SCOTTGSMITH62  The Bad:

1. The company is slow to update the product - the application ostensibly works just like it did five or six years ago, and it shows in the clunky feel of the application. The developer has a good core idea, but good ideas are not going to gain users of the Life Balance application.

2. The price of this application is really a joke, especially when you realize that you have to pay $80 for the Windows version as well as $80 for the Mac version (if you are one of the millions who use a PC at work and a Mac at home). If the price were $80 for both versions, then it would STILL be overpriced by about $30, when comparing the software to competitors.

The Good:

1. The company has a good reputation for support, and with the interface not being updated in such a long time, you will probably need support if you purchase the application.

2. The fact that the application is cross-platform, and allows a user to go back and forth between a PC and a Mac without troubling with conversion issues, really is nice.

Overall:

Even with the fact that this application is cross-platform and has good support, it cannot clear the hurdle of an interface that is ancient in computer terms, and is seriously overpriced. Before you consider purchasing this, do yourself a favor and look at competing products; there are a lot of them out there.  
(Version 5.1.1)

BUMBLEB  I use the iPhone app, which has a much more modern UI than the desktop version. I think the desktop version should have been rewritten in Cocoa a long time ago. I recommend Life Balance though, since it works productivity-wise. Much more for me and other sensible beings than the robotic GTD approach.  
(Version 5.1)

ZO219  It is to laugh.  
(Version 5.0.5)

WCITYMIKE  Just got Life Balance spam in my inbox which contains a claim that blows me away:

"The releases on Windows and Palm are free updates, the Mac release is a paid upgrade. [...] Give yourself a prezzie that will support everything else you need to get done during this busy holiday season.

"Upgrade now to version 4 from version 3.x for Mac for a limited time for just $52.95."

First, they have the chutzpah to bill a point upgrade as number jump ... and then they're trying to charge $53 for it?!?!

Llamagraphics is getting more and more and more laughable.

I mean, WOW. I've gotten ticked off at developers before, but I've never seen a company shoot itself in the foot THIS well.

Bye-bye, Llamagraphics!  
(Version 4.0.4)

WCITYMIKE  A long time ago, I bought Life Balance. As the commenter below me said, after an incredibly long amount of development time, they have now rolled out a point upgrade and billed it as an integer upgrade -- the "improved" feature set should make this 3.3 or 3.5, not 4.0.

The sad fact is that Llamagraphics appears to be a company that thinks an absolutely glacial, plodding development cycle is sufficient enough to keep them competitive in the virtually EXPLODING world of webapps and apps that manage to-dos.

If you don't even try, you might as well give up and go home.  
(Version 4.0.3)

LEV  Can't see a great deal of change from the last version - certainly it doesn't feel like an integer upgrade. The main problem with Life Balance has always been the inability to change a group of entries. You have to do each one individually, which can be a pain. The organisation of "places" (what GTD types would call "contexts" is excellent; Contexts can contain other Contexts (for example "Mall" can contain "Kinko's") and hours of business can be set for every Context/Place. Very fine. But the interface seems clunky, and there's no way to get stuff in rapidly as there is in iGTD and the (still in alpha) OmniFocus.

In short, it's a decent app with some unique features - particularly the "life balancing" algorithm which gives it its name - but it's being rather overtaken by other newcomers. I suspect they really need to give it a major overhaul.  
(Version 4.0.1)

WCITYMIKE  Wow! What an amazing upgrade! A restored 30-day expiration dialog and updated documentation! (I'm not kidding. That's the extent of the upgrade.)  
(Version 3.2.9)

OLIPOWER  I got interested in Life Balance a few years ago. That was before the whole David Allen Getting Things Done GTD wave started.

I've been wanting to use Life Balance for a long time. They offer a unique approach to life management and general productivity.

However, I've got stuck on many attempts to use it, because of a multitude of issues, issues which other users / testers, have also asked the developers to implement:

Syncing with iCal. Why? That would enable me to sync todays to-do list with a multitude of other things, including my cell phone. I don't want or need a PDA. PDA's are for business people. And geeks. Normal people just don't need PDA's after cell phones have become to refined and advanced.

Interface overhaul. The interface is too cumbersome to use daily. I cannot be scaled down in any way.

