Powerball 250Hz Neon Pro Blue

Author's product rating:   

Durability	Excellent
Comfort	Satisfactory
Value for money	Good

Advantages:	Can improve weak muscles
Disadvantages:	can ruin old ones like mine  lol

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

I recently acquired some Amazon vouchers from you know where, and was in a bit of a quandary on how to spend them. After I had purchased some things I particularly wanted I had about £20 left to get rid off…………….I hate leaving them there just doing nothing. Then I remembered that a few months ago whilst in Maplins in Livingston there had been a special offer on Powerballs and I recalled being quite interested. A quick further browse and I had found the page containing the small but adequate range of Powerball stuff. I opted for the Blue 250hz Neon Pro at £9.99 which if nothing else sounded quite impressive. At this point I had no idea what 250hz meant with regard to a Powerball, I reckoned blue Neon might be a blue light, which sounded pretty.

It arrived swiftly and well within the specified time limit, which was displayed in my tracking info, I was perhaps expecting a ball a bit bigger, but it is about 3-4 inches in diameter quite heavy and on this occasion I decided it wise to read the instructions. Why?? Well simply because after placing the order I did a little research…………I know I should have done the research first but then I’m a guy. Turns out people have did themselves some damage using these things, and even more people have found them to be helpful in relieving the pain associated with RSI, especially in their wrist area. I did ponder for a second wondering how one would otherwise use a gyro ball. You could hardy use it with your feet unless they were huge and you toes were about 4-5 inches long and able to grip the ball. I reckon your ankle would have to also be very strong, this will all become apparent once I have explained or attempted too explain the general idea behind the Powerball craze. The craze to be truthful has died down significantly but there are still many uninjured using this as an aid to recovery of broken wrists.

Inside the Powerball there is a powerful gyro, which when set into motion generates electricity and powers the bright blue LED’s, the faster the gyro goes the brighter the LED’s. To set the gyro in motion you have to manoeuvre your wrist in such a fashion that you can feel the gyro spin. Once moving the centrifugal force generated by the spinning gyro makes it hard to move your wrist in the direction required to gain the speed to light the LED’s. The faster you go the brighter the lights and the harder the force exerted against your wrist by the now speedily moving Powerball. Meanwhile an LCD panel tells you how you are doing with regard to generating the 250hz, as of yet I haven’t even come close, the display also tells you how many revolutions the gyro has made, and the reason for this is so you can pace yourself once you get the basic idea of the Powerball.

It is a very entertaining toy, and I could play with it for ages if my old wrists would only hold out against the force generated. I do feel my wrists are stronger, but they certainly at present feel way not strong enough to cope with the forces exerted. In time I have no doubt I will improve vastly, whether on not the improvement is enough to reach the goal remains to be seem. I have a good old play every now and then, but do feel that I need a fair rest in between. There is actually a certain amount of pain involved, well more like a writers cramp kind of feeling when the force excelled is just that little too much for the wrist muscles to cope with.

Perhaps it’s an age thing with my wrists though cause my son seems to get it whirring away in no time at all where it takes me a few minutes, just to get a small glimmer from the LED’s. I do enjoy it and I do think that for £9.99 it was value for money. They were initially several times more than this and in that scenario I think there really isn’t much value, kids will love them and teenagers will show us oldies how it is done. However their wrists will flag too and the spread of the exercise strengthening my wrists might well lead to an ultimate victory over my son. I shall keep you informed via this review.