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Schwinn Active 20 Series Recumbent Exercise Bike-Schwinn Active 20 Series Recumbent Exercise Bike Review

I’ve had this bike for about three weeks and I really like it. The bike is sturdy and assembly is easy. There are six preset hill programs to choose from, or you can use one of the six manually levels. Instructions and use of the computer are easy as well. One of the things I like about this bike is the fitness rating option, using the “recovery” button. It monitors your heart rate for 1 minute after you stop exercising, using the pulse sensors in the handles. It monitors the rate your heart slows then gives you a fitness rating from F1 (best) to F6 (worst). I get my heart rate up as high as I can on level 2 just before I stop exercising, and then I hit the recovery button. After exercising for three weeks I’ve have dropped from F5 to F4. My resting pulse rate has dropped from 80/minute to 65. I have bad knees and hips, but this bike does not aggravate them at all. If you want to strengthen and tone your legs, just put it up to level 6 and do about 20 reps. Level 6 can’t be maintained for long, unless your a body builder. You may choose to get a more expensive bike, but I think this model will give you all you need for a good cardio workout.

 

I’ve had this bike for about 5 weeks now and am very pleased with my purchase. I just sit in front of the TV and play PS3 for about 1-2 hours every day and burn plenty of calories. The chair is much more comfortable than our old standard exercise bike, which is paramount when using it as much as we do. We also looked at the more expensive, older Schwinn model. Personally, we liked this one better, and it’s 200 bucks cheaper. This one was more comfortable and also much more easily adjusted, which is nice when you have 2 people using it at very different heights. This one hasn’t been on the market as long, so I’m not sure how it’ll last over the years, but so far it’s been strong and sturdy. Still, we got a 3 year warranty just in case. Even with the warranty it’s still much cheaper than the $[...] Schwinn model. As for negatives, you can get a lot of resistance from this bike, but each step up is a big jump. It would have been nicer to be able to ramp up more gradually. Also, I believe the calorie burner count is too high. I have a hard time believing that I can burn almost 1000 calories in an hour (although I do get the resistance up pretty high and break a good sweat).

 

I bought this bike after a lot of online research. I didn’t have a lot of money to spend but I needed a recumbent bike to use at home, and couldn’t get to the store to test any out. I decided on the Active 20 after reading the reviews and I’m very happy with my choice!
It arrived pretty quickly and only took me about an hour or so to put together. The box is bulky and pretty heavy, so if you need to bring it up stairs get another person to help you. I did manage to drag it up 3 flights on my own but it took a lot of effort. The assembly instructions are decent but I did make a few mistakes and had to go back to put pieces into the right place at the end. That may have been my own inattentiveness though, and honestly I don’t know that I have ever seen really good assembly instructions for any product in the past few years. Just give yourself a couple hours to put it together, it’d probably be easier with two people but I did it on my own and it worked out fine.
I think in this price range most exercise equipment out there is very low quality, it breaks or is not sturdy or is missing basic features, but this bike has worked very well for me. I’ve had it for about 6 months and I use it every day for at least an hour, I have had NO problems with it at all. The pedals still move smoothly, the features all work and I like the different programs. The heart rate monitor is pretty accurate but if you’re very particular about that you may want to buy one separately. It does not have a ton of extra bells and whistles I think the Active 20 is a great product, and the price is great too. Highly recommended!

 

Anyway, my husband and I had 2 Schwinn recumbent exercise bikes for 4 years when we lived in Alaska, and they worked great and held their value when it came time to sell them when we moved. Putting together the Schwinn Active 20 for my sister, I got the longing to own one myself again. I have a super nice treadmill that’s in front of a wall mounted TV so I can watch movies or shows while I walk, but this last year we got an Xbox 360 and now I’d rather be playing video games instead of watching TV. There is no way I can play video games on a treadmill without falling off! This recumbent bike is perfect for video games, our living room tv sits on a low coffee table and yet the display on this bike doesn’t get in my way at all.

 

 

 

 

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