I've been using a home IPL device since 2022 to get rid of basically all my body hair, and I've documented it in this subreddit since 2024. As a guy, I went into IPL hair removal with a pretty skeptical mind, but the Braun Silk-expert Pro 5 worked way better than I expected, and at this point most of the areas I treated are basically hairless. So when it comes to intense pulsed light, I already know from experience that it works really well for me.

This device is different, and that's exactly why it got my interest. It isn't IPL, and it isn't a laser either. It uses a high-power near-infrared LED, and ViQure calls the technology S-LD. IPL works with a broad xenon flash, the bright white pop you see on a Braun, and it needs a contrast between dark hair and lighter skin to work. On dark skin it lowers the power or won't fire at all, because it can't tell the hair and the skin apart, and firing at full power would risk burning you. That was my single biggest frustration with the Braun, since some areas on my pubic are dark enough that it often just refused to work unless I tricked the sensor. This device uses a longer wavelength than IPL, the same kind professional lasers use. That longer wavelength targets the hair instead of the dark skin around it, so in theory it can treat dark skin that home IPL can't.

On top of that it should work on a darker skin, ViQure makes some other big claims. They say it gets close to salon laser results at home, that it reaches up to 96% hair reduction in three sessions, and that the LED lasts for up to 100 million flashes. I'd take all of that with a grain of salt until I see it myself, and I go through the real specs and the skeptical side further down. But there's almost no real user info about this device online, so when they offered to send me one to test, I was curious whether a different kind of light could actually do something IPL can't. This is my first impressions after about two months of use.

A bit of background on why they reached out. Some of you may have seen my earlier posts. The first was a long guide type of post about using the Braun as a guy, including areas that most Hairremoval redditors never talk about, like the pubic region, penis shaft, scrotum, buttocks and armpits (My Experience as a male using the Braun Silk-Expert Pro 5 IPL device: what you won't find in most reviews). The second post was a follow-up in which I stopped treatments on my pubic mound and armpits to see how long the results actually lasted. Spoiler: almost a year without any sessions, those areas still looked basically hairless. (How long do IPL results last? My experience after stopping treatments on the pubic area). Those posts got more attention than I expected, and since posting them I've been pretty active here answering questions, mostly from men asking about pain, technique, awkward areas and realistic timelines. That's how I think ViQure found me. So, I figured it makes sense to share my first impressions now and keep posting updates later when I have more results.

Disclosure

ViQure sent me the device for free. I don't get any commission, affiliate income, discount codes or any other money from this. Nobody from ViQure has read or approved this post before publishing. The deal was simply that I get the device for free, I use it, and share my honest thoughts (the good and the bad). I didn't agree to write a positive review, and if something about the device is bad or it breaks down later, I'll say so.

Of course, getting the device for free is still worth mentioning, and I'll try to be as objective as I can. This is also not a final review since based on my own many years long IPL experience, no device like this can be properly judged after a few months. With Braun, some areas took months before I was happy with the results, and some took closer to a year. So what I can share now is how the device feels to use and what I'm planning to follow over the coming months.

What is S-LD, and what is this device?

Most home hair removal devices use IPL. Braun, Philips and pretty much everything else you see in stores or in this subreddit use some form of intense pulsed light, where a xenon flash fires a broad spectrum of light and the device adjusts based on your skin tone. That's what I have years of at home experience with, so it's my reference point and I know that the tech really works for hair removal.

ViQure markets this as something different. They call it S-LD and instead of a broad xenon flash it uses focused near-infrared LED light in the 780-850 nm range (Braun's range is 510-2000 nm). The specs listed on their site are 100 W power, up to 25 J/cm² energy density, five power levels and a diamond-shaped window. For comparison, Braun lists the Silk-expert Pro 5 at up to 6 J/cm². They also say it's good for up to 100 million flashes. The Braun is 400,000. Even if that's an optimistic promise, it's easy to believe that an LED would last way longer than the xenon lamp in an IPL device. They also claim up to 96% hair reduction in three sessions, which I'd take with a grain of salt until someone shows real data or I see it with my own eyes. You can read their own breakdown on the ViQure product page and in their comparison of S-LD to laser and IPL, but keep in mind that's the manufacturer talking (just like Braun, Ulike etc with their marketing materials).

