Power Plate Personal

Summary

The Personal by Power Plate is a low powered, portable lineal machine that comes with a large price tag due to the Power Plate name. It only has no control options, and is much lower powered than their large commercial machines. This fact is important, because Power Plate fail to differentiate between their models and the differences in outcomes you might expect from them. For example, several studies have shown that increasing the G force, increases muscle activation, and therefore I feel that it is a little misleading to make no effort to distinguish this difference in the marketing for the Personal. Overall, I do not recommend this Power Plate model at all, it lacks the performance of the other models.

Performance

The Personal scored a total of 40 points on the Performance badge. The Personal is limited to a very low G level due to a maximum and single frequency option of 35Hz only. There is no ability to increase or decrease the frequency on the machine, there is on ability to increase or decrease the amplitude, this machine is simply on and off control. It was classed as a low amplitude lineal machine, because in the  report on the Personal, it reached a maximum amplitude of 1mm.

• 4 points were awarded for a maximum G force of 2g’s
• 20 points were awarded for a high frequency capacity
• 0 points were awarded for a low frequency capacity
• 10 points were awarded for an accurate frequency display
• 6 points were awarded for the platform size

Science

The Power Plate brand has been studied quite extensively but no research has been performed on the Personal model, therefore the score here is a 15 and a fail on the Science badge.

• 0 points were awarded for the performance pass
• 15 points were awarded for a research proven brand
• 0 points were awarded for a research proven model

Company

Power Plate as a brand has a chequered history. The brand started in The Netherlands in 1999, and was a more powerful steel machine, made in The Netherlands. Around 2004 that company was split, and the original Power Plate was rebranded as VibroGym, the name Power Plate was taken to Chinese manufacturers and attached to the fibreglass design of today. The company has had a number of large legal battles and went insolvent in 2012, it was relaunched the same year under Performance Health systems thus we have attributed their company age as 6 years old. Power Plate only just failed the company test with a score of 50, most losses came through failing to advertise specifications, and various false advertising claims, such as being the only company with medical device certification (see Galileo, VibroGym and more), and advertising that their multi-directional vibration is patented (all machines produce multi-directional vibration). I have seen some evidence of Performance Health Systems giving equipment to a charitable cause, so they earned 10 points for this.

• 15 points were awarded for integrity
• 6 points were awarded for 5 years in business
• 20 points were awarded for innovation
• 10 points were awarded for charity

Warranty

The Personal scored 77 on the Warranty badge, it has a 2 year warranty on labour, parts and motor, and a 30 day returns policy with shipping and restocking fees. Power Plate appear to have good supply of spare parts, and ability to service equipment on-site.

• 50 points were awarded for a Company pass
• 2 points were awarded for the labour warranty
• 2 points were awarded for the parts warranty
• 2 points were awarded for the motor warranty
• 1 point was awarded for the returns policy
• 10 points were awarded for parts availability
• 10 points were awarded for servicing on-site

Support

The Personal has a solid support program and passed easily with a score of 65. Power Plate have excellent online resources, including many video workouts and tips. The “in the box” content consists of a user manual, and training guide. Power Plate are the only company who are actively running courses and workshops consistently. You can reach Power Plate via their website live chat, business hours phone number and their social pages are active.

• 20 points were awarded for online training resources.
• 10 points were awarded for “in the box” support.
• 20 points were awarded for courses & workshops.
• 15 points were awarded for communication.