If you have a Planet Fitness Black Card ($24.99/month), you've probably noticed the tall, phone-booth-sized machines in the back. They glow red. They vibrate. Planet Fitness calls them "Total Body Enhancement" booths. They're made by Beauty Angel, a German company, and they use a combination of red light and vibration therapy.
The question everyone asks: is this real red light therapy?
What's Actually in the Machine
The Beauty Angel RVT 30 (the model Planet Fitness uses) has two components:
- Red light lamps: Collagen-producing 633 nm red light lamps surrounding the body. These are fluorescent-type lamps, not LEDs or lasers.
- Vibration plate: The platform vibrates at low frequency for whole-body vibration therapy.
Session length: 12 minutes (fixed).
The Good: Wavelength Is Right
633 nm is squarely in the therapeutic window for photobiomodulation. This is the same wavelength used in the Wunsch & Matuschka (2014) study that showed collagen improvement. From a wavelength perspective, the device checks out.
The Concern: Power Density
This is where it gets tricky. Beauty Angel doesn't publicly disclose the power density (mW/cm²) of their lamps. The key question is whether fluorescent-tube red light lamps deliver enough irradiance to reach therapeutic doses in a 12-minute session.
Clinical studies showing skin benefits use 5-50 mW/cm² for 10-30 minutes, delivering a dose of 3-10 J/cm². For the Planet Fitness booth to deliver a minimum therapeutic dose of 3 J/cm² in 12 minutes (720 seconds), it would need at least 4.2 mW/cm².
Based on available third-party measurements of similar Beauty Angel models, the irradiance appears to be in the 3-8 mW/cm² range at the body's distance from the lamps. This puts it at or near the minimum therapeutic threshold — not ideal, but not zero either.
What You Can Realistically Expect
Likely Benefits
- Mild skin tone improvement: At the lower end of therapeutic dosing, you may see modest improvements in skin glow and tone over consistent use (3-4x/week for 8+ weeks).
- Temporary blood flow increase: The combination of red light and vibration increases peripheral circulation. You'll feel warm and your skin may appear flushed/glowing afterward.
- Mood boost: Red light exposure may improve mood through circadian and serotonergic pathways. Standing in warm red light for 12 minutes is genuinely pleasant.
Unlikely Benefits
- Significant collagen remodeling: Clinical studies showing measurable collagen increase used higher power densities for longer durations (30 sessions of 20+ minutes).
- Pain or inflammation reduction: The booth is visible red only (633 nm), not near-infrared. Deep tissue pain relief requires 810-850 nm wavelengths that penetrate further.
- Fat loss: There's no evidence that this device reduces body circumference.
Is It Worth Using?
If you already have a Black Card: absolutely use it. It's included in your membership at no additional cost. Even at the lower end of therapeutic dosing, consistent use may provide mild skin benefits, and the vibration component has its own modest evidence base for circulation and bone density.
Should you upgrade to Black Card just for this? Probably not. The difference between a Classic membership ($15) and Black Card ($25) is $10/month. For $10/month, you get a marginal red light therapy experience. That same $10/month over a year ($120) would cover several sessions at a professional red light therapy center where the devices deliver significantly higher doses.
How to Maximize Your Sessions
- Expose as much skin as possible. Wear minimal clothing — the light needs to hit your skin directly. Clothing blocks the photons.
- Use it consistently. 3-4x/week for at least 8 weeks before judging results.
- Stand close to the panels. Power density decreases with distance (inverse square law). Being 6 inches from the lamps delivers significantly more dose than 18 inches.
- Pair with your workout. Use it post-workout when blood flow is already elevated — the vasodilation from both may be synergistic.
- Don't expect miracles. This is a mild dose device. Set expectations accordingly.
Planet Fitness vs. Professional Red Light Therapy
| Factor | Planet Fitness Booth | Professional RLT Center |
|---|---|---|
| Wavelength | 633 nm only | 630-660 nm + 810-850 nm |
| Power density | ~3-8 mW/cm² (est.) | 50-200 mW/cm² |
| Session time | 12 min (fixed) | 10-20 min (customizable) |
| Dose per session | ~2-6 J/cm² | 10-60 J/cm² |
| Cost per session | $0 (included) | $25-75 |
| NIR for pain/deep tissue | No | Yes |
| Customized protocols | No | Yes |
Read our complete red light therapy guide →
Find professional red light therapy centers →
Note: BestDosage has no affiliation with Planet Fitness or Beauty Angel. This review is based on publicly available specifications and independent measurements.
