March 29, 2024

Sapiensdigital

Sapiens Digital

Echelon Reflect – Review 2020

The Echelon Reflect is an interactive workout mirror with online connectivity and an integrated HD display. You’ll use it to view a range of on-demand and live workout classes, including barre, boxing, cardio, Pilates, strength, yoga, and Zumba. At $1,639.98 for the 50-inch model we tested, or $1,039.98 for a 40-inch version without a touch screen, the Echelon Reflect isn’t cheap, and you have to pay extra for a class subscription, but it’s like having a virtual workout studio in your home. It’s fun and easy to use, lets you work out whenever you want, and gives you the ability to try classes you might not be comfortable attending in a group setting, making it a terrific piece of smart fitness equipment.

Pricing

The 50-inch Reflect costs $1,639.98 plus shipping. Echelon also offers a 40-inch non-touch Reflect for $1,039.98 plus shipping. Shipping costs $199, though Echelon knocks $100 off if you purchase your Reflect with an annual class subscription, or waives the fee entirely if you get a two-year membership.

The first two weeks of use are free, during which you can take as many classes as you’d like. After that a subscription costs $39.99 per month, $399.99 per year, or $599.99 for two years. Compared with paying monthly, the annual plan saves you almost $80 over the course of a year. If you plan to keep your subscription going for a while, the two-year plan is the best value, saving you almost $360 over paying monthly. 

The Tonal, on the left, next to the Echelon Reflect

There’s no denying the Reflect is expensive, and if you don’t want to pay for it all upfront, you can finance the 50-inch model for as low as $54 a month for 36 months, or the smaller model for $49 a month for 24 months. Also note that if you already have an Echelon Connect Bike membership, you can get the Reflect membership for free.

Design and Setup

When not in use, the Reflect looks like a normal mirror with an Echelon logo near the bottom. The mirror features a Nano Crystal coating, and Echelon says it has “fingerprint resistant glass,” but I definitely got smudges on it. The smudges wiped off easily with a dry microfiber cloth. 

When its screen is turned off, the Reflect looks like a normal mirror

On the tech side, the 50-inch Reflect features an integrated 32-inch, 1080p touch screen with a 60Hz refresh rate, on which you can browse and select workouts. It’s powered by a 1.8GHz quad-core CPU, runs Android 7.1, has two 8-watt speakers, and a hidden 8-megapixel front-facing camera for personal coaching.

The 50-inch Reflect weighs 52 pounds and can be mounted on the wall or a 200-by-200mm VESA mount stand. I opted to install it on a stand, which was fairly easy, though admittedly my boyfriend did most of the work.

In my opinion, the Reflect would look better mounted to a wall, and if I was keeping it for good, not just testing it for the purpose of this review, that’s what I would do. An included manual provides installation instructions, and Echelon has tutorial videos on its website.

If you’re short on space, the Echelon Reflect is a good at-home smart gym option. Thanks to its sleek, discreet design, you can mount it to the wall in a main living space, and it wouldn’t look out of place.

To turn it on, you flip a switch on the back of the Reflect, then touch the Echelon logo on the front of the mirror. The logo on the front turns blue when pressed. You can turn off the screen by pressing the logo again, and to completely turn it off, you press and hold the Echelon logo for six seconds. 

When setting it up, you need to visit Echelon’s site on your phone or computer to create an account and purchase a class plan, if you don’t already have one. Once you activate your account, you’ll use those credentials to log in on the Reflect. 

The first time you turn it on, the Wi-Fi menu will pop up. Just select your Wi-Fi network, and use the on-screen keyboard to type in your password. Once you connect to Wi-Fi, you then enter your email address and Echelon account password to log in.

After setting up your own account, you can add up to four additional family members. To add a user, go to Profile section, select Manage Family Members, then select Add a Family Member.

Workout Categories and Other Features

When you wake your Echelon Reflect, it presents with a list of users. Just click your name to get started. 

From the main screen, you can select boxing, cardio, celebrity, conditioning, meditation, nutrition, Pilates, strength, stretch, strong by Zumba, and yoga. When you click into a workout category, you can scroll through a list of upcoming live and on-demand classes.

The company offers around seven to 10 live classes each weekday, and fewer on Saturdays and Sundays. If you can’t find a live class that interests you and works for your schedule, there are plenty of on-demand options in each category. Scrolling through the list of classes is easy enough, but I did find myself tapping the box to join one inadvertently when swiping through the list.

Echelon produces classes out of four studios, two in Miami, FL and two in Chattanooga, TN. The company has managed to keep these classes going during the COVID-19 pandemic with one person who cleans and monitors the studios, and producers in separate rooms. Echelon’s CEO and Founder Lou Lentine tells PCMag that class attendance is up 300 percent across the company’s platform since the beginning of the pandemic. 

“We have not had to scale back live classes in our four studios,” Lentine says. “We actually increased them, adding 15 to 30 minutes in between classes for cleaning time.”

During a class, you can see the instructor as well as your own reflection in the mirror. Time and volume controls are on the top right side of the screen, and on the bottom it shows your first name and last initial, the names of the other users in the class, and your heart rate if you have a monitor connected. 

