Wahl Vibrating Therapeutic Gel Pack, #97788-100

It works.

The vibrating disc that you can slip into a sleeve on the unit slides around inside it's little pocket and the thing velcroes on backwards. Its weird. Anyway I wouldn't buy it again.

Overall this is a good device to provide warm or cold relief with the option of a massaging disk. It seems to be well made a reasonably heavy duty materials.Vibrating DiskFirst of all, the vibrating disk requires two AAA batteries which are not included. I think that's really lame in this day and age. The thing is made in China, so spend an extra dime and chuck in a couple of shrink-wrapped Chinese batteries like most products do nowadays.Secondly, the instructions say not to use the vibrating desk for more than 15 minutes at a time, but it only has an on off switch with no built-in timer. So basically you can run the vibrator until the motor burns out or the batteries run down.Thirdly, there is only one vibration setting, and it's either on or off. No intensity setting and no pulsing mode.So, How Does It Work?My Assessment:While Mrs. Boilermate pretty much took ownership of this device, I was "allowed" to use it to relieve a staff neck and to calm a trick knee. (With heat and cold respectively.) In both cases the heat and the cold lasted long enough to provide effective relief, and the vibration was a welcome addition in both cases. I thought the cold pack stayed cold longer than many of the gel packs that we have in the house. Overall I like it.Mrs. Boilermate's Assessment:Cold packI really liked this as a cold pack. The pack is 15” wide and 6” high. It is big enough to cover my entire lower back. When frozen, it retained cold for a long time, not just 10 or 15 minutes. I would recommend spreading the pack out flat for freezing. I folded the pack when I put it into the freezer, and I could not get it unfolded enough to place in the sleeve for quite a while. This pack is not very flexible when frozen.Heat packI was a little disappointed in the heat pack at first. I put it in the microwave, and thought I had it warmed to a nice temperature. But, when I put the pack into the wrap, I could barely feel any heat. And when I warmed up the pack enough to be felt through the wrap, it was hot enough to be hard to handle and slide into the wrap. Once I got past that point, it did remain warm for a fair amount of time.Massaging diskThe massaging disk is a bit loud, and when I tried to use the pack with the vibrating disk on my shoulder, it was rattling my jaw and skull. On the other hand, when I placed against my lower back and leaned against the back of a chair, it produced a nice pleasant vibration.The Bottom LineOverall this is a decent product. The combination of vibration and heat or cold provides welcome relief. Remember, this is no TENS unit, so don't expect the massaging disk to provide the same real level of relief. Final rating: just short of 4 ½ stars.

Nothing good to say about this hot/cold massage gel pack. When I received it I was in need of a good quality product for applying heat to my bruised ribs. This seemed like a good product that would wrap around a large area. For me everything it implies it does it just did not live up to. It shows right on the box a picture of it wrapped around a person's waist proviiding either heat or cold and the signal signs are there showing vibration. Sounds, great, right? First off the length of time it tells you to keep the pack in the microwave to warm it up is correct. You don't want it too hot to burn your skin. Problem is the gel pack is very long and can't be microwaved laying flat. It must be folded so there is no way to get the same degree of heat thru the whole gel pack. I had to turn it upside down, fold it over and microwave many times to get it warm enough and then parts of it were too hot. When applying heat or cold you are supposed to wrap the source in a towel or some protection between it and your skin. The cover that the gel pack goes in is supposed to be that layer of protection and it is thin and flimsy and not enough protection for the skin. The few times I tried to use this product it left severe red marks where it had been placed. Honestly a total inconvenience and waste of time. The massage aspect is just a gimmick and worth nothing if I can't even get the heat to work correctly.Now granted I did not use it for cold on the body and the good thing about that is you can lay it out flat in the freezer to get the whole thing to be the same temperature. So maybe it would work better for cold application. But I would think the massage aspect if desired would be more applicable to the hot application. Again, perhaps for cold it will work and you may choose to give it a try. But for a product to be marketed as dual hot/cold massage what is the point of purchasing if you can only use one aspect. Many promises that it just doesn't deliver. I just went back to my self made heat pack of rice in a gym sock with a towel for protection between the skin and it works wonders. This product will sit on the shelf.

The Wahl Therapeutic Gel Pack with optional massage is one of the best ice pack systems I’ve ever used. You have the option of freezing or warming the gel pack so you can have cold or heat therapy – a lot of products offer that flexibility to varying degrees, and I’m sure there are a lot of hot/cold gel pack products out there that are pretty good. But the Wahl has two features that make it stand out.The first is the cover. The cover that comes with this product allows you to hold the hot or cold gel pack exactly where you need it. Maybe that doesn’t sound like much, but b believe me when you have localized pain in a weird spot (like between your neck and shoulder) being able to hold the pack where you need it without straining another part of your body is a huge help. The cover isn’t plush, but it is nice and soft and it stays put.The other plus is that the vibrating massage module is removable! I have an absolutely wonderful Sunbeam heating pad with the world’s softest, greatest cover…but if you’re back is what’s bothering you, you can’t lay on the darned thing because of the vibrating massage units. And you can’t remove them! But with the Wahl system, you can have the vibration unit in the cover or not. It’s a completely separate unit that is removable based on your need.Overall, this is a great product and one I would definitely recommend because it is the most flexible of it’s kind on the market. You have hot and cold, vibrating massage and without, in just one product. That’s a great value for an Amazon price of under $25.00!