Most all of these are used and have been used for years in the medical field. Just google lymphadema pumps. The norma-tec is marketing to sports using their own technology and they all sell on the medical side. Recover pump and Sports Pump are both rebadged and rebranded. Nothing wrong with that but do your research and see what works for you. I have a lymphapress petite Model 701 that I bought off of Craigs list for $250 which is the same as the recovery pump. The Sports pump is the Bio Compression brand, these can be picked up pretty cheaply as well.
X2 i am interested in these too,
i don’t have deep pockets so these might be a good choice for me
Darryl
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Is Sport Pump identical to Recovery Pump? Sport Pump looks to be a few hundred dollars cheaper.
If you’re in the market, the cheaper Normatec MVP is now out. Just got mine last week. I’m pretty impressed. An hour a day after IMCDA and my muscles felt perfect by Wednesday, no soreness/weakness etc. I’ve never bounced back that quickly. Too bad they don’t make a version to recover training motivation that quickly…
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.
My name is Chris and I am one of the owners of SportPump. I have provided compression pumps for twelve years, mostly in the medical community but also to athletes as well. The SportPump brand is based on the proven technology of BioCompression Systems and has been used on athletes for years with great success. Top triathletes Angela Naeth and Ben Hoffman are currently using the system. You can see what they have to say by visiting our website - www.sportpump.com. Our mission is to provide a quality product that is affordable, durable, and made in the USA. But most of all, effective! I welcome all questions and comments.
Where can you get a price? The normatecsport site isn’t very descriptive at all, just asks you to fill out a preorder form.
Where did you order them from “cheaper Normatec MVP”…can’t find anything online.
Thanks!
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If you’re in the market, the cheaper Normatec MVP is now out. Just got mine last week. I’m pretty impressed. An hour a day after IMCDA and my muscles felt perfect by Wednesday, no soreness/weakness etc. I’ve never bounced back that quickly. Too bad they don’t make a version to recover training motivation that quickly…
Where did you buy it from? If you don’t mind, what are they going for?
I emailed Normatec directly and they sent me info on the new MVP (scaled down version of the MVP Pro) and the pricey MVP Pro. The price for the MVP was around $1500, and you pay for them on the site (http://www.normatecrecovery.com/) which isn’t totally live yet. Normatec was great to work with, I bought them 2 days before leaving for CDA and they overnighted them to my hotel so they were waiting for me.
Other thing I forgot to add… I have been researching these devices and companies for a little over a year now…
The big selling point, and one of the major signs of quality are the pro and others who use / purchase the devices. So when I see NBA players like Kevin Garnett, Lebron James, pro footballers, cyclists, olympians, etc… you look at the top performers and teams who are out there, and consistently I see the NormaTec Pro boots (also mainly because the MVPs really just came out)
Now granted, the Pro model is a little pricier, but also tells me that the people who are at the top and pinnacle of their fields and can chose close to anything they want for training and recovery devices, I see the NormaTec models in their hands and not the others.
Look at the US Olympic Team? Whose recovery devices will they be using? I know in the past it has been NormaTec and imagine that will continue. Thought I heard something at the Quassy tent something ridiculous like 150 pairs of the NormaTecs were heading over to the London games with the US Team. I know from the past few seasons of the Tour de France, when I have seen pictures of riders recovering, I have seen the NormaTec boots and not the Recovery Pumps.
Always nice to have options, and I am grateful to all the companies out there who help athletes perform and improve.
Took me a LONG time to decide. First pair I ever used was the Recovery Pumps and after that a long road of trying the others, researching and then weighing the cost benefit. For me I made the right choice and have not looked back.
The NormaTec MVPs are somewhere around $1600 and I think do some slightly better deals at the race venues.
I was giving them some grief on the website at Quassy… They used to have a bigger site up with Crowie on it, etc. and was told that they had taken the site down during the FDA approval process.
The basic model pretty much just came out this month. I believe Rev 3 Quassy was their first unveiling so I imagine you will start seeing a lot more literature, website, etc. in the near future.
I don’t think the MVP model official launch has happened yet, but models have started to make their way out into the field and think they are just making sure on the feedback, etc.
This thread has had a lot of great info and anecdotes put out there, but here’s a quick update regarding current market options, since many of the previous posts mention now incorrect information regarding Rx’s and pricing, etc.
