The Bob and Brad Q2 Pro Mini Massage Gun is a compact, pocket-sized gem, engineered to provide quick and effective relief from muscle soreness and pain, while also serving as an excellent tool for pre-workout muscle activation. In fact, the Q2 Pro is an incredibly versatile device, particularly with its significant upgrade from the original Q2 model: a brand-new head attachment that delivers both hot and cold therapy. Fortunately, I was lucky enough to be sent one to test and to figure out whether its price tag of $89.99 in the US and £99.99 in the UK is worth it compared to its $20/£20 cheaper Q2 predecessor.
Before diving into the review, let me briefly introduce myself. While I am far from a professional athlete, I maintain an active lifestyle. I weight train in the gym at least four days a week and play football twice a week. However, I also work a desk job, which means I'm no stranger to the typical aches and pains associated with prolonged sitting, compounded by the muscle soreness that comes with regular, intense physical activity.
Given my experience with these daily discomforts, I was particularly eager to see if the Q2 Pro could aid in my recovery and overall well-being. Therefore, I wasted no time in unboxing it upon arrival, ready to put it to the test.
Design
After unboxing the device, it was immediately clear the Bob and Brad Q2 Pro had been designed with both portability and convenience in mind. Weighing just 0.95 lbs, it’s incredibly lightweight and compact, even with all attachments thanks to its stylish and premium feeling carry case. This is particularly handy to have, as it meant I could take it to the gym to help with my warmups using its percussion movements and deep tissue massages. The device’s grippy coating adds to its overall premium feel too, ensuring a secure and comfortable hold during use.
Charging is made simple thanks to the USB-C connection and cable included. The massage gun also features a useful color-coded battery life indicator, which allowed me to easily monitor its remaining power to avoid the situation of it running out of charge mid-use. The hot and cold therapy attachment also has a green light that remains continuously lit when fully charged.
One feature I really liked was the Q2 Pros automatic shut-off after 10 minutes of use. I think this is an incredibly handy safety addition as it can help to prevent overuse on your body, and it helps to avoid the device causing mayhem if left on and unattended.
Additionally, the included manual is a resource I found very valuable, offering detailed guidance on how to effectively massage different areas of your body. It also provides recommended times for each area, ensuring that you get the most out of your massage experience.
Performance
Evaluating the performance of the Bob and Brad Q2 Pro is challenging as it is hard to measure its effectiveness quantitatively. Therefore, I am basing its performance on how it made myself and the muscles I used it on feel more than anything. To that end, I am pleased to report it performed relatively well.
After using it for around a week, I found that the brushless motor operated smoothly across all five speed settings (ranging from 1800 to 3000 RPM) and did so quietly. The massage gun features a single button for cycling through the speeds, which simplifies its use, though it does mean having to go through each speed sequentially. Thankfully, small lights on the handle helped me figure out its current speed and how much more it had to give.
In terms of effectiveness, the fastest setting proved to be the most beneficial for me personally, delivering a more intense massage that was particularly effective for short, focused use. The device only offers one continuous massage pattern rather than pulsating or similar techniques, but the different massage heads mean it can and did, at least in my case, provide a range of experiences. Each head, as explained in the manual, is designed for specific uses, body parts, and muscle groups, adding versatility to the device and effectiveness across an entire body.
As touched on, its ability to provide both hot and cold therapy is its main upgrade over the Pro model. Cold therapy turned out to be a standout feature that pleasantly surprised me. After just a few minutes of use following a weights session, I felt significant relief, especially in my shoulders and front delts; an area that typically gets overworked during upper body exercises. The cold therapy felt truly refreshing, even at its lowest setting (two settings in total), and was a noticeable benefit of this device. In contrast, the heat therapy didn’t quite measure up; even in the hottest setting (again, two settings), the warmth was not as impactful as the cold therapy in alleviating muscle pain. I thought it would maybe prove more effective at, well, warming up my muscles for training, but I did not notice the immediate impact of the heat compared to the immediate impact of the cold therapy.
As for the massage heads, the air cushion attachment became a favorite of mine for targeting larger muscle groups, while the U-shaped head was particularly useful for my shoulders, back, and calves at higher speeds. On the other hand, the ball head, despite being the default in many massage guns, was the least used during my testing. That is not to say I did not use it; I simply found it to be the least effective at alleviating pain and soreness. The bullet head, however, proved very useful for smaller, often sore muscles like the front delts, as mentioned earlier, and pain in the lower back. That being said, my go-to attachment was still the cold therapy head, which is a huge plus point for the Q2 Pro in comparison to its Q2 predecessor.
Verdict
When it comes to deciding whether the Q2 Pro, which includes cold and heat therapy, is worth the additional cost of around $20/£20, I would lean towards saying it might be. While the heat did not provide the relief or muscle activation I expected, I found the cold therapy highly effective and something I used and will continue to use regularly.
Overall, the Bob and Brad Q2 Pro Mini Massage Gun delivers solid performance, with its cold therapy feature and versatile massage heads helping it stand out from the crowd, alongside its pocket-friendly size. While the heat therapy might not justify the extra cost on its own, the device overall offers a good balance of simplicity and effectiveness for muscle relief, all of which come at a reasonably inexpensive price.
