SportsPump should be cheaper, as well as PodiumLegs and Recovery Pump.
These are all re-labeled products.
RecoveryPump has been out for decade plus and is the LymphaPress Petit Basic System. Podium Legs is imported from Korea I believe and is pretty much the MaxStar UAM-8000 and SportsPump is the BioCompression SC-2004 (and their Ice version is the BioCryo)
NormaTec is the only one of these companies that is the actual designer and manufacturer of their devices, and like RecoveryPump is FDA approved for over the counter sales. Will not name names, but some companies out there did not go through getting FDA clearance so a reason why they are cheaper is less overhead, but also means they can risk fines or not being around if you need warranty work.
Build and quality on the NormaTecs is hands down best of the lot, as well as their compression technology much better… in short, the boots all first co through a calibration process that measures pressure, so if you have one person with thing legs and another with large legs, they will get the same amount of compression, where with other boots that is not the case, so if you have larger calves say, and you want to work your quads, in some of the other boots, you will be putting your calves in a vice to get the solid work on the quads.
The new NormaTec boots also have reduced volume compared to their Pro model, making them less bulky, as well as zippered legs for easy on and off.
For disclosure sake, I do own a pair or the NormaTec MVP (new model) which I purchased, as well as have been a long time fan. I have considered them the best boots on the market for the last year plus when I started learning about them, but I also like many, went through the cost-benefit analysis. I actually had made a purchase of one of the cheaper models listed, had a phenomenal deal on it, and canceled the order before taking the delivery and paid more to get the NormaTecs after trying them again at Rev3 Knoxville.
The newer and more basic model of the NormaTec puts them much more in line with some of the other models, but you get what you pay for. To me the biggest factors were:
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Not being ripped off on a jacked up price. I call this the Lake Placid effect (i.e. if you go through a medical wholesaler, you can get the other devices cheaper, but once they are “marketed” to athletes, the price goes up
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An active company making improvements. Laura Jacobs, the founder of NormaTec worked with the LymphaPress Petit Basic System, saw the need for improvements in the device back in the 90s and when she could not get LymphaPress to make the changes, she started her own company. NormaTec could have just taken their medical devices and relabeled them like other companies do, but instead they started tailoring them to the sports market by making higher quality materials, making them more portable, and even spending a lot of time making the compressor more quiet.
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Quality materials and manufacturing. NormaTec makes their devices, and specificially made improvements to them in creating athlete focused devices
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Calibration - This is perhaps the biggest feature. The boots will measure my legs and give me the same compression as someone else with completely different physical characteristics. No other company in the space does this. So I set my boots for 6 or 7, that will be the same as anyone else regardless of legs. Using say Recovery Pump with my large legs, I might have to go down two settings and even there, to work my quads, my calves would get wrenched.
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Equal compression. Normatec will inflate each chamber equally through a cycle. In most other boots out there, your feet will get 4 - 5 times the compression as your quads. In the Normatec. Chamber 1 inflates, than 2, then 1 deflates and 3 inflates, then 2 deflates and 4 inflates, etc. NormaTec also has the Peristaltic Pulse which means the main chamber goes through a pulse cycle increasing the pumping and flow and more closely mimics the lymphatic system.
You can make what ever comparison you want - Carbon fiber frame to steel frame, race wheels versus training wheels: The NormaTec
MVP is a little more expensive than some of the other products out there, but you get a lot more. To be honest, I look at some of the other products that are out there and I cringe; that was why I canceled my other order… I thought about what I was buying, putting my legs in there and then compared to the NormaTecs I had just been using… and in the end, I spent more, but to me it was worse to cut the corner and then have to justify every time how much I saved when all I would have been thinking was how much better the NormaTecs felt.