One thing I noticed straight away is that the power supply is a serious brick. It's rated 12 V 16 A, so around 190 W. I couldn't pin down a reliable number for the Braun, its own pages and reviews say anything from 20 to 30-something watts, but the adapter is a fraction of the size either way and doesn't tell the output power. So whatever the exact numbers are, this thing is clearly built to pull a lot more power, and that's at least consistent with this being a real high-power device rather than a toy. It also explains why it's so big and needs all that cooling. None of that proves anything about results on its own.

Out of pure curiosity I started digging into the technology and the patents behind it, and I probably didn't even find all of them. A couple of things stood out. The unit and the power supply aren't actually branded ViQure. The label says Planar LED Mate, model LH-LNIR5, and the technology seems to trace back to a Chinese manufacturer called Shenzhen Leaflife, and their product Planar LED Mate. So the hardware itself is Leaflife's, and ViQure is the brand selling it to consumers in the West. It's possible ViQure is one of Leaflife's own brands or licenses their technology. I can't tell you the exact relationship between the two. They do have an about page with a founder story and some big manufacturing claims, but it's built around their 808 nm laser and never mentions Leaflife, so it doesn't really clear this up. None of this is a bad thing for the device. Rebranding an OEM product is completely normal, and the fact that it's a real unit from an actual laser company is more reassuring than not. And actually, the only other place I found the same unit was Leaflife's own store, and there it was actually priced higher than ViQure, so this isn't a case of paying extra for them.

One thing worth clearing up first, because it really confused me while I was researching the tech behind it. ViQure calls this "S-LD." But if you start reading around, it feels like nobody agrees on what those letters even mean. ViQure's own site says "Semiconductor Light Depilation" and some parts of the site say "Super-Light Emitting Diode". And the manufacturer behind it, Leaflife, calls the same tech "Planar LED".

So "S-LD" isn't some established technical term. It's mostly a brand name. What everyone seems to agree on is the actual hardware. It's a high-power near-infrared LED in the 780-850 nm range, not a xenon flash like IPL and not a true diode laser. Whatever you call it, that's the thing.

What I did find made me take the device more seriously:

There are real patents behind it. I found one (US20230129185A1, filed by Shenzhen Leaflife) and the drawings are basically my device, same handle, same Peltier cooler, heat pipes, fan and the LED chip in the head. The interesting part is what the patent actually protects. It's not "removing hair with an LED", it's the cooling and heat management that lets you run a high-power LED chip hard enough to kill hair without the chip or your skin cooking. That's probably why the thing is so much bigger than a Braun and why the cooling is such a big deal.
The professional version of this technology has an FDA 510(k) clearance. Worth knowing what that means though. The clearance is based on the device being "substantially equivalent" to existing hair removal devices, and the document literally states no clinical study was included. So, FDA clearance here is not proof that it works better than IPL or a diode laser.
There is some published research on high-power LED epilation. Not on this exact device, but on the same idea. For example a small 2023 pilot study looked at LED epilation across skin types II-V and found follicle damage under the microscope. It's a tiny study with no comparison to IPL or laser, but it supports the basic claim that high-power 780-850 nm LED light can damage hair follicles.

So, there seems to be real patented engineering and a proper technology family behind it. What's missing is independent evidence that it actually removes hair as well as, or faster than a good IPL device or a proper diode laser. The 96% in three sessions number, the once a month schedule, the salon laser comparisons, all of that comes from the manufacturer, and I couldn't find a single independent study backing those specific numbers. That gap is a big part of why I got excited and really I wanted to test it myself.

