Some whole body vibration machine companies are advertising that they have special technology and superior components that are very expensive to make. And they say they have one of the most powerful vibration machines and there's is the "best"; yea, sure they do. If you read this and don't care about the type of vibration machine you get, I would rather you buy from a company that makes a poorly designed machine and buy 10 of them and put them in a huge cardboard box. You can just pretend you have the best vibration machine and slap on a brand logo and start your own business selling them!
The two types are linear and pivotal and choosing depends on the reasons you need a machine for.
If you are looking for lymphatic drainage you will probably wan't a machine with high G force at low speed settings. For bone density, a different type of machine is needed. If someone is going to be using the machine daily and leaning on their heels, a machine with lower ballistic impact might be preferred.
With pivotal, the two types are the high speed and low speed models. The low speed models can be just as expensive as the high speed models, like the Hypervibe, but the one thing that is different in the cheap machine that are low powered are the G force upon impact of acceleration that the high end low powered machines give. The Zaaz is known for this and people that have bad backs and knees prefer these types.
Some types of machines can go at the same speed, just say 5 hertz. One type has more push and the other more pop. The amount of lymph drainage and the itching people get is night and day difference on a machine with pop over push.
Some vibration machine types put wasted friction into the frame. The biggest problem in these unstable machines are the white finger (see my complaints page). A machine like the Hypervibe has flex in the post so the vibration moves in a wave rather than just resonating. When I got the Hypervibe I thought I was definitely going to get the white finger. No one has ever complained about white finger on the Hypervibe. It is all about the way the machine is designed, not the power of the machine that gives this. There are still many machines on the market that have this problem.
Vibration types that cause floor vibration: This is mainly a problem with linear types that are set on spring suspensions.
Spiral vibration types:
These are a more of a hybrid machine. The Vmax Pulser is our top spiral machine and has all the reinforcements so they machine doesn't resonate and cause white finger and is whisper quiet. The floor vibration is minimal. The latest spiral models don't spin across the room like the early generations did.