Bowflex Elite Review
insight shared in the Bowflex World Forums in making my decision. It was a great price even at $899. I will have to try and negotiate with them if a discount coupon comes out this month. I went
ahead and purchased it because I was afraid they might run out of stock and I saved a bundle
in not having a unit shipped.
I did look at a PowerPro before my purchase. I live in the Pacific Northwest so to went to a
Copeland Sports store where they had a floor model that I could play with. They had them
with the recall safety pack already installed. It was a good price at $699 and they would
have sold me virtually any attachment or upgrade for half price since they are closing them
out. I would have considered it more seriously if I have been more limited on space at home.
However, I did not like the way the two parts of the seat hooked together. Also the whole
machine seemed almost too lightweight. This would be an advantage moving it, but not
otherwise.
The Elite comes in one huge box that, according to the loaders at Costco, weighs around 280
pounds! I was able to just leave the box in my pickup bed and unload the smaller boxes
inside with relative ease.
I assembled the unit solo in about 2.5 hours. The instructions were well-written and easy to
follow. The packaging was the best I have ever seen in anything I have purchased. There is
not a scratch or dent or nick on the thing. I recommend using a box end wrench rather than a
crescent wrench. It makes it easier to get a good grip without scrapping up the nuts too
much.
The Elite is bigger than the PowerPro--especially the one I had looked at without
attachments. I have had to rearrange my room to accommodate it and be livable. It does fold
up, but the bench is rather heavy with the leg extension attachment and I don't think my
wife would be able to do it very easily. Also leaving the bench down is lots more
convenient. I will say that one deficit in the instructions is that they do not explain
clearly about how to fold it up. You have to release and fold the leg attachment as you are
lifting the bench up into place.
The Elite is supposed to be portable, but it does not roll very easily. The back corners of
the platform have rubber tips that inhibit rolling, especially on my carpet. You can see one
of the rubber tips in the picture above. Unless I lean it backward extremely far, the wheels
do not help much. I have also discovered that there are stick-on rubber pads on the bottom
of the squat platform that roll up and come off if I slide it without using the wheels.
This model comes with absolutely everything I will ever need: lat bar, liftbar and belt. The
manual is well-written and very helpful.
I am a runner and primarily work out that way. I also own a treadmill, but it has been about
7 years since I belonged to a gym. I was surprised at how little weight I am starting with
on the Bowflex. Of course, I am mainly working on form at this early stage. It seems to
provide a good workout and is very solid--moreso than I had envisioned. The DVD's that come
with the Elite are very helpful in getting started. I am not sure if I will use the
I-trainer software or not.
The cables do need to be changing quite often between exercises but it is easy to do. I have
found that I can just leave the handles attached when I hook on the cables for the lat tower
or leg curl attachment. This saves a step in transition and they do not seem to be in the
way, but I have not done all the exercises yet. I will just have to train the other family
members that want to use it. I had considered the Xtreme 2 because of this issue, but it
would have cost nearly double this price with shipping. Also, after reading these reviews,
there seemed to be more flexibility with this design.
Review contributed by Michael Gillespie of Oregon.
Related: [Treadclimber Review] [Treadmill Reviews] [Elliptical Trainer Review]
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