Packaging and first look

The first surprise was the packaging. The device came in a big presentation-style box with separate storage spaces for the device, power supply, cable, safety glasses and razor. It really felt more like opening a high-quality product than a random hair removal gadget. Before it arrived, I was half expecting something that looks like one of those generic IPL devices sold online under dozens of different brand names, but that wasn't my first impression at all.

The device itself feels solid and well built. It's bigger than the Braun, mostly because of the cooling system and the display, but it's not awkward to hold or use. The controls are simple and I didn't need much time to figure out how everything works.

One annoying thing was that my unit came without an EU power cable. The power supply supports 100-240 V, so it works fine here in Finland, but I had to find a suitable cable myself. I used a spare cable from an old monitor and it worked right away. Easy fix for me, but not something a normal customer should need to deal with. I flagged this problem to ViQure, and they said they plan to launch an EU version in the future, so maybe this is already fixed.

What's in the box: the device, the power supply (that big 12V 16A brick), cable, safety glasses and a razor. The presentation box is nicer than I expected for a brand I'd never heard of.

The cooling

The cooling was the first thing I noticed during actual use, and after several sessions it's still the most positive thing I can say about the device.

I've been happy with my Braun overall, but cooling has never been its strength and actually on longer sessions Braun's flash speed slows down and can even overheat. With the ViQure, the treatment window stays properly cold against the skin throughout the whole session. On lower power levels it mostly just makes the treatment more comfortable. On level 5 I'd say the cooling is almost necessary. The highest level is clearly more intense than anything I'm used to with Braun, especially on areas with darker skin or coarser hair, but with the cooling it stays doable. Without it, I think many people would find the strongest settings too unpleasant to use regularly.

And that matters, because there's no point in having higher power available if it's too uncomfortable to actually use.

Power levels

The five power levels feel clearly different from each other, which isn't always the case with these devices. Level 1 already feels like a real treatment, and based on the specs it's probably somewhere around what Braun delivers at full power. Level 3 feels clearly stronger than what I'm used to.Level 5 is strong, and I only use it where the skin is light and the hair is coarse, like knees or toes. It can sting quite a bit, especially on areas with darker skin or remaining coarse hair. On darker skin it's too much, and I explain why in the next section.

One big difference compared to Braun is that this device doesn't read your skin tone at all. You need to pick the level yourself. That has turned out to be the most interesting thing about the device for me, and it's both the best and the slightly riskiest part of it, so I gave it its own section below.

The darker skin treatment (this is the big one for me)

If you read my Braun post, you know the single most annoying limitation I hit was darker skin. The Braun reads your skin tone and either drops the power or refuses to flash on darker areas, so on my scrotum and between the buttocks it often wouldn't fire at all. I ended up using a corn starch trick just to fool the sensor into working.

The ViQure doesn't do any of that. It has no skin tone sensor, so it fires at full chosen power regardless of how dark the area is. For me that removes the most frustrating part of home IPL in one go. I can finally treat the dark areas directly, at a consistent power, without powdering my skin first or trying to find an angle where the IP would fire.

There are two reasons this matters beyond convenience. First, the longer 780-850 nm wavelength is supposed to be absorbed less by the melanin in the skin itself and more by the hair, which in theory makes it safer on darker skin than the broad IPL spectrum. I can't verify the theory, but it lines up with why this kind of device is aimed at darker skin tones where IPL struggles. Second, and this surprised me, the light barely looks bright at all. With the Braun every flash is a hard white pop that lights up the whole bathroom. The ViQure emits a deep red light that's so dim you can look straight at the treatment area while it fires. On camera it looks purple (the same effect as looking at remote control IR via camera), but in person it's a soft red glow, and it makes the whole thing feel a lot less aggressive even though the energy is higher.

The flip side is that you're responsible for the power level. No sensor means there's nothing to stop you from using too much on dark or sensitive skin, so you have to use some judgment. More on how that played out in practice later.