Easier input of tasks. For example via a menu in finder.

More frequent updates. This would bring more attention and momentum to the application. And a chance for them to weed out the illegal serial numbers floating everywhere. Let's face reality.

A lower price. Follow the market - sell more!

The developers response is, and always has been, a combination of denial, know-all, conservatism.

To the above, their response would probably be:

"Well, Oliver, we are very dedicated to the continued development of Life Balance. Actually, last month we received an intel-mac to be able to work on the universal binary, and we're also developing some AppleScripts now. And about our business model; well we have been in business for so many years now, so we know well how to stay in business... blah blah"

Well, just tell me straight that your cup is full, and you don't wanna listen.

Ok - what bugs me is just that Life Balance could be so cool, and a lot more usable, would they just listen to their users. I've seen on their forums many times, I'm not the only one voicing these needs. And has been for like ... 2+ years!  
(Version 3.2.7)

STAINBOY  i was looking for a to-do list that could sync with my Palm-based PDA, and i evaluated this program for a day. my conclusions:

1. i didn't need the "life manager" aspects. just an outliner or to-do list app to sync between my Mac and PDA.

2. Mac/Palm/Conduit bundle = $80. way, way too expensive, especially for my needs.

3. outliner/to-do feature far less robust than other options.

i ended up purchasing Shadow Plan. while the desktop edition is not nearly as Mac-like as Life Balance, it had the most powerful to-do list features on both desktop and Palm apps, and it was far, far less expensive.  
(Version 3.2.7)

WCITYMIKE  Life Balance appears to be pretty much in a case of feature- and code-freeze, and there doesn't appear to be any interest in rolling out any substantial overhaul or new features in the application. An especially amazing attitude on the part of its developers given the recent focus in the world of power users over productivity and other such things. Nowadays, pretty much a non-starter -- not even worth your time. And this is from someone who, long ago, registered the durn thing. (Oh, llamas -- PLEASE prove me wrong.)  
(Version 3.2.6)

CHRIS  Life Balance 3.2.5 for OSX review.

Well, my 30 day trial is up. It's such a great, smart program. People on the job asked me to review it as a potential productivity tool for the company.

Why I want to use Life Balance:

Palm Desktop was perfect. Unfortunately it hasn't changed since I started using it five years ago (aside from a new splash logo & ported to OSX). iCal has diligently been adding lots of integrated functionality I didn't know I needed, & now I rely on it all. Basically iCal has surpassed Palm Desktop in every way except the one function that is most important to me, the To-Do List. A few other things in iCal fall short but mainly the To-Do List. The iCal shared calendars have now crept into our business workflow so I've had to use both Palm Desktop & iCal. I'm tired of using both apps. With OS 10.4, the integration with Spotlight & .mac is incredible. So Life Balance is perfect. In theory Life Balance will compliment iCal in a way that I get the best of all worlds.

What is good about it:

So I shouldn't spend any time really on why this program is so great. Just read the description. It does all that. An outline, brilliant. Importance slider, brilliant. The list dictated by locations & times, brilliant. Syncs & integrates with everything, great.

There are some big problems though. Things I hope can be easily fixed for the next version. Here's my list of what keeps me from buying this app, I'll try to do it in order of importance.

The bad:

1. Interface design. On my 15 inch laptop screen (Most people have screens larger than 15 inches), Life Balance takes up 2/3 of the screen, I can stretch it to full screen but it doesn't really show me more information. The window is divided into three sub-windows. THERE ARE 11 TABS! It takes too long to do anything in Life Balance because you have to dip in & out of multiple tabs. Many of the tabs seem empty with only one or two fields in them. Please consolidate the fields in the tabs. Try to allow each tab to hold the maximum amount of controls, eliminating tabs. Increase the main window by 33%, that would add a second full list view or two task/month views, eliminating tabs. The more information displayed on the screen at one time, the faster you can use the program & schedule your life.

