Foreo Bear 2 Review, Is 680 Microamps Enough?
Medically reviewed by
4 independent reviewers
Andrew Conrad Barile, PT, DPT
Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) | Licensed Physical Therapist (PT) | CEO and Founder, Xtreem Pulse LLC
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Dr. Andrew Conrad Barile is a Doctor of Physical Therapy and the CEO and Founder of Xtreem Pulse LLC, the engineering company behind PureLift. He earned his Doctorate in Physical Therapy from Daemen College and is a licensed physical therapist.
He brings over two decades of clinical and entrepreneurial experience across physical therapy, craniosacral therapy and medical device innovation, built on a working knowledge of human anatomy and muscle physiology.
For PureLift LAB he reviews how current is delivered across all ten levels, from sub-sensory nanocurrent and skin-level microcurrent to motor-level EMS, and how the Infuse pass fits into the same ten-minute routine.
Bertica M. Rubio, M.D.
Board-Certified Physician, Dartmouth Medical School | Medical Director, Antiaging Regenerative Medicine Clinic
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Dr. Bertica M. Rubio is a board-certified physician and Medical Director of the Antiaging Regenerative Medicine Clinic in Redlands, California. She earned her Doctor of Medicine from Dartmouth Medical School and completed her pediatrics residency at UC Irvine Medical Center.
With decades of clinical experience, she specialises in age management medicine, regenerative medicine, wound healing and growth factor therapies, and her practice integrates evidence-based medical science with advanced aesthetic treatment.
For PureLift LAB she reviews articles for medical accuracy across the whole dial, from the gentle nanocurrent and microcurrent settings through to muscle-level EMS and the Infuse pass.
Daniel Grinberg, MD, FACS
Board-Certified Otolaryngologist | Head and Neck Surgeon | Fellow, American College of Surgeons | Mount Sinai
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Daniel Grinberg, MD, FACS is a board-certified otolaryngologist and head and neck surgeon at ENT and Allergy Associates in West Nyack, New York. He earned his medical degree from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons.
He completed his otolaryngology residency at New York University Medical Center, serves as Assistant Clinical Professor at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, and is a Fellow of both the American College of Surgeons and the American Academy of Otolaryngology.
For PureLift LAB he brings a wider clinical lens, connecting at-home facial stimulation from microcurrent to EMS to the anatomy underneath, with the same rigour we apply to every device specification.
Prof. Dr. med. Ivo Buschmann
Chair of Angiology, Medizinische Hochschule Brandenburg | Clinic Director, University Clinic for Angiology
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Prof. Dr. med. Ivo Buschmann is Chair of Angiology at the Medizinische Hochschule Brandenburg Theodor Fontane and Clinic Director of the University Clinic for Angiology at the Brandenburg University Hospital.
He trained at the University of Hamburg, was a Max Planck Society Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Heart and Lung Research, and held senior consultant posts at the Charite Universitatsmedizin Berlin before his appointment as Chair in 2016.
One of Europe's leading authorities on arteriogenesis, with over 150 peer-reviewed publications and US and EU patents, he reviews for PureLift LAB how the evidence on electrical stimulation is read and where its limits lie.
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BEAR 2 is a well-made microcurrent device that publishes its output, and whether 680 microamps is enough depends entirely on which layer of your face you are trying to change.
This review takes it on its own terms, such as:
- What 680 microamps genuinely buys you
- What the Anti-Shock System and T-Sonic massage actually do
- The one thing the number cannot reach
- The running cost tied to the brand
- Who should buy it, and who should not
and many more!
By the end you will know whether BEAR 2 matches the change you want.
Key Points:
FOREO publishes 680 microamps for BEAR 2 at $399, which is genuinely high for microcurrent and deserves credit in a category where many brands publish nothing.
680 microamps is 0.68 of a milliamp, so it stays below the point at which a facial muscle contracts.
For texture, dullness and the look of fine lines, that is the right territory and the device does its job.
For a softening jawline, no microcurrent device reaches the layer involved, whatever its number.
No trial has compared BEAR 2 with any PureLift, so this is documented capability rather than a head-to-head result.
We sell a competing device, so the useful thing we can offer here is a review that does not pretend BEAR 2 is bad.