And I want to be clear about how big this could be for some people, because I don't think I gave it enough weight above. If your skin is light toned then a Braun, Ulike or Philips IPL works great and you probably don't need this. But if you're Fitzpatrick 5 or 6, or you've got areas dark enough that IPL just refuses to fire then you already know the frustration. Home IPL basically isn't meant for you. The usual answer is an expensive professional laser because proper diode lasers use a longer wavelength that targets the hair without dumping all the energy into the dark skin around it. That longer wavelength is exactly what this device uses. So for dark skin this isn't really a small step up from IPL, it's closer to bringing a laser-style hair removal home. The one real study I found backs the idea too, it covered skin types 1 to 6 and the darker types didn't need more sessions than the lighter ones, which is the opposite of how IPL and even laser usually work. I still can't promise long-term results on this specific device. But if you've been told home hair removal won't work for your skin, this is the first home device I've seen that's actually built around that problem.

My problem as a reviewer

The honest problem is that I'm probably the worst possible person to test hair reduction from a normal starting point, because I don't really have one anymore.

After years of IPL I'm essentially hairless in all the areas I originally wanted to treat. Armpits, legs, pubic area, penis shaft and base, scrotum, buttocks and the area between them. All the areas I documented in my earlier posts are at the point where any regrowth is sparse, super fine and very slow. Even my legs, which I treated much less consistently in the beginning, are mostly clear now. And like my second post showed, the results held up even after almost a year without treatments.

So I can't give you a clean before-and-after comparison starting from full hair. What I can do is use the ViQure on the stubborn spots where some hair has survived years of IPL, and see if those areas respond better to this than they did to Braun. That's actually an interesting test on its own, because those stubborn spots are exactly where you start wondering if home IPL has hit its ceiling or if it just doesn't have enough power to finish the job.

Where I've been using it and the treatment head

So far I've mostly used it on the area between the buttocks, my knees, and a few patches on my legs where IPL worked but did not clear everything evenly. For this kind of spot treatment the device has been really nice to use.

The photos below show the ViQure window next to my three Braun heads. The difference is obvious. The ViQure window is tiny, about 8 by 8 mm, so roughly 0.64 cm². That's about the size of a pencil-top eraser. The Braun precision head is around 1.5 cm², the standard head about 3 cm², and the wide head about 4 cm². So the ViQure is smaller than even the smallest Braun head. The professional version of this tech has a much bigger window, but the home unit is small.

For spot work that small window is a real advantage. On knees, toes, between the buttocks and other curved or awkward spots, it's much easier to place the flash exactly where you want it, and you're not fighting to get a big flat head to sit against a curved surface. With the Braun wide head those areas were always clumsy.

For larger areas it's the opposite. Treating both legs or any large area takes much longer than with the Braun wide head, which covers far more skin per flash. The burst mode on levels 1-3 helps a lot, since you can just drag the device instead of pressing the button for every flash, but you're still covering less skin per flash. So the head size is a genuinely two-sided thing, great for precision and slow for coverage. Whether that's a real problem depends on the results. If this needs fewer sessions than IPL, slower sessions don't really matter. If the timeline ends up similar to IPL, then the small head becomes a bigger downside. I can't answer that fully yet.

The ViQure window next to my Braun heads. The ViQure window is tiny, about 8 by 8 mm (0.64 cm²), smaller than even the Braun precision head. Great for precision, slow for big areas

Same comparison from another angle. You can see how much smaller the ViQure window is than any of the Braun heads.

Early results after two months

I've now had the device for about two months, and most of my sessions have been in the pubic and butt area, treating the leftover individual hairs that survived years of IPL. Like I said earlier, the biggest practical difference from the Braun is simply that I can treat the dark areas without issues. No sensor dropping the power, no refusing to fire, and no corn starch to fake a lighter skin tone. I just shave, pick a level and go.

