I Lifted 9 Million Pounds on Tonal. Here's Why I'll Never Buy Another One.

The Device Is Incredible. The Company Is Not.

I want to be clear about something up front: the Tonal device itself is phenomenal. I transformed my body from over 250 pounds down to 180 pounds using almost nothing but this machine. Every single rep of that transformation — 9,000,844 pounds worth — was logged on Tonal's system.

But I'm done with Tonal. Not because the device stopped working. Because the company behind it is one of the worst I've ever dealt with.

The Bar Control Module Incident

About two and a half years in, my bar control module started failing. This is the little Bluetooth dongle that lets you control the weight. It stopped working reliably — maybe every third time you'd hit the button and nothing would happen.

I called Tonal expecting them to replace it. This thing costs them probably 30 cents to make. They wanted $60 to $80 to replace it.

Keep in mind I'm paying $63 a month for a membership to use a device I already paid over $5,000 for. I decided not to pay.

A month later, a software update fixed it. Not a word from Tonal. Not an apology. Not a "hey, sorry we accused you of breaking it." Nothing.

The Membership Price Increase Lie

Tonal told everyone they were raising the membership $10 a month due to inflation. That was a lie. It was $10 a month plus sales tax. Depending on where you live, that's actually $15 a month extra. They're still lying about it in their marketing.

This is consistent with Tonal's behavior. Everything they put in promotional material has lies in it.

The Buyback Program

Tonal launched a buyback program offering $1,000 for your device. Sounds great, right? Except on the exact same day, they had $500 off the device on their website. So they were essentially giving you $500 credit for a device you paid $5,000 for — while you're still paying $63 a month to use it.

I called it the Tonal Steelback Program. The community agreed.

What Happens When You Turn Off Your Membership

This is the part that should scare anyone considering Tonal.

I turned off my membership to see what would happen. What happened is this: they moved the workout controls to the top of the screen and replaced the bottom with a giant ad urging you to reactivate. There's no way to start a workout without clicking through to the reactivation page.

And the "access to all your moves" checkbox on their website without a membership? That's a lie too. Without a membership, you get handles, bar, and rope. That's it. No eccentric mode. No progressive overload. No movement tracking. No weight tracking. Nothing.

Paul Sklar did a review saying you can just do custom workouts without the membership. That's not true. You can't track anything. You can't see your weights. You can't see your sets and reps. It's a husk of a product.

And here's the kicker: Paul Sklar's review unit has the membership paid for by Tonal. They all do. That's why you don't see terrible reviews — everyone reviewing Tonal isn't paying for the membership themselves.

The Cable Replacement

My cable is frayed. My wife won't even use the machine because she's scared of it. Tonal wants over $300 to replace the cable. On a Speediance, I could replace the cable myself for a fraction of that cost. The Tonal is not user-serviceable.

The Bottom Line

Tonal built an incredible piece of hardware. They surround it with the worst customer service and business practices I've ever seen in fitness tech.

If you have any doubt about your ability to pay $63+ a month for the next 5-7 years, don't buy this machine. The device becomes a paperweight with an ad on it the moment you stop paying.

I switched to Speediance. The hardware is comparable. The company actually responds to users. And I don't have a giant ad on my screen every time I want to lift.

If Tonal wants my business back, they need to earn it. So far, they haven't shown any interest in doing that.