We've had the Renpho Ascend for only a few days, but my first impressions are positive.
As a side note, my decision to order it was not made on the spur of the moment, but, rather, came after months of looking around and thinking about it, which periods included times where I seriously weighed getting a ~$25 type machine at a place like TJ Maxx, or a $500 professional Theragun, and then looked at a great many product variants falling in between. From my (informal) internet-based research, I became cognizant that many such products have long-term durability issues, including especially battery longevity (not meaning per charge, but long-term lifespan), but also with parts of products falling off themselves. I also discerned that unless I was willing to ante up big dollars for a product like a high model Theragun, very few such products come with user-replaceable batteries. To me, that's frankly unacceptable, but given that it's the state of the market (for virtually all devices, not just percussion massagers) there's sadly little I an do about it. But it is good reason not to spend several hundreds of dollars on a product that may have a ~2-5 year anticipated lifespan.
Back to Renpho, from my research they seemed to produce reasonably high quality consumer grade health products (so they're not like many percussion massager knock-offs out there that sell just a single item of a Chinese-made massager sold under many labels), at reasonable prices (not of the $25 sort, but also not of the $250 sort), with their percussion massagers getting fairly decent reviews.
They also make percussion massagers with a 12 mm. amplitude, which seems to be the minimum necessary for more focused uses. I honestly was abou to order the Power+ Thermacool, after becoming convinced the heated/cooled head had great merit (and is becoming a widely adopted feature on many percussion massagers), when towards the last moment I found the fairly new Ascend model. The Ascend, though heavier than other Renpho models (and that weight is somewhat of a drawback) seems to offer significantly longer per-charge battery life and, more importantly, adjustable amplitude, from 6-12 mm., a feature I hadn't seen elsewhere and that seems REALLY useful, probably more so for us novice users than a heated/cooled head.
I originally ordered the item from Amazon, where it actually could (and perhaps still) be purchased a bit cheaper, but then returned that and purchased from Renpho itself, paying a bit extra and receiving the item after a bit longer of a wait exclusively and specifically to obtain the touted 18 month warranty, as opposed to the supposed 12 month warranty on the Amazon-fulfilled version (Renpho customer service confirmed for me this was the case). Though price is almost always a determinative factor for me, knowing these products can have long term durability issues the longer warranty was actually more critical.
In any event, the item arrived and we have begun to use it. It seems well-crafted and works as claimed (including being quite quiet), coming in a seemingly durable storage box and with a variety of massage heads. As mentioned, it is weighty (which lends to its solid feel), and should you find that of concern (many probably would) you'd likely benefit more from any of the many lighter models on the market.
My son, for whom we mostly purchased it, seems to really like it. As a runner/walker with a sometimes sore L hamstring, I anticipate using and benefiting from it too. Hopefull its quality continues to resonate and it proves to be "long-term durable." If so, I can be counted as a happy customer and strongly recommend the Renpho Ascend.
