Therabody’s smart glasses are nice, but not neccesary

Back in December, I ran across Therabody’s SmartGoggles, a $199 device designed for “sleep, focus, and stress,” and decided to give them a whirl to see if they helped my migraines or my husband’s eye strain issues. The TL;DR version of this review is they didn’t. And to top it off, because of issues the company said it had with its internal software systems, my efforts to return the item and get my money back took several emails and about a month.

Normally I don’t write about non-IoT gadgets (these goggles connect to your phone via Bluetooth, but that’s about it) and especially if the item is just meh, but I keep seeing reviews of the device in tech publications that praise them and figured I should offer a counterpoint, especially since it was so hard to get my money back. So here goes.

When I first saw the Therabody SmartGoggles, I was intrigued. They are essentially a high-tech eye mask containing a sensor that tracks your heart rate and matches a massage rhythm to that rate. The idea is that syncing the massage to your heart rate reduces stress and helps with relaxation. I checked out Reddit and a few folks said they used the SmartGoggles as a way to help stop a migraine or recover from one, so I purchased a pair.

Therabody offers a generous 60-day return policy on its devices, which is what made me feel comfortable paying $200 for tech that I felt was a bit dubious. Would matching my heart rate really change the massage pattern? Would this device really do more than the hot or cold compresses I already own? If the SmartGoggles worked, $200 was nothing compared to the $5,500 I pay every three months for Botox (worth it, and somewhat covered by insurance) and the roughly $45 per pill I pay for Ubrelvy, the only drug that makes a dent in my more intractable headaches. If they didn’t work, $200 felt like a lot of money.

The SmartGoggles arrived and were a surprise. At 14.8 ounces, they were lighter than I expected them to be, and felt comfortable resting on my face, even when I had a migraine and was extra sensitive. They connect to an app via Bluetooth that helps regulate among three different preset settings, and there are physical controls as well.

The physical controls came in handy for me, because despite all of my best efforts, the SmartGoggles wouldn’t connect to my Android phone using Bluetooth. I could connect it easily to an iOS device, so that may be an Android issue. And since I was so excited to test them out, I simply resorted to the physical controls for my first test.

I didn’t wait for a migraine, I just laid back on the couch, popped them on my face and starting pressing buttons to test out the relaxation mode. The goggles have three preset modes: SmartRelax, which uses massage and heat to relax the eyes; Focus, which uses vibration between your eyes and heat around the eyes to “relax the mind” and aid focus; and Sleep, which gently massages your temples and provides “slow-wave vibration.”

You can set your mode in the app, but since mine wasn’t connected I simply toggled the buttons on top until I got into SmartRelax mode. There are three buttons on the goggles; power, vibration, and heat. To get to the SmartRelax mode, I long-pressed the power button to turn the device on, then pressed the same button until I got to the SmartRelax setting (indicated by an LED under an icon). There are also ways to create your own settings using the heat and vibration buttons.

And it felt nice. The heat was soothing and the massage patter hit my temples and right between my eyebrows. It reminded me of the shiatsu-style massage devices I have for my back. But it also was a bit frustrating. It felt good, but it would have felt better if the placement of the massage was a little more forward on my temple and extended a bit further around my eyes. Part of this is an issue with the shape of my face, and part of it is an issue you’ll have with any massager. They can only circle the area they can circle, and can only do it at a few levels of pressure.

So for me, this was a little off, especially when I tried it later as a migraine was developing. I often massage my eyes to relieve pressure when I get a migraine, so I had high hopes. But again, the pressure wasn’t enough and it wasn’t quite in the right place. And no adjustment really changed that.

So as a migraine reliever, the device was a dud. But what about its real purpose, helping with eye strain or sleep? I tried the sleep setting for a few nights and found myself irked because I fell asleep with it on. Tracking my sleep during those nights when I tried the device with my FitBit didn’t show any real difference in my deep sleep or the quality of my sleep. However, I am a good sleeper, so that wasn’t a great test.

My teenager doesn’t get to sleep well, so I asked them if they wanted to try it, and they did, but found the light from the sensor irritating. I never noticed it. So then I turned to my husband. He actually has eye strain, which led him to go to a doctor for drops and a compress that he warms up and wears when his eyes hurt too much.

He was my next guinea pig. He tried the SmartRelax mode and said it felt nice, but it didn’t help as much as just laying there with a warm compress. I also had him try the sleep mode, but he lost patience with it. Each session takes about 20 minutes, which is a long time to lay still, I suppose.

Since no one in the house found any life-changing results from the device, I decided to send it back. Both my husband and I found it to be a nice experience, but ultimately it didn’t help with our eye/stress issues and we don’t really struggle with going to sleep, so I started the returns process.

And here’s where things took a turn for the worse. Starting the return was easy, and involved putting in my order number and my email and letting Therabody know why I wanted a refund. I then got a label to print, packaged up the device in the original packaging, and set it back via FedEx. I sent the package on Jan. 21 and got the notice it arrived on Jan. 27.

Great. Then I promptly forgot about it for two weeks. But just after Valentine’s Day, I remembered that I needed to check and see if I had a refund. I didn’t. So I sent a message through Therabody’s customer service web form to find out where the refund might be. Within 24 hours, I heard back from Sergio, who said:

“Stacey, kindly be advised that Therabody is undergoing an internal system modification/outage which we anticipate will be completed by the end of this week. Once we are fully operational, we will ensure to have your refund processed and confirmed to you. We appreciate your patience and understanding. Please allow me 24-48 business hours to provide you with an update.”

True to his word, Sergio followed up the next day to let me know Therabody was still experiencing its “internal system modification/outage” and apologized. Four days later, on Feb. 21, he emailed again, saying Therabody was still having issues and asking for 24-48 more hours. At that point, it had been a week since my original inquiry and three weeks since my package had arrived at Therabody’s offices. So I replied saying that this had gone on long enough, and that if my refund wasn’t processed that week I would dispute the charge with my credit card company. Two days later, on a Thursday, Sergio told me the refund had been approved but it would take 2-3 business days to process.

I set a reminder on my calendar to make sure it went through and thanked him. And on Monday, Feb. 27, almost two weeks after my first inquiry and a month after Therabody received my package, I got the refund. Curious, I checked online to see if others had experienced this incredible lag and needed to follow up on their Therabody refunds. I discovered that for at least the last three months Therabody has been blaming a systems outage for lost returns, missing shipments, and more. This seems less like a system outage and more like a way to hang onto someone’s money as long as possible (hey, interest rates are high right now).

Based on this entire experience I would tell folks interested in this particular device that if you have $200 to spend on a mediocre eye massager, go for it. But if you have a real issue and hope this might solve it, then by all means try it out, but prepare to struggle if you have to return it for a refund. Personally, I’d recommend the NodPod if you want a lux eye stress product. It doesn’t vibrate, but you can warm it up in your microwave (or chill it) and it feels great on your face. And it’s $34, which is fancy but definitely won’t break the bank.