Encore Deluxe Vacuum Therapy System
Drug-free, mechanically effective, and usable by the men who cannot take any of the tablets.
An FDA-approved medicine, used at an approved dose, on an approved schedule. The benchmark everything else is measured against.
- Price
- $125.45
- Verdict
- Reasonable option
- Sourcing
- Read at source
- Last checked
- 2 August 2026
Read this first
We are a competitor of the companies reviewed on this page. That is a conflict of interest and you should read everything here with it in mind. What we can offer against it: every factual claim is drawn from the company's own published material and linked, every clinical criticism applies equally to us where it applies, and no assessment on this page is for sale — the one company we carry advertising for, CoreAge Rx, is graded at our lowest tier in its own review, and those placements are labelled wherever they appear.
The least fashionable thing in this entire market, bought once for the price of a month of most subscriptions, and the option with the longest regulatory paper trail behind it.
What the company states
- Price
- $125.45, bought outright
- Prescription
- The listing states “RX not required”
- What is in the box
- Battery-powered and manual pump heads, seven tension rings, ring loading applicator, body shield, lubricant, manual and case
- Seller’s efficacy claim
- “Restores function in 9 out of 10 men”
- Seller’s positioning
- Described as “non-invasive, drug-free” and “recommended by the American Urology Association”
- Device class, checked at source
- We found 11 cleared 510(k) submissions in the FDA database for devices named as vacuum erection devices, the earliest from 1990. We could not match this specific brand name — the “Encore” entries returned are an orthopaedics company — so the category is unambiguously cleared even though the individual listing is not traceable there.
Our assessment
This is the option nobody advertises to you, and the reason is structural rather than clinical: you buy it once, for about the price of one month of a compounded subscription, and then the transaction is over. There is no recurring revenue in a pump.
It works mechanically rather than pharmacologically. A cylinder draws blood into the penis with negative pressure; a constriction ring at the base holds it there. No drug is involved at any point, which is the property that matters most about it.
That property makes this one of the very few things available to a man taking nitrates. Every PDE5 inhibitor is absolutely contraindicated in that group — sildenafil, tadalafil, vardenafil, avanafil, and every compounded combination on this site. A vacuum device creates no such interaction. Along with [the authorised OTC gel](/eroxon-med3000-reviews) and injection therapy, it is close to the whole list of what remains.
On the efficacy claim: “9 out of 10” is unusually close to defensible. Published series of vacuum devices report a satisfactory erection for intercourse in roughly seven to nine men out of ten, which is a genuinely high rate — higher than most tablets — because the mechanism does not depend on nerves, hormones or endothelial function working. If the plumbing is intact enough to hold blood, the device tends to work. We have spent this whole site deflating marketing arithmetic; it is worth saying plainly when a number holds up.
The American Urology Association reference is also fair. Vacuum devices appear in mainstream guideline discussion as a legitimate option, and hospitals listing FDA-approved routes — as Hartford Hospital does when warning men off unproven alternatives — put vacuum erection devices in the same sentence as tablets, injections and implants.
It is worth applying the same test we applied to [the $900 home shockwave device](/the-phoenix-shockwave-device-reviews), because the contrast is the most useful thing here. Same database, same query. Vacuum erection devices: eleven cleared submissions going back thirty-six years. That device: none. One of these categories has been through the process; the other borrows the vocabulary.
Now the honest drawbacks, because they are real and they are why men stop using these. The erection pivots at the base rather than being rigid from the pubis, which feels different. It can feel cool to the touch, since the blood is not being continuously refreshed. It requires a pause and a piece of equipment, which is not spontaneity. Bruising and small skin haemorrhages happen, particularly early on. And the ring must come off within thirty minutes — that is not a suggestion, it is the safety limit.
Men on anticoagulants or with a bleeding disorder should ask before buying, and men with significant penile curvature should ask too. Those conversations are short and they are worth having.
The most under-appreciated use is after prostate surgery. Vacuum devices are widely used in penile rehabilitation to keep tissue oxygenated while nerves recover, and that is a context where a cheap device with a long track record earns its place — we cover it in [our piece on recovery after prostate surgery](/journal/after-prostate-surgery).
Reasonable for
- Men taking nitrates, for whom every tablet on this site is contraindicated
- Men who cannot tolerate PDE5 inhibitors, or in whom they have failed at a proper dose
- Men in penile rehabilitation after prostate surgery
- Anyone who would rather pay once than subscribe to anything
Not for
- Men on anticoagulants or with a bleeding disorder, without asking a clinician first
- Men with significant penile curvature or Peyronie’s disease, without advice
- Anyone unwilling to observe the thirty-minute limit on the constriction ring
- Men who have not had the cardiovascular workup — a device examines nothing either
Important
The information on this website is provided for general education and does not constitute medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Erectile dysfunction can be the first sign of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, or hormonal disorders. Always consult a licensed physician about your individual circumstances, and never start, stop, or change a prescription based on what you read here.
If you want the other thing
A diagnosis, rather than a subscription.
If you have already been assessed and just need a refill, this may serve you well. If nobody has taken your blood pressure in years, that is the appointment to make.