any experiences using home IPL devices/systems

[SoupSarah]

I'd love more thoughts on this topic as I'm readying to buy a home IPL, probably a Tria.

My understanding is that for those with darker hair the home ones do work fairly well?

Home stuff works okay for body hair if you are fair skinned and dark haired.. don't even bother to try it if you are not in those two demographics.. blonde hair just ignores it and dark skin burns...
These things hurt too.. its not 'THAT" bad.. but snap an elastic band on your skin.. that's about it. Yeah, you can stand it for one, two times.. but you have to do this hundreds of times. It get's old quickly.

As for using it on your face - forget it. They just don't work.. max up the settings, burn your skin - fry the hair so it is sizzling and the air smells of burning.. and it grows back in a week. I went to a salon and had professional laser removal of my beard.. I had dark hair, fair skin and never really grew much of a beard anyway.. (and the home laser did not touch it).. the salon laser took 8 sessions and my beard was clear. No electrolysis and not had any follow up since (and that was 3 years ago) - Usually Electrolysis is the way to go, but I would always urge anyone who is fair/dark to give a few shots of laser, proper professional laser a go. It is cheaper, does not hurt as much and MUCH quicker. If nothing it will knock out some follicles and make electrolysis a little easier.

(I bought a £600 Phillips IPL station, the best available to the public at the time. From what I have read and heard from others, nothing else is any better than this and it, in my opinion, was a waste of money)

[Tills]

Yeah I had about 100 hours electrolysis on my face which did an amazing job. Cetainly painful.

It's body hair I'm thinking about now. I'm light-skinned and dark haired.

Hmmm this is kind-of putting me off buying a Tria, or any other type. Anyone out there want to make a positive case for them? 

[Maid Marion]

I have jet black hair and find that the Braun Pro 5 works on lightly tanned skin.
It will shrivel up the fine black hairs without burning the skin.

One idea may be to use an epilatoron the fast growing hairs and the IPL on the slower growing ones.

[Lori Dee]

It's body hair I'm thinking about now. I'm light-skinned and dark haired.

Hmmm this is kind-of putting me off buying a Tria, or any other type. Anyone out there want to make a positive case for them?

For body hair mine worked well. It took many, many sessions and the results were slow, but they did work. For areas like the legs, you will want one that has a larger "window" on the head so you can zap a larger area each time. Some have very small windows (like the Ketch Beauty model), so it takes much longer to cover the same size area. The LumaRx has interchangeable heads, one small and one large-ish. Also, check the life expectancy of the bulb. Some are rated for 10,000 flashes but I think 50,000 is more common. The LumaRx is at 100,000. If you get one with a lower rating, check into picking up a spare bulb so you don't run out mid-session.

Overall, for body hair, I would recommend getting one. It is cheaper than electrolysis.

[Maid Marion]

The Braun IPL Pro 5 has interchangeable windows.  I do a lot of short time sessions to get rid of body hair.  I figure a little at a time and I'll eventually get it all.

[Roberta_Italy]

I agree that home IPL devices are lower powered compared to professional equipment; on top of that they have a very small window and quite long to recharge at maximum power (at least the one I had).
The result is that they are very slow and treating large areas is simply impraticabile.
I had some results in small areas, such as hands and armpits over long time and more frequent applications than recommended. Obviously I assumed my own risk.
Don't think to treat areas such as legs or even worst face: male beard requires hi level professional machinery... eventually I am up with electrolysis and that seems to work!
Ciao
Roberta