Hyperice Vyper 2.0 review: good vibes

The Vyper 2.0 by Hyperice is the second edition of the vibrating foam roller. It’s designed to help relieve muscle tightness, soreness, inflammation, and increase joint range of motion through self myofascial release.

The Vyper 2.0 consists of a high-intensity vibrating core encased in a high-density polypropylene foam. And when I say high density, I mean HIGH DENSITY. This thing is not soft to roll on, which honestly is a very good thing. While the idea of a nice soft squishy foam roller might sound pleasant, it would also not be useful for massage or tissue work.

So yeah, this thing hurts a little bit, but in a good way, and I’m happy to see that the Vyper 2.0 uses such a high density so that it’s actually very effective.

It has three vibration speeds, low, medium, and high. I found the low to be great for most uses but I did crank things up to the highest setting when working harder to get into areas like my calfs and hips. 

The Vyper 2.0 has a rechargeable lithium-ion battery that comes with a charger. Hyperice says it should last for two hours on the highest of three settings, but I honestly couldn’t tell whether that’s true. Despite a lot of use, it never ran out of battery when I charged it once per week.

One of the things I like most about the Vyper 2.0 is that I believe the vibration encourages correct Self Myofasical release use. Many people don’t realize that often the best use of a foam roller is to find a tight spot (or trigger point) and to just stay on that spot and try to relax for a minute or so. The vibration makes this more natural because you still feel like it’s working, even when you’re not rolling up and down.

With the price of the Vyper 2.0 (currently $199) being around 6-10 times that of a traditional foam roller, this will definitely not be a must-buy for everyone. However, this is a premium and effective product, so it really comes down to how much you prioritize your recovery. Hyperice makes a lot of other great recovery tools, like the Hypersphere, Normatec, and Hypervolt, so it’s worth checking them all out before deciding which is most important to you.