What it’s like using the Lululemon home workout Mirror

With the beginning of the new year, I’ve been thinking about getting into in-home fitness products again. This year, a new item popped up on my radar, the Lululemon Mirror. After my stint testing out the company’s puffer jacket, I decided to take it for a whirl.

The Canadian company isn’t sending out review units to media right now, but it offered to have me come down to test out the device at its store in Toronto in the morning before it opened. So that’s what I did. At 9am one morning, I took the streetcar to downtown Toronto and wandered over to the Lululemon location on Queen Street West.

Once I got in and changed into more appropriate workout attire, a Mirror expert walked me through some of key functions of the device.

What is the Mirror?

Basically, it’s a smart mirror with an embedded screen, speakers and a webcam.

The total price of the Lululemon Mirror is usually $1,895, but right now, it’s on sale for $1,495. Even on sale, this is a tough price to swallow, considering this is a mirror and not an actual piece of physical exercise equipment. That said, it does feature a nice build and is a snazzy-looking mirror, but it’s not as purpose-built for exercise like a treadmill, for example.

However, I won’t fault the construction after spending a morning with the mirror. It seems like a well-engineered product. The built-in screen functioned much better than I expected and featured nice contrast and colour. I wasn’t watching movies on it, obviously, but for what it was, it performed well. It also offers wide viewing angles, so more than one person could easily use it at a time.

When you’re working out, you’ll see a video of your trainer that you can follow along with and other stats related to your workout. If you’re using a compatible fitness tracker, like an Apple Watch, for example, you can also connect it to track your body’s metrics.

The Mirror also features a pair of speakers that are reasonably loud but don’t sound very premium. Like the screen, they get the job done perfectly, but I wouldn’t use this device as a Bluetooth speaker.

Finally, the mirror features a hole punch webcam along the top edge like several modern smartphones. Once again, I wasn’t able to deep dive into the specs of the webcam, but when you join a live workout class, it allows you to show up on the screen with the rest of the class.

Alongside the Mirror, you also need to run the software on it through a connected app, and you need to pay a subscription that costs $50 per month and requires a one-year minimum commitment. So that already ludicrous $2,000 Mirror price tag is actually closer to $2,600.

If you’ve got the money to burn, you won’t be disappointed. There are tons of features in the app, the workout classes are well-produced, and there are tons of them. You can even try them out with a two-week free trial if you sign up for the All-Access Mirror Challenge on Lululemon’s website.

Let’s try to analyze this

When you take a step back, there are definitely several pros to consider. This is a convenient way to add a home workout space to a bedroom since it stands up along a wall and isn’t bulky like a treadmill or stationary bike.

The Lululemon Mirror also functions well since the screen is nice, the speakers are loud, and there are tons of workout classes that are well taught. Seriously, I could write a whole separate article just on the app.

Lululemon is taking this Mirror smart home workout program seriously and has already invested $500 million into buying the Mirror platform. And when you’re using it, the experience feels very premium. It easily competes with the production and prestige of Apple and Peleton, but there is, of course, still the cost to consider.

This device is extremely overpriced. This is especially true when you can get similar features out of a $13 Apple Fitness+ subscription and an Apple watch that costs roughly $500 or you could get a Peleton bike for about $2,000 and a $16 per month subscription.

That said, if you have the money, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed in the Lululemon Mirror.