Top critical review
3.0 out of 5 starsPoor handle, compromised working end
Reviewed in the United States on January 28, 2016
I wasn't sure how this would work for me (and it came with no instructions). As a massager, I was hoping it would help with my stiff neck and shoulder muscles. I also wanted it to serve as a back-scratcher.
What I found was that it doesn't work well at both jobs. Just as it is, it makes a good back-scratcher, but when I used it on my muscles I found that the "bird beak" on the business end was painful to use—too hard, too small, and too pointy. Think about the massage tools we all came equipped with: fingertips, knuckles, and so on—they're all cushioned to some extent and they're much broader and more rounded. I filed the beak off, and now it's comfortable to use for pressing on my sore muscles. It's got reach and plenty of leverage, though I find myself choking up on the handle a lot, that is, grasping it further along the handle toward the bend.
Having removed the beak, it's no longer very effective as a back-scratcher.
The handle is very uncomfortable. I assumed from the photo of the product that the handle would be typical of the overmolded soft-rubber handles on tools of all kinds these days. No such luck (or luxury)—it's just a different color of the same hard plastic as the rest of it, and the little knobs make it worse; they dig into your hands and hurt. I'm planning to fix that with a coating of Lexel, but I think a thick layer of tape would work, at the risk of getting adhesive gunk on your hands. They really should redesign the handle and make it soft and comfortable and to extend further up the shaft.
I bought this because it was cheap and looked durable. I'd have given it two and a half stars if that were possible. Now that I've modded it, it works okay for me, but I still need to rework the handgrip.
This is okay for the money if you can modify it.