For this kind of targeted work the device suits me well. I shave in the shower like always, then go over the specific spots where I still see hair. On the lower levels the burst mode lets me drag it slowly instead of clicking for every flash, and the cold tip makes it easy to sit on one spot without it getting uncomfortable.

The clearest example is my butt crack. That's an area where the Braun barely works because the skin is so dark that it drops the power or won't fire at all, and it's exactly the kind of spot where I had a few stubborn hairs hanging on after years of IPL. With the ViQure I could finally treat it properly, and now after a couple of months those hairs are gone. For me that alone is a real result, because it's a spot I'd more or less given up on with Braun.

I also got an accidental demo on my first test sessions that the thing really does burn hair. I was testing it on my pubic mound next to a patch I've left untreated on purpose. I swept the device over some of the longer hairs by mistake and it burned them fully with a strong smell and all. Not something I'd do on purpose, but that gave me real evidence in an early session that it puts real energy into the follicles, and I need to be more careful.

The freedom of being able to choose the powerlevel comes with responsibility though, and this is a good example of why. On those darker areas I've used almost only level 1-2. I tried level 3, and while it didn't burn or leave any marks but the feeling was strong enough that I know from experience it's not a good idea on that skin. Darker skin absorbs more of the light, so the same power level feels completely different depending on where you use it. Level 1 has felt safe and comfortable there, and since level 1 probably already delivers roughly what the Braun does at full power, I don't feel like I'm losing anything by staying low.

On lighter areas it's a different story. On my knees and even toes, which by the way were always annoying to treat with the Braun because of the small curved surfaces, I've gone all the way up to level 5 without problems. The small treatment head is at its best exactly in these spots.

After a session the treated hairs behave like they do with IPL. They don't fall out on the spot. Over the next week or two they loosen and shed when I shower or shave, since it's the follicle underneath that's actually been hit. So the visible change is slow and that's normal. The real limitation is that the hairs I'm treating are sparse, slow-growing leftovers to begin with, so I can't show you a dramatic before-and-after yet, and I won't pretend two months is enough to judge long-term reduction.

What I can say is that in two months it's already cleared something the Braun never could. That's enough to keep me going. So far the experience supports the idea that this device fills the gaps the Braun left behind: the dark areas it refused to treat and the difficult small spots it was clumsy on.

Quick pros and cons so far

Pros:

Excellent cooling, the window stays properly cold and makes the higher levels usable and doesn't slow down like Braun on long sessions
No skin tone sensor, so it fires even at full power on dark areas where Braun refuses
Longer 780-850 nm wavelength, which is in theory safer and more effective on darker skin
Very dim red light instead of a harsh white flash, feels much less aggressive and doesn't make your eyes tired
Up to 100 million flashes versus 400,000 on the Braun
Strong and distinct power levels where even level 1 feels like a real treatment
Small precise window (8 by 8 mm, so roughly 0.64 cm²) is great for knees, toes and other difficult small spots
Solid build, heavy power supply, and real patented technology behind it
Corded, so no waiting for a battery and no fading power mid-session

Cons:

More expensive than a typical home IPL device. They sell it for 699 USD (about 600 euros), while Braun 5 is around 300-400 euros in Finland. Braun 7 and Philips are around 600 euros.
A small window makes large areas slow even with the burst/glide mode
No skin tone sensor also means nothing protects a beginner from using too much power
My unit came with no EU power cable (they are going to launch the EU version)
They claim like 96% in three sessions and salon-level power is unverified and worth skepticism
Almost no independent long-term results from users yet, including from me (hopefully I can bridge that gap)

Who I think this might be for

Based on what I've seen so far, I wouldn't call this the obvious first choice if you just want fast full-body sessions. For that something like the Braun with the wide head is still very practical and proven. Where this gets more interesting is if you want stronger treatments, if you've been frustrated by IPL lowering the power on darker skin, or if you have stubborn areas that haven't fully responded to normal home IPL. The cooling also makes it really nice to actually use the higher settings regularly, which I can't say about IPL.

