Gun. It seems to check all the boxes that its online marketing claim. It is sturdy, quiet, and portable with a case that literally can hold everything the kit ships with. If you are someone who feels like they might have a need for a multi-head, multi-mode, multi-speed massage gun, the Bob and Brad D5 Pro Massage Gun should not disappoint.

Price: $169.99
Where to buy: Bob and Brad’s online and Amazon
Source: The sample of this product was provided for free by Bob and Brad. Bob and Brad did not have a final say on the review and did not preview the review before it was published.