The Reflect works with chest strap and armband heart rate monitors, including the Polar OH1+, which I used during testing. When turned on, the OH1+ automatically syncs to the Reflect, so pairing can’t be easier. You select the class you want to take and press the heart icon underneath the Start Workout button. When successfully paired, the heart icon on the Reflect will change from white to red and you’ll see your heart rate on the screen.

You can also connect Bluetooth headphones to the Reflect. Just tap the class you want to take, then press the headphones icon. 

During a workout, you’ll see a colorful bar at the top of the screen that goes from red to orange to yellow to light green then green, indicating the different heart zones. If you have a heart rate monitor connected, you’ll see an arrow indicating which zone you’re in. 

The Reflect turns working out into a game: You earn 5 HR Points for every minute you spend in the light green (weight management) zone, 10 for every minute in yellow (aerobic), 15 for every minute in orange (anaerobic threshold), and 20 for every minute in red (maximum). At the end of the workout, there’s a leaderboard that ranks who earned the most HR Points. 

Along the bottom of the main screen, there are four additional options: Live, One-on-One, Progress, and More. The interface is simple, colorful, and easy to navigate.

In the Live section, you can view the full schedule of live classes, and filter them by day and category. 

The More menu gives you access to settings like volume and brightness. The Reflect’s screen is easiest to see in a dimly lit room. In a well-lit room it can be harder to see due to glare, even if you pump up the brightness. 

In the One-on-One section, there’s a list of instructors available for personal training, though when you try to set up a private session, it says the feature is “coming soon.” An Echelon spokesperson tells me the company recently rolled out this feature, but had to pull it back due to COVID-19. The company expects it will be back and functional in the next 60 to 90 days.

In Progress, the Reflect keeps a record of the classes you’ve taken, as well as your total calories burned and workout time for the week. You can click into each class to see your stats, including your calories burned for that session and the last heart rate recorded. It also shows your HR Points accrued and rank for the class. 

Since the 50-inch Reflect has a touch screen, you don’t need a smartphone app to use it. Echelon does, however, have a Reflect Fit app for Android and iOS devices that you can log into with your Reflect credentials. From the app, you can browse live and on-demand classes and view your stats. When you find a live class you want to attend, you can press a button labeled Count Me In to add it to your calendar, and you’ll receive a notification when the class is about to start. 

My Experience Using the Echelon Reflect

Being an avid yoga practitioner, I have naturally gravitated toward the yoga classes on the Reflect. Since there are so many to check out, I rarely find myself browsing other categories, though I did try several for this review. 

The first class I took on the Reflect was a 20-minute on-demand core workout. It started with a short stretching warm-up, followed by three rounds of two to three abdominal exercises including plank, side plank, forearm plank, flutter kicks, alternating leg lifts, and oblique twist crunches, then a short cool-down stretch. The 20 minutes went by fast and the instructor was energetic. 

One thing I should note about the strength classes is that instructors sometimes use weights, so you will need your own at home if you want to participate. I don’t have free weights, so I exited one live strength class early when the instructor started using them.

As for yoga, I really enjoy Echelon’s classes and teachers. During one session, the teacher addressed the COVID-19 pandemic, acknowledged that this is a difficult time for many people, and led a stress-relieving breathing exercise. That’s the beauty of live classes: Teachers can bring up timely issues like the coronavirus and provide an encouraging word, or just help you feel less alone. Though I greatly miss in-person yoga classes during this time of social distancing, live yoga classes on the Reflect have immensely lifted my spirits.

Most of the yoga classes are 20 or 35 minutes, and suitable for all levels. You can’t filter classes by level, but the teachers usually offer modifications for beginners, as well as more advanced options for seasoned practitioners, like in a typical in-person class. 

Normally, in-person yoga classes run for at least one hour, so yoga classes on the Reflect feel a bit abbreviated. I wish there were more longer sessions. 

You can pause classes at any time, but another small complaint I have is that you can’t fast forward or rewind on-demand workouts. After practicing yoga for many years, it’s not often that a teacher will present a move or transition I’ve never seen, but that happened during one class, and it was pretty exciting for me. I wanted to rewind the video to watch him do it again, but there’s no way to do that. The only way is to go through the entire class again, which I did. 

Because you can’t control the music on the Reflect, it’s hit or miss. I’ve liked most of the music during yoga classes, but some of the tunes are a bit dated for my taste. I wish there was a way you could pick your own. 

Comparisons and Conclusions

If you’re looking to start working out, or you want to spice up your current routine, the Echelon Reflect gives you access to many different types of live and on-demand workouts from the comfort of your own home. With everything from barre to boxing, it’s got something for everyone. 

If you’re considering the Echelon Reflect, you might also be looking at the Mirror, a similar interactive home fitness device that also has a 40-inch, 1080p display on which you can view live and on-demand workout classes. At $1,495, plus an additional $39 monthly membership for classes, the Mirror is around $150 cheaper than the 50-inch Reflect. It doesn’t have leaderboards to gamify the experience (which you might prefer), and it doesn’t have a touch screen, so you have to control it with your phone. It does, however, offer pre- and postnatal classes and connects with Spotify, two features the Reflect currently lacks. Ultimately, both are terrific options, so we recommend you pick the one that has the most features you want.

Best Health & Fitness Picks

Further Reading

Source Article