I've purchased a couple of massaging dodads in my day – the ubiquitous early-2000s "shiatsu back massager with heat" kind of thing you'd see on TV and whatnot – but those roller balls always end up just jabbing my sacrum or spine, making me more irritated than relaxed. So I gave up on gizmos of questionable quality and decided I'd continue my usual once a decade or so visit to an actual pro.
When Renpho emailed asking if I'd like to review its Eyeris Zen eye massager, I only let myself get a little excited. Truth be told, I mostly figured it'd just be another gimmicky product. My expectations were low.
The specs:
The Renpho x Headspace Eyeris Zen is a 9.7-oz (275-g) headband, basically, that massages your eyes and temples. It's made from ABS and PU leather. It has three acupressure modes for either your eyes, temples, or both. It has two pressure intensities and three heat settings: 108, 113, and 118 °F (42, 45, 48 °C). It has nine built-in Headspace meditations, or you can pipe your own tunes through it via Bluetooth on a tiny onboard speaker built into the headset.
Renpho markets the Eyeris Zen as "targeted eye relief with immersive Headspace meditations for a full body-to-mind reset."
My take:
After unboxing it, I charged it for about 20 minutes to hurry up and get on with it, kicked my feet up in my LiberNovo Omni, strapped it to my face and hit GO ... and then didn't want to take it off for nearly an hour.
It's difficult to express how amazing it feels when the little air bladders inside the mask gently, warmly pump up and deflate. The quiet ~40-dB noise it makes is ASMR all on its own, without even needing separate audio. The little eye massager genuinely feels like a pair of experienced, soft, firm, warm hands and thumbs nudging, kneading and putting pressure on the exact right places on my temples and eyes. It's actually kind of magical.
There was virtually no "I wish it did this or that better." There was only bliss – and the occasional squishy eyelid.
Modes:
Retinal Protection = eyes
Regeneration = temples
Tension Relief = both (winner!)
Now, the "Headspace" portion comes from a collaboration with Headspace, the subscription-based meditation app that'll cost you an extra US$13 per month. That isn't me, though. I clicked through a couple of the included meditations just to try it out, but it doesn't add a lot to the experience, in my opinion. Especially not enough to get me excited over yet another subscription. If you are into guided meditations, I'd imagine you'd enjoy it. If you're into silence, you'll never use the Headspace features.
I don't suffer from headaches or migraines or anything like that. I guess I have as much eye strain as the next guy or gal who spends most of their day staring at a monitor and pecking away at a keyboard. Honestly, I don't think eye strain really even matters much for the little purple mask ... it just feels great, and it really does what it says on the box: zen.
It also packs down pretty small into an included soft bag, so it's really easy to travel with. I could see it and a set of ANC headphones for a long flight being pretty awesome. I've fallen asleep with them on twice now. And surprisingly, when I woke up an hour or so later with Eyeris Zen still saddled to my face, it wasn't gross or sticky at all. I am a bit OCD with cleanliness, though, so I wipe them out after each use anyways.
I only have three minor complaints:
The buttons for changing modes, temperature, and so on aren't all that intuitive. In the dozen or so times I've used the eye massager, I still can't remember which button does what, and whether I'm supposed to tap or long-press it ... That's probably more of an ish-me than an issue though.
I sometimes have to pull the mask away from my face because it'll start screwing up my eyelids. The way that the pattern kneads my eyes in the Tension Relief mode, it'll slowly try to sort of open one eye or the other just a little bit ... so the process is just a quick "lift from face, blink a couple times to 'reset' my eyelid to the comfy-closed position, and put back on," but it would be cooler if I didn't have to do that. Unfortunately, it's my favorite setting too (Tension Relief, firm pressure, high heat is my jam!).
My other complaint – and frankly, my biggest one – is that I'm relegated to doing absolutely nothing while I wear it. Because it covers my eyes, effectively blinding me, it leaves me unable to clack away at my keyboard.
I mean, I guess that's the point, right? To relax? But if you're like me, finding time to do absolutely nothing at all is nearly impossible. Even when "there's nothing to be done," (ha! Like that even exists!) my brain never stops. But if this thing had little eye portholes so I could keep typing while wearing it? You'd have to start calling me Donatello, because I'd be looking like a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle 24 hours a day.*
Typing this is making me really want to chuck it on right now. You know what? I think I will. Cowabunga, dude!
Product page: Renpho x Headspace Eyeris Zen
*It doesn't support passthrough charging. You have to turn it off to charge it. But you could still keep wearing it, TMNT-style, I suppose.
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