Product Review: Lumo Lift Posture Coach

Welcome to my review of the Lumo Lift Posture Coach.

After writing one of my recent Anxiety Recovery Step pages,  Step 8: Be Aware Of Your Body Language,   I thought I would do some research and see if there were any products out there that claimed to help people remember to stop the slouching and stand up straight.

After a bit of searching I found the Lumo Lift and thought it sounded perfect for me to try out and review.

 

A Little History

Now just for a little back story here,   (no pun intended) ,  I have tried many times to work on my posture and learn to carry myself in a healthier way.   I want better posture for health reasons because I have back pain .  I want better posture for appearance issues,  because standing up straight just instantly makes you look taller and slimmer and helps smooth out that “Winnie the Pooh”  tummy that a lot of us seem to acquire over the years.

And finally,  I would love better posture for mental health reasons because nothing makes me feel stronger and more confident than standing up straight and carrying myself well.      So good posture has been on my “Would Love to Have”   list for a long time and its something I have tried to work on over the years.  But honestly after 5 or 10 minutes of effort,  I either become so uncomfortable that I just give up on it, or I forget about it and slip back to my usual tense,  head down/shoulders up,  bad posture and stay there for the rest of the day.

The Lumo Lift was designed to be a posture “coach”,  and alert you when you are not standing with proper form.   It is a bit like Fitbit…only for posture – although it does provide your step counts as well.

You wear Lumo Lift on your shirt,  like a magnetic pin,  and it vibrates when you are not maintaining the posture position that you have it set too.   Like the Fitbit,  it works through an app that you can download through the AppStore or Googleplay although it can be used in a “coaching” mode without the app.

I liked the idea of this.  It sounded pretty great actually!   However, I read the reviews and they were a bit mixed.  A lot of people loved it and some people…….well……..they didn’t.     There were complaints about inaccuracy and inconsistency and the magnet clasp not being strong enough.

“Damn”,  I thought.  “I should have known it was too good to be true”. 

But honestly , after doing more searching,  I couldn’t find another product for under a hundred dollars that sounded all that great for helping with good posture,  so I thought “What the heck – let’s give the Lumo a try.”    If it didn’t work out,  I would just add it to my list of  “products to not publish reviews about or every try again.”

I contacted Lumo about trying the product out and their support team was very quick to respond and really kind about letting me sample the product for this review.   A lot of times I don’t hear back from companies for days,  if at all,  so I appreciated the fact that they got back to me promptly and courteously.

 

 

 

The Product

I was impressed with the packaging of the Lumo –  nice quality,  and well designed.

It was easy to open and get into.  The Lumo itself was very attractive as well.   It is white and very nicely designed and modern looking.   Style wise,  it blends in nicely with my Apple products.   The Lumo is white,  about the size of a medium-sized peanut shell, and lightweight but I could tell it was a good quality.   (Quality is very important to me.)  It came with two magnets to attach it to my clothing as well as a clasp to help clip the Lumo to a spaghetti strap or bra strap.   And it has a really neat magnetic USB charger that I liked the styling of,  as well.      So style-wise,  I liked the Lumo Lift quite a bit.

 

 

Setting Up and Wearing The Lumo Lift

I downloaded the Lumo Lift App from the AppStore and it was very easy to get going and running,  and extremely self-explanatory and easy to figure out,  I thought.    However, there is a support website address that comes with the Lumo  for those that need additional support.

After charging the Lumo just long enough to give it a try ( I am very impatient),  I programmed in my notification settings using my iPhone.    For instance,  you can program your Lumo to vibrate after a few seconds of bad posture – or after a few minutes of bad posture.  The Lumo Lift recommendations are to set the Lumo Lift to remind you of your bad posture after 2 minutes of bad form.   “2 minutes?”,  I thought.  “Way too long……what good is that going to do?”   So I set it on the very highest setting which was basically to go off immediately,   every time I started slouching.

Like  a lot of people when first trying the Lumo Lift,   I had it in my mind that good posture was going to be easy.

I clipped the Lumo Lift sensor to the front of my shirt,  up near the collar-bone area as the Lumo instructions suggested,   and it was very easy to do.   In addition,  I found the magnets to be really strong and of good quality.   I am not sure why people had complained about the magnet strength in the reviews I had previously read.   I have to clean the magnets off every time I take them out of my bathroom drawer because it seems that every bobby pin in my neighborhood has been sucked onto their surface.  They really are quite strong,  I think.

I then programmed in the posture stance that I wanted Lumo to recognize as my “Good Posture”.    Very easy to do.   You just stand up straight and properly,  and then tap the Lumo button and you are all good.     And that was all there was to it.    I slouched over immediately, on purpose, to see if the Lumo would vibrate, and it did.   Worked like a charm – it was pretty cool.

 

 

Using the Device

I wore the Lumo off and of for the next couple of days and for the most part it worked really well.    I did find that every so often it either would not recognize when I was slouching or when I was standing up straight again and I found myself having to reposition it every so often,  but it is very quick and easy to do.

