Philips Lumea Prestige vs Advanced

Which is best: Lumea Prestige or Lumea Advanced?

These are excellent choices from Philips. Both will last for ages, have exceptional build quality, look beautiful and give great results. And online reviewers love them too. But which comes out on top between Philips Lumea Prestige vs Advanced? And which should you choose?

In short, this comes down to your budget and which body areas you want to treat. To start, here’s the score comparison:

Now, read this comparison review for more detail and to help you decide.

In this Prestige vs Advanced comparison review:

• What are they like? Safe skin tones | Lamp lifetime | Ease of use | Which is fastest? | Customer support
• What to expect? What results do you get? | User results | How much effort?
• Online ratings & reviews: Reviews round-up
• Which should you buy? Comparison table | Summary | Where to buy

— What are they like? —

Safe skin tones

The Advanced is safe for you if you have lighter skin tones only, up to Fitzpatrick type IV. The Lumea Prestige is safe for a broader range of skin tones up to Fitzpatrick type V. However, if you have darker skin you should check out this round-up for dark & black skin.

Both are effective on the same dark hair colours.

Lamp lifetime

The lamp lifetime comparison means how much use you’ll get from the flash bulb. It’s a multiplication of the total flashes and the size of the flash window. Both devices are excellent and will last for ages.

• Prestige: gives a total treatment area of 1,025,000 cm²
• Advanced: gives a total treatment area of 1,000,000 cm²

Both give a minimum of 250,000 flashes and the Prestige has a marginally bigger flash window so it can treat a bit more than the Advanced. Yet there’s not much in it. You get a long lamp lifetime with both, lasting 15+ years of monthly full body treatments (Philips say up to 20).

They’re both excellent value, some of the best, and provide many more flashes than you’ll ever need.

Are they easy to use?

Both models are clinically tested safe for home use. They have in-built UV filters and skin contact sensors to protect your eyes.

And they both have the same exceptional build quality and feel great to hold. They have a similar intuitive gun-shape that’s easy to manoeuvre and precise to position.

But the Prestige has some additional impressive features and therefore a higher score. It’s the advanced skin tone sensor, curved attachments, cordless operation and speed that make it best for treating large body areas.

Skin tone sensors

Firstly, both devices keep your skin safe with a skin tone sensor that won’t flash if your skin is too dark. However, the Prestige’s is more advanced. It also recommends the best intensity level for your skin.

This is a neat feature if you have different tones across body areas. Because it takes the stress out of choosing a safe intensity level for each. And on more sensitive areas you can still manually lower it a notch too.

Mains-power vs cordless

Next, the Lumea Prestige and Advanced both work on mains-power so they’re ready to go when you are. And their cords are very long at around 2 metres. Therefore, there’s plenty of room to manoeuvre.

However, the Prestige is especially flexible because also works cordless. The battery lasts for around 30 minutes and it flashes slower, so it’s intended for small areas. Regardless, it’s very helpful for harder to reach areas around your body where a cord gets in the way. Or for zapping your face in the privacy of your bathroom. I love the freedom it gives.

Specialist flash windows

Then there’s the specialist flash windows. These make things much easier because the size matches your body areas and targets stubborn hair types. The Advanced models come with flat attachments in different sizes. There’s a large body, smaller precision and bikini attachment (depending on model). They do a thorough job.

But the Prestige does it again! It has clever, curved attachments matching your body contours. It has a large curved-in body attachment. I simply love this. With it, it’s much easier to get continuous flashes and accurate coverage on your legs and tummy.

And there are smaller windows to match your upper leg and bikini line curve and underarms too. Plus a small and flat facial attachment (the best fit for the contours of your face).

No other device has these curves and I think they’re ace. It’s so much easier to position and precisely cover your skin. Top marks.

Which is fastest?

The biggest difference between the Prestige and the Advanced is the speed of treatments. The Prestige is much faster and so is a better choice if you want to treat large areas or your full body.

You can finish a full leg in around 14+ mins with the Lumea Advanced. This is ok, but the Prestige beats it. It has a much quicker flash rate.

Philips say you can finish a full leg in around 7 mins (used corded). In my experience it’s closer to 10 mins because I’m very thorough. However, it’s one of the quickest high power IPL out there. It’s a fantastic choice for treating large areas or your full body in one sitting.

So, is the Lumea Advanced too slow?

For large areas and full body sessions it’s slow. You can choose faster options. But if it matches your budget range, don’t be disheartened. Online reviewers share they split larger areas (like legs) across days. Therefore, it’s not too tedious. And it takes just minutes for face, bikini line and underarms. So, for small areas it’s a super choice.

