I purchased the product under the impression that I’d be able to use it regardless of my activity. This is true at low to moderate settings. As I progressed to high settings, I realized that I needed to isolate my movements to prevent stimulation of the nerves in my hips or an awkward flexing of my abs when I was in a bad position. I ended up lying down when the setting was high.

I am satisfied with the Slendertone Abs. I live in Korea, and see similar items advertised on TV, but this design seems to be the easiest to use and stimulates the most abdominal muscles. It even gets the lovehandles – an area missed by some of the competition.

The downside: the pads that came with my belt were made of ‘medical grade’ gel and worked well the first few times. For the cost of the replacements, I would expect the pads to last longer. The buildup of skin cells degrades the performance of the product. I have read online that people have corrected this issue by using wet sponges (which also uniformly distribute the electrical stimulation). I have not yet tried this, though I will.

The belt can only be used for one purpose. This is obvious in the product description, but I would now like to be able to stimulate other muscle groups, and this belt is not designed to do so.

In all, I got what I expected. I am satisfied with this product.

Sometimes it feels like one side is stronger than the other even if you adjust the numbers to compensate (can’t go more than 10 settings higher on one side over the other. If this happens its probably because the lubrication is fading or its not tight on one side. You can check if its loose by pushing the pads into you while using and see if it feels stronger. If it isn’t stronger you can use water/sponge and cover both sides of the pad that feels weak. Petroleum jelly seems to also work decent (KY or the Equate off-brand is cheaper). I don’t expect the pads would really ever wear-out with these methods, but without the pads would probably weaken after 2-3 weeks with good care.

As for how it feels, everyone I’ve let try is really nervous just before it starts, but on the starting 1 setting it just feels like a little tickling vibration with the vibrations getting stronger as you go up. Definitely not painful or anything to be afraid of.

I’ve used it almost every day for the past 1.5 weeks and haven’t had to charge it even once since taking out of the box. I’d imagine most of the kick is really being done by your own muscles and the belt provides just enough electricity to simulate your brain telling the muscles to contract.

As for how it looks, if you put the controller in your pants pocket instead of the belts pocket you could wear it to work or wherever and no one could tell you had it on. If you leave it in the belts pocket you might look like you have a stomach tumor but still works just fine for around the house.

Bottom line is my abs are tighter and warm to the touch even a day or two after a workout. It definitely has the kick to put you on the floor with more to spare. I doubt I could continue standing for long if I kept the power above 50. They have an arm version I might have to try as well.