That little bit of inconsistency bothered me a bit at first.   I admit,  I wanted pefection and 100% consistency.    But after using the Lumo for a few days,  I realized that it probably isn’t terribly realistic to expect 100% consistency from a device such as the Lumo…even my FitBit is not always consistent….and the potential benefit from it outweighed any minor issues it might have.    And honestly,  the more you wear it,  the less you think about it and it all becomes very automatic and not a big deal.   It’s hard to explain if you haven’t worn one,  but let me just say that it is a product that works the best once you are familiar with it,   and aren’t over thinking it.

According to the maker’s of Lumo Lift:    Lumo Lift is a product which requires a user’s commitment to changing age-old habits and a basic level of tech savvy and familiarity with the product for effective results.    Please begin using Lumo Lift only after downloading the Lumo Lift manual at www.lumolift.com/manual.

After using the Lumo Lift for a while,   I would agree with what they are saying in this statement and I understand fully what they mean about getting to “know it” and I think you will too if you decide to try one for yourself.

 

 

The only other issue I had with the Lumo Lift was that for the most part, it is pretty consistent and the constant vibrating when I started slouching got very annoying,  very fast.   I have five people shorter than me in my house and I am always breaking form and slouching to talk to them and let me just say that it was quickly dawning on my why they recommend the 2 minute slouch intervals.    I had mine set to go off right away at the slightest slouch and I was getting buzzed all day long.   That frequent buzzing,  combined with the fact that standing up straight is hard work and your muscles quickly become REALLY sore……let’s just say that it is very easy to want to get mad at the Lumo and throw it down the street.

I decided to move it the vibrating to 30 second intervals which is still pretty “hardcore” all things considered,  but it is SO much better and less “demanding ” and gives me time to forget I am wearing it,  which is important.   The first day or two that you have the Lumo,  you will be very “aware” that you are wearing it,  and it sort of over complicates the whole thing.   It doesn’t work if you are constantly “anticipating” the vibrations.   As I mentioned previously,  once the “new” wears off and you stop being so aware of it,  THAT is when things start to get easier and smoother you realize how helpful and handy it is.

 

 The Downside

I can understand why the Lumo has had some negative reviews.   It makes you a little cranky when you are constantly being told  “Stand up!  Stand up straighter!   You can do better than that!”    Its like having your mother follow you around all day telling you to straighten up,  and she will NOT stop nagging you about it.   Your back hurts and you would give anything to just relax.

But again….good posture is HARD WORK and if you are somebody who bought the Lumo thinking that it was going to make good posture EASY,  then I can see why you would be disappointed.   It is definitely not easy.    It’s called a posture “coach” for a reason.    It will tell you what to do and when to do it,  but it will NOT do the work for you.

The reason I think a lot of exercise equipment ends up gathering dust in somebody’s closet is because people think it will make exercise “easy” .   Then they get the product,  and it’s not all that easy.    You still have to USE the product and put effort into it to get results and it is much the same for the Lumo Lift.     Don’t expect miracles from it because you aren’t going to get any.

However….I will say that once I played around with the Lumo for a few days,   and figured it out and got to know it,  it was actually a very useful device and I noticed immediately that during the times I was NOT wearing it,  I was more aware of my posture.

 

The Results

The best thing I did was to abandon the notion that I could wear the Lumo sensor all day.  Forget it.  Not ever going to work.   My patience and my back muscles can only handle an hour at a time,  even when it’s on the lowest setting.    So what I do is give myself little  “Posture Classes” every day.    I set aside an hour a day to wear the Lumo and “practice” my posture, leaving it on 30 second slouch intervals,  and it has worked out really well.    Yes, it drives me crazy sometimes , but it really is a good little reminder,  and my posture habits are definitely improving.

After using this product for a few months,  I find myself SO much more aware of how I am sitting and standing now.   Today as I write up this review,  its the first time that I am realizing how straight I sit now and what a difference the Lumo has made.  I actually sit like the girl on the right in the image that accompanies this paragraph and it no longer hurts and it feels natural!      I just tried slouching and now THAT is what feels un-natural to me.   Its a very cool feeling to know I made a new posture habit, I have to say.

My standing and walking posture has improved as well.   I would say I still have some improvement that could be made in that area because I still tend to get forgetful when I am not wearing the Lumo device but I’ll get there.   I intend to keep on using the Lumo until I have the posture of a “real lydie” as Eliza Doolittle would say.

     

Some Specs

The Lumo Lift works with the free Lumo Lift iOS/Android* app.    It syncs wirelessly with select Bluetooth 4.0 equipped iOS and Android* devices.   Not all Android phones are supported so be sure to verify your phone’s compatibility before purchase.

I think the battery life is pretty great on it.   Of course I only use mine an hour or so a day but I can go a week or so without recharging.

 

In Conclusion

Before you decide whether or not to purchase the Lumo Lift posture coach,  I would ask yourself if you REALLY want good posture.   If the answer is yes and you are willing to put some effort in and deal with sore muscles for a while,  then the Lumo Lift will be a great tool for you.   It is very easy to use and once you get to know it,   it does exactly what it says it will do.

Lumo Lift is $79.99, comes with a 30 day money back guarantee and is available at LumoLift.com where you can get more information and specs.

This video I put together gives you some more info on Lumo Lift and shares some more of my thoughts on why I like it so much.

 

 

Thanks for reading.

 

 

 

Photos Property of Lumo Lift

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