Tonal Reviews

Realistically I don’t use the trainers and courses which is why I assume this is $60 a month. I only use the free weight portion and make my own workout. I would love to use the smart features too but it’s not worth it for $60 a month. So I am going to use it as a basic cable machine now like a gym. Honestly it’s sad that $4000 machine has no smart features at all if you don’t pay $60 a month for a membership. I feel like for the $4000 price to buy the machine and equipment that alone should pay for SOME if not ALL features. I hope you will consider this in the future. Also I hope that you will consider military/veteran discounts for the services as well. I’m not sure that this comment will help but I wanted to let you know why after a year I will not be continuing my membership. I love the machine, and I am very disappointed that your company forces a membership to use its features. Thank you for your consideration.

I had a medical issue arise very soon after I got my Tonal so I wasn't able to use it for a few months. When I was finally able to use it, I realized that I didn't enjoy doing the video workout routines because they're full body workouts. I prefer to do different areas on different days so that I can work out every single day and still have rest days for each muscle group. That's just my preference. I hung onto the membership for another year, thinking that I might get into doing the video workouts. I eventually cancelled. At this point, I've spent nearly $6,000.00 with Tonal. 2 months ago, they took away the ability to see most of the custom movements and the tracking of your workouts were removed and replaced with messages to renew your membership. So now, my $6,000.00 investment is nearly worthless unless I cough up another $720 a year in perpetuity.

The company is having some major financial issues and they're doing precisely the wrong things to turn things around. Rendering an expensive piece of equipment useless unless your customers essentially pay extortion money to be able to continue using what they've already paid an exorbitant amount of money for is not a winning strategy and it demonstrates a fundamental misunderstanding of human nature. This isn't going to generate revenue. It's going to enrage your customers. The reviews on other sites reflect that.

A MUCH smarter strategy would have been to charge a much lower price for the just the custom workouts, progress tracking, and movement analysis. I can get a gym membership for $10 a month. That gym has all of the equipment that I need to workout the way I want to work out. I would have been fine with paying that $10 a month to get what I need out of Tonal. They could continue to charge the $60 a month for the video library for customers who prefer that. They're going after a demographic that doesn't exist and they don't have a pandemic to help them anymore. The customers they imagine they can get would much rather be seen networking at Equinox.

As it stands now, Tonal gets nothing from me. Because they pulled such a slimy maneuver, they've earned themselves a bad review everywhere I can leave one and I actively warn people away when Tonal is mentioned, when I used to sing its praises. Pro tip if you have a Tonal and don't want to pay the extortion money: there are YouTube videos out there with different workouts. I track my workouts with an app on my phone so I've figured out how to get what I need without rewarding shady business practices. This company needs a new CEO. The one they have is an idiot. I don't see how Tonal makes it to 2024 unless they radically change course and replace the leadership team. I definitely recommend that you avoid buying this product. They're shady and they're not going to last long.

UPDATE: I looked up who the CEO was because I just HAD to know who could be this stupid. It turns out that she's an alum of Bain Capital. They're the vulture capital firm that acquires distressed companies, leverages them to the hilt, runs off with the cash, files for bankruptcy, and lays off most or all of the employees of that company. This explains everything. Her pedigree doesn't focus on building anything, nor would she be familiar with human nature (or humanity for that matter, what with all that destruction of working people's lives and all). Let me repeat: STAY FAR AWAY FROM THIS COMPANY.

I recently relocated. It took nearly three weeks before they acknowledged the order for the relocation services even though I had paid $300. It then took another 3 weeks before I spoke with someone and received the relocation kit in the mail. I sat home all morning waiting on the installer only to be told that they rescheduled the appointment without my knowledge or consent. This is a very, VERY frustrating and expensive mistake. Tonal costs a lot for the device, then it requires a $50/month fee and $300-$500 fee anytime you relocate the device whether in the same home, to another home or out of state. It’s MONEY, MONEY and more MONEY and you get what you get; if anything, in return.

-Partner Workouts and Virtual Group Workouts

My metrics? The custom workouts that I created? Apple music integration? (which by the way is a separate membership that I pay every single month to Apple and not Tonal). That's abusive in my opinion. They are simply manipulating their clients to pay $4k upfront, plus $720 in membership fees for a whole year, and when you think that you can finally set yourself free... you find out that the machine only works with an outrageous $60/mo fee.

The equipment that I paid $4k for is now a huge black screen on my wall. That's it. I paid for a huge black screen that features some touch-screen buttons at the bottom. That's it. That's all I have access to without the membership. Even the dynamic weight feature (which some may consider a safety feature) is not available anymore. As a consumer, I feel manipulated, used, abused, ripped off. Unfortunately, I don't have the means to sue this company. But I truly hope that someone out there does.