Recovery Pump (http://www.recoverypump.com//) is $1095 and you do not need a Rx anymore.
Normatec (http://www.normatecrecovery.com/) Just went live with a new website like today, they have their MVP model available for $1650, no Rx needed. There is also a Pro model that needs a Rx.
These are still the two main options to choose from, and I can’t decide for myself. (As for others, podium legs site has been down for weeks so I’m guessing that’s done and sport pump I cannot take seriously.)
when rest a good old ice bath, and massage will do the same thing for free!
There’s actually some evidence out there that cold therapy (aka ice baths) are a bad thing for training. If you have inflammation from a sprain/break/strain/etc., then of course ice can help. But there’s some evidence now that part of the process of “increasing fitness” is your body’s response to inflammation. I.e., the compensation part of training load response is, it now seems, at least partly due to the presence of inflammatory stress which training creates. If you artificially remove that stress with an ice bath, you can limit the body’s compensatory response. You’d be better off just allowing your body the time it needs rather than artificially shortening your recovery time with ice. That’s part of why devices like the NormaTec & RecoveryPump are superior to ice - because they are basically supporting what your body does naturally. That is, in fact, the specific design of the NormaTec and part of why it was designed to function the way it was. I’ll have to dig around to find the article. A quick googling didn’t yield it; though it did yield a reference by a coach on letsrun to the same article, but of course without a link. Anyway, something to consider.
Secondly, and this is more of a question because I’d love to know, where do you get massage for free?
Well I do not know about free, but I do not need all these silly systems you guys are talking about right now, because everyday after I ride my bike a million miles I have a thai woman walk up and down my legs for like $5/hour… and I swear to god I’m stronger than jens voigt the next day and normatec or whatever has nothing on thai feet. So answer to your question… thailand.
This thread has had a lot of great info and anecdotes put out there, but here’s a quick update regarding current market options, since many of the previous posts mention now incorrect information regarding Rx’s and pricing, etc.
Recovery Pump (http://www.recoverypump.com//) is $1095 and you do not need a Rx anymore.
Normatec (http://www.normatecrecovery.com/) Just went live with a new website like today, they have their MVP model available for $1650, no Rx needed. There is also a Pro model that needs a Rx.
These are still the two main options to choose from, and I can’t decide for myself. (As for others, podium legs site has been down for weeks so I’m guessing that’s done and sport pump I cannot take seriously.)
I would not be so quick to diss SportsPump. While I am partial to NormaTec, they are selling the BioCompression SC-2004 and BioCryo which are FDA approved devices sold in the United States. The Podium Legs… Any searches and references I found always go to Asia, so I am not sure if their status.
That being said, the Podium Legs are around $600 and what you are getting is pretty much what you get with the Recovery Pump… Both are very basic systems, both offer sequential compression by which the feet get more overall compression than the quads, and I would put the build quality along the same lines. The LymphaPress Petit Basic System (RecoveryPump) has been around for over a decade.
I think the BioCompression Boots are a little better build quality than the Recovery Pump ones.
If I were to rank them, the NormaTec Pro is the best one on the market. LymphaPress does have some other comparable model that likewise sell in a similar price range, so their price for what they offer is not exaggerated. Some of the LymphaPress offerings are much more expensive in fact.
The NormaTec MVP is the best of both worlds. The compression pump is quiet as hell. You really hear the air more than the pump, and again, I love the calibration, build quality, and like their form of phased sequential compression with the pulse.
I would probably look at SportsPump next. I don’t really like the compression or lack of features, and think their model is too cut back, but price and build are better than Recovery Pump.
Podium Legs I would put at 4th. Not sure if they are still around or whether they will still be around because I don’t think they went through the FDA process… but if you are going to buy cheap boots and cheap pump, you should pay a cheap price. Podium Legs are about half the Recovery Pump and all things considered, outside of price they are very similar.
I can’t justify RecoveryPump. I almost went through a medical wholesaler, and you can find the Petit basic system cheaper. The technology is old, and when you really start looking at what is out there and available, there are other cheaper options. I don’t like their compression, or the compression of PodiumLegs or SportsPump, and find it uneven
Everyone has their own decisions or values / Cost Benefit to weigh, just be warned, you slip into the NormaTecs a few times, it is almost impossible to slip into the other offerings without feeling cheap and dirty.