It is not. It is a well-built microcurrent device from a brand that publishes its output figure, and the honest question is not whether it works but what it works on.
What 680 microamps buys
FOREO publishes a maximum of 680 microamps for BEAR 2, which is high for the microcurrent category, where plenty of devices sit in the low hundreds.
Publishing a number at all deserves credit, because NuFACE does not publish one on its Trinity+ product page and several well-known brands publish nothing anywhere.
At that scale the current is talking to your skin cells rather than to the nerves that drive muscle, so most people feel a faint tingle at most.
Laboratory work shows that defined small currents change how skin cells behave, and small facial studies report smoother texture and softer lines with regular use (Saniee 2012), while pooled randomised trials in wound care covering seven studies and 337 people found that adding microcurrent to standard care helped wounds close faster (Avendano-Coy 2022).
If dullness, texture or fine lines are your concern, this is genuinely the right layer and BEAR 2 sits in it comfortably.
What the extra features do
The Anti-Shock System measures skin moisture and current resistance many times a second and adjusts delivery to match, which is a sensible comfort feature and one reason the device feels consistent.
The T-Sonic massage patterns are mechanical vibration rather than electrical stimulation, so they change how a session feels rather than what the current reaches.
Neither is a criticism, they are simply features that improve the experience rather than the depth.
The one thing the number cannot reach
A milliamp is a thousandth of an amp and a microamp is a millionth, so 680 microamps is 0.68 of a milliamp.
A review of kilohertz-frequency stimulation describes three separate thresholds in everyone, the point you feel the current, the point the muscle moves, and the point it hurts (Ward 2009), and microcurrent devices are designed to stay below the second one.
That is a design choice rather than a fault, and it means no amount of turning BEAR 2 up will produce a visible muscle contraction, because the device was never built to.
One split-face study makes the point neatly, because the microcurrent side improved eye-wrinkle volume and dermal density while the EMS side improved lifting measures, which is two currents doing two different jobs on one face (Kwak 2023).
The running cost
FOREO states that BEAR 2 must be used with a conductive serum, and its Supercharged Serum 2.0 is published at $59.
That is a recurring charge tied to the brand for as long as you own the device, and it belongs in your comparison rather than in the small print.
Add twelve months of serum to the $399 before you compare it with anything else.
Who should buy it
Buy BEAR 2 if microcurrent is what you actually want, if texture and radiance are the concern, if you like the massage patterns, and if you value a brand that publishes its specification.
Do not buy it expecting a firmer jawline, because that sits in the muscle layer and no microcurrent device reaches it.
Do not buy it as a cheaper version of an EMS device, since it is a different category rather than a lower tier of the same one.
The price-matched alternative
The fair PureLift comparison at $399 is Face at $499, since comparing it against our flagship would be a rigged fight.
Face runs ten levels on one dial, with nanocurrent at level 1, microcurrent at level 2, EMS from level 3 to 10 reaching up to 7 milliamps measured at 500 ohms, and Infuse as a second pass after the muscle work.
So level 2 covers the territory BEAR 2 occupies, and the eight levels above it go somewhere BEAR 2 does not.
For the extra $100 you are not buying a better microcurrent device, you are buying one that does microcurrent and then keeps going.
PureLift also works with any water-based conductive serum, so that running cost stays under your control.
Against BEAR 2, Face loses nothing by having no light, since BEAR 2 has no light either.
Every PureLift model is cleared through the FDA 510(k) pathway, with Face under record K190269, and all five are made in Japan in an ISO 13485 facility.
Anyone with a pacemaker or another implanted electronic device, anyone pregnant, and anyone with epilepsy or a seizure disorder should not use either device.
No randomised trial has compared PureLift with FOREO, so this comparison rests on what each device is documented to do rather than on a head-to-head result.
For the mechanism in full, read EMS vs microcurrent, and for the wider field, read the multi-device comparison.
Competitor prices and specifications verified on 9 September 2026 against FOREO's published product pages. PureLift figures verified against the PureLift LAB store and FDA record K190269. Every PureLift model runs nanocurrent, microcurrent, EMS and Infuse; consumer copy always says up to.
Two related questions come up often alongside this one, and we have answered both in full: FOREO and NuFACE compared, and ZIIP and FOREO compared.