2. No ability to select & apply info to multiple tasks. When I have a group of mp3s in iTunes that need a field changed, I select all of them or some of them. Then I change the genre to "Electronic" & then I have 100 mp3s with the genre "Electronic". In Life Balance you can only select one task at a time. If I have ten tasks that share a deadline that's pushed back; I need to change the due date on ten different tasks one at a time, that's no good. When I did my first import of To-Dos into Life Balance, there were 100 birthdays & I wanted them all in a "Birthday" folder. I had to create the folder & instead of selecting 100 tasks; I had to drag & drop 100 tasks, 100 times into the folder. What a waste of my time. (Yes, I realize there are fancy workarounds as you become more fluent you can map Palm categories into subfolders & group tasks under an umbrella folder with a deadline but no, just let me apply info to multiple tasks please. It's fast.)

3. I found the fastest most intuitive way to schedule a task is: Task > Time > By Calendar. You just drag the task into the visual calendar & it's set. So easy. Why can't we set everything that way? Use this fast approach to set dates that don't need to sync with the calendar. How about we set the lead time this way too. That would be so fast. I guess my problem is with the difficult "Date" entry fields. I was coming up on the end of a month & needed to schedule something one week away. So I clicked the "day" field and hit the up key seven times. But it didn't change the month field so it came back around to the beginning of the month I was in... in the past. This was relatively easy to do the math & fix but once you start scheduling things months & years away, the math gets more difficult & takes too long. Takes too long plus I have this fancy computer here to do math for me.

Conclusion:

I fully accept that Life Balance takes awhile to set up for the first time. That makes sense to me: take the time to set it up in the beginning, it starts learning & will from there on generate sensible lists. It really does becomes this personal assistant that helps you out to achieve your goals. In the current version of Life Balance it takes too long to do just about everything. Simple changes in the graphical user interface could solve just about every problem that keeps me from purchasing this app. I am not recommending Life Balance 3.2.5 to my supervisor as a productivity tool for our department until the layout is more intelligent & fosters quick information entry.  
(Version 3.2.6)

ANONYMOUS  I have become disillusioned with Llamagraphics and Life Balance. Upgrades are rare and trivial. Unlike other to do list managers or software that can manage tasks (NoteBook, OmniOutliner, etc), there is no iPod export or sync feature, no web export feature, limited print options, etc. However, I readily acknowledge that support is excellent and the forums quite active. My disappointment comes from the lack of imagination in recent releases.  
(Version 3.2.6)

PZWACK  In short, if you are busy and have troubles focussing all the errands of your personal life, this one is made for You. It allows to keep complex To Do lists that matter in your personal life. And Life Balance is available almost everywhere -- on Mac OS 9 & X, the Palm Pilot and on Windows too.

You can make a break-down structure of complex personal projects, where you apply powerful filtering techniques to see the To Do items you need to see at that place and time. All the things that eventually have to be done at a later point in time can be kept in one storage that maintains itself with just a little input from your side.

The Palm version also integrates with the Palm calendar and To Do list, if you wish. Hot-sync then makes this also available to iCal.

LifeBalance has quite a learning curve. Of course there's the big Outline that groups all your tasks and reminders by your goals. Your tasks can be detailed with more tasks or text notes. You assign order and priority relative to each goal. Plan tasks as one-shot, routine jobs or by due date. In the end, the effort to complete the task is taken to build your Balance of Achievements.

Then there are the Places, and you better plan those early and well. Many suggest a two-tier system. You will generate customized todo-lists for a few Meta-Locations (at work, customer, home), prefix them with a special sign to sort them first in the list (":Work", "!Home"). They will include several of the other places or requirements ("Mall", "Telephone") where you can complete your specific tasks.

Of course there are issues. This tool is for personal, not for project management, so it does not track hard facts like worked hours our completion dates. Also, setting up your outline and getting it right WILL take some serious times. Especially you can modify only one task at a time, which can get tedious.

I find the tool quite suited to the job, but it does not have the glamour of Cocoa or (gasp!) the metal look. It's functional, though.

On the plus side, it helps you decide for yourself what task to tackle next and be satisfied with your life. It can remind you to learn habits.

Llamagraphics have a great trial mode, which runs 30 days without limitations during that time so you can see if it fits your demands. They also have an excellent help manual built in that explains the subtle details. And of course, it runs everywhere. The Hot-Sync is good, and you can put your data-file on a memory stick and plug it into any computer you regulary use!  
(Version 3.2.3)