Review: Gravity Move Heated Mini Massager

There are a lot of massage guns on the market. I've tried many of them, and as more come out, the differences between them become less and less clear. This one is from Gravity, a company that makes some of our favorite weighted blankets. It's compact and portable, and it heats up! It also comes at a price that doesn't make my eyes bulge that much.

The Gravity Move is a portable massager, also called a percussive device, that pounds your muscles to increase blood flow and release histamines. But unlike most portable massagers, the Gravity Move includes another blood-flow-increasing feature: heat. Massage guns with a heating (and sometimes cooling!) element have become more common, a trend I'm grateful for. When you wake up with a sore back, you might want to break out the heating pad, but it's helpful to have a tool to target that one specific spot.

Photograph: Gravity

The Move is compact and weighs only 1.5 pounds, but it doesn't sacrifice function for size. Its four intensity levels deliver a more powerful massage than some of the full-size devices I've tried. In fact, the fourth level is probably overkill. Level one was good enough for me most of the time.

It comes with four attachments, which is a good amount—you want variety, not excess. A unique air-cushion head helps ease sensitive areas, but my favorite is the heated attachment. The Move's metal head has three heat levels, ranging from 95 to 126 degrees Fahrenheit. You can use the heat with or with pulsations.

Photograph: Gravity

You can even use it without attaching it to the gun at all, which I've never seen before. Don't want to have the whole device out at your desk while you try to soothe a kink in your neck? You don't have to! A small button on the underside of the head turns it on and adjusts levels. Because it's powered by its own internal battery rather than the gun's battery, it has its own USB-C charging port, and the box comes with two charging cords.

Gravity has another massage gun for the same price. That one, the Relax, has the same four attachments with two extras, a D-shaped head that they say is good for abs (which I haven't found very useful for stimulating my zero-pack) and a flat head. It's also a great massager, but I prefer just how small and easy to maneuver the Move is. The Move's D-shaped handle lets you get your legs and that hard-to-reach area of your back just as easily.

However, the Relax does have a carrying case that fits the device and all its components. The Move's small zip bag fits the device and only one attachment. You could make a bigger case without sacrificing portability; I'm afraid that the attachments will go missing any second.

Since Therabody was founded in 2009, the market for massage guns has grown to include a wide range of products at different price points. If you're not a dedicated athlete, you don't need to drop $600 on a Theragun Pro. The Move's $150 price is more than some others that I've used, but it's not unreasonable. The price also drops regularly on Amazon.

Massage guns aren't a replacement for a good old back-crackin' rubdown by a masseuse, or even regular stretching. But they can help prepare muscles before a workout and relieve soreness afterward, and they're nice for when you need to target one particular knot that just won't quit.

I like to be comfortable. On any given day you might find me lying under a weighted blanket in a fuzzy robe with massaging goggles over my face. A massage gun, especially one with heat, truly puts the cherry on top. With the Move, Gravity checks at least three of those boxes.