Ekrin Bantam vs Theragun mini

The Ekrin Bantam and Theragun mini are among the most powerful mini massage guns. Unsurprisingly, both are often on the shortlist of potential customers. But which of the two massagers is really worth the money? That’s what I want to show you in this article. For this purpose, I have tested and compared both devices in detail.

 

Comparison – Ekrin Bantam vs Theragun mini

 

Scope of Delivery and Attachments

I have listed the scope of delivery of both massage guns in the table above. Therefore, I will not list everything again here. As you can see from the list, both the Ekrin Bantam and the Theragun mini come with everything you basically need to use the massage gun.

Still, I see the Ekrin Bantam ahead here. It comes with four different attachments that cover optimal massage of different muscles. The Theragun mini, on the other hand, comes with only one attachment. More have to be purchased at a high price if you don’t have another massage gun from Therabody with compatible attachments.

Functionality

Both the Ekrin Bantam and the Theragun mini have three speed levels. For the Bantam, these are distributed as follows:

The Theragun mini, on the other hand, has the following shock frequencies:

This is not optimal for both massage guns. This has two reasons:

1. Three stages are comparatively few. An individual adjustment to one’s own needs is, therefore, only possible with difficulty.
2. The shock frequencies of both massage guns start in the upper range. They are thus not suitable for relaxing or particularly sensitive massages. This is not what the devices are intended for, but for the regeneration of muscles.

Apart from that, the functionality is very good with the mini massagers. On the one hand, this is due to the depth of impact. This is 10 mm for the Ekrin Bantam and 12 mm for the Theragun mini. This allows the deep tissue to be massaged in each case. The motors are also quite powerful. The stall force of the Bantam is 35 lbs, and that of the Tehrtagun mini is 20 lbs.

So I can only criticize a little in this category!

Usability

The operation of both massage guns is very easy to learn and perform, as they each have only one button for control. In the case of the Ekrin Bantam, this is located on the underside of the handle. On the Theragun mini, the button is located on the side of the handle.

In both cases, the motor is started by holding the button for a few seconds. Holding the button again turns the motor off. The individual stages are switched through by simply pressing the button.

The only difference here is that small lights indicate the current power level on the Theragun mini. This is not the case with the Ekrin Bantam, which I do not find optimal.

Handling

Both massage guns also play at the top level when it comes to handling.

The Ekrin Bantam weighs only 1.08 lbs (490 g) without the attachment and 1.18 lbs (534 g) with the ball attachment. On the other hand, the weight of the Theragun mini is 1.43 lbs (649 g) without the attachment and 1.47 lbs (667 g) with the attachment. This makes both massagers very light. The Bantam still has a certain advantage here, as you notice the weight difference after a while. Nevertheless, both are suitable for a long massage without much effort.

I can’t say anything negative about the handles, either. With the Bantam, it is quite narrow and rubberized. It can be gripped well and does not slip. The Theragun Mini does not have the usual shape of a massage gun and, thus, no handle. Here you grip the massage gun directly on the “body”. However, the surface of the Theragun Mini is ergonomically shaped and can be held very well.

Power Supply

The Ekrin Bantam is powered by a Samsung lithium-ion battery. It has a capacity of 1,600 mAh, which is enough for about 3 to 5 hours of use. This is a very good value. It is also an advantage that it is a brand-name battery since experience shows that they last longer.

The Theragun mini also contains a lithium-ion battery. However, you won’t find much more information about the power supply here. The runtime here is about 2.5 hours, which is rather one of the worse values.

For both mini massage guns, I have to criticize the fact that the battery cannot be replaced. In case of a defect, the entire battery has to be replaced.

On the other hand, I can emphasize the charging in a positive way. This is very fast with the supplied charging cable/power supply.

Both massagers have a display of the current battery status. The display of the Ekrin Bantam is very accurate:

With the Theragun mini, however, you can only roughly estimate the battery level:

Overall, the Bantam from Ekrin wins this category for me.

Noise

I measured the volume of both mini-massage guns from 40 cm. The following values were recorded for the Ekrin Bantam:

For the Theragun mini, on the other hand, I measured the following volume:

This makes both massagers among the loudest mini-massage guns I have tested myself. The values also look similar at first glance. However, you can see that the Bantam is always a few dB quieter. That may not seem like much at first glance. But even a difference of 10 dB makes a sound seem twice as loud!

Therefore, my conclusion on the volume is that neither Theragun mini nor the Ekrin Bantam is particularly suitable for quiet massages. Nevertheless, the Bantam clearly has an advantage here!

 

Material and Quality

Both massage guns are made of plastic. Nevertheless, they appear very valuable and stable.

I can’t criticize the workmanship of the Ekrin Bantam either. It has clean edges. I could not discover any defects.

On my Theragun mini, however, at the transitions where the casing is assembled, small inaccuracies can be seen upon closer inspection. Otherwise, the workmanship is perfect.

However, the Ekrin Bantam also has a small weakness concerning the smell. The silicone attachments smell slightly unpleasant at the beginning. However, this is only a really light smell that quickly fades! The Theragun mini, on the other hand, simply smells “new” or like plastic.

 

Price

I paid the equivalent of about $150 for the Bantam. Also, when I wrote this review, its regular price was $149.99. However, with a coupon (e.g., MGG20), the price was reduced by 20%. Thus, the massage gun would have cost only $119.99.

I paid €197.90 for the Theragun mini. At the time of this comparison, the price on the manufacturer’s website was $199.00, which is about the price I paid.

Overall, the Ekrin Bantam is much cheaper than the Theragun mini. On top of that, it scored better in my review. From a price-performance point of view, I would therefore clearly recommend the Bantam over the Theragun mini!

Save 20 % with my code MGG20

View on ekrinathletics.com*

 

Conclusion – Ekrin Bantam vs Theragun mini

As mentioned at the beginning, the Ekrin Bantam and Theragun mini are two very powerful mini massage guns. This was also shown by my own test and the comparison of both massagers. They both bring enough power as well as amplitude to massage even the deep tissue effectively.

However, if I had to choose one of the two, it would be the Ekrin Bantam. This is also reflected in my overall rating of both massage guns (9.0 vs. 8.7 out of 10 possible points). The main reasons for this are as follows:

1. The Ekrin Bantam comes with four attachments suitable for massaging different muscles. The Theragun mini comes with only one attachment as standard.
2. Both massage guns belong rather to the louder massagers. However, at each power level, the Bantam is quieter than Therabody’s massage gun.
3. Although the massage guns are quite light, the Ekrin Bantam weighs a bit less than the Theragun mini. This makes it much easier to handle.
4. The battery of the Ekrin Bantam lasts longer and needs to be recharged less often. In addition, the current battery level is displayed much more accurately.
5. The Ekrin Bantam was much cheaper than the Theragun mini with a coupon (e.g., MGG20) at the time of this writing.

Here you can find a list of the pros and cons of both devices: