Antt - 2 years ago
originally posted on Trademark Global
[This review was collected as part of a promotion.] I have been using this vibrating machine for about a month now. I like it quite a bit and I appreciate how it contributes to my stretching and workouts. It also just feels fun to vibrate like a bobblehead attached to the dashboard of a car, like seriously just standing on this thing is nice sometimes all on its own. But it has a few quirks and issues that can be frustrating to deal with. First, some positives: it's very well-built, heavy and sturdy, and can easily withstand my weight (175lbs). The way it sticks to the ground is great - almost too great, in the sense that it's hard to move around sometimes, but that's definitely a good thing in this context. I really appreciate the fact that the top of the machine is divided into three sections, based on what kind of movement you're trying to mimic (walking, jogging, running) and each of those three feature its own unique texture. Makes it really easy to jump between them if need be without having to look down. The machine works incredibly well (so far) and I haven't had any issues with the vibration at all. Each intensity level provides the exact amount of vibration that I would expect. But here are the negatives: for starters, the remote control is incredibly thin and flimsy, I won't be surprised if it breaks. The included instruction "manual" is more like a pamphlet and omits some key information. The power cord doesn't firmly connect into the machine which is super annoying, it sometimes jiggles out on its own without much effort. It comes with a couple of resistance bands that you can attach to the sides of the machine, which is a nice bonus, but not only are they incredibly weak and flimsy, but more annoyingly, when you clip them to the machine and let go of the bands, the vibration causes the bands' metal clips to hit the bottom of the machine, which creates an awful sharp drilling noise. I tried everything, it's impossible to get the noise to stop without fully unclipping the bands - which completely ruins them for me! I don't want to use them for the entire workout, sometimes I want to lift my weights or check my phone, but I can't drop them without the most irritating noise on the planet drowning out all the noise around me. So I just don't use them, which sucks! It's perhaps the smallest problem of them all, but it's actually the one that annoys me the most, since it totally ruins a great little feature. But here is my main issue with the machine, and the reason why I'm giving it 3 stars instead of 4: the way that some of the settings work is very frustrating and unintuitive (and also not well-explained in the manual). Basically the machine has 9 vibration "programs". Each program lasts for 15 minutes, with the intensity level changing once per minute to create a dynamic series of vibrations. That's all well and good, but sometimes I want to set my own intensity and my own length of time, which is weirdly difficult to do. Yes there are intensity level/time buttons, but everything is built around the programs, meaning that for some reason it doesn't seem like you can even adjust those things using the buttons on the machine itself (only the flimsy remote that will probably break). And even using the remote, manually adjusting those settings is weird and inconsistent, which is why I'm not describing how to do it - I still don't quite understand how to! The machine wants you to use the programs, everything pushes you towards them, and I do like them but I don't appreciate the lack of control over these settings. On the same topic, this isn't as big of an issue but very annoying: the machine and remote both have a pause button. Well thats great because for some reason, using this machine always makes me need to pee after only a few minutes (even if I pee before using it!) so the first time that happened, I naturally decided to pause one of the 15-minute programs to take a tinkle break. But nope, PAUSE evidently means STOP, because the program totally reset after that and I had to start it from the beginning. And since the vibration intensity changes once per minute for 15 minutes for each program, this is very annoying, since I lose that progress. Why can't pause actually pause? Again, odd UI decisions all around that really interfere with how much I enjoy this thing. To be clear, I do sincerely still like it despite all of these issues. Like I said, it's really well-built, sturdy beyond belief, and the vibration works exactly how I would expect it to. It's really well-made and I hope to use it for a long time, I love how it feels to just do squats or lift weights on this thing. It accomplishes the most important things very, very well. But the incredibly annoying design of the resistance band clips, the flimsy remote/power cord connection, and especially all the bizarre UI choices, really hold it back from being great. I can still recommend it, for the build quality and performance, but I hope that these issues are ironed out. It could really be a fantastic device and I was disappointed to slowly discover these issues as I used it.