Renpho Eye Massager review

One-minute review

The Renpho Eye Massager is an interesting idea – an eye mask combined with a massager. This headset has a row of soft cushions over each eye, which gently inflate in series to provide a rolling massaging sensation. The compression is intended to relieve dry and tired eyes (whether it’s from staring at a screen for too long), promote circulation, and encourage relaxation.

You can also opt for gentle heat during your massage, and vibration on your temples. There’s even soft music and nature sounds available at the touch of a button, or you can connect your phone to the headset’s built-in speakers via Bluetooth and listen to your own playlist.

The physical sensation is very pleasant (particularly on the lower intensity settings), but it’s hard to relax when the headset is so loud. The eye pads inflate with a mechanical groan (around 50dB according to Renpho), then deflate with a sigh. It’s almost as loud as the music emitted by the headset’s speakers, and is hard to ignore.

That said, Renpho is an established name in massage devices, and hopefully the next-gen Eye Massager will be both lighter and quieter, so we can genuinely relax with it.

Price and release date

• Available now
• Mid-priced for an eye massager

The Renpho Eye Massager was released in September 2019 and costs $69.99 / £52.99 / AU$89.99 when bought by itself, or $75.99 / £55.99 / AU$101.99 with a remote control. It's available on Amazon, or direct from Renpho.

You can find cheaper mask-style eye massagers, but not from established companies like Renpho that specialize in healthcare devices like smart scales and massage guns.

Design

• Folds for travel
• Easily cleaned materials
• Quite heavy to wear

There are two types of eye massager currently on the market: small hand-held devices that you can use to target specific areas, and ones shaped like masks that let you sit back and relax while they do the work for you.

The Renpho Eye Massager is one of the latter, and looks somewhat like a wireless VR headset. The exterior is made from glossy white or black ABS plastic, and is hinged in the middle to allow it to flex as it inflates. This design also allows it to fit different face shapes, and means you can fold the headset for travel (though it’s not supplied with a carry case).It’s charged via a micro-USB port on the bridge of the nose, and a charging cable is supplied.

There are three touch-sensitive controls on the right-hand side, which control the power, audio, and vibration/heat/massage settings. These are quite sensitive, so you have to be careful not to accidentally tap one if you need to adjust the headset while wearing it, but there’s also an optional remote control that makes it easier to tweak the settings with your eyes covered.

The interior surface that sits against your face is covered in soft polyurethane ‘leather’, which has been independently tested by SGS to verify its safety for use on skin, and can be wiped clean after use.

The Renpho Eye Massager held on with a single elasticated strap, which can be tightened for a snug fit. The headset is quite heavy, which is understandable due to the weight of its battery and motors, but meant it had a tendency to slip down our nose during testing.

A design with a strap over the top of the head and a ratchet for tightening at the back, similar to the Oculus Quest 2, would help alleviate this problem.

Experience

• Relaxing massage sensation
• Choice of intensities
• Very noisy motor

We’ve never tried anything quite like the Renpho Eye Massager, and were apprehensive about a device that applied pressure to our eyes, but we were pleasantly surprised. The headset applies compression with a rolling motion, from your temples towards your nose, before gently deflating – and it’s very pleasant. We preferred the lower intensity setting, but the higher one, although noticeably firmer, wasn’t at all uncomfortable.

The heat is also enjoyable – just gentle warmth evenly distributed across the inner surface, which never becomes particularly hot. It certainly wasn’t enough to make us sweat – though if things did get a little clammy, you could easily wipe the inner surface clean with a damp cloth.

We were less keen on the vibration, which was quite a harsh effect compared to the gently shifting compression. It may have been more pleasant if each pulse was in time with the beat of the music, rather than a metronomic buzz every four seconds.

The headset is secured around the back, but there’s no strap on top, so it has a tendency to slip down if worn while sitting upright. It’s a problem that’s easily resolved by lying back on your bed or sofa.

There’s no display, but the name of each mode is spoken aloud when it’s selected. The options are:

• Compression, heat and music
• Compression, heat, vibration and music
• Compression and music
• Heat only
• Vibration and music

It’s just so hard to overlook the noise – a robotic snoring as the air pockets inflate and deflate. Activating the vibration setting makes things even louder, with a regular buzzing delivered straight to your temples.

We like the concept of the Eye Massager though, and hopefully advances in the tech will mean Renpho’s next-generation model will be both lighter and quieter.

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