Customer support

Both devices are from Philips, so you get the same attentive customer service. Philips have an excellent reputation and give friendly, expertly and prompt responses.

They give advice and assistance via online chat, phone and email. You also get a 2-year warranty and an online support service. There’s a helpful treatment calendar App with ‘how to’ guides too. Plus, a reassuring and easy to use 100-day money back guarantee from Philips for both models (check local Philips policy outside UK & Europe).

— What to expect? —

What results do they give?

It’s the same treatment schedule for both the Prestige and the Advanced. You’ll need about 4 to 5 treatments (taking 8 weeks) to see significant hair reduction results. Then less frequent maintenance treatments keep your skin smooth. Philips suggest monthly sessions.

Philips share results from the clinical tests for both the Prestige and Advanced, so you can easily compare them.

First, they show they both work quickly to get you smooth within a few weeks:

• The Prestige gives up to 92% hair reduction in 3 treatments.
  (Measured on legs, 27 out of 55 women reached 92% or higher results)
• The Advanced gives at least 85% hair reduction in 3 treatments
  (Measured on legs, 67% out of 45 women reach 85% or higher results)

In addition, they both give long-lasting results after several top ups. They say after 12 treatments:

• The Prestige gives 78% median hair reduction which lasts for at least 6 months
• The Advanced gives 71% median hair reduction results which lasts for at least 3 months

Both results are impressive. However, the Prestige has the higher and longer-lasting results after the same number of sessions. That’s because the Prestige is slightly more powerful IPL. The maximum intensity is 6.5 J/cm² versus 5 J/cm² with the Advanced. The slightly higher power promises longer lasting and higher hair reduction results after several top ups.

IMPORTANT: Your top-up sessions are crucial with both devices. Not only do they keep you smooth, but the more you do, the longer your results last between top ups. So, both are excellent choices.

Related: learn how important top-ups are in home laser hair removal 101

What results do the reviewers share?

Most of the Prestige and Advanced feedback shared by online reviews matches the start-up treatment schedule.

After 2 to 3 sessions most see a noticeable hair reduction. This means less hairs and finer, lighter, softer growth. After 4 or 5 sessions hair reduction is usually significant and many are totally smooth. Therefore, the majority leave their reviews at this stage.

For some people it takes a few sessions more to get the same results. And they need top-up more frequently too. Also, if they stop the top-ups, hair does grow back. This highlights how important the top-ups are for long-lasting results.

How much effort is it?

For this, let’s compare the typical total start-up stage effort for full body sessions.

• The Philips Lumea Prestige: Each full body session takes about 40 mins. Most spend about 3.5 hours zapping over the 8 weeks start-up phase.
• The Philips Lumea Advanced: Each full body session takes 1+ hour. Most will spend 5+ hours zapping over the 8 weeks start-up phase.

The Prestige needs less time commitment and the treatments are faster, so easy to fit in. While with the Advanced, the effort is about double. However, it feels much more because flashing your full body is boring and tedious. You also need more motivation because it’s a bit of a chore! Therefore, the Advanced is much better suited to your face and smaller areas.

After the start-up, with both you’ll need touch-ups sessions every 4 to 8 weeks. Start monthly, then after several top-ups, you may need them even less frequently.

So based on this comparison, the Prestige is less effort. And because it’s more powerful IPL than the Advanced, you’ll likely need less frequent top-up sessions too.

— Online ratings & reviews —

Prestige vs Advanced reviews round-up

Both the Prestige and Advanced have excellent online feedback and helpful reviews with the same average score.

The online feedback for the Lumea Prestige is overwhelmingly positive. The reviewers love the fast no-fuss treatments and report super results. Read the full Prestige review to learn more.

For the Lumea Advanced there’s loads of love for the lightweight, gun-shape, mains-power operation and smooth results. Very few negative comments. Learn more in the full Advanced review.

— Which should you buy? —

Prestige vs Advanced comparison table

Here’s all the features and specification in a comparison table:

Comparison summary

So to sum up…the Lumea Prestige is THE one if you simply demand the best and have the budget to match. It’s in a different league. A superb all-rounder, it’s perfect for large and small body areas. I love it for fast, easy and accurate full body sessions.

But don’t dismiss the Advanced. Because if you want to treat just one or two smaller areas, you can spend less on the Advanced and still get superb results. Plenty of online reviewers choose it specifically because it’s the less expensive cousin of the Lumea Prestige. You get the quality gun-shape and specialist attachments for face, bikini and underarms.

Where to buy

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Still not sure?

If you still aren’t sure, try my Best IPL and laser hair removal guide. These are the top devices available for home hair removal. All are tried and tested by myself and my small team of testers.

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