Just an opinion. But the was the exact visceral reaction I had. I had purchased another boot pre-Rev3 Knoxville, and after getting back into the NormaTecs, then next day plus when I would see ads or images of the other products, I just thought… “Yeah… NO!” and called and cancelled and went NormaTec.
Been there. Done that. Tried the justifying the cheaper price, and grateful for the fact that my first purchase was back ordered. No regrets
just my .2…I used NormaTech MVP…the base level unit, at Rev3 WI Dells. They had a tent set up and had an open sport when I finished the race. I was zipped up and getting compressed maybe 5 min post race/ This is after 3100ft climbing ont he bike and a hilly run. I have to say the normaTech felt great while pumping and days after I was surprisingly less sore int he legs than anytime after a HIM. I’m thinking about shelling out the $1600 bones for a unit…just wish it was closer to that $1000 price point of the Recoverypump
just my .2…I used NormaTech MVP…the base level unit, at Rev3 WI Dells. They had a tent set up and had an open sport when I finished the race. I was zipped up and getting compressed maybe 5 min post race/ This is after 3100ft climbing ont he bike and a hilly run. I have to say the normaTech felt great while pumping and days after I was surprisingly less sore int he legs than anytime after a HIM. I’m thinking about shelling out the $1600 bones for a unit…just wish it was closer to that $1000 price point of the Recoverypump
+1- I used them at Rev3 Dells and WOW what a difference just riding home 2 hours and actually getting out and training the next day. I am with you- the price is killing me but still trying to find a way to justify them (to the wife especially)
May have to look into the “other” models now just to see what else is out there, thanks for the info from everyone else.
Normatec sure seems like an awesome product, but I wish they could be a little bit cheaper. Sadly, for us mortal without sponsorship they is some cheaper option around that, even if they are not as good, would probably do the trick.
I would be interested in reading a study that could prove me that paying twice the price is worth it.
Google “sequential compression device”, amazon has a 4 chamber full leg for $ 379. This is old medical technology, but I bet it wold give you the vast majority of the recovery benefits- my reading of the medical literature suggests one would need very little pressure (30-40mm HG) to see the best femoral artery blood flow (which suggests to me increased recovery possibilities). At some point I will take a shot with $400 and color it some sporty colors 
Google “sequential compression device”, amazon has a 4 chamber full leg for $ 379.
I looked into that one and gave up after discovering it has limited leg choices and concluding they were too short for me. I believe they were 30" max.
This is old medical technology, but I bet it wold give you the vast majority of the recovery benefits-
(Not targeted at you tridad, but more generally)
I’m still surprised and disappointed that everyone assumes that the “old technology” is worse, based on some combination of NormatTec’s marketing, and the fact that some famous people are using it. There are numerous medical studies showing that the old style sequential compression devices are effective for various medical conditions. I’ve yet to find any medical studies showing that Normatec’s technology is superior.
Normatec’s site (and quite honestly, Rappstar’s posts above, which even contain factual errors) have more marketing fluff than substance:
- It uses “old technology” as a negative term, implying anything new must be better
- Uses the fact that it’s patented to imply efficacy, which is crap (you can patent bad ideas… they just must be new)
- It’s invented by a PhD - therefore the technology must be awesome?
It’s also a potentially misleading description: Their writeup originally lead me to believe that NormaTec invented and patented peristaltic compression (where only 2 or 3 chambers are compressed at one time). This is not true. There are other units that have been doing peristaltic compression for a while now. NormaTec’s patent is based on adding in the pulsing action combined with peristaltic compression.
I would love to see a study comparing:
- Sequential compression vs peristaltic compression
- Peristaltic compression with and without NormaTec’s pulsing
Until then, it would be nice not to see everyone be dazzled by marketing info and propagating the “newer must be better” mantra, whether due to being sponsored or otherwise. It very well could be better, but we don’t know that for sure, and the lack of published comparative studies makes me at least somewhat skeptical. (If it exists and I missed it, send me a link?)
Their FDA status is also meaningless in terms of arguing efficacy. Technically they are only “FDA Cleared” which does not involve any testing for safety and efficacy, but simply arguing that the product is similar to a device that has already been approved. Here’s an example post in the Lymphedema community that expresses concerns over Normatec’s marketing and efficacy.