Tonal Long-Term Review: Membership, Repairs and the Cost of Ownership

Tonal was an effective training tool for me. My frustration is with the ownership experience around it. After more than 9 million pounds of cumulative training volume, I can value what the original machine did for my lifting while still deciding I would not buy another one under the same conditions.

This review combines my overlapping ownership and membership posts. The incidents below describe my experience at the time. They do not establish today’s prices or policies, and they are not a hands-on review of Tonal 2.

The short answer

Part of ownership	My experience	What to verify before buying
Lifting	A machine I used extensively during my transformation	Whether its workouts and controls fit your routine
Membership	Recurring cost and cancellation changed its value for me	Current pricing and the exact non-member feature list
Small components	A frustrating bar-control support incident	Replacement availability, warranty and service process
Upgrade offers	The advertised trade-in value did not tell the whole story	Whether offers can be combined and the actual net cost
Long-term choice	I moved toward Speediance	The full ownership terms, not only an introductory review

What the machine did well

My criticism is not that Tonal failed to provide a useful workout. I used it as a primary strength-training tool over years. Its dynamic resistance, eccentric training, progression and weight disengagement helped make home lifting practical for me alongside running and jiu-jitsu.

My profile showed about 8,008,844 pounds before I turned off the membership, and my cumulative use later exceeded 9 million pounds. Those figures describe training volume recorded over time. They are not a measure of laboratory accuracy, and they do not prove that another person will get the same results.

The machine was part of a larger transformation involving changes to training and daily habits. It would be wrong to give the hardware sole credit. What I can say is that I used it enough to encounter the ownership questions that a short review may never reach.

The bar-control incident

One particularly frustrating experience involved an intermittently failing bar control module after the warranty period. I reported that it sometimes did not disengage weight as I expected. Support discussed a replacement costing roughly $60–$80. I declined, and it later began working again after a software update.

That sequence is why I was dissatisfied with the support response. It does not prove which component or software behavior caused the fault. My older posts spoke more confidently about blame than the evidence justified. The important buying question is how a manufacturer investigates an intermittent control problem and what help is available when the warranty has ended.

A control that behaves unpredictably is a reason to stop and seek support, not something to test under a heavy load. The ability to buy and service small components matters because a relatively inexpensive part can affect the usefulness of an expensive machine.

Membership changes the calculation

I paid more than $5,000 for my original setup, and my reported membership cost later reached about $63 per month. Those are historical ownership figures, not current checkout prices. The recurring charge mattered because it continued long after the hardware purchase.

My cancellation experience also felt much more restricted than the useful standalone lifting tool I expected to keep. Earlier articles discussed a mismatch between the basic-lifting language I had seen and the experience on my machine. The defensible conclusion is to verify the exact non-member behavior before buying, rather than promise that today’s product becomes either fully usable or completely unusable after cancellation.

Ask for the current feature list: manual lifting, saved routines, exercise selection, history, progression and software access. If cancellation is central to your buying decision, get a written answer that applies to your hardware and account. A general phrase such as “basic lifting” leaves too much room for different expectations.

Trade-in value and the real upgrade price

I was also disappointed by an upgrade offer advertised as worth up to $1,000. In the offer I discussed, it could not be combined with an existing promotion. Comparing the headline trade-in number with a full-price machine therefore overstated the extra benefit relative to a purchase already eligible for a discount.

The useful calculation is simple: compare the final amount you would pay with the trade-in against the final amount you would pay without it. Include any service, removal or installation conditions that apply. Offers change, so this incident should prompt a fresh calculation rather than become a permanent claim about every Tonal promotion.

What a short review cannot settle

My reaction to enthusiastic Tonal reviews, including the Paul Sklar discussion, came from this gap between a good workout and a good long-term ownership experience. A reviewer can enjoy the training interface without having experienced years of membership charges, out-of-warranty service or cancellation.

That does not make a positive review invalid. It means the review answers a narrower question. Look for clear disclosures about the model used, length of ownership, whether the hardware was supplied, and which costs the reviewer actually paid. None of those details alone proves dishonesty or establishes how your purchase will go.

My buying conclusion

I still give Tonal credit for the training it supported. I would not repeat my purchase without being comfortable with the full ongoing cost and service terms. My preference shifted toward Speediance because the overall fit was better for me, not because the original Tonal was incapable of good workouts.

For the hardware, controls and cost comparison, read Speediance versus Tonal. Keep this review as the account of what happened during my ownership, and use current written terms for a purchase today.

Consolidated and revised on October 14, 2026. Earlier overlapping articles now lead to this guide; historical observations are identified in the text.