Okay, so the seller is letting me return it for a full refund. So in all this “experiment” has cost me around $50. I hope that it at least provides a bit of useful information to someone that reads it. Wanted to do this post as my final review of the Tria in terms of the device itself, not it’s effectiveness since that I obviously can’t review yet. I’ll post again in a couple weeks to see if my feet shed where I tried it out.
I can’t comment on how the device charges or what not since mine was defective and took overnight to charge every time, but overnight would provide a full charge for me.
Starting with the unit, it feels very sturdy and well built even though mine was defective. It has weight to it and is easy to hold in your hand. Using the device is simple, pressing the power button once lights up the first light and beeps once for level one. Pressing it again lights up the second light and beeps twice for level two. A third press beeps 3 times with 3 lights for level 3. Pressing it again the light stays at 3 but beeps 4 times, and again beeps 5 times.
Using the device is simple, you just press it to your skin and it beeps once to start then again when complete. It’s about 1 second in total between the beeps with a red light coming from the unit while it’s doing it. You then lift it, and press down in the next spot, overlapping. I found the easiest way to do it was to almost bounce it off your skin, because sometimes just pressing down wouldn’t make it fire, but almost tapping it on your skin caused it to fire. Because of this, you can lift and move it pretty quickly around.
That’s it for the positives. The spot size is very small, only 10mm. The Silk’n by comparison is much larger, however I find they’re the same. The Silk’n takes about 3 seconds in between charges, where the Tria is less than 2, and pretty much fires immediately after lifting and pressing the next spot. Because of this you can cover probably the same area as the Silk’n in the amount of time. Here’s the problem though, the manual says you have to overlap by at least 6mm which is more than HALF of the spot size. A professional laser will overlap a little, but not by half the spot size! This means that with each shot you’re only coving around 4-5mm of new area. It takes 50 pulses to cover one square inch. Here’s the best part, the battery is supposed to last for 250 pulses on one charge. Easy math, that’s 5 to 6 square inches! It then takes 2 hours to recharge the battery to use it again. Can you imagine doing this on your legs? It would be next to impossible and would take days! It wouldn’t be so bad if it charged for 30 minutes and you’d do it again but doing 6 square inches then waiting 2 hours to do more would take ages to do your legs and is completely unpractical. On underarms it wouldn’t be so bad, but this device is just for very small areas clearly.
In terms of how it feels, there’s mixed reactions here. I wanted the Tria because it’s a laser, and as such I expected it to feel like a professional laser. The Silk’n is just a flash bulb, and that’s what it feels like. A quick burst of heat with a pop as the bulb flashes, then recharges like a flash in a camera before firing again. Unfortunately, I found the Tria feels exactly the same! When I go for professional treatments, I don’t really get a sensation of heat. It’s a bit warm for sure but I find it feels more like getting an electric shock, or something physically snapping against my skin like the typical “feels like an elastic band snapping on your skin” analogy. The Tria does not feel like this at all.
A professional laser fires for less than a second, and I find you only feel pain for that split second then it’s gone. The Tria fires for around 1 second and on settings 3-5 it really hurts (which is good since I believe it has to hurt to be effective). It doesn’t feel anything like any of the lasers I’ve used before (Lumenis One IPL, Candella GentleLASE, CynoSure Apogee Elite, and CynoSure Apoge Yag). It feels like taking a curling iron or a hot iron and pressing it onto your skin for 1 second then removing it. The pain is still there when you remove it. This is a problem because you’re expected to overlap by half, so now you’re doubling up the heat in that area, and it feels like you’re burning yourself. After the treatment, your skin feels sore like you burned yourself on an iron. After a professional laser treatment the only area that’s red for me is forearms and face. My underarms, chest, abdomen etc have no reaction at all. I couldn’t imagine doing this on your bikini line or other sensitive areas due to the feeling of it. It wouldn’t be bad if it was a quick burning feeling but it’s a good second or so.
I don’t believe it would be permanent, and because of this I can’t honestly see subjecting myself to the pain of it or actually using it for temporary results. I could do almost 2 professional leg treatments for the price of the device and get permanent results. I also believe the “if it’s too good to be true it probably is” theory. If this was permanent and worked as well as they say, everyone would use it.
I’ll report again in a couple weeks on how my shedding went. Unfortunately I can’t recommend this device to anyone though, it’s just not practical. If the battery lasted longer, or if it plugged in and could be used, then MAYBE it would be okay if you can handle the pain. Because at least that way you could actually treat your whole leg. It’s too bad because it is fairly quick to use and isn’t bad at all. It’s quiet unlike Silk’n so you could use it while watching TV or what not. The pain while used on legs is bearable, but again as mentioned it’s impossible to do your legs with it.
Save your money and do a professional treatment or electrolysis and get actual results. Unless you win this thing in a contest or someone gives it to you as a gift, I wouldn’t spend any money on it!
