Gravity Eye Massager Review: Multi-Functional and Compact - WIRED

[massage]

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Rating:
8/10

Relaxing massage, heat, and vibration soothe sore eyes. Has Bluetooth speakers for listening to music or meditation while it massages. Folds up for storage or portability. Not a bad price.
Not as comfy against your face as the Therabody. Can be hard to remember what each mode does. Not for those with eye diseases.

Do you ever wish you could put a massage gun directly on your eyeballs after a particularly long and stressful day? Or better yet, pop both eyes right out and give the socket a good rub before replacing them? Unfortunately, neither of those things are medically advisable. Instead, I've been getting some relief thanks to eye massagers.

For about a month, I've been using Gravity's Eye Massager whenever I'm dealing with a headache, sore eyes from a day of writing, or just need to relax a bit before I go to bed. I tried Therabody's Smart Goggles (9/10, WIRED Recommends) last year. Despite my initial doubts that such a gadget could work, they quickly became my favorite product of the year—I didn't know I was missing such a key piece of my comfort puzzle. Gravity's version is half the price. There are some differences, but it holds its own against the massage heavyweight. While all our eyes are probably tired, the company notes that anyone with major eye diseases like glaucoma, cataracts, or retinal detachment should not use this.

Easy on the Eyes

Photograph: Gravity

Gravity's Eye Massager uses air pressure to gently squeeze and contract against your temples and around your eyes. Air pressure is different than the rolling nodes you might be used to in some massagers, which tend to really dig in and can even hurt during or after the massage is over. Inside this device, airbags inflate and deflate, allowing it to cup to your face, squeezing with just the right intensity before deflating and starting over. Therabody's version doesn't grip quite as much. Now that I've tried Gravity's, Therabody feels like it's lacking.


There are five modes. Multi-Function employs all three features: heat, vibration, and pressure. Relax mode ditches vibrations, Rest is just pressure, and Revive uses pressure and vibration. The last mode, Heat, is a welcome addition, even if most of the time I opted for adding in other functions too. I used to buy disposable, self-heating eye masks for when one of my ocular migraines started. They helped a little, but this massager gets much warmer (107 degrees Fahrenheit) and feels significantly better. Even without the massage function on, the goggles pressing against your face is much more relaxing than an insubstantial, gauzy mask. Therabody's version doesn't have a heat-only mode, as the pressure massage is a constant.

Photograph: Gravity

Gravity Eye Massager

Rating: 8/10


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Two Bluetooth speakers elevate an already relaxing experience. You can pair your massage with sleep sounds or a calming meditation, but you could even listen to music or an audiobook. Most people might like silent massages, but some of us have brains that are constantly running, and sitting with our eyes closed isn't always easy. Therabody also has an app where you can listen to soundscapes and meditations, but you have to listen to them with separate headphones or with the speaker in your phone. That's not necessarily a deal breaker, but Gravity's version is much easier to hear over the sound of the massager humming.

There's no app connection here, so you control it with the two buttons on the front of the device. This is either a pro or a con. Not having to fiddle with an app is nice, but you'll need to remember which mode includes what functions. Some are self-explanatory, like Multi-Functional and Heat, but with the others I found myself forgetting immediately. You'll either need to keep the booklet on hand (or a picture of it) or just scroll through modes until you find the one you like. Therabody's Smart Goggles can be customized in the app, where you can also change the intensity levels of the heat and vibrations.

Relaxation Nation

Photograph: Gravity

A one-hour battery life translates to a few days, at least. Sessions are 15 minutes, and while I did occasionally use it for multiple, you likely won't be sitting there for the entire hour every day. There's no heart-rate sensor here like there is on the Smart Goggles, but unless that's really important to your meditation practices, I don't think that's a significant downside. I didn't miss it. When you're done, the massager folds in half for easy storing (or for throwing in your bag if you need a mid-work sesh).

Gravity Eye Massager

Rating: 8/10


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Gravity's massager is $99 versus Therabody's $199, which allows many more people to enjoy it. I don't think the reduced price affects function—in some ways mentioned above, it's better—but it is a little more obvious when you look at the construction. The Smart Goggles look higher-end, with a fabric-covered front and buttery-soft faux leather that rests against your eyes. On the Gravity, the material that touches your face is polyurethane. It doesn't feel bad, but it's a little hotter, and sticks a little more to my skin if I do my skincare routine beforehand (you really shouldn't do that anyway, so that's more of a me issue). It's worth noting that the Therabody massager did develop a small hole in the leather after a few months of use. It hasn't seemed to have grown, but it being soft and thin likely has something to do with that.

Gravity is probably best known for its stellar weighted blankets, but the brand also makes reliable massage guns. Therabody's Theraguns are perhaps the best known in that department, but Gravity has positioned itself among them and it's only continuing here. I'm a big fan of being extremely comfortable. If these companies want to compete in making drool-inducing relaxation tools, who am I to stop them?

Gravity Eye Massager

Rating: 8/10


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