Review: Homedics NMS-350 Shiatsu Neck Massager

Exclusive Review from A Real User of the Homedics NMS-350
After one too many mornings and nights of neck pain, caused by long hours at a computer desk (or the occassional all-night gaming/working session), I set out to research and find a good value, effective neck massager. I was not sure how much it would help so my main consideration was a cost effective, but still high performance product.
As with all Daydull reviews, all reviews are about products I have purchased myself and have used fully in the same way any buyer would hope to use the item. I do not review hundreds of products and crank out reviews — this is a product I have used for weeks and know the ins and outs of.
Performance
The NMS-350 does a very good job relaxing your neck muscles and a decent job on the upper back shoulder muscles. You will need to use the handles and hold the device in place to have it affect your shoulder muscles, but this was not a big deal for me. Generally I preferred the neck massage.. The rotating/moving shiatsu pieces plus the heat were very effective. I did not enjoy the vibration mode because it vibrates your entire head. If you are trying to view a screen or read with the vibration on, your vision will actually be blurred! However, it was still completely effective without vibration turned on.
Design & Quality
I had a couple simple, but overlookable issues with the design of this product. First, the on-off button for the heat switch is not the type of button that sticks down when you push it. Since the heat takes a couple of minutes to become noticeable, its often hard to figure out if you’ve turned the heat on or off. It may cause you to sit around for an extra 5 minutes waiting for heat when its actually switched off.
The other issue I had was with the mesh fabric covering the neck “Shiatsu” massagers (which you can see in the above photo). The fabric is stitched in such a way that one of the stitching / seams overlaps the exact point where the device will be pressing into your skin. It is not noticeable at first, but after prolonged use I sometimes felt some irritation from the seem stitching rubbing the same spot on the skin. This could have easily been fixed by moving the stitching over a bit. I am also considering just cutting off the fabric as I don’t believe it really serves any purpose.
The power cord should be long enough to reach any outlet. The only issue I ran into was it was almost too short when used in the living room because an outlet except at a wall across from the couch. At a computer desk it will never be a concern however.
Other than the two above minor issues, the build quality is top-notch. It feels like a good quality product, has a good weight to it, but isn’t heavy, and fits over your shoulders perfectly. The material is a dense, comfortable cushiony soft nylon-esque material. You can grab the handles on each side and move it around to different parts on your neck or shoulder for extra spot treatment. The controls are easy to use and intuitive.
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Value
The Homedics NMS-350 appears to be a very high price to performance product. I researched and tested a number of other similar products before purchasing, and decided on this unit. It can be purchased for about $30 on Amazon and is the highest rated, most popular product of its type anywhere near this price range. I would easily recommend this product over a Sharper Image or other higher priced product. You would need to spend over $100 to get anything significantly better.
Summary
Pros:
- Heat & Shiatsu works very well together to relax neck
- Extremely cheap, much better value than other options
- Great reviews, best product in this price range
- Sleek design
- High build quality
Cons:
- Vibration mode not as effective as Shiatsu
- Heat switch should be more obvious if it is on or off
- Stitching on rotating Shiatsu “nodes” can rub your skin
Conclusion
I hope you have benefitted from this review. As with my previous reviews, I only review products that I have used for weeks and have a full understanding of. If you decide to purchase this product, please click my Amazon link first. This will not affect your purchase in any way, but amazon offers a small percent of your payment back to us for advertising on any purchases you make after clicking the link.
If you have any questions, I’ll be happy to answer them — just leave a comment!
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Hi
Is there any office massage chairs and car used massage pillow? Could you send me some information?
Thanks