Sorry - I didn't wish my post to sound mean.
I have had two of these type of machines. The first one (can't recall the make - may have been Slendertone or similar) was the pads. In fact, I still have it somewhere as I just put it in a cupboard. It was tricky trying to get the pads in the right location as mentioned, especially with my gut! - then I had to "add water" to the pads to get them to pulse - hmm water and electricity lol. It did pulse, but my belly shape was all wrong.
So on to last year when I started losing weight, I got the Slendertone belt. Loads easier as it wrapped around like a, erm, belt actually
Plenty of settings and quite intense - I liked it much better than the pads, but it was approx £100+ postage (yes, I'm a sucker for those Infomercials on the shopping channels - Damn you Best Direct lol).
Now I'm at targets, it would probably help me to tone up, but I would say in addition to exercise not instead of. I notice it showed a lot of fat people before then after using a Slendertone belt, but never shows a fatty with the belt fitted!
I returned it (lost the £7 postage) and got the £100 back. It may well be better for me now, ironically, but I still believe there's no miracle cure.
Hope that's a bit fairer assessment.
Steve