But this is still a "might". Whether the extra power actually gives better or faster results is the question I can't fully answer yet.

Is it worth the money?

When I first saw the price I thought 600 euros (699 USD) was a lot for a hair removal device. My Braun 5 is around 300-400 euros here in Finland, so this is clearly the expensive end.

But then I caught myself spiraling deeper into thinking about the value. I'm writing this on a 3500 euro MacBook, with a 500 euro Oura ring on my finger, a 1300 euro Garmin on my wrist and a 1500 euro phone in my pocket. None of that felt insane when I bought it. My point isn't to brag, but to say that for many people with a normal income in Europe and the USA, spending a few hundred euros on a gadget you'll use for years is just normal. So 600 euros for something I use on my own body, which should theoretically last forever on the flash count, isn't actually that expensive once I think about it more.

The other way I look at it is the laser comparison. If this really does what it claims, the closest equivalent is a professional diode laser, and a full course of that easily runs into the thousands, especially here. Years ago, when I first looked into lasers, I was quoted over 450 euros for a single small area, and the total bill would be in thousands. So when a 600 euro device (just like my Braun) gets you near laser results at home on areas where a salon would charge a fortune, the maths starts to look very different.

That said, I got mine for free, so take my price comfort with a grain of salt. And the final catch is that "if it really does what it claims" is still an if. I can't promise laser type of long lasting results yet. But purely on price, I don't think 600 euros is unreasonable for what this is trying to be, especially if you've got darker skin and a Braun or Philips or other IPL device just won't do the job for you.

What's next

The device has surprised me more than I expected. The cooling is clearly good, the higher levels feel like they actually do something, and for spot treatments it's been nice to use. The build quality is also better than I expected from a brand I had never heard of before.

At the same time, I've been doing this long enough to know that first impressions don't mean much with hair removal. Braun gave me excellent long-term results, and I know exactly how much time and consistency that took. So I'll keep using the ViQure on my remaining stubborn areas and post more of my thoughts and early results during the summer and autumn. What I'm really interested in is how things look after several months or even a year, because that's when I believe I can actually say something about results. If I find another good untreated area to test more systematically, I'll document that separately.

AMA

Since there's basically no real user information about this device online, feel free to ask anything. I can try to answer questions about power levels, treatment feel, cooling, pain, using it on male-specific areas, comparison with Braun IPL, and my long-term IPL experience in general. And if there's something specific you want me to test or track over the coming months, let me know. I hope this post helps!

u/Rantakemisti

Jyväskylä in Summer 1992 (flea market VHS find, proper 50p transfer)

First impressions of the ViQure S-LD (Planar LED), a hair removal device that isn't IPL or laser, from a guy with 4+ years of IPL experience (review & AMA)

Disclosure

What is S-LD, and what is this device?

Packaging and first look

The cooling

Power levels

The darker skin treatment (this is the big one for me)

My problem as a reviewer

Where I've been using it and the treatment head

Early results after two months

Quick pros and cons so far

Who I think this might be for

Is it worth the money?

What's next

AMA

u/Rantakemisti

Jyväskylä in Summer 1992 (flea market VHS find, proper 50p transfer)

First impressions of the ViQure S-LD (Planar LED), a hair removal device that isn't IPL or laser, from a guy with 4+ years of IPL experience (review &amp; AMA)

Disclosure

What is S-LD, and what is this device?

Packaging and first look

The cooling

Power levels

The darker skin treatment (this is the big one for me)

My problem as a reviewer

Where I've been using it and the treatment head

Early results after two months

Quick pros and cons so far

Who I think this might be for

Is it worth the money?

What's next

AMA

First impressions of the ViQure S-LD (Planar LED), a hair removal device that isn't IPL or laser, from a guy with 4+ years of IPL